November 15

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dailynebraskan.com

friday, november 15, 2013 volume 113, issue 057

Inside Coverage

Pretty lights

A space for creativity

DJ performs in first live-band tour

Innovation Campus to have Maker Space

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On the defensive

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Junior running back Ameer Abdullah, who ranks No. 6 in the country and No. 1 in the Big Ten this season in rushing yards, said he is excited to face Michigan State, which is No. 1 in the country in rushing defense. file photo by morgan spiehs

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cutting the

fat

UNL dining halls integrates trans-fat-free food gradually

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niversity of Nebraska-Lincoln Dining Services will likely go trans-fatfree – eventually. Pam Edwards, assistant director of dining halls, said UNL is working with its brokers and prime vendors to make necessary changes after the Food and Drug Administration made a preliminary decision last week to begin phasing trans fats – partially hydrogenated oils – out of foods and ban them from food entirely down the line. The FDA estimated that its ruling could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths caused by heart disease each year. As dining services add trans-fat-free foods to the dining halls, it will collect student input on the new products. In all halls, Edwards said, a certain part of the food line will publicize a product being tested and workers will collect student opinions on score cards. Trans fat, which can be found in foods from microwaved popcorn to baked goods to frozen pizza, was created in the ’40s to prolong shelf life of foods and to lower costs. Popular concern about the health risks associated with excessive consumption of trans fats rose about 10 years ago, said Robert Hutkins, a food science professor. Trans fats have been correlated with cardiovascular disease. Hutkins said foods containing trans fats have a significantly lower amount than they did five years ago, and many companies have already done away with trans fats in recent years. Those that haven’t will have to find replacement ingredients. It’s uncertain whether new dining hall foods will taste the same and have the same texture with a replacement ingredient. Currently, if a product has less than 0.5 trans fats, the company isn’t required to list it and this ruling will change that as well.

story by Gabrielle Lazaro photo illustration by Matt Masin

trans fat: see page 2

Teen’s death brings synthetic UNL to keep enrollment pace marijuana battle to forefront despite extended deadline Police officers, legislators fight against popular usage of K2 despite illegal status in Nebraska Reece Ristau dn William “Billy” Tucker, an 18-year-old, died on Oct. 13 after a night of partying in Waverly. Tucker had smoked synthetic marijuana, went to sleep and never woke up. Synthetic marijuana, often known as K2, is a form of manmade marijuana created from spraying various chemical components onto natural herbs. The drug became popular among high

school and college students a few years ago and has taken lives as its popularity has risen. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department, there have been five citations at UNL in 2013 related to K2. The Lincoln Police Department reported 117 citations from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31. The problem with K2 is that it’s technically legal, said Capt. Chris Peterson, a member of LPD’s drug task force. “Just as it sounds, synthetic marijuana is a man-made marijuana product meant to mimic the effects of natural-grown marijuana,” Peterson said. “The problem is that our laws and statutes for synthetic marijuana have not been able to keep up with the chemical equations for producing it.” K2 is marketed commercially as potpourri or incense, Peterson said. Companies are able to alter their products just enough to

stay within the legal confines of production. In Tucker ’s case, officers found a package of “Scooby Snax Potpourri” and a pipe in his pocket. Legislators are fighting these companies. “The Nebraska Legislature has been continuously trying to craft language for statutes that is believed to be all-encompassing as chemical compounds change,” Peterson said. There’s debate among law enforcement officials as to the legality of the substance in Nebraska. Sgt. Casey Ricketts of the UNLPD said that because of a ban, all forms of K2 are illegal. “It was outlawed in 2011 in Nebraska, and before the ban, K2 was common,” Ricketts said. “Since the outlaw, there has been a significant reduction. It is illegal to buy.”

k2: see page 3

Extension gives university more time to develop frame for more students, tenure track faculty kelli rollin dn Slow and steady may win the race for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Last week, Chancellor Harvey Perlman announced a three-year extension to reach the university’s enrollment goal. Instead of accomplishing the goal of having 30,000 students by 2017, Perlman extended the deadline to 2020, giving the university more time to develop necessary infrastructure.

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Ellen Weissinger, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, wrote in an email that the extension doesn’t change the pace of the university’s efforts to recruit more students. She wrote that the central goal of UNL won’t change either: to grow in size, diversity and quality of the student body and tenure track faculty. “(It) seems like the right goal for UNL,” Weissinger wrote. “Conversations with deans, associate deans and department chairs gave us a growing sense that our original timeline put us on a path to grow too quickly.” Weissinger wrote that the new timeline still requires larger incoming class sizes. “We’ll all have to work just as creatively and effectively to recruit and support students as we have in the last few years,” she wrote. In a Nov. 7 letter to cam-

pus, Perlman wrote that during the State of the University address this September, he admitted to underestimating the need to build more infrastructure, such as increased facilities and amount of advisers and teachers, to support the increased number of students. “We don’t announce goals we don’t think we have a reasonable chance of achieving,” Perlman wrote in an email. “But we are also ambitious.” The proposed growth rates to reach the 30,000 vary each year. Projected growth rates each year are as follows: 2 percent (2014), 2.7 percent (2015), 4.6 percent (2016), 3 percent (2017), 2.9 percent (2018), 3 percent (2019) and 3 percent (2020). UNL enrollment has decreased by 148 students since 2011, but Perlman said that

enrollment: see page 3


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November 15 by Daily Nebraskan - Issuu