Tuesday
November 28,2000
Volume 100
Issue 66
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
mk:_. I
Columnist Karen Brown relives
fond memories with her Bronco
named Floyd
In Opinion/4
L/ ft*r% mi
rvimani rmenaancitne
Buskers blow post highly
regarded Winthrop in a |
21-point win "
In SportsTuesday/10
UNL greek houses are
aglow in a holiday lighting
contest
In Arts/8
Disabled to Perlman: Fire office director
■The students and interim chancellor
discussed complaints over the Services
for Students with Disabilities office.
BY JILL ZEMAN
Emotions rose as students voiced
their concerns with Interim Chancellor
Harvey Perlman Monday regarding the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Services
for Students with Disabilities, but Perlman
took no immediate action on what he
heard.
Several students complained about
die SSD office and its new director, Mary
Thompson.
Thompson took over as director in
May, and since then, student complaints
have risen dramatically, said Jodie
Engsder, senior special education and
deaf education major.
The Daily Nebraskan could not reach
Thompson for comment late Monday
afternoon.
Engstler said students’ grades have
slipped because they have been unable to
get notes for their classes on time.
Because of this, several students
requested to be reimbursed and have
their grades waived for the classes in
which they didn't get notes.
The students also requested to have
Thompson removed from her position
because of changes she’s made to the
office.
When Thompson took over, she
rearranged the office, making it difficult
for students in wheelchairs to move
around, Engstler said.
It’s also hard for students to get an
interpreter or find adequate testing space,
Engstler said.
Perlman said he hasn’t met with
Thompson or anyone else, and he needed
to talk to more people before he’d take any
action on the issue.
Perlman said if the students’ claims
are true, the university should at least take
some responsibility.
“If the university has clearly caused
you difficulty in your studies, it seems to
be a fair request for us to regress,” he said.
Perlman said he couldn’t set a date for
action. But he said he hoped to know what
to do by the end of die semester.
William Olubodun, a doctoral student
in educational administration, said he
was displeased with Thompson because
he said she acted patronizing toward him
and other students.
"Qualifications are one thing, but
respect for students is another thing,” he
said.
Students have continually com
plained, but litde action has been taken,
“We should not be made to pay for the hiring of the wrong
person
William Olubodua
_ doctoral student in educational administration
Olubodun said.
“We should not be made to pay for the
hiring of the wrong person,” he said.
The students met earlier with James
Griesen, vice chancellor for student
affairs. Engstler said the students weren’t
pleased with the results of the meeting
because to them, nothing was accom
plished. But Engstler said the students
held a little more hope after the meeting
with Perlman.
. “I think right now we're standing in
neutral ground,” she said. “We’re hoping
for the best but expecting the worst”
But for the students it’s still frustrating
because Perlman didn’t set an absolute
deadline for when he’d make a decision,
said Tim Schultz, senior family and con
sumer science major.
And if Perlman doesn’t side with the
students, Schultz said he was willing to
seek legal advice from outside the univer
sity.
“We won’t settle for anything less than
we ask for,” he said.
“Don’t do that to me,” Perlman said in
response. “Let’s not put barricades up in
advance.”
Officials
ponder
DN inquiry
BY JOSH FUNK__
The prospect of releasing certain University of
Nebraska-Lincoln disciplinary records pits a stu
dent’s right to privacy against the public’s right to
know.
Two officials involved with the Judicial Affairs
appeals board said Monday they understand, and
in some ways agree with, the Daily Nebraskan’s
petition to make the results of disciplinary hear
ings involving crimes of violence and sex offenses
public, but university policy would have to be
changed.
“Any student has a right to privacy, but we have
a right to know how safe we are,” said Andy Faltin,
last year’s student chairman of the Judicial Board.
Faltin said the Office of Judicial Affairs often
prosecutes students for criminal offenses under
the student code of conduct after criminal charges
have been dropped in court
Judicial Affairs requires only a preponderance
of evidence to convict a student of conduct code
violations instead of the criminal court system's
more stringent standard of guilt beyond a reason
able doubt. That could mean students could be
punished under the code for violations they would
be found innocent of in court
The current faculty chairman of the Judicial
Board, Ron Hanson, stressed that the board does
not hear legal matters, only violations of the stu
dent code of conduct. The Judicial Board only
hears cases when a student appeals the decision of
Judicial Affairs Director Rosemary Blum, and those
appeals are rare.
Hanson, who is in the middle of his third non
Please see LAWSUIT on 3
———^—1 JMM—
NateWagner/DN
AUSSIE STYLE: Aussie the Miniature Australian Shepherd, dressed like a sailor, leaps to get the candy cane sophomore John Bums holds in the air in front of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity on Monday
evening. Aussie has other outfits that he adorns from day to day that have '80s, slumber party and baseball themes. Bums, one of his owners, brought Aussie to school after buying him this summer.
s ■ ' - '
■ wren me presidency still up tor grabs,
the Democratic and GOP par^r chiefs are
following national trends in their reactions.
BY BRIAN CARLSON
.As George W. Bush began his transition to
tiie presidency and A1 Gore vowed to fight on,
Nebraska’s political leaders held to the party
line.
Chuck Sigerson, chairman of the Nebraska
Republican Party, said it was “most definitely”
time for Gore, the Democratic vice president,
to concede.
“It has to come to an end point sometime,”
he said. “The votes have been counted*
recounted and in some cases recounted again.
The election has been certified; let's get on with
the business of governing.
“I don’t think A1 Gore’s attempt to over
throw a certified election will do anything for
this country.”
But Anne Boyle, chairwoman of the
Nebraska Democratic Party, said Gore had a
legitimate complaint because it is most impor
tant that Florida produce a full, fair and accu
rate vote count
“I can't remember a time in history when
any kind of elected official called the election
when all the votes had not been counted," she
said*
Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris,
a Republican Bush supporter, certified Bush
on Sunday as the winner by 537 votes in
Florida.
Bush, the Republican governor of Texas,
said he would put together his transition team
in preparation to enter the White House and
called on Gore to concede.
Gore contested the Florida results, saying
the short-circuiting of hand recounts and what
he called incorrect standards for counting
improperly punched ballot cards made the
results inaccurate.
Sigerson said Gore had violated his pledge
to abide by the results of a hand recount Gore
offered to accept the results of a statewide
hand recount but Bush declined that offer.
But Gore has sought to force a hand
recount in Miami-Dade County, where can
vassing officials decided against completing a
hand recount because they were unable to
meet the deadline set by the Florida Supreme
Court
“Here we are, just seven days later, and it's
like he never said it,” Sigerson said. “We just
can’t trust Al Gore to keep his promises.”
Sigerson said he expected Democrats
around the country soon would abandon
Gore's position and encourage him to concede.
He said Gore would have trouble continu
ing his fight after the U.S. Supreme Court rules
on the legitimacy of the Florida Supreme
ST
Court’s ruling that hand recounts should be
considered.
“I think at that point A1 Gore will no longer
be able to continue his charade of being a man
of the law,” he said.
Boyle agreed that the U.S. Supreme Court’s
ruling may bring an end to the prolonged dis
pute.
“I think when the courts have acted and
said yes or no, at that point we need to let it go,”
she said.
In the meantime, she said, Gore is right to
contest the results and insist every vote be
counted.
“If all the votes don’t count, I think that flies
in the face of what we tell other countries,” she
said.
Boyle said GOP demonstrations against
Gore's continuing legal challenges will increase
the bitterness between the parties, regardless
of which candidate takes office on Jan. 20.
But she said if Bush officially becomes the
president-elect, she would send out a message
to Nebraska Democrats urging them to accept
the result and put behind any bitterness.
If elected, Sigerson said, Bush will have to
reach out to the nearly half of the electorate
that voted for Gore. Unofficially, Gore won the
national popular vote but would lose the elec
toral vote, 271-267, if he lost Florida.
“The next president will have to gain the
trust of the American people,” Sigerson said.
. * .
ASUN constitution
reform on horizon
■The student government
plans to pass a bylaw that will
call for a committee to work on
changes to the document.
BY MARGARET BEHM
Another step toward a new
constitution for student govern
ment will be presented
Wednesday to ASUN.
A foundation for the consti
tutional convention committee
will be presented in a bylaw to
the Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska.
The committee will be in
charge of revamping the consti
tution.
IWo-thirds of the senate will
have to vote for the bylaw for it
to pass.
Twenty-one people will
make up the committee under
the proposed bylaw, Special
Topics Chairman Urrvano
Gamez said.
ASUN President Joel Schafer
and Speaker Jason Mashek will
be included on the committee.
The two were chosen to rep
resent ASUN senators and exec
utive members, Gamez said.
Schafer and Mashek will
each pick three ASUN members
and two students.
Gamez said he wants the
two to pick people to serve on
the committee for the right rea
sons.
"Hopefully it won’t become
something where they choose
specific people to push their
own agenda,” he said.
There also will be three at
large students who will be
Please see CONVENTION on 3
il' 9
