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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 2001)
Monday February 12,2001 Volume 100 Issue 105 dailyneb.com Since 1901 FifcftHnn hitiAS ft# mm iM Ka BrnW»¥ H?liWSMWlsi Soaconril jEjiiscNfTffiy In News/8 >§ni>lWiy»l>IOWBgir e Hotter, 8fld Myi thflt Coflch PbuI fWmdotford forced ter out In SporteMonday/12 ‘Hannibal” gets three stars and breaks box office records In Arts/5 1 Gasses adapt to snow days ■ Cancellations on Thursday and Friday have put courses behind schedule,forcing professors to rearrange schedules and curriculum. BYJttlZEMAN Learning that classes were canceled last week was a pleasant surprise for most UNL students. Friday was a day to sleep in, get some studying done or put in an extra couple hours of work. But some University of Nebraska-Lincoln profes sors are forced to play catch-up after classes were canceled on Thursday night and Friday Professors like William Glider, whose classes also require labs, must decide how and when their stu dents can make up their missed work. Glider, an assistant professor of biological sci ences, teaches a Biology 101 lab Thursday night and Friday. Both were canceled last week, and Glider said he wasn't sure how he was going to bring his students up to speed, but that a make-up session was a likely pos sibility. “ft's pretty stressful,” he said. “It’s very difficult to get in touch with the students and find a time that works out” Glider said he’d either have to cut something from the syllabus or make it up somehow. And making up course material is even harder when a class only meets once a week. Michael Stricklin, a news-editorial professor, teaches a beginning reporting class that meets Monday nights. Stricklin has been hit hard this semester. There was no class on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Please see SNOW on 7 Senators debate fetal research BY GEORGE GREEN They didn't miss a beat. On Friday, both sides of a fierce debate over the use of aborted fetal tissue for research picked up right where they left off nearly one year ago. Last year senators, researchers and other con cerned Nebraskans converged at the Capitol to dis cuss a ban on controversial research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In the end, a promise of a filibuster from Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha and little consensus among senators caused lawmakers to trash the bill. Many of the same players gathered before the Judiciary Committee on Friday to do battle over a ban again. The committee took no action on the bill. Sen. Dwite Pedersen of Elkhorn, who intro duced the bill, said it would force researchers to find an alternative source to the aborted tissue faster. So far, researchers have found alternative sources for two of the three cell types found in the fetal tissue. "I believe there is an answer to be found,” he said. Much of Friday’s testimony mirrored claims made last year. Pro-research testifiers touted the possible health benefits that could come from the research. Ted Simonson of Lincoln recounted the pains his wife had endured since doctors diagnosed her with Alzheimer’s disease. He said research at UNMC might spare others from dealing with the consequences of severe mem ory loss, including forgetting how to brush teeth and use the bathroom. “Fetal tissue research is not just a theory, it’s a reality,” he said. On the other hand, the anti-research activists labeled the work immoral and unethical. Guyla Mills of the Nebraska Family Council compared the research to the Holocaust, citing a quote that adorns The Holocaust Memorial Legislature Museum in Washington, D.C. “You are my witnesses,” she said. This year’s legal wrangling also resembles last session’s tactical moves. For instance, Chambers tacked five amend ments onto the bill. He will use the amendments, one of which is a poem, as tools to continue a fili buster before the entire body. He didn’t get the chance to filibuster last year because proponents withdrew the bill before debate. With the memory of Chambers’ filibuster prom ise in mind, Sen. Kermit Brashear of Omaha added a new twist to the battle of legal technicalities. Aiming to prevent Chambers’ infamous fili buster, Brashear introduced a motion about two weeks ago to suspend the rules and bar debate and amendments. “I filed this to avoid anyone filing a series of obstructive or blocking amendments,” he said. Without the opportunity to debate over the amendments, Chambers can’t filibuster. But several experts have noted that Chambers can skirt the mandatory silence by debating at other points in the process. There definitely wasn’t a lid on discussion Friday. A foot of snow and biting gusts of wind didn’t prevent a slew of people from voicing their opin ions. NU Regent Drew Miller attacked anti-research groups for twisting the issue into an argument about abortion. “This issue has been perverted into both a pub licity cause for the pro-life movement and a litmus test they use to judge and punish elected officials who refuse to accept their irrationality and abide by their moral judgments,” he said. Miller took several political blows from anti [The Omaha World-Herald discloses that the NU Medical Center uses fetal cells obtained by elective abortion in research of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. [ Sen. John Hilgert of Omaha introduces a bill to prohibit state employees and institutions from using aborted fetal tissue. j UNMC officials announce they will begin experimenting with new methods to provide brain tissue to researchers from sources other than aborted fetuses. 12000 | Legislature votes to pull bill out of the Judiciary Committee for debate. | Hilgert withdraws bill from agenda after threats of a filibuster from Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers. fSer>. Dwite Pederson of Elkhom introduces a bill that would forbid public institutions from conducting research using fetal tissue. Sen. Kermit Brashear introduces a motion to suspend rules and bar debate on the bill. Sen Chris Beutter of Lincoln introduces a bill that would end fetal tissue as soon as an alternative is found. 'Sen. Ernie Chambers tacks five amendments onto Pederson’s bill to slow debate. .2001 ; Judiciary Committee hears testimony on the Pederson bill. DeianLonowski/DN abortion rights groups last November in his race for the regent seat. Despite the sting of these attacks, Miller said senators should avoid regulating the research because the state constitution charged the regents, not the Legislature, with running the university. Please see FETAL on B TAKING Of F: Tammy Dunn and her niece EKsebeth Lahners,3,both of Lincoln, slide down the toboggan run at Pioneers Park, west of Lincoln. Hundreds of people took advantage of Pioneers Parkis hills over the weekend after last Thursday's snowstorm. Derek Lippincott/DN Perlman reinstates scholarships for current cheerleaders BY UHAHUfc ixAUrrMArl The Comhusker cheerleaders and Scarlet dancers can stay - as long as they keep making the team. The out-of-state tuition waivers recently taken away have been reinstated by Interim Chancellor Harvey Perlman. But the waivers will only be granted to current squad members, and they can only keep them if they make the team year after year. The reinstatement comes after the Athletic Marketing . Department announced that all out-of-state cheerleaders would 1 have to start paying out-of-state tuition, leaving many squad members looking for' new schools. The department said there _ “We're all just a bit worried that our positions might be in jeopardy/’ Julia Pagano sophomore Scarlet were no grandfather clauses granting current squad members waivers, a stance overridden by Perlman’s decision. Assistant Director of Marketing for the Athletic Department Barry Swanson said he didn’t know where the funds would come from to provide the waivers. “The chancellor’s office reviewed it and decided that we wuuiu someiiuw nna some funds,” Swanson said. Under the new set of rules, incoming freshmen will have to pay out-of-state tuition, but will have all the other benefits afford ed the current squad. The benefits include a $500 stipend each semester, a book scholarship, Adidas clothing and 20 meals a month at the Hewit Center. “I am supportive of the deci sion to cut these waivers,” Perlman said. “The Athletic Department, like the rest of the university, has to watch its expenses.” Perlman said the only prob lem with the changes was the way they were implemented. “It didn’t seem fair to cut them off without some acknowledg 4i meill lliai uicy liau luiuc ucic with some reliance on those waivers,” Perlman said. He said the difference in funding created by the new clause would be left to the athlet ic department to correct. Sophomore Scarlet Julia Pagano said she hoped future try outs would not be biased against out-of-state applicants. Pagano is from Lawrence, Kan., and said she would have to leave Nebraska if she didn’t make the team. “We’re all just a little bit wor ried that our positions might be in jeopardy,” Pagano said. "I hope they will just look solely at per sonality and dancing ability.” Pagano said judges for the April tryouts are not all from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Judges for the dance portion of llic auuiuuil axt xxUIU vaxxuua agencies throughout the country, while personality judges are from UNL “I hope I’m beaten out and not taken out,” Pagano said. Cheerleading co-captain Julian Staab said the cheerleaders also were worried future tryouts might be biased against out-of state students. “We’re scared of (not) having a fair tryout,” Staab said. “It does n’t look good for the future.” Staab said the changes would still affect the quality of incoming recruits, so the quality of the squad would eventually suffer. The senior said he had decided to play it safe and take his remaining credit hours over the summer to avoid having to make the squad again. Chancellor finalists named soon ■NU President Dennis Smith could announce finalists later this week. BYJILLZEMAN One of the university's best kept secrets may be revealed this week. Finalists for the position of chancellor could be announced soon, said Joe Rowson, NU spokesman. The search for the new chancellor has been conducted in secrecy and committee members have been tightlipped about the candidates and the process. All members of the search committee, headed by UNL Plant Pathology Professor James Van Etten, were instruct ed to keep quiet about who applied for the job and who did n’t. The committee is looking for someone to succeed James Moeser, who left in July to become chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Harvey Perlman, former dean of the NU College of Law, is the interim chancellor. Perlman may become more than the interim chancellor, as the Omaha World-Herald reported in December that Perlman was in the running to become UNLs next chancellor. Perlman has neither con firmed nor denied this. But soon, Rowson said, the public will know whether Perlman’s a finalist and if he even applied for the job. “I still believe we’re fairly close," Rowson said. Smith instructed the search committee, which was formed in August, to determine finalists as quickly as possible, he said. Members of the search com mittee will forward the names of the finalists to NU President Dennis Smith, who will distrib ute them to the media, Rowson said. Smith is out of town for a Please see CHANCELLOR on 7