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March 28,2001
VolumelOO
Issue 132
daHyneb.com
Shoe 1901
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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.