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Monday
March 26,2001 /%
Volume 100 'I
Issue 160 130 i g
dailyneb.com i f j i
Since 1901 %/1
BaNnd the waxy myth
jp«rick%&*o on critic 11 .#1*
In Opinion/4 ^ pfe J|
| ’v ’•'; • ; ■- -
Men's swimming programs axed by NU
■ The cut came amid concerns
of the Athletic Departments
continuous budget deficits.
BYDAVPMB*.
The University of Nebraska
and AthletictMrector Bill Byrne
announced Sunday that men’s
swimming and diving would be
discontinued as an intercolle
giate sport at Nebraska effective
witn me zuui-zuuz season, ine
women's swimming and diving
teams will continue as UNL inter
collegiate sports.
The move comes because of
budgetary concerns, a one-and
a-half page release by the
Nebraska Sports Information
Department stated. The men's
and women's swimming pro
grams operate on a collective
$1.3 million budget. The
Nebraska Athletic Department
operates on a $39 million slate
Dut overran its funding by
$250,000 in its 1999-2000 fiscal
year.
The University of Nebraska
Board of Regents adopted a reso
lution earlier this month to con
sult with the NCAA about expen
ditures in collegiate athletics.
The resolution’s sponsor,
Regent Chuck Hassebrook, said
die move to drop swimming was
not a result of his resolution but a
sign of how athletic programs
were affected by the “arms race”
of spiraling costs - exactly what
his resolution was aimed at pre
venting.
The move also comes after an
internal investigation into the
swimming program that began
last September 'Hie investigation
led to the suspension and even
tual retirement of former Coach
Cal Ben tz.
The program was left under
the direction of Interim Coach
Paul Nelsen. Nebraska is sched
uled to appear before the NCAA
committee* of infractions in
September 2001.
Eliminating the men’s pro
gram will save about $500,000
annually, the release said, as
swimming, a non-revenue sport,
is one of the most costly Olympic
sports at NU. The drop leaves just
four Big 12 schools with intercol
legiate men's swimming and div
ing.
Nelsen couldn’t be reached
for comment because he was in
Austria Sunday evening on a
recruiting trip.
Jonathan Haggerty, a
Nebraska assistant coach, said he
was shocked when he found out
about the decision. Haggerty said
coaches and players caught wind
of the program drop through talk
and e-mails prior to the official
word, which came from
Associate Athletic Director Bob
Burton.
With programs throughout
Please see SWIMMING on 3
David Oasen/ DN
Sgt Larry
Kalkowsldofthe
11—V-**-- -M
university ot
Nebraska
Lincoln poice
patrols UN1&
campus
Saturday.
Campus officers see other side ofniahtlife
BY JILL CONNER
While many students are out and
about partaking in their weekend
excursions, they may be unaware of
who silently watches them.
Two University Police officers
shared their experiences during the
lulls nf routine building rhprks and tbp
“rush-hour” of DWIs Saturday night.
9£lpjn.
Sgt Kalkowski, starts his cruiser, a
GMC Jimmy.
While driving familiar streets on
ritv ramnns Kalkowski listpns to thp
dispatchers call out different codes on
the various channels of his radio
mounted on the middle of his console.
“Its tough to predict whether any
thing's going to happen,” he said.
"There will be three or four days of
sheer boredom, then anything can
happen,” he said, as he parked his
cruiser a few Mocks away horn another
university officer who had made a traf
fic stop.
Kalkowski, nicknamed "Ski” by
other officers, said as a shift supervisor,
he often checked to make sure nothing
happened.
“I’d say 98 percent of the time,
nothing happens, but you never know
when something is going to go wrong,”
he said
But tonight, the "A* shift - which
runs from 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. - means
only the silent drive listening to the
radio and routine parking lot checks.
“Except for a few obscene phone
calls, it was pretty quiet,” he said
' 9-.49p.rn.
After being called back to the sta
tion to lock up a student’s firearms in
the police department's special stor
age, Kalkowski returns to die cruiser
Again, he drives the routine streets
and parking lots and4istens to the
radio
A Lincoln Police Officer drives by
and the two wave to each other, like
ships passing in the night
“There has definitely been times
when we were glad to see each other,"
Kalkowski comments.
Kalkowski said certain situations,
Please see POLICE on 3
Professor's interest, study of insects draws attention
Editor’s note Tbe fououing is the first in a
series cftbree stories about professors who
received universitywide awards for
Outstanding Research and Creative Activity
and Outstanding Teaching and
Instructional Creativity.
BY SHARON KOLBET
Brett Ratcliffe’s interest in beetles
has evolved since his first bug-collect
ing attempts at age 10.
At that time, aiming lighter fluid at
butterflies was the only insect-collect
ing technique he knew of But his atti
tude toward entomology changed sig
nificantly after his family moved from
Georgia to Japan.
“I spent my formative years in
Japan, a country that values and
encourages insect study and collec
tioiis/'hesakL
Today, Ratcliffe is a professor and
curator of insects at the University of
Nebraska State Museum. His passion
for entomology was recently recog
nized when die university named him a
recipient of the Outstanding Research
and Creative Activity Award.
Ratdiffe attributes die award to “the
group effort” ofthe insect division atthe
State Museum.
Mary Liz Jatneson, research assis
tant professor of entomology, said
Ratdiffe was being modest in deflecting
praise.
“Ratdiffe is a leader and has done a
great deal of work to form what is the
most important scarab beetle collec
tion in North America,” she said.
Scarab beetles are a family of bee
tles, including lady bugs and dung bee
tles.
Right now, the Nebraska State
Museum is home to more than two mil
lion insects and arachnids, including
die fourth largest scarab beetle collec
tion in the world.
In 1999, the efforts of Ratdiffe and
the insect division were rewarded when
die Smithsonian Institution decided to
transfer the national collection of
scarab beetles to the University of
Nebraska.
In March 1999, the insect division
group known as “Team Scdrab" traveled
to the Smithsonian to prepare and
transport nearly 300,000 specimens
from Washington, D.C. to their new
home in Lincoln.
The Nebraska State Museum now
has one of die most comprehensive ad
lections of scarab beetles in the world.
“Lincoln, Nebraska, is becoming
well known in the world of scarab
research," said UNL graduate student
Andrew Smith.
Smith, a native of Canada, said he
read about Ratcliffe’s research and
chose to attend UNL so he could work
withRatdiffe.
“Ratcliffe is a world-renowned
scholar. He was the only person in
North America I wanted to study
under” he said.
Smith has been working with
Ratciiffe for nearly three and a half
years. He said Ratdiffe’s hard work was a
big reason the Nebraska State Museum
was chosen to receive the Smithsonian’s
national collection.
"Moving such a large collection is a
very big deal” he said.
To aid in the scarab research and
the mentoring of graduate students,
Ratciiffe and Jameson received a grant
of nearly $750,000 from the National
Science Foundation. ,
Ratciiffe said he encouraged those
who wanted to learn more about activi
ties in the division of entomology to
check out the Web site at www.muse
um. unLedu/researdi/entomology/index
.htm.
Ratciiffe said he felt a real sense of
Pteasee see RATQJFFE on 7
Author gives account of life on USS Nebraska
BY JLi. CONNER
, The biggest Nebraska Husker fans
could be living in the deep ocean
about 50 miles off the coast of Georgia.
As documented in the book by
Doug Waller, “Big Red,” the crewmen
of die USS Nebraska, altfdent subma
rine, take pride in their namesake.
Waller stopped by the University
Bookstore on Saturday to promote his
neyr book about the life aboard a
nuclear submarine.
The inside of the submarine is not
unlike the inside of the University
Bookstore, including a sign above the
kitchen labeling it the “Comhusker
m
Cafd,” he said.
Waller, a foreign policy reporter for
TIME Magazine, said he approached
the Navy with th£ idea of documenting
the three-month period when a
indent Submarine was at sea, and the
Navy assigned him the USS Nebraska.
“It’s the best boat on the waterfront
- the Navy’s not dumb," he said.
Waller said the title of the book
came from the nickname of the sub
marine, which they stole from the
University of Nebraska.
“They really take state prtde sen
ously,” Waller said.
Waller started investigating the
submarine in 1998 and said his book
tried to show what a three-month stay
on a Trident submarine would be like.
Calling it an "underwater cruise
ship,” Waller said if the submarine was
stood on one end, it would be taller
than the Washington Monument
The USS Nebraska is one of the
Navy's 18 Trident submarines and is
armed with 24 strategic ballistic mis
siles and 120 nuclear warheads, Waller
said.
This much nuclear power repre
sents twice the explosive power of all
the conventional warheads detonated
Jn World War n, he said.
Please see WALLER on 7
Web site
forum for
students
■ The privately-run site gives those concerned
with the University of Nebraska at Omaha a
meanstopurchasebooksorevaluate professors.
BY MARGARET BEHM
Two issues that dominated discussion in this
year’s ASUN elections are already in effect at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Online teacher evaluations and a book-selling
network topped ASUN’s election issues and have
already been instituted in the UNO community.
The topics are featured on a privately-run Omaha
Web site, wwm unounderground.com.
Anyone can access die Web site to evaluate a
teacher, post messages or even buy a book for class.
Nathan Fuerst, ASUN president-elect, said he
would be looking into online teacher evaluations for
die University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“If it’s done in a way that is positive to both stu
dents and faculty, I’m in favor of it,” he said.
The Association of Students of die University of
Nebraska will be instating online book buying, Fuerst
said. He hopes to implement it this falL
William Marunda, UNO student body president,
said the V\feb site was basically a communication link
between students.
its a Duueun ooara orcnat room ior anytnmgto
do with UNO,” he said.
Hie site is privately managed, and Marunda
denied knowing who ran it, but he did say the person
in charge goes by the alias Paco.
“Some people think ifs associated with die uni*
versity and it’s not,” he said
Several students who have beat criticized on the
Web site by other students have complained to
Marunda.
Marunda said he had been bashed on the Web
site and it didn’t bother him.
William dute, associate professor of sociology at
UNO, said he didn’t know anything about UNO
Underground
But he said he wasn’t surprised he had both good
and bad evaluations on the Web site.
“Every semester I teach hundreds of students.
There are some that like me and some that don't,” Ire
said
dute said the online teacher evaluations didn't
bother him because they didn't reflect what type of
teacher he was.
There are only a few students who have filled
them out, compared to the number of students that
he has taught, Qute said
“It isn't representative of anything,” he said
Marunda said die teacher evaluations students
filled out at the end of every semester were more
effective than the online evaluations.
The evaluations students fill out in class can make
a difference on whether a non-tenured professor is
asked to teach more courses, he said
“Students in all the classes that I’ve been in have
taken advantage of (the evaluations)," he said
Marunda said he didn’t condemn or endorse
UNO Underground
“I think that if students want to use it - great!” he
said
“But I feel the majority of students have better
things to do.”
Jennifer Lund/DN
Douglas C
Wallersignshb
book at the
University
Bookstore on
Saturday. Waller
wrote "Big Red:
Three Months
on Board a
Trident Nudear
Submarine.*