THE DAILY NEBRASKAN OCTOBER
29, 2015
DailyNebraskan.com
Vol 115, Issue 01
‘Someone’s gotta do it’ 90,000 fans create a lot of trash. ROTC cadets spend up to four hours after each home football game cleaning up vomit-covered Valentino’s pizza boxes and water bottles full of tobacco spit. Their story on page 7.
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: ON GLOBAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING As a student of political science and history, the autumn before the presidential primaries typically excites me greatly. Yet this year, I’m apathetic to all the pomp and circumstance. I understand why Mr. Trump’s bombast appeals to many voters. I understand why Mrs. Clinton can’t silence critics grousing about Benghazi and her emails. What I don’t understand, however, is why no presidential candidate— neither on the left nor the right—is discussing arguably the most chilling and pressing issue of our generation: human trafficking. Is human trafficking really not as important as the frivolous comments about Mr. Trump’s perfect hair or the color of Mrs. Clinton’s pantsuits? I believe it is. And you should, too. Slavery is “when one person is controlled by another, forced to work against their will and treated like property.” It’s estimated that there are presently more than 27 million slaves in the world—more than any other time in human history, more even than during the entirety of the African slave trade. This ugly, invisible crime can no longer be overlooked. As citizens of
a country that champions the ideals human trafficking is not considered of justice and freedom, it is incumsuch an issue. As Americans and bent on all of us to demand action world leaders, we can no longer from our public officials. Instead afford to ignore the plight of slaves of our politicians spewing talking around the world and at home. But points, we must elevate the level of in order to solve a problem, we discussion in this country to have a must recognize there is one. real and substantive conversation Human trafficking is a global and about human trafficking. growing criminal industry. The U.S. It baffles me that not one quesgovernment has recognized this. So tion at either the Republican or the why haven’t we? Human trafficking Democratic debate destroys the dignity was about human of human life. All of 600,000 to 800,000 trafficking. Not one. people are trafficked mankind is entitled Like most colto basic human yearly across international lege students, I’m dignity, especially borders. 80 percent of concerned about the most vulnerthese are female and half student loans and able among us. It’s are children..” employment prostime to address pects after college, this monstrous evil. U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT but I’m equally conAccording to the cerned that 17,500 U.S. State Departpeople are trafficked annually in the ment, 600,000 to 800,000 people U.S. while our politicians continue are trafficked yearly across internato cast a blind eye. To put that into tional borders. 80 percent of these perspective, that’s more innocent are female and half are children. victims trafficked in America in one Why, then, is this issue not included year than the Pinnacle Bank Arena under the same category as the at maximum capacity for a Husker war on women about which so basketball game. many of our politicians speak? While I commend the debate comWhether at home or abroad, this mentators for bringing up pertinent issue should concern all of us. I find issues, I seriously question why it deeply troubling that not one of
the candidates running for President has even bothered to address one of the world’s most devastating injustices. It should bother you, too. I urge all Americans to put aside their partisan labels and work together to end human trafficking. If nothing else, my entire reason for writing this is to generate discussion. Parties and labels aside, all issues deserve their time, and America’s presidential candidates have yet to engage in a much-needed conversation on human trafficking. Information is power, and increased education about an issue such as human trafficking helps promote awareness. This is precisely why this issue needs to be discussed on the national stage. There are more than 27 million human beings living as slaves, and they deserve a voice. Will you be theirs?
Sincerely, Alexander Mallory Political science and history student
FRONT PAGE PHOTO BY CAHNER OLSON | DN
An Air Force ROTC student picks up trash at Memorial Stadium after a Husker football game. It usually takes the ROTC students 3 to 4 hours to clean up the trash and recycling in the stadium.
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Bathtub Dogs recover after losing 10 seniors FLORA ZEMPLENI DN
Every Sunday and Wednesday night from 10 p.m. to midnight, Neihardt Hall is filled with music as the 16 members of the Bathtub Dogs, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s all-male a cappella group, rehearse. For many of these members, being part of the group is a relatively new experience. Only two have been a part of the group for three or more years said Kevin Buglewicz, the group’s music director. Buglewicz is one of those two. This fall, five new men were added to the group, after almost 10 graduated in the spring. “It’s actually kind of cool because the group I am in now, besides one person, is a completely different group from when I was first in,” said Buglewicz, a senior advertising & public relations and graphic design major. For its members, being a part of the Bathtub Dogs is a bonding experience. “We are so small and similar in our personalities that we all are just automatic friends, no matter what,” Buglewicz said. “Even though every semester we add new members and people graduate, you kind of just take on the group with an emotion when you are in. Just kind of that chemistry between us is so awesome, and it’s unparalleled by any other thing I have experienced on campus.” “There’s so much extra stuff that you get, that you don’t even know about,” said Jonathan Berger, who joined the group last year. “I made some awesome friends. The guys will probably be in my wedding now, you know. Just in one year, I’ve gotten that close to them,” said Berger, a senior mechanical engineering major and the group’s president. Berger remembers going to a fundraiser at 6:30 a.m. with the Bathtub Dogs. They were meant to sing, but when they got there, they were told there was actually no time for them to do so, so they were asked to go outside and hold up signs instead. They eventually were able to sing, but Berger said that going through these kinds of experiences, good or bad, really helps the group bond. “We like to have fun,” he said. Buglewicz said that one of his favorite songs the group sings is “Cecilia” by Simon & Garfunkel. He said it’s a group staple that they have learned every year since it was first sung by the group in 2003. “We don’t try to sing it nicely at all,” he said. “We kind of strip away all of the techniques that we know and we are just kind of obnoxious and funny when singing it.” The group also has expanded its merchandise from T-shirts. They sold koozies earlier in the year and are planning on selling a Bathtub Dogs calendar at their fall show in December. “Every month will be a new, fun picture of us doing crazy Bathtub Dogs things,” Buglewicz said. They also have a YouTube channel where they upload non-musical skits. Buglewicz said
FILE PHOTO | DN they do it just because the videos are funny. “That’s kind of the thing that is interesting about our group,” Buglewicz said. “Even though we do spend most of our time doing music, we really kind of define ourselves as a humorous, comedic entity that works (together) with the music.” Berger said that this attitude is what is the hardest to teach the new members. “One of the hardest things is getting people to perform with that fun attitude, so when you’ve got all of these seniors and these guys have been doing it for four years, it’s second nature to them,” Berger said. “With new guys, that is one of the hardest things to teach because you can’t just teach some one like ‘oh yeah, make sure you’re being goofy.’” He said that new members often are so focused on reading their music and singing the notes perfectly, that they end up singing with a stony face. Bringing this energy and movement to the
performances, or “dogging out” as the Bathtub Dogs call it, is something that is hard to teach, but essential to the group, Berger said. “It’s one thing to sing; it’s another thing to sing and entertain, which is kind of our thing,” Buglewicz said. Buglewicz said that a lot of the rehearsal is just building on their repertoire to prepare them for performances. They perform for a variety of occasions, such as UNL events, corporate parties or meetings, birthday parties and weddings. In addition to that, the group releases a new CD every couple of years. Their last album, “BIG NEWS,” was released at the end of 2014, so they are starting to prepare to record a new one. Some years, the Bathtub Dogs also compete at ICCA, an intercollegiate a cappella competition. However, this year they are taking a break. “We figured it would be a good year to focus on us and things more for fun instead of stress out about a competition, and that eats up a lot of your year,” Berger said.
Buglewicz said that four people in the Bathtub Dogs, including himself, currently arrange the music that the group sings. He said about 95 percent of what is sung is arranged by members. Almost all of the rest is from group alumni who either donate arrangements or sell them to the Bathtub Dogs. A few songs have been purchased from sources outside the group, but none that are currently being used. But in general, Buglewicz said that the work that makes the Bathtub Dogs successful is a collective effort. “Since there are so few of us, and since there is so much to do, everyone does a lot of work, so there’s a great amount of pride being in the group,” Buglewicz said. “Of all the things I have done, this is one I can be most proud of.”
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Sheldon curator finds passion in assembling exhibits KELSEY CONNELLY DN
world, so he said he is able to put his degree in French to good use. “Other institutions are willing to lend, and Jonathan Frederick Walz’s dream job wasn’t the most feel like they have a responsibility to do so,” Walz said. job he went to school for. Whether borrowed, bought or donated, the With a double major in studio art and French, he planned to be a practicing artist. But objects on display must cohesively create the after graduating, Walz got a job at the National idea or message Walz and his exhibition are trying to portray. Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where he “Art exhibitions are kind of like writing was exposed to the tasks of a gallery curator. “I realized what I wanted to be was the per- a paper; they should really have a thesis,” he son with the ideas that puts the exhibitions to- said. “Instead of using textual citations, we use physical objects.” gether,” Walz said. Walz also aims to make exhibitions at the So, he decided to attend graduate school at the University of Maryland, College Park where Sheldon relevant to the University of NebraskaLincoln campus. he received his doctorate in art history. “We are able to intersect with other groups He worked as a curator in multiple galleries until starting his current position as the curator on campus and help people understand and learn about our culture along with their curricuof American art at the Sheldon Museum of Art. Walz has been responsible for multiple ex- lum,” Walz said. Along with the Sheldon, Walz is able to use hibitions at the Sheldon, including “Land of Enart and events like Art + Social Justice Week as a chantment: New Mexico springboard for conversaas a Cultural Crossroads” tion on topics such as poand “Emory Douglas: I wanted to be the litical and social change. Power to the People, the person with the ideas Conversations like Struggle Continues.” these helped Walz find a As curator, Walz is that puts the exhibitions passion in curating art, he in charge of planning, said. gathering and organizing together.” His unexpected capieces for exhibitions on display. JONATHAN FREDERICK WALZ reer choice taught him many things he would sheldon museum curator Exhibition ideas can have never learned as a stem from multiple sourcpracticing artist, he said, es, Walz said. “A lot of exhibitions will arise because I am including how to communicate through the presentation of objects in an exhibit. doing research on a specific object in a collec“In a lot of ways, people may think that I tion,” he said. gave up my creativity by becoming a curator, Choosing the right pieces for an exhibition can take curators like Walz months, even an but I really think this is an actively creative role,” Walz said. “I get to decide how to write entire year. These objects can be bought by the gallery, sent from other galleries or donated by a narrative and determine how someone will come across a body of material, which is really outside sources. Walz works to negotiate with gallery direc- creative.” NEWS@ tors to get pieces he feels are important for a specific exhibition. In many cases, pieces must DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM be borrowed from other galleries around the ART BY MICHAEL JOHNSON | DN
‘Someone’s gotta do it’: keeping Memorial Stadium clean MATT HANSON DN Another game, another fourth-quarter loss. Ninety thousand crestfallen fans head straight for the exits, rivers of red spilling through the gates of Memorial Stadium and out onto the streets of Lincoln. In minutes, the stands are almost entirely deserted, and the only remnants of the fans who filled them just moments ago are the thousands of empty water bottles, Valentino’s pizza boxes and Wimmer’s hot dog wrappers they left at their feet. Meanwhile, in a cavernous lounge beneath the North Stadium, 40 men and women are getting ready to eat some Domino’s pizza. These are the students who will pick up every last piece of trash their peers left behind. Nothing in these students’ demeanors implies the unenviable task they are about to per-
form. In fact, looking around the room at these 40 stand around and wait for the pizza. When the food arrives, there is no ambush students, one would think their Nebraska Cornhuskers had just beaten the Northwestern Wild- for the delivery man, no mad dash to the table to grab a slice. This isn’t cats, and not the other way a free-for-all. This is the around. Dressed in civilian Recognition’s not Navy/Marines ROTC; clothes (T-shirts and athletthere is a disciplined proic shorts, many of the latter a thing, especially cedure to follow, even for cut short in the traditional pizza. The man in charge, Navy/Marine style), the when you’re picking up junior biochemistry major Navy and Marines ROTC garbage.” Adam Brake, calls for the cadets smile, laugh and freshman to help themtease one another like they TUCKER BONOW junior environmental science major selves. Then the sophoaren’t about to spend the mores. Then the juniors. next three-plus hours pickSeniors eat last. Like eving up others’ trash with erything else the battalion does together, there’s their bare hands. Some of them sit on couches, a reason behind the procedure. glued to the Michigan State-Indiana game on the “Leadership,” Brake said. “As a leader, you TV in the corner of the room. Others sit on stadium security carts that have just been brought always have to take care of your men first. Freshman eat first, seniors last.” in and parked in the center of the room. Most just
The pizza goes fast because 40 fit ROTC cadets eat like 40 fit ROTC cadets, and because everyone here is ready to get started. “The faster we eat, the faster we get started,” Brake said. “The faster we get started, the faster we get done.” “Fast” is a relative adjective for the job at hand. On average, it takes this battalion — and the ones from the Army and the Air Force, which alternate with the Navy/Marines battalion for stadium cleaning duties — three-and-a-half hours to collect all the trash in Memorial Stadium. On days like this one, where the game starts at 11 a.m., it means leaving the stadium somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 p.m. Other game times aren’t so merciful. For night games, the cadets often comb the stands until 2 or 2:30 a.m. Because many of these same cadets also
RECYCLING: SEE PAGE 9
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PHOTO BY JAMES LIU | DN
Jamison Wyatt leads a group on a walking tour that details Mari Sandoz’s life.
Ghost tour follows life of Nebraska author ABBY KORINEK DN A group of about 16 people gathered outside of The Coffee House on Friday night, braving a few sprinkles to retrace the steps and learn about the life of Nebraska’s own Mari Sandoz, author of “Old Jules” and “Capital City.” To start the tour, Jamison Wyatt, the leader and creator, began with an overview of Sandoz’s life prior to her arrival in Lincoln and touched on her childhood growing up in the Nebraska Sandhills. Tour participants then traveled a few hundred yards to the east for the first stop of the tour. This took them to the redtinted brick building on the corner of 14th and P streets, which was once home to the Lincoln Business College, where Sandoz studied typing and dictation on the second floor. Sandoz didn’t
like to talk about her time at the college, and it is on campus included the old teacher’s college, unknown how many months or years she spent where Sandoz was admitted when she was 26, and the old social sciences hall, now Canfield at the school, as many of her associates didn’t Administration Building and the College of even know she had been a student there. Business Administration. The noise of cars and In the midst of the Friday night crowds on P Street, along with the fact (Mari) has, in essence, hustle and bustle of 12th the buildings were that the first stop on the become my personal Street, the next few stops along tour is now home to Raisthe tour. Sandoz worked ing Cane’s, could some- hero, my personal religion, at the American Educatimes make it difficult to tional Digest, a publicaimagine Sandoz spending if you will.” tion for teachers, which time in any of these buildJAMISON WYATT was located at the corings. But, the relative mari sandoz ghost tour guide ner of 12th and P streets, quiet of University of Newhere the Lied Center for braska-Lincoln’s campus, Performing Arts now sits. along with the narration Sandoz began her career at the digest working provided along each stop of the tour, made it easier to picture a 20-something Sandoz living, as a ghost writer and eventually moved up to be an associate editor before quitting in 1929. working and learning around the campus. Stops
While the tour and studying the history of Mari Sandoz is a hobby for Wyatt, who is a legislative aide for a state senator, his passion for the subject became clear as the tour continued. Wyatt’s interest in Sandoz began in high school, when he found a copy of “Old Jules” in his grandparents’ basement. “I read the book; I was enamored,” Wyatt said. “Later at the university, when I was a student there, I took a course under Dr. Wunder. It was a course which focused on Mari and the works of her literary contemporaries. So, we got to read more Sandoz there in that class, so my fascination with Sandoz is intensified through academic study. And since then, I’ve kind of delved into personal research.” While walking from stop to stop, Wyatt sprinkled the tour with smaller bits of informa-
SANDOZ: SEE PAGE 8
MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015 | 7
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Crime log: found gun, stolen pizza STEPHANIE CAVAZOS DN In the last five days, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department responded to reports of two stolen bikes, two accounts of narcotics possessions and an unwarranted deployment of a fire extinguisher at Beta Theta Pi. On Saturday, Oct. 24, a non-UNL affiliate reported her husband missing. The last time he was seen was at a tailgate in the Lincoln Journal Star parking lot around 2:30 p.m. A broadcast was made in an attempt to find the individual, and he was later found at a correctional facility outside of Lancaster County. That same day, officers working at Memorial Stadium during the Nebraska vs. Northwestern game responded to an apparent theft report at the concessions stand at about 1 p.m. A white male in his 30s stole three slices of Valentino’s pizza while employees were trying to run his debit card for the $12 purchase. The investigation is ongoing. On Sunday, Oct. 25, at about 11 a.m., a maroon Ford Mustang backing out of the 1801 R. St. parking garage hit a non-UNL affiliate’s vehicle, causing an estimated $1,200 in damage. The suspect immediately left the scene. There were no reported injuries. Also on Sunday, at about 2:25 p.m. a non-UNL affiliated person reported finding a gun on East Campus near the 38th Street bridge. A UNLPD officer responded to the report and collected the gun. After the serial number was run through National Crime Information Center, it was found to not be stolen. The gun is now in LPD’s custody to be destroyed. Throughout Oct. 20 and Oct. 25, a UNL student reported falling victim to a catfishing scam in which $1,500 had been taken. The case is inactive until new information is received. NEWS@ DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
ART BY MICHAEL JOHNSON| DN
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Amidst college chaos, marriage proves to be constant comfort LINDSAY ESPARRAGO DN
getting married now, it’s not like that. We can move away; we can do anything, but whatever it is — we get to do it together.” The two didn’t share any classes together. Ty Wahl stands on the beat-up Lincoln East High School show choir risers — the same risers They went through their days apart, chaotic with classes, part-time jobs and internships. he spent a majority of his evenings on. The only thing that allowed them to see He’s in his sophomore year of high school, each other throughout the day was the same enduring another rehearsal of the upcoming thing that brought them together: show choir reperformance: “Joseph: the Musical”. Like many times before, the room is full of hearsal, in this case, the University of Nebraskaside chatter and students who don’t yet under- Lincoln’s Big Red Singers. “The biggest challenge is making the time stand how to stay quiet when necessary — the three giggly, screeching freshmen girls behind to see each other,” Gondringer said. “I think that if we were just dating, weren’t as serious Wahl, most noticeably. Except this time, he doesn’t know that one and weren’t living together, it would annoy me of those screeching freshmen will end up being more. But in the grand scheme of things, I know the love of his life: Brittany Gondringer, now a on Friday I’ll see him again. It’s cheesy, but I get senior political science major at the University to come home to someone else.” There are times they won’t see each other of Nebraska-Lincoln. face-to-face until midnight or sometimes for What the two considered “young puppy love” started after a friend of Wahl’s asked him three days straight because of their opposite to start driving Gondringer to and from prac- schedules. This problem occurs more often now that Wahl works 40 hours a week at Celerion tice. “My friend had pointed out that she was ,and Gondringer spends most of her time trycute,” the UNL graduate said. “Being the ing to get through the senior year she said she 16-year-old boy I was, I was kind of just like, thought “would be a breeze,” but isn’t. The mornings when their only communica‘OK, I’ll drive her home.’ And it started being tion is a groggy “good morning” aren’t tearing a thing.” Now, six years later, the two drive back to a the couple apart. The one thing they said could have torn them apart has come and gone, the small, dirt yellow, two-bedroom cottage, greeting them with a red door and green shutters one thing being the transition when Wahl was in every day. Since Gondringer’s sophomore year college and Gondringer was still in high school. “It was really hard,” Gondringer said. and Wahl’s junior year in college, this house located across from East Campus has been the “He was getting to do all of these things but wouldn’t tell me because he didn’t want to leave place they choose to call home. me out. You see a lot of couples go through But the two said their breaks because of this, but six years of dating needwe just mutually agreed: People like to use ed something more than This sucks. We were frusmoving in together with quantities when trated with the situation, their mutt, Piper. not each other.” They waited until they deciding when it’s ‘OK’ to The situation was a saved up money and until stupid thing to worry Gondringer was finally 21 get married. It’s nonsense.” about, she said, but just to take it one step further BRITTANY GONDRINGER like that situation, the two on Oct. 17 at Wilderness unl senior said they are able to look Ridge: marriage. beyond any complication Student status was not with a calm perspective. enough to keep the rings “We wouldn’t get married without being off their fingers. committed in the first place,” she said. “People “I think students, or younger people, are like to use quantities when deciding when it’s stuck in this idea of wanting to live their own lives and do whatever they want,” Wahl said. ‘OK’ to get married. It’s nonsense. There’s not a “They don’t want to be ‘tied down,’ but with us template for life. You just need to see what life is
SANDOZ: FROM 6 tion about Sandoz’s life. The tour wound its way down 12th Street, past The Cornhusker, A Marriott Hotel, where Sandoz spent much of her time, writing and relaxing in the airconditioned rooms and on toward the former location of the Boston House, at 1226 J. Street, where Sandoz lived for much of her time in Lincoln. The journey ended on the west side of the Nebraska State Capitol, where Sandoz worked on the ninth floor while employed by the Nebraska State Historical Society. It was in this office that she received the news that her biography of her father, Jules, had won the Atlantic Press non-fiction contest. From that point on, she was a full-time writer. While the participants on the tour only
stalked Sandoz’s ghost for about an hour and a half, Wyatt, who lives in the same apartment building Sandoz did, said he follows her every day, walking the same streets and sidewalks she did. “She’s, in essence, become my personal hero, my personal religion, if you will,” Wyatt said. “I decided maybe other people want to know about her, and we kind of stalk her ghost and follow her shadow here in the city.” The tour, in its second year, will have one more free showing Thursday. Oct. 29 at 5:30 p.m.
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COURTESY PHOTO doing at that point and how you’re feeling and go from there.” “Going from there,” is what the couple is doing. The two said they don’t have it all laid out but are fine with not knowing. One benefit they’re still waiting for details on is Federal Student Aid, now that they will be filed as married and dependent — putting their income at a much lower rate than their parents’, possibly giving Wahl more loans for graduate school.
But the monetary factor is the last thing on their minds. The couple said it’s Gondringer’s unpredictable, fun personality combined with Wahl’s levelheaded, comforting attitude that makes them work; that makes them “best friends.” “We’re just getting to the good part before everyone else,” Wahl said, laughing. “It’s just about sharing experiences…You can’t take each other too seriously.”
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Heightened graduation requirements implemented BAILEY SCHULZ DN Incoming college students may be less prepared for university classes than those in previous years, according to a recent report by Archive, a nonprofit education reform organization. Archive works with states to raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments and strengthen accountability. The report, released on Oct. 19, analyzed the 93 diploma options available across all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the class of 2014. It looked at how many diplomas each state offered and whether the diplomas met college and career ready, also referred to as CCR, expectations and requirements needed to earn the diplomas. Archive defined college and career ready students as those who have taken at least three years of math and four years of rigorous, gradelevel English. After their research, they found that many states offer multiple diplomas, some of which don’t assure a student’s readiness for higher education. While the graduation rate for the United States is at an all-time high, with 81 percent of students graduating in the 2012-2013 school year, the number of diploma options has also increased. According to Archive, 20 states don’t offer a diploma that requires students to complete CCR requirements. Twenty-six states have multiple diploma options, but in every state, at least one doesn’t meet CCR expectations. Only four states and the District of Columbia require all students to earn a diploma that includes CCR requirements. Although every state has CCR standards in mathematics and English, not every state requires that every student take courses that meet those standards before graduation. Without a CCR level diploma, Archive argues that students may not be as ready for college as they had hoped, saying in the report that “for too many students, the diploma is not an indication of college and career readiness — a
fact that students may not know until they try to pursue their next steps.” Nebraska, which has a graduation rate of 89.68 percent, raised its graduation requirements for the graduating class of 2015. Now, all high school students must meet the CCR requirements. Heather Reed, the director of First-Year Experience & Transition Programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said that while she doesn’t know if she’s seen more incoming students less prepared for college than those in the past, she does think that the university and the first-year placement program is more aware of what it needs to do to support those incoming students. Placement tests are one way the university is making sure students won’t be put in a class that’s too overwhelming. “When a student comes, they’re taking their math placement exams. They’re taking a foreign language. Their language placement exam, things along those lines,” Reed said. “That helps inform our academic advisers to be able to place that student in a class where they’ll be successful.” It’s not just low-GPA students that need help adjusting to higher education, according to Reed. She said that the first-year program is used to help students that were high-achieving in high school with high ACTs and high GPAs. “The challenge is they may not have learned to study in high school,” she said. “And that can be dependent on their high school preparation, the classes they took, the program they were involved in, whatever. And so we want to help those students learn how to study on a collegiate level.” As for students who had lower GPAs or ACT scores, Reed said the university is aware that the adjustment may be a bit tougher for
them. “We want to outreach before there’s challenges to help them know we’re here to help you,” she said. “There’s tons of resources that your tuition dollars are paying for. And so we want you to take advantage of those things. And part of it is awareness, making sure they know there’s help, but you’re going to have to ask for it.” Overall, though, Reed said that they’ve seen academic profiles increase, with higher GPAs and higher ACT scores than previous classes.
Nicole Green, the assistant director of the writing center, said that she doesn’t believe that University of Nebraska-Lincoln students are less prepared than in the past. She said that new students are usually well-prepared for certain kinds of writing, such as the kind of writing that’s found on standardized tests, but lack in other areas. “It’s just that college-level writing asks them to do something different, so it’s not really a lack of preparation on part of them, the students, or on (the) part of their high school teachers or
has finished cleaning their row, they call for a runner to pick up their full trash bag and to bring them a new one. Up the runners go, sprinting up the steps with empty bags in tow, dashing this way and that to swap clean (another relative term) bags for dirty ones. Then, with as many as five bags in tow, most of which are leaky and all of which are heavy, they run back down the steps. No rinse, just repeat. Up and down, up and down, up and down, until every last row has been cleaned and every last bag has been filled and carried down to the field level. It’s hard work but no harder than the physical training that these cadets do every week; and, with the exception of the trash bags on their backs, no different from the mornings when they have to run every step in the stadium. But while this job might not be more physically demanding than the cadets’ early morning workouts, it’s still no picnic. The bags aren’t
waterproof — “you try not to think about what’s spilling on you” — and the trash, being trash, can be disgusting. Some, like Brake, say the worst is the dip spit. Pick up the wrong bottle, and you might have the misfortune to wash your hands with tobacco juice. Others say the worst is the vomit. Senior nursing major Mary Marsoleck recalls having to pick up trash out of pools of puke. “Someone will hurl in the stands, and then trash gets in it, and you want to disinfect your whole body when you get home,” Marsoleck said. Why do they do it? For starters, stadium cleaning duty is mandatory for all ROTC battalions. Then of course there’s the money. Then, to make it fun, there’s the competition between the branches: who can clean the stadium fastest? But beyond all that, there’s something else, too, something sacred to these future members of the United States Armed Forces: duty. “Someone’s gotta do it,” junior environmen-
tal science major Tucker Bonow said. “The most important part is getting it done. I don’t really care if people know (we do it). Recognition’s not a thing, especially when you’re picking up garbage.” Indeed, cleaning the stadium row by row is often a thankless job. But these ROTC cadets do it anyway, every third week, and they do it without complaining. And aside from the money that the athletic department pays them, all they ask in return for their work is for the fans to be more conscious about the trash they leave behind them. “We have 90,000 people at each game,” Marsoleck said. “If every person just picked up one piece of trash to take with them on their way out, that’s 90,000 less pieces of trash we’d have to pick up.”
ART BY HALEY HEESACKER | DN
RECYCLING: FROM 5 work security for the game, and therefore have to show up for briefing four hours before kickoff, they work nearly 12 hours straight at the stadium. For most of Lincoln, Saturdays in fall are gamedays. For ROTC cadets, they’re more like workdays. They get paid, at least, but money doesn’t make this job any easier. They begin in the North Stadium, in the top rows, in the far left corner of the stands. The freshman and sophomores are on “row duty.” They sweep across the entire section, each cadet the custodian of his own row, picking up every last piece of litter they see. Unlike their Army and Air Force rivals, these cadets don’t use gloves. Some juniors and seniors work the rows too. Others — those upperclassmen that Brake deems the fastest in the battalion — run. These so-called “runners” sprint up and down the stadium steps, carrying raggedy brown, burlap bags to and from the cadets in the rows. When a row cadet
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