23 minute read
Campus News
12
POLICE CHIEF
Hassan Ramzah values relationships.
16
BASKETBALL
Dominique Kelley instills hope in players.
19
DEVOUR
Sip on new lager: Dear Old Nebraska Brew.
26
GAME ON
Oregon Trail video game updated.
FALL
—CHANCELLOR RONNIE GREEN
WORTH
NOTING
Throughout this issue, you’ll notice that Nebraska Quarterly capitalizes the word “Black” in a racial, ethnic or cultural sense, but we do not capitalize “white.” We follow the lead of numerous journalism outlets, including AP Style, which is the standard arbiter for most publications.
CAMPUS COMMITMENT
What’s Next?
It’s been a year since Chancellor Ronnie Green outlined the above mandate to our campus community. His message was loud and clear. The colleges took note and have taken a deep look at the areas where each one can do better — where we can all do better — as we grapple with systemic racism in our country. Within this section, you will read uplifting stories of campus communities coming together to heal; infuriating stories of racist behavior directed at our Black alumni; and stories filled with grief and hope. There is more to these stories, and you can find longer versions on our website: huskeralum.org/nebraskaquarterly. As Nebraska alumni and human beings, I encourage you to continue educating yourself on the race issues we grapple with and face daily. To that end, here are some suggestions on steps to take.
ACTION ITEMS:
• Visit diversity.unl.edu and subscribe to the monthly newsletter from
Vice Chancellor Marco Barker’s Diversity and Inclusion Office. • Survey your social media feeds and take note of your film/music/
TV habits. Then, make a point to follow or watch or listen to someone different from you. • Take time to read this collection of Black Lives Matters stories published by The Daily Nebraskan: dailynebraskan.com/diversity_inclusion/
As Chancellor Green wrote to the campus community a year ago: “I believe higher education can play a positive role. I know we can. We are uniquely positioned to learn from the past, give voice and action to the present and help shape future generations.” Amen. —Kirstin Swanson Wilder, editor-in-chief
erick m. ramos
FALL
SAFETY FIRST
Relationship Builder
HASSAN RAMZAH ON POLICING CAMPUS
BY JENNIFER YUMA (’21)
After dealing with a global pandemic and civil unrest involving policing in America, Hassan Ramzah is set to run the University Police Department with students fully on campus this fall for in-person classes. Between being named the interim chief in the normalcy of 2019, to being named the first Black police chief in the department’s long history a year later, Ramzah began putting into action some important changes and reforms to policing as a result of the difficult circumstances the country experienced in 2020.
To say that Ramzah was eager to see the majority of students return to campus in person might be something of an understatement. He is a law enforcement official who takes pride in serving his community the right way.
“It has been a busy year for us,” Ramzah said two weeks shy of his first anniversary of being named chief on July 14, 2020. “I don’t think we’ve quite cleared the hurdle of COVID yet, but we are slowly returning to some sense of normalcy. We never really left campus and providing public safety has been pretty consistent over the past year.”
Ramzah, a law enforcement veteran with 30 years of experience, joined the university as an assistant police chief in August 2016. After a national search,
—KALU OSIRI, associate professor of practice in management and the director of the International Business Program in the College of Business
he accepted the full-time position as the chief after his one-year, interim stint. Throughout his entire time at Lincoln, Ramzah has worked to unify the university community by focusing on community policing and embracing his identity as a Black police officer. His tasks were made more difficult in light of the pandemic along with the May 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers.
“Right now, it’s been a difficult year for policing, but it’s not just the tragic death of George Floyd, but it’s about the historical relationship between police and communities of color that contributes to that,” Ramzah said. “So, we have to figure out how and look for ways that we can contribute to building that relationship and trust and show that we’re here to contribute to equity and fairness and acknowledge that we need to be better.”
During his tenure, Ramzah has overseen officers taking bias training courses, developed improved procedures related to the use of force and seen the appointment of a liaison from his staff who serves on the board of UNL’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. (That office was created in 2018 to help foster and coordinate an effort to help the school attain levels of inclusivity on campus that might otherwise go ignored.) Ramzah said all of these efforts point to a new direction that his department is heading toward as he begins his second year in the top law enforcement role.
“There are a number of different changes since I began this position in terms of reform,” Ramzah said. “Some of the reforms have been centered on the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and around our use of force. Also building positive relationships and working toward recruiting and having a department that’s reflective of our community. There have been a number of different areas I have implemented and made changes to some of our processes and our culture, the way we do things and how we view our relationship with the campus community and how not only to be a better partner, but be supportive of the campus mission and maintain a safe campus environment.”
Ramzah’s community-based approach was developed during his 26 years with the Wichita Police Department in Kansas. His experiences in law enforcement include holding the rank of officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant, captain and deputy chief. Before becoming a police officer, he served six years in the U.S. Army.
Ramzah said he knew he wanted to go into policing or become a firefighter to “keep serving people” the way he did in the military, which led him to his career in Wichita. At UNL, his appointment as chief drew praise from Bill Nunez, vice chancellor for business and finance. “Hassan is a proven leader who has helped our police department grow and thrive, expanding officer training and building positive engagement across the university community,” Nunez said in announcing Ramzah’s appointment.
Ramzah is looking forward to seeing students return to school in an environment where he can help them trust people in uniform. For some, seeing a Black person in uniform carries its own set of challenges. Unyoh Mbilain (’21), who is Cameroonian American, said she believes that Black police officers are “selling out” their own communities. “They end up assimilating into being an officer of the law,” Mbilain said. “The same law that would strike them down if that badge disappeared.”
Ramzah said he is aware of criticism Black police officers might endure from people of color, specifically other Black people. He is no stranger to judgment when he is in uniform or in street clothes. The important thing, he insisted, is that all officers perform their jobs without allowing prejudices to guide their actions.
“I think African American police officers, in general, can be faced with a different environment depending on the circumstances, where they work and who they work with,” Ramzah said. “What I explain to people is that I wear a uniform at work as a police officer, but after my shift is over, I put on a different uniform as a citizen and as a person.
“I have experienced racial incidents on duty and off duty, so it’s more about understanding from that context how I process those particular instances, how I learn from them and how I can help educate others,” he said.
BIG BRAG
Jack Jeffries, assistant professor of mathematics, has received the department’s first-ever Faculty Early Career Development Program award from the National Science Foundation. He will use the $400,000, five-year grant to advance his research in commutative algebra, a field of abstract algebra.
FALL
BIG BRAG
The University of Nebraska system has taken a key step forward in addressing its growing deferred maintenance needs following a successful bond sale that generated $400 million for building renewal and repair projects across the campuses.
FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS
All the World’s a Stage
ST. LOUIS BLACK REP PARTNERSHIP EXPANDS MINDSETS
Working in theater, by nature, is collaboration. Artists learn from each other to build a better show. The Nebraska Repertory Theatre has looked at itself and decided it needed help diversifying its programming and working artists — it needed a team. Thus began a multiyear partnership with the St. Louis Black Repertory Company.
Ron Himes, founding and producing director of the Black Rep, previously guest directed the Nebraska Rep show Dutchman. He said the new partnership benefits both Nebraskans and Missourians.
“It broadens both of our perspectives and changes the lens through which we look at our communities,” Himes said. “Through the virtual world it has brought our audiences together to experience the same productions. For both companies it has the capacity to broaden our audiences, and specifically for the Nebraska audience is an opportunity to introduce them to different work than the Nebraska Rep has historically done and to bring more artists of color to the Nebraska Rep stage.”
Nebraska Rep Executive Director Christina Kirk said talks of this collaboration sparked during the summer of 2020 in response to two questions: What does meaningful programming look like in a pandemic, and in the wake of George Floyd’s death, how can the Nebraska Rep be part of a larger conversation? The Nebraska Rep has recognized working at a
Karen Richards performs in the Nebraska Rep production of Hair in April 2019.
sabrina sommer
local level and engaging the Lincoln community will in turn make a global statement.
“These kinds of partnerships allow issues of diversity, equity and inclusion to arise organically out of the work,” Kirk said. “That’s the best way for these kinds of conversations to happen — you do work that inspires thought, you tell a story that evokes thoughts and feelings, and you have a dialogue about it. Our vision for Nebraska Rep is to engage, enlighten and unite. We see that as a way in which we can be a theater of all Nebraska.”
Himes has been the leading force for all-virtual programming this past year, creating shared online spaces for conversation. Notably, a Black Rep production of Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It!, the panel “A Conversation with Sonia Sanchez,” and a celebration of James Baldwin’s work, featuring guest Dick Cavett discussing his interview with the writer and activist.
This season, the Nebraska Rep will feature a “journey” theme, and the impact of Himes and the Black Rep has been felt through its lineup and casting, according to Nebraska Rep Artistic Director Andy Park. With the university’s institutional commitment titled “Journey for Anti-Racism and Racial Equity,” this theme felt right.
“The chancellor talked about the journey that UNL was going on,” Park said. “That was something that I heard very loudly. I wanted to see what I could do. How could I craft a season that would move us forward not only as a theater, but would also be able to leverage the momentum that I’m feeling from the university itself?”
One of the shows that is a product of the partnership — Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea, by Nathan Alan Davis — is a contemporary coming-of-age story about a young African American man ready to head off to college who, by way of magical realism, traces his roots back to the Middle Passage. It’s about moving forward through being informed by your past, and Park said everyone will see themselves in Dontrell. “Our audience is going to be moved by this beautiful human struggle to understand who you are,” Park said.
Dontrell will be performed in Lincoln in November and then packing up to stage in St. Louis. Much of the production elements and crew will be the same, as well as the equity actors cast, but UNL students will pass on their roles to young actors from the Black Rep’s professional fellowship program for the Missouri performances. Himes will be directing both versions. He said it’s significant for the Nebraska Rep to feature an African American-written show about an African American experience, hiring artists of color to piece it together.
“It is an important cultural exchange at a time when a number of theater companies and cultural institutions have talked about making changes,” Himes said. “This is an instance of the Nebraska Rep actually putting some change into action. As a matter of the Nebraska Rep, taking the steps to change how it has operated in the past in terms of programming, in terms of hiring artists of color, in terms of presenting work to and for its audience that gives them a different perspective and a different kind of story or storytelling.”
The Nebraska Rep prides itself on providing opportunities for its students to produce art with visiting artists and equity actors. This includes Aja Jackson (’13), Boston-based lighting designer who has worked freelance for other schools and earned a master’s degree before now returning to Lincoln to work on Dontrell. Jackson is ready to help bring this story to life with her lighting tricks. She especially likes that the performance acknowledges more than Black suffering.
“In the arts, we have the opportunity for nuance, we have the opportunity for a different perspective,” Jackson said. “Frequently it’s so easy to put a show up that is dramatic, and that is about suffering. It’s a little bit more difficult to do something that gives you space to imagine more. The way that Dontrell is written, you need to be creative.”
Park said the Nebraska Rep is fortunate that Himes is returning. “Whenever you get an artist of his caliber and they have the opportunity to work with students, those students — they leave and they’re better for it,” Park said. “We spend so much time in the classroom trying to teach the craft, and you bring in a director like that, and it can help galvanize all that work that we’re doing in the classroom. It brings it to life on the stage.”
Himes sees this partnership as just the beginning of a pipeline for graduating theater students from academia to career.
Three Nebraska alumni have already joined the Black Rep’s professional mentoring program. As for now, he’s looking forward to returning to Lincoln and the Nebraska Rep to mount this revelatory production of Dontrell.
“I hope that audiences will be ready to come back out and will come out in droves to see what I anticipate being a wonderful, wonderful production, and a wonderful way to come back to the theater.” —Grace Fitzgibbon
SAVE
THE DATE
Alumni of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film are invited to the Saturday, Nov. 13 production of Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea and participate in a conversation about what you want from the alumni experience. Christina Kirk, executive director of the Nebraska Rep, said this is perfect timing. “This is a play that is saying ‘What is the trajectory forward?’ But it’s also saying, ‘How do we address where we came from?’ It just feels so right to say to alumni ‘Come back and be part of a talkback.’ ”
FALL
JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATIONS
Player and Coach
DOMINIQUE KELLEY INSTILLS PRIDE IN PLAYERS ON THE BASKETBALL COURT AND BEYOND
BIG BRAG
UNL and the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis received a gift of 2,147 acres of ranchland in northeast Hayes County. David Scholz and his late wife, Sandra, made the gift valued at nearly $1.5 million for education and research purposes.
During the spring semester, professors Joe Starita (’78) and Jennifer Sheppard launched a senior-level class: Being Black in Lincoln. More than 30 students applied and 14 were selected. The goal of the class was to provide Lincoln’s largely white community with an intimate look at the challenges of being Black in Lincoln. The in-depth class challenged students to dramatically sharpen their research, interview, story structure and writing skills. In the end, 12 stories were written about Lincoln residents — former basketball players, Black Lives Matter leaders, preachers, teachers, businessmen and former convicts — representing a diverse cross-section of the local Black community. Here is an excerpt from one of those stories. “These students worked furiously for 15 weeks and have provided a rich and educational portrait of the everyday challenges of being Black in Lincoln — a portrait that has never existed before,” Starita said.
BY VICTORIA BAKER Junior journalism major
As the sun leisurely sinks on a chilly February night, the Lincoln High School gymnasium slowly fills with a gaggle of nervous spectators. In a few hours, one of the teams — either the Lincoln High Links or the Papillion-La Vista South Titans — will advance to the girls state basketball tournament.
At precisely 6 p.m., the announcer asks all spectators to rise. As the familiar notes of The Star-Spangled Banner reverberate throughout the crowded gym, the fans all stand — hands over hearts, hats off in homage to those who served.
On the court, the Lincoln High girls all drop to their right knee. They all wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts over their jerseys, heads held high, unwavering eyes staring straight ahead. As the national anthem continues, some in the stands look down, casting dismissive glances at the players.
Soon, their coach extends her right hand and lays it to rest on the shoulder of one of her players. Throughout the entire season, at the start of every game, her girls have kneeled during the anthem to protest racial injustice. And for the entire season, Coach Dominique Kelley has watched and listened, her hand always on the shoulder of one of her players.
The coach will tell you that she’s proud of their resilience, proud that these young Black girls are taking a stand by kneeling down, proud that they’re speaking out for what they believe in. For what she believes in.
She credits her girls — their belief in the Black Lives Matter movement — for helping her become a better role model, for inspiring her to see things through their eyes.
“I wanted to make sure that they were being saved. They were
going about things the right way and not putting themselves in a compromising situation,” Kelley said. “And that’s where that passion came from, me wanting to be a part of that all the way over here.”
The previous season, on Feb. 7, 2020, many of these same Black teenage girls went to Fremont for a game. Before it ended, at least one Fremont student hurled the n-word at the Lincoln High girls.
Afterward, Lincoln High players confronted the Fremont student section. Some Fremont students started throwing things at the Lincoln High girls. Then a Lincoln High student hit a Fremont student. Fremont High staffers had to jump in to break up all the pushing and shoving.
Not long afterward, Kelley took to Facebook to recount the incident, praising her team for their demeanor and maturity after the game.
“I have never been more proud to be a part of something bigger than myself,” Kelley wrote in the Facebook post. “I learn more about perseverance, being resilient, and fighting for what you want in life more from them than they do from me.” * * *
At the university, Kelley started in 109 consecutive games, and as a freshman, helped the Huskers win their third NCAA tournament game. She graduated No. 23 on NU’s career scoring list with 1,107 points in 2012. Although Kelley’s fame and status afforded her a protective shield, that shield was conditional — reserved only for Dominique the athlete.
That protective shield was pierced when Kelley moved to Des Moines in 2014 to help with the Drake University girls basketball team.
On many occasions, Kelley said she was called racial slurs while shopping at her local Hy-Vee — the worst coming when a young boy called her the n-word.
But she soon realized racial slurs weren’t the only threatening aspects of her new life.
One night when their dog ran away, she and her husband jumped in the car and went looking for him when they encountered a police car. They approached the car, handicap sticker meticulously placed on their new Beamer, to ask for directions to the local dog pound. But what was meant to be a helpful interaction turned into an interrogation of the sticker validity and the vehicle ownership.
A few days later, Kelley got a fine in the mail for an incorrect sticker placement. When she went to the police station to question it, she was sent to the courthouse.
But when she mentioned who her boss was — Drake girls head coach Jennie Baranczyk — the fines “magically went away.”
“I honestly didn’t know what to do,” Kelley said. “So, I kind of started to internalize a lot of those experiences and it was really strange.” * * *
It’s an early April evening when Kelley pulls into Lincoln’s Home Depot. She drives carefully down the aisle, pulls into a parking spot and turns off the engine.
That’s when she heard it from a nearby motorist: “Black bitch can’t drive!”
She sees the man inside the store. He passes her by with a disapproving shake of his head. She confronts him and a verbal altercation ensues.
“A few years ago, something like that probably would have happened, and I would have been crying and like, ‘I’m not going inside.’ ” Kelley said. “And I was like: no — f... that.”
For the 32-year-old mother, these situations scare her, make her worry for her 4-year-old son, Kyrie. But those worries aren’t new. “I remember them telling me ‘It’s a boy’ — and I was terrified because of the climate of the country.”
Worries that translate into real-life situations.
In late January, the little boy told his mother that somebody at school didn’t like him.
“Why?” she asked.
Because, he said, my skin was “gross and black.”
Around the same time, the boy asked Kelley why her girls all kneeled during the national anthem.
While these can be tough, complex matters — often beyond a 4-year-old’s comprehension — Kelley and her husband view them as appropriate, as a part of the world they have to live in.
“Although Kyrie is four, preparation doesn’t start too early,” said her husband, Clyde Johnson.
And Kelley? She never thought she’d have to have these conversations with a 4-year-old.
“The conversation I have to have with my son — the conversation that (white people) all have to have with their children — is fundamentally different, right?”
Name:
Dominique Kelley, pictured above with husband, Clyde Johnson and son Kyrie.
Age: 32
Profession:
English Teacher, Basketball Coach
Favorite Movie:
Love & Basketball
Someone you admire: Her student, Ne-Quan Leonard Nero
Philosophy of Life:
“To whom much is given, much will be required.” —Luke 12:48
FALL
BIG BRAG
The University of Nebraska has received a five-year, $20 million award from the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research to create a research and education cluster aimed at enhancing the state’s competitiveness in the field of emergent quantum materials and technologies, and boosting the participating institutions’ research and education capacity.
LAW
Change Agent
COLLEGE PARTNERSHIPS LOOK TO DIVERSIFY THE STATE’S LAW PROFESSION
According to the 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics, women and racial/ethnic minorities are severely underrepresented in the legal profession. In Nebraska, roughly 95% of lawyers are white, while 78% of Nebraska’s population is white. To Richard Moberly, dean of the College of Law, this disparity is problematic.
“I think there are probably communities that aren’t being served because of that disparity,” Moberly said. “Nebraska should have lawyers that reflect the population of the state, which will help ensure that communities have legal representation from people who understand their particular issues and perspectives.”
A few years ago, Moberly invited Robert Grey, executive director of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and numerous stakeholders to the College of Law to convene about diversity in the legal profession. At the time, Moberly knew of individual efforts to increase diversity in the Nebraska legal system. He also knew that an organized effort would create concrete steps. “I thought if we could work more cohesively, we would be able to make more of an impact,” Moberly said.
So, in partnership with the Creighton School of Law, the Nebraska State Bar Association and local organizations, the law college is helping form the Nebraska Legal Diversity Council.
Inspired by the diversity efforts in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, they ultimately decided to focus on “moving the needle” here in Nebraska — starting with the Council.
“We (looked) for people who are committed to diversity and inclusion work. Maybe they’re from a different profession, or a different industry to help us kind of build and implement this plan,” said Liz Neely, executive director of the Nebraska State Bar Association. “We know that we need more diverse
“What a bittersweet weekend, I earned my college degree on Mother’s Day weekend. It was perfect timing. This is all you cared about, mom. Football was in the back of your mind. I wish you were here so I could actually present it to you for your Mother’s Day gift. … Love and miss you Lynette. Your baby boy did it.”
—LAVONTE DAVID, former Husker linebacker (2010-11) and Super Bowl winner with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, posting on Instagram one day after earning his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.
voices at the table to make this work.”
After years of deliberate planning, in March 2020, the group set out to fundraise. But COVID-19 paused those plans until October 2020.
For most, those months were spent in isolation, a return to normalcy nowhere in sight. However, this project saw a new light, a rejection of “normalcy” in efforts of racial justice.
In those seven months, not only were organizations’ finances more secure, Moberly noted, but the entire country was paying attention to racial strife “in a way they had not for a generation or more.”
With a newfound momentum, 13 law firms, three companies, the Nebraska State Bar Association, Creighton School of Law, and University of Nebraska College of Law all agreed to contribute for the next three years. In three months, the Nebraska Legal Diversity Council raised $570,000. “The reaction was better than I’d even hoped,” Moberly said. “And I had high expectations.”
The idea is to increase the number of diverse applicants to both Nebraska Law and the Creighton School of Law, then attract, hire, retain and promote those individuals at local firms.
These programs are currently in progress as the Nebraska Legal Diversity Council, still in the early stages, looks for an executive director. —Victoria Baker
