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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2000)
Tuesday ^ M ^B ^B jv November 14,2000 B B B a ^ 4 ^B^^ ^B Volume 100 B B M M ' a a ' \ I H ^B H^B Issue B B B B a a 1 / H ■ ^B ■ dailyneb.com B | yfy fy fy 1/ H H ^B ^L■ fei t|Ji;l,:ioB«*,^to#ao^,o“:;BiBfi^l« 1 n if tin m-HI I Ir tnilnn B onne season, nu is trying^ to rumble into the best • bowl game possible SH In Sportslbesday/10 ; '| Political interest rises as saga continues ■The uncertainty about who will be the next president has some students wanting to know more. BY MARGARET BEHM It's not often students call their pro fessors at home just to chat about cur rent events. But the presidential saga that has played out over the last week on televi sion and in the newspapers has spiked students’ interest - so much so, some couldn’t wait for class to discuss it. “I’ve even received calls at home \ and e-mails from students asking ques tions,” said Judd Choate, chief under graduate adviser for the political sci ence department. ' Choate said he’s impressed by stu dents’ engagement in the election. “My students have been very inter ested by it,” he said. John Comer, a political science pro fessor, said those between the ages of 18 ' and 25 aren’t typically enthralled with politics. Despite daily developments and uncertainty about who will be presi dent - seven days after the election - the people in his class still aren’t inspired to pay close attention to it, he said. “I don’t know that this election was any more energizing to students than years past,” he said. “In general, young people are not interested in politics, and this year confirms it.” John Hibbing, a political science professor, said the election of 1992 was of interest to young people. But in 1996, younger voters weren’t interested, he said. In this election, students are inter ested in the process that will eventually determine the next president, Hibbing said. “The difference is that most of the election interest is up because of the unusual results,” he said. Choate said 20 out of 22 students in one of his classes watched the election results at his house. Some of the stu dents stayed until 11 p.m. “They weren’t just doing this for the free pizza and to brown-nose with the professor," he said. "They were very interested." Choate also is the adviser for Pi Sigma Alpha, a political science hon orary. He said students have shown more interest in the group’s events since the campaign began. “We have had political events where 60 people have shown up, and these were events in which you may expect 15 or 20," he said. Comer said most people are more than ready for the election results to be decided. “Students, like everyone else, want to see this end,” he said. Even though the public would much rather concentrate on things besides the election, it wants to be sure the right person is elected, Comer said. “Usually after the election, people like to forget about it as soon as possi ble,” he said. “Clearly, they can’t do that in this case, and they aren’t.” *-aT”ir~ ■ ^ —....in ii , Derek Lippincott/DN BUNDLE UP!: Junior environmental studies major Megan Lien, left, and sophomore communications major Brittany Sill battle the cold weather Monday as they walk home from class, temperatures dropped into the upper teens Monday with the wind chill at about 5 degrees. UNL spins new features into Web site ■The new design offers students up-to-date information on campus events and weather. BY VERONICA OAEHN Students surfing the Web can still land on the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s Web site. They just might not recognize where they’ve landed. UNL launched a revamped Web site Monday, http://www.unl.edu. It looks different, and it has more up to-date content that changes daily. Robert Crisler, publications spe cialist for university public relations, said the Web site was changed to make it more accessible to students and others who use it. “It was done to present a page for the university community that peo ple use to orient themselves in the morning,” Crisler said. The top two features on the new site are “On Campus Today” and “The Week Ahead." These will change every day, Crisler said, to update what’s hap pening at UNL. “This information is relevant to the day instead of the page being an index for the university,” he said. The links on the old page are available on the new site. Users can access them from folder-shaped tabs at the top of the Web page. The new site also shows the day's weather in the top right-hand comer and has a “plaza cam” that updates the view in front of Broyhill Fountain every minute. For those with slow Internet con nections, clicking on the low-band width link in the top left-hand corner takes users back to the old UNL site. Talk of updating the Web site started in July, Crisler said. The previ ous site had been around for four or . five years and needed to be redone. “We needed the changes to bring (the site) up to speed," Crisler said. “(The new site) presents a face that shows a vital academic community." A lot of the changes stemmed from research on Web site usability. But the new site also is organized to focus on certain university “treas ures,” he said. A different picture runs down the right column of the home page each Please see WEBSITE on 3 Students, plants feel winter's ire BY JILL CONNER Students are not the only members at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln preparing for win ter, according to Robert Hensarling, director of UNL Landscape Services. “Plants are getting in the mood, as well,” he said. Most plants are getting into their transitional stages, Hensarling said. That means it’s a good time for transplantation, he said. “Right now before it gets too cold, we trans plant a few trees and move them around to differ ent locations on campus,” he said. It’s best to move trees in the winter months while they are dormant, he said. Workers move the trees from construction sites to other sites, Hensarling said. Students - and vegetation It looks like - should expect snow by ^ least Friday, said Mike Powers, a , , , meteorologist at the National through the Weather Service. rest of the Along with the snow last wegk ((he weekend, it will be snowing ' again by Thursday, Powers Weather Will said. be) basically “It looks like at least . j through the rest of the week, aownunu (the weather will be) basically dirty.' down and dirty,” he said. * The snow this past week- powers end is not unusual, Powers meteorologist “The average (first) snow fall in Lincoln is around the 17th or 19th of November, but we have had snows as early as the end of September,” he said. Hensarling said the combination of this sum mer’s dryness and the new snow will have an impact plants on campus. “It’s tough on the plants; they are already stressed,” he said. The plants need a steady flow of moisture in increments, Hensarling said. That won’t be a problem, said National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Byrd. Byrd said it will be at least four to five degrees colder this winter than last. “It looks like we'll have a few arctic outbreaks with very cold wind chills,” he said. Near-normal snowfall is around 28 inches, he said. Hensarling said the snow will be beneficial to some trees. “The snow gives us actually an insulating fac tor in some sense, so we don’t get a hard freezing to some tissues,” he said. Technical difficulties may delay journalism school's move s z BY VERONICA DAEHN UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications is still making its move to the old Security Mutual Life building at 200 N. Centennial Mall. But it might not be complete by the tar get date of next fall, said Linda Shipley, assistant dean of the college. “We’re moving along on the renova tion,” Shipley said. “And we’re still excited about the plans we’re seeing from the archi tects. But I can’t guarantee everything will be set up in the fall.” The final deadline for the college to be out of Avery Hall is December 2001. In January 2002, the space will be transformed into a mathematics, statistics and comput er science area. Before the college of journalism can move to its new home, mechanical and technical things still need to be done to the new building, Shipley said. Asbestos is being removed right now, and other codes put forth by the American Disabilities Act and the university are being met, she said. This is time-consuming, Shipley said. Making sure the wiring in the new building is compatible with the college’s equipment is important, as is hooking up satellite dishes and making sure the phones work, she said. “A lot of what we’re doing now has to do with mechanical things,” Shipley said. “We’re trying to get the infrastructure of the Please see SCHOOL on 3
