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BY MARGARET BEHM
A Daily Nebraskan investiga
tion Wednesday found there may
have been more to a former UNL
student’s confession of forged
signatures than he originally
said.
The forged signatures, which
were due Jan. 31, were found on a
form people who are running for
student government office are
required to file.
The former student, Tferrance
Batiste, admitted to forging 35 of
the 200 signatures that were
- turned in for Rowenna
Pacquette, NUForce's second
vice-presidential candidate.
Pacquette was ousted from
the race by ASUN’s Electoral
Commission on Feb. 15 because
after subtracting the forged sig
natures, she didn't have die nec
essary 200 to run.
The Association of Students
of the University of Nebraska
Electoral Commission fined
NUForce $100 in response to the
forged signatures.
Batiste told the Daily
Nebraskan on Tuesday that the
names he forged were all those of
his friends, taken from his Palm
Pilot electronic planner.
The Daily Nebraskan
obtained the list, which included
the forged signatures,
Wednesday.
Sophomore Jerrod Meyer
and Junior Tim Watson, whose
forged signatures and social
security numbers appeared on
the list, said they did not know
Batiste.
Questioned about the incon
sistency, Batiste said he didn’t
recall saying the forged names
were all those of his friends.
Upon examining the list, he
said three of the 35 forged names
were those he’d never heard of.
In fact, he pointed out Burt
Bachrach, the composer and
musician, was listed as a UNL
student on the form - complete
with a forged social security
number.
In all, 22 of the forged names
aren’t UNL students, Batiste said.
Freshman Tiffany True, who
described herself as a high
school acquaintance of Batiste
and whose name was forged,
said it was upsetting he faked her
signature.
“I'm hurt that he would do
this,” she said.
Senior Summer Spivey,
whose name was forged, said she
was a friend of Batiste, and she
would have signed the form had
she been asked.
Sophomore Todd Ayres, who
said he was a good friend of
Batiste, was astonished to hear of
Batiste’s actions.
“I can’t believe he did this,”
said Ayres. "It's so dishonest”
Ayres said he doesn't think
NUForce should be punished for
Batiste’s actions. But, he said,
members of the party should
have done their homework on
Batiste before trusting him.
“He tends to exaggerate the
truth in a lot of areas of his life,”
he said.
NUForce Presidential
Candidate Angela Clements said
Tuesday Batiste was a friend of
hers, but he acted unethically.
She said she asked Batiste to
gather signatures for Pacquette
in Selleck Residence Hall
"This is really difficult to deal
with," Clements said Tuesday.
“We ran as a team, but that was
destroyed by the absolute uneth
icality of someone who isn’t a
part ofNUForce.”
The Daily Nebraskan learned
Wednesday that Batiste and
Clements live together.
Ayres said he was confused
why Batiste would try to forge the
signatures.
“I don't knowhow he thought
he wouldn’t be caught for using
fraudulent social security num
bers,” he said. "That was so
dumb.”
Sarah Baker and Bradley
Davis contributed to this report.
Bill would add
sexuality to
protected list
BYQEOBQEQREEN _
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha aims to level the
playing field.
Ids bill, LB 19, would prohibit employers from dis
criminating against employees based on their sexual
orientation.
Chambers said he introduced the bill to aid a vul
nerable segment of society that routinely has to tack
le unfair obstacles on their way to landing jobs.
Barriers, Chamber said, that heterosexual people
don't have to hurdle.
"LB19 is nothing less than a plea for human digni
ty and social justice,” he sakL
If the bill passes, sexual orientation will join reli
gion, race and other personal attributes protected
under die state’s Nondiscrimination Act
Because the bill broadly addresses "sexual orien
tation,’' it would protect heterosexuals and homosex
uals.
Tim Butz, executive director of the Nebraska
chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union,
emphasized that the law doesn't bestow a special pro
tective halo onto homosexuals.
Instead, he said, the law assures everyone gets a
fair shot when they compete for jobs.
“That’s all we’re really asking for - that everyone
be treated the same," he said
D. Moritz, a retired Omaha Burke High School
teacher, said she frit first-hand the effects of a titled
job market Moritz said she feared she would lose her
job ifher employers discovered she was a lesbian.
For more than 20 years, Moritz said, she masked
her sexual orientation. When the school district final
ly enacted an anti-discrimination policy, she said, a
weight was lifted from her shoulders.
“I couki be honest,” she said
Chester Thomas, an Omaha man, said he felt
“great compassion” for people like Moritz who have
to bear the burden of discrimination.
But Thomas said their suffering is only one symp
tom of a “falling world”
And to preserve what little dignity the world has
left, he said, lawmakers must reject LB 19.
Homosexuals do not live within the scope of the
“natural” design, he said. Various studies have shown
that they suffer from a myriad of mental and physical
diseases, Thomas said.
“Homosexuality is abnormal,” he said.
The state of Nebraska shouldn’t condone or pro
tect these defects, he said.
Doug Evans, a member of Research Associates, a
group that monitors public opinion, said most
Nebraskans don’t share Thomas’ view of homosexu
ality.
Evans cited a survey his group administered in
August 2000 that questioned 328 Nebraskans about
their views on homosexuality.
Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed said it
Please see DISCRIMINATION on 3
No Bull presi
dential candi
date Andy
Mixan wants to
re-establish
friendly ties
betweenthe
student govern
ment and stu
dent body.lf
elected presi
dent, Mixan said
he would focus
on spending
more time on
student pro
grams and serv
ices.
NateWagner/DN
He's not full of it
No Bull wants to cut the crap and help students
BY LINDSEY BAKER
For ASUN presidential candidate
Andy Mixan, it’s all about relationships.
Mixan, a junior political science
major from Louisville, said he wants to
revamp the Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska by re-estab
lishing the relationship between the stu
dent body and the student government
“A lot of people don't think ASUN
does anything,” he said. "Right now
we're at a do-or-die time.”
Mixan said students need to feel
their government accurately represents
them, a concept at which he says ASUN
fails.
He said the current ASUN president,
Joel Schafer, has done well trying to
move ASUN in a new direction, and
Mixan said he wants to build on that
foundation.
If elected, Mixan said he would ded
icate himself to “depoliticizing” ASUN
and making it more representational by
focusing less on political issues, such as
taking stands on fetal cell research, and
more on student programs and services.
He said the support of the student
body is crucial.
“The student body president sits on
the Board of Regents, and without a uni
fied student body behind him, he can’t
get anything done,” Mixan said.
Though he said rebuilding the lost
relationship between students and
ASUN may take more than a one-year
term, he said he was sure that his No Bull
Party could implement all of its platform
promises in one year.
Through his dedication, Mixan said,
he and his running mates - first vice
presidential candidate Bill Westering
and second vice presidential candidate
Alisa Hardy - propose to change Dead
Week policies, create new student e
mail accounts and a start a student judi
ciary advocate program to better protect
student rights.
“I’m strong-willed, persistent and
dedicated,” he said. “I can lead vocally,
but I can better lead by example. I’m
going to get done what I set out to do.”
Junior political science major Mike
Echternacht, Mixan's roommate and
campaign manager, said Mixan would
do well as president
“Andy is a good guy,” he said. “He can
see a lot of people’s viewpoints. He can
relate to students as well as administra
tion.”
Echtemacht said Mixan is well-edu
cated on the issues No Bull Party is pre
senting, aswellasASUN processes.
Mixan said his leadership positions,
which included a term as anASUN sen
ator, have prepared him to take the gov
ernmental reins.
He is the sergeant at arms for
Farmhouse Fraternity and.has been
involved with the Committee for Fees
Allocation, Student Alumni Association
and die University Program Council
“They helped me (learn to) deal with
people, understand people,” Mixan said.
He served as anASUN senator in the
spring of2000 but took a year off from
the government, he said, to step back
and identify the government’s prob
lems.
Echtemacht said that year off gave
Mixan a new perspective.
Please see MIXAN on 3
No Bull
aims to
involve RH A
BY LINDSEY BAKER
If No Bull second vice-presi
dential candidate Alisa Hardy gets
her way residence halls will get a
little bit louder.
The volume of the governing
voice of residence halls, that is.
Hardy, a junior biology and
premedicine major, said one of
her main goals as second vice
president of the Association of
Students of the University of
Nebraska would be to better com
munication between the
Residence Hall Association and
ASUN.
“I’ve lived in residence halls
my whole time here,” she said.
Please see HARDY on 3
NU bioethics committee recommendations fine-tuned
BYJHLLZEMAN
After hearing public testimony in
January about stem cell research, mem
bers of NU’s bioethics committee fine
tuned their suggestions on the contro
versial research.
The committee met Wednesday to
discuss its recommendations in light of
public comments made Jan. 23.
Human stem-cell research was the
topic of discussion for committee mem
bers, which consists of administrators,
faculty members and community lead
ers.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Interim Chancellor Harvey Perlman,
who heads the committee, said the
group won't make any drastic changes to
its recommendations.
Stem cells are the predecessors to all
die tissues in the body, such as the heart,
brain, lungs or liver.
The cells have the potential to devel
op into the cell types of the body organs.
The research has drawn fire from
anti-abortion activists because it can
cause the destruction of an embryo.
Perlman said "not much” happened
in Wednesday's meeting, but the com
mittee is one step closer to sending its
recommendations to NU President
Dennis Smith and the NU Board of
Regents.
The university does not currently
conduct stem-cell research, but the com
mittee recommended in November that
NU could conduct the research if certain
guidelines are followed.
The research must be approved and
justified first by a scientific review com
mittee.
According to the recommendations:
■ Cells cannot be cloned or obtained
from in vitro fertilization done especially
for the research.
■ Institutional Review Boards should
review all research involving human
embryonic stem-cell research.
The committee will change descrip
tions in the recommendations but not
the essence of what was decided in
November, Perlman said.
“We didn’t make any substantive
changes,” Perlman said.
Four committee members disagreed
with the committee's recommendations.
Barbara Engebretsen, assistant pro
fessor of exercise science at Wayne State
College; Sister Renee Miikes, director of
the Center for NaProEthics; Dan Parsons,
executive director of Family First; and
Lawrence Yost, past president of the
Nebraska Bar Association submitted dis
senting views with the committee’s rec
ommendations.
These will be taken into considera
tion, along with public testimony, for
when the committee redrafts its recom
mendations, Perlman said.
Perlman said the committee mem
bers will contact each other via e-mail
during the next month, and if an agree
ment isn’t made on the changes, the
committee will finalize a report in March.