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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2001)
s Daily Nebraskan Jeremy Patrick ponders how one would decide a person ‘deserves* capital punishment In Opinion/4 Despite an injured Ingram, the Husker women’s gym team defeats Florida In SportsMonday/12 With Mother’s Day approaching, the Noyes Gallery honors moms with a contest In Arts/5 Regents strive to improve recruitment BY JILL ZEMAN KEARNEY — After facing criticism that Nebraska’s best and brightest choose to go elsewhere,the NU Board of Regents Saturday passed an aggressive recruiting plan aimed at luring the state’s top stu dents to UNL, UNO and UNTC The board approved the campuses’ plans to ratchet up in- and out-of-state recruitment, which would cost a total of $52 million. The university’s plan entails purchas ing, for the first time ever, the names of high school sophomores who take the ACT practice test. Those names encompass more than 70 percent of Nebraska’s high school sophomores and will allow the university to directly mail information to those prospective students. This encompasses one major goal of the plan: to contact students earlier in their high school careers. The regents added an amendment to the resolution that said NU President Dennis Smith must approve any extra funding the schools would receive for recruitment. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Interim Chancellor Harvey Perlman said he hoped to raise UNLs enrollment from its current 22,300 students to 25,000 by 2005, a 12 percent increase. Perlman’s plan includes a boost in the recruiting budget of about 45 percent to Regents $3.1 million. To help boost enrollment. Perlman said UNL needed to focus on Nebraska residents, minorities and high ability out of-state students. Regent Drew Miller of Papillion said the university needed to focus on bringing more of Nebraska's students to NU before it started worrying about out-of-state stu dents. Perlman disagreed, and said it would be impossible to bring all of Nebraska’s eli gible students to the university. “There’s going to be a certain percent age (of Nebraska’s prospective students) that no matter what, they’ll want to get out of here." Perlman said. Besides. Perlman said, out-of-state students bring in much-needed revenue to the university with their higher tuition rates. Joel Schafer, UNL student body presi dent and student regent, said out-of-state students were crucial to UNLs campus cli mate. “I can’t stress enough how important out-of-state students are to UNL" he said. University of Nebraska at Kearney Chancellor Gladys Styles Johnston said to boost UNK’s enrollment, prospective stu dents needed to be contacted early in their high school career about the possi bilities at UNK. UNK aims to have 7,500 students by 2005, compared to its current 6.500. It pro poses to increase its recruiting budget by $897,000. ► More scholarships - especially those for out-of-state students, minorities and students with high academic ability - are essential. Johnston said. Miller said he thought the specific tar geting of minority students could drag down average standardized test scores for the university. Lower test scores could lower NU’s national ranking and reputation, which would hurt recruitment even more, he said. Please see REGENTS on 6 Student lobbies to save Artie BY GEORGE GREEN Sen. Ben Nelson gets the hot seat again this week. Nelson, a moderate Democrat, has been the focal point of conservative lobbying since taking office in January. With the senate half Republican and half Democrat, Nelsons swing vote might be key to pass ing several GOP initiatives, including President Bush’s hefty $1.6 trillion tax cut. But this weekend, John Seward, a UNL junior environmental studies major, aims to turn Nelson away from the Republican tide. Seward traveled to Washington, D C. on Friday as Nebraska’s delegate to the Sierra Student Coalition's third annual national summit. The group is the student arm of the Sierra Club, a pillar of the environmental movement that has championed preservation and conservation issues for several decades. This year, the student group charged Seward with lobbying Nebraska’s senators and representa tives to reject Bush’s plan to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The group also plans to lobby for the Red Rock Wilderness Act, which would protect 9.1 million acres of federal land in Utah. The Arctic, though, is the group’s main focus, Seward said. The drilling proposal is a contentious issue on Capitol Hill that has resurrected old partisan battles. Seward said he was determined to pull Nelson back to the democratic side, which opposed the plan. “The intrinsic value of the refuge is more impor tant than its economic worth,” Seward said. Drilling will not only violate a pristine wilderness Please see ARCTIC on 3 CAT PILE: Class D-2 state cham pions Loup City Wildcats cele brate their vic tory over Chambers on Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Loup City came from behind in the fourth quar ter to win the state final 48 44. ASUN election swayed by traditional voters BY JILL CONNER Although this year’s ASUN candidates promised to reach more nontraditional voters, traditional voters may still have decided the results. ASUN Electoral Commission Chairman John D. Conley said although voter turnout was lower than last year, the demographics of the voters were still the same - mainly members of fraternities and sororities. “While you need to go out and try to bring in new voters, you also need to remember the traditional voters are the ones who come out time and time again, so you need to keep them in mind when you’re campaigning,” he said. ASUN President Joel Schafer said he expected a runoff between the two parties who targeted traditional voters - Score! and No Bull. But Schafer said he also expected the candidates who aimed their message at nontraditional audiences, such as NUForce presidential candidate Angela Clements and Independent Candidate John Matzen, to make a better showing. “I think Angela Clements did a very good job trying to bring students and inter ASUN national groups and underrepresented groups (to the polls),” Schafer said. “John Matzen tried to bring people who didn't vote in the past,” he said. Despite the candidates’ push to reach students who don’t traditionally vote, Schafer said it also makes a campaign hard er. “A lot of it comes down to groups of stu dents on campus who do vote,” he said. Schafer said the candidates in the runoff will have to work hard to retain the numbers that voted for them originally. Many times run-off voter turnout is lower because there are no senate seats or second vice presidential candidates to vote for. “I think that’s going to determine who wins - who can get the majority of their peo ple back to vote,” he said. Conley said during runoffs in years past, students don’t vote because their candidate is not represented. “Even candidates like Fuerst and Mixan Please see ASUN on 8 College welcomes new dean BY SHARON KOLBET It is a room with a view. In an office that overlooks Memorial Stadium, the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences said he had one of the best views on campus. “I could almost sell skybox tickets from here,” Richard Hoffmann said, gesturing to the football field as seen from the 121*1 floor of Oldfather Hall. Though he looks forward to watching Cornhusker foot ball later this year, right now: Hoffmann is getting acquaint ed with his new office and his new position. Hoffmann began his term as the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences on Feb. 1. Prior to his appointment at UNL, Hoffmann served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the State University of New York at .Albany, “I am glad to be back in the Midwest,” Hoffmann said. Before moving to .Albany. Hoffmann served for 18 years at Iowa State University in .Ames. At ISU, Hoffmann was an associate professor of zoology and genetics. He also served as associate dean of ISU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 1993-1997 and interim dean of the college from 1997-98. Hoffmann said that while UNL and Iowa State were both land-grant institutions, the scope of programs offered by the two Big 12 institutions were quite different. “UNL is a much more balanced college,” he said. "Nebraska has a more complete Arts and Sciences pro gram and a much better distribution of graduate programs.” Hoffmann replaces Brian Foster, who left last spring to become vice president and provost at the University of New Mexico in .Albuquerque. Linda Pratt, chairwoman of the English Department, UNL's new College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Hoffmann stands in front of an office win dow that over looks Memorial Stadium. Prior to his position at UNL, Hoffman served at Iowa State University in Ames and the State University of New York at Albany. Sharon Kolbet/DN serv ed as interim dean. Pratt said she was confident Hoffmann would continue to move the college forward. “The biggest challenge is advancing the work of the col lege on a tight budget," Pratt said. Hoffmann said he agreed funding was tight but was encour aged by UNLs commitment to academic improvement. Please see DEAN on 3