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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 2001)
Wnrhrii . | , MVURIJUU| March 28,2001 VolumelOO Issue 132 daHyneb.com Shoe 1901 Hs -fe- km&***&* Students on parking: We'll walk BYJtlZEMAN Although students, faculty and staff may have an easier time finding a parking spot this fall, their checkbooks will takeahit to pay for it The Parking Advisory Committee on Friday approved about a 20 percent increase in the cost of parking permits for next year. The committee also recommended the construction of a new parking garage at 14th and Avery streets, west of Harper-Schramm Smith Residence Halls. There’s a demand on campus for more parking, and the only place to build is up> said Tad McDowell, director of Puking and Hansit Services. And the way to pay for this, McDowell said, is through increased permit prices. The 17th and R parking garage will have 1,200 spots available for use in August, McDowell said. The remaining 500 parking stalls will be completed in October; he said. But one bright spot is that there won’t be any increases in the cost of citations, McDowell said. Scott Parsons, a senior computer science major, said he always thought parking at UNL was overpriced “I don’t think it's fair for students now to pay for something they won’t use,” he said Parsons, who parks off-campus, said if more students would take the bus, walk or ride their bikes, parking problems could be less ened “I understand the university needs to spend money so we can have the privilege to perk,” he said “We’re all young-we can walk.” Carly Reese, a senior business manage ment major, also said she thought more people should ride their bikes or take die bus. “I’ve never had problems finding a bike rack,” she said Taking the bus or biking may be less con venient, but in die long run, it’s cheaper and easier, she said But Reese said she thought parking prices were getting too high. Tm glad I’m graduating because I couldn’t afford to drive next year,” Reese said Reese said she thought tne university’s effort to build more garages was “too little, too late." The demand is so great for parking spaces that no one who purchases a non-reserved pass is guaranteed a spot to park, which Reese said die thought was outrageous. “Does cement cost that much to pour?" she asked with a laugh. Meggan Peters, a senior management (information systems major, said she couldn't imagine parking prices continuing to rise. Students are paying for the construction of new garages now, while many of them won't ever see the additional parking spaces. And while Peters said she agreed more people should bike or take the bus, die said with Nebraska weather, that can't happen all the time. When it's cold, people won’t ride their bikes or wait for the bus, she sakL Building garages is the only alternative, but Peters said the new prices still seemed too high. “I feel sorry for the freshmen because by the time they graduate, they'll seriously have to pay $500to park," she said 1 .-■ '■<■*: ^T'’'1- '■:: '‘ ' NateWagner/DN MllffY40*MWIIfc Kelly SmfeJ7, spms her $-year^ brother, Thomas, on a iwindabout at Holmes Lake playground Tuesday aftemoon.They stopped for a break after run ■ing errands. The weather outside looked warm and comfortable but could be hampered by the last of whiter* cold today. Emphasis on students ■ Daniel Berstein, a professor of psychology, focuses on student learning in his classes. BYUHP8EY BAKER Editor's Note: This is the last in a three-part series spotlighting professors who have won universi ty-wide awards for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity and Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity. UNL Psychology Professor Daniel Bernstein said he had a blast in the era of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Bernstein said it was fascinat ing to watch people question their values during the tumultuous 1960s while he attended college at Stanford University and graduate school at the University of California at San Diego. “It was a challenging and exciting time," he said. “Every value that we had learned from our parents and in school was being aggressively challenged. It showed up in personal behavior, art, music, politics - everything was up for grabs." The fascination Bernstein found in his 1960s college peers didn't end. In fact, he has made a life ofstudying human behavior in experimental psychology. His efforts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln - where he has taught for 28 years - include con ducting a recent project focusing on ways to better student under standing in his dasses and coordi wi . > nating a collaborative group of university professors to discuss die same topic. For his continued work, Bernstein was awarded the Outstanding Teaching and • Instructional Creativity Award, a university-wide recognition annually given to two professors in the NU system. Tm very pleased to be count ed among some of the fine profes sors (who have received the award),” Bernstein said. Calvin Garbin, a UNL associ ate psychology professor, said Bernstein won the award for his ability to teach both students and teachers. “I would consider him a teacher’s teacher as well as a stu dent’s teacher,” Garbin said. “The man does it alL” Garbin wrote one of the letters in Bernstein’s award nomination package. Bernstein, who teaches undergraduate psychology class es and a graduate seminar, con ducted his studies on three offer ings of an undergraduate course to find "ways to help students leam better and leam deeper.” “I think itlsaprocess ofinquiry into how to best help students have a deeper understanding,” he said. By (hanging the way he taught each course, Bernstein found that feedback and reading are two key elements to student understand ing Please see AWARD on 2 - • . Clements'dedication earns national award BY JILL ZEMAN After spending the past year campaigning against the passage of Initiative 416 and running for ASUN president, Angela dements has finally won. While dements didn’t get the desired outcome in either the so called defense of marriage amendment or the ASUN elec tions, she came out on top when she received a Truman Scholarship last week. The Truman Scholarship is a national public service award given to 70 U.S. college students. dements is only die 10th per son in UNEs history to receive the award. The last University of Nebraska-Lincoln recipient, Kara Slaughter, was given the award in 1998. Clements, a junior political science and history major, will receive $3,000 for her senior year of college and $27,000 for gradu ate school dements was surprised with her award, presented by Chancellor Harvey Perlman and Honors Program Director Patrice Berger in her Italian class last week. “At first I was like, ‘Uh-oh, did I do something wrong?’ ” she said. “It's still sinking in because it’s been something I’ve been think ing about for a really long time.” -y? Berger, who nominated Dements for die award, said in a press release that Dements has been "exceptionally effective in mobilizing students for con structive action." "She has modeled public service on our campus for the past three years," Berger said. While the $30,000 award is great, the application process was a lot of work, Dements said. Clements said she began working on the application last October. The application also required a policy proposal, in which Clements wrote about gay and lesbian immigration rights. Currently, gays or lesbians who live outside the country aren’t able to automatically enter the United States to be widi their partners. Heterosexual couples are granted that right, and Dements said she thought gays should be given the same right Dements learned in the mid dle of February she was a finalist and went to Denver over spring break for an interview. The interview, Dements said, was intense. Clements was grilled by a group of panelists about herself, her policy proposal and current Please see CLEMENTS on 3 vv o cities'way BY GEORGE GREEN Four years ago, urban and rural senators reached an impor tant compromise: Urban sena tors could use 2 cents of a tax on cigarettes to renovate Omaha’s dilapidated Civic Auditorium. In return for the cigarette bucks, urban senators assured their rural counterparts they would vote to repeal a tax on live stock breeding. And so the deal went down with one string attached: After the four-year term, the cigarette tax dollars Omaha used to fix its auditorium would be sort back into a state fund for building ren ovation. The four years are up, and some lawmakers said they expected to see the tax money dumped bade into die 309 Fund for construction. But some urban lawmakers, the governor and the University of Nebraska envision a different conclusion to the deal LB657, introduced by Lincoln Senator Chris Beutier, would divert the tobacco tax money to Omaha and Lincoln for development projects. His bill, which passed the first of three rounds of debate Tuesday, would funnel $1 million a year for 15 years to Lincoln for the Antelope Valley Project and $1.5 million a year for 15 years to Omaha to help develop the Missouri Riwrfmnt Sen. Bob Wickersham of Harrison said the new proposal isn’t an urban vs. rural conflict Rather, he said, he tried to gun down the bill simply because it diverts funds away from important building proj ects. “It takes dollars away from a critical state resource,” he said. * Buildings smattered across the state desperately need reno vation, including ones on the university and state college cam puses, he said. Ib put a dent in the long list of things needing repair, includ ing broken windows and handi cap entrances, he said, die state will have to shell out $256 mil lion. Instead of allocating tobacco tax dollars to these projects, he said, Beulter’s plan allocates the money to new projects. “It gives to areas that in my estimation don’t need it,” he said. Beuder, though, said the two projects are “die most important Vi urban renaissance projects ever done in the state of Nebraska." By rebuilding Nebraska's centers of economic activity, he said, lawmakers will ensure that die state's economy continues to grow. And rural senators should be interested in the state’s econom ic expansion, he said, because as rural economies continue to stagnate, small communities will need state supplements to stay afloat Recent census figures that reveal a drain _ of citizens from the rural communities highlight the need for more development in the cities, he said. Despite what he sees as benefits for the whole state, Beutler said, he could understand how rural senators might object to foe plan. Officials "My concern really was limited to the City of Omaha honoring its agree ment” Chris Bourne senator wno repre sent different areas have “natural differences,” he said. lb boost Lincoln’s economy, the bill would help fund the sweeping Antelope Valley proj ect, which would give Lincoln a major facelift by: ■ Redesigning the rail lines that cross in front of the Devaney Sports Center. ■ Closing 16th and 17th streets near the university and replacing them with a new four lane street that passes State Fair Park. ■ Constructing several new bike paths and parks by Antelope Creek. ■ Making room for University of Nebraska-Lincoln expansion. Omaha would spend its slice of the pie on getting the river front ready for the Gallup Organization's move from Lincoln to Omaha. It would also build new paths, bridges and use some of die funds to build a new conven PleaseseeCrniSon3 NateWagner/DN RACE YA: Kelly Smilie speeds down a slide at Holmes Lake part in hopes of beating her younger brother in a race around the playground.