LOOK WHO’S CALLING Week-long Lincoln Calling music festival kicks off today PAGE 5 tuesday, october 11, 2011
volume 111, issue 037
DAILY NEBRASKAN dailynebraskan.com
Push to cut Pell Grants Proposed changes in Congress reduce federal spending would chop student aid
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doesn’t affect financial aid would d r o p f r o m about $9,000 to about $6,600. The Democratmajority Senate has released a rival plan that would instead only eliminate the grace period on undergraduate student loans; under current law, students don’t need to make payments until six months after graduation. Either plan would go into effect next summer. “I still think I would go
Cody elmore daily nebraskan
s t o r y b y d a n h o l t m e y e r a r t b y l a u r e n o l s o n
ince 2008, political fervor against government spending, manifested by the Tea Party, has gained considerable influence over national politics as the country struggles to reinvigorate its economy. And in that time, student financial aid, especially federal Pell Grants, has repeatedly become an attractive target for lawmakers trying students ineligible for to trim budgets. If recently proposed the grants, changes in both houses of though the Congress become law, stu- exact number undents, including several remains thousand at the University clear, and save of Nebraska-Lincoln, will more than $2 billion, according to the soon take another hit. After the debt ceiling deal Congressional Budget this summer, graduate stu- Office. Among the House buddents were already set to pay billions of dollars of get’s proposed changes: - Pell Grant availability additional interest on loans that will no longer be sub- would drop from 18 semesters to 12. sidized next - Students This is the kind year. That attending budget deciof issue that college less sion left the seems to get fleeting than halfPell program time (typiwith a short- attention. That’s the cally six fall of about real question of civic $1 billion, engagement: Can you credit hours) would bea gap the come ineliSenate and stay engaged? gible. House promichael wagner - Students posals both assistant professor of political science who qualify fill in very for less than different ways. 10 percent of the maximum Under a budget proposal released late last month by grant — $550 — would beHouse Republicans, Pell come ineligible. - The maximum family inGrants will keep their value, with a maximum of $5,550 come level for zero expectper year. But changes in ed contribution to the cost the program’s requirements of college would drop from would render hundreds $30,000 to $15,000. - Student income that of thousands of college
New director of Innovation Campus named
back and say there are other ways,” said Craig Munier, director of Scholarship and Financial Aid at UNL. He listed off three possible ways to raise money without touching grants, including reforming older programs that still
pell grants: see page 3
Director of Nebraska Innovation Campus Dan Duncan leans back in his black leather chair, rubbing his hands together, analyzing the press release. One week ago Duncan accepted the director position, taking on the task of p l a n ning the f u n c duncan tions of the now in progress Innovation Campus. Duncan’s responsibilities include acting as a liaison between faculty and private corporations interested in partnering with the Innovation Campus. “I’m the middle man in the situation,” Duncan said. “It’s my job to make sure the faculty has an open line of communication with potential private corporations looking to be part of this project.” Through donations by Woodbury Corporation, an industrial development company, the Nebraska state legislature and the university the project has $80 million to work with. “This is a big project,” Duncan said. “This isn’t a short-term thing. The first phase won’t be fully done for probably another 20 years. It’ll only keep going and expanding.” In the midst of an economic downturn Nebraska’s stable economy stands out among others, making Duncan’s pitch to potential corporations easier. “Companies are attracted to this project for a lot
of reasons,” Duncan said. “They like that we have a stable economy. They like the faculty here and they want to work with our students. They know we have a good work ethic.” An employee with the university since 1987, Duncan’s work experience qualified him for the executive position. “I’ve been working with the faculty here for a long time now,” Duncan said. “I know the university. I know the city and I know the state. My top priority is making sure the faculty have a say in this.” Nebraska Nova development LLC managing partner and UNL graduate Zach Wiegert works with Duncan, contacting and helping prospective companies with their decision to invest in the Innovation Campus. “We started on this about two years ago,” Wiegert said. “It’s exciting to know that we are headed in the right direction.” With Woodbury as an investor and partner, Duncan shows confidence in the project’s success. “We take all of the hard stuff out of the decision making process,” Duncan said. “If a company wants to build we have a developer that can finance them and work to make sure their specifications are met.” According to Duncan the benefits for students and faculty range from handson experience to potential employment. “There’s going to be a lot of new opportunities open up after the campus is built,” Duncan said.
duncan: see page 3
alcohol awareness week
Advocacy groups spread alcohol awareness DAniel wheaton DAily nebraskan
Ryan Smith, a junior broadcasting major, started his car after a party. Holding his half-finished cocktail, he began to drive home. Thankfully, this was merely a simulation. The University Health Center, along with other advocacy groups, put together a display in the Nebraska Union on Monday for National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Day. With beer goggles and a drunk driving simulator, the groups spread alcohol awareness information.
marolf page 4
“If I was going to do a drinking and driving simulation, I might as well have a drink,” Smith said. Drinking a “mocktail” from a booth near the simulation, he spoke about the event. “I didn’t find the simulator that convincing, but it is more important that people know the dangers.” Fred Zwonechek, administrator of the Nebraska Department of Highway Safety, said the simulator was a means to convince people to not drink while driving. “It makes it seem real, people take the ability to drive for granted and they
don’t realize how difficult it is,” he said. Contrasting with the light tone of the booth, Mothers Against Drunk Driving had a car involved in a drunkdriving accident, its passenger side crushed, parked near Broyhill Fountain. Sara Magnus, a MADD spokesperson, said the Beller family donated the car to MADD after it lost members in an accident in January of 2002. “I could talk about how bad drunk driving is all day, but actually seeing what it can do makes it seem more real,” she said.
music page 5
Although the advocacy groups were present, the event focused on information rather than a didactic approach. The University Police set up a beer goggle obstacle course that students stumbled through, including Molly Mahannah, a junior secondary education major. “I actually think I’m more coordinated when I’m drunk, but this is just a simulation,” Mahannah said. After drinking to excess and blacking out in her senior year in high school, Mahanna said she now makes it a point to only
have a few drinks. “I personally think that people have to make a mistake before they realize what their limits are,” Mahannah said. Terry Thomas, an Advanced Nurse Practitioner at the Health Center, stood at a booth serving “mocktails” of soda and grenadine and distributing information about standard drink sizes. She explained that a standard drink is a “dose of alcohol,” which is equivalent to three ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or one shot. She had the quantities on display. The beer glass
Football page 10
alcohol: see page 2
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wasn’t completely full, so a typical beer at a restaurant is actually more than one standard drink. “Me, I only have two drinks,” Thomas said. Thomas gives presentations on how alcohol affects the body, and she said she is aware of the culture of drinking on campus. “It seems that younger students tend to make the larger mistakes,” Thomas said. She and the other booths cited the lack of knowledge of alcohol
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