Monday
February 12,2001
Volume 100
Issue 105
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
FifcftHnn hitiAS ft# mm iM Ka
BrnWȴ 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
