This isn’t why Evan Edwards picked Nebraska.

She came to cheer. To stunt. To represent her long-beloved Husker teams.

Not, she says, to find out through an Athletic Department Web site that what she loves most about her sport — standing atop the shoulders of a fellow cheerleader and energizing NU fans — is disappearing.

But that’s what’s happened, and now the freshman accounting major isn’t sure she’ll return to the University of Nebraska Spirit Squad.

“It’s just, we don’t get answers, we don’t get answers,” said Edwards, a Lincoln Pius X High School graduate. “We’re ground-bound really without explanation.

“The Husker tradition is just slipping slowly and slowly away.”

She and other cheerleaders say that when they logged onto Huskers.com late last month to get information on tryouts for next year’s squad, they were shocked to discover the Athletic Department is doing away with the two-person stunting that’s been allowed since 2003.

Further, they say, the site informed them their textbook scholarships and food allowances — worth some $2,000 per cheerleader per year — will be cut off after this year.

And they say it’s all been done without their input.

“We just don’t know why this is happening,” Edwards said.

The Athletic Department cites safety concerns as the reason for prohibiting stunting. It also points out that starting next year, each cheerleader’s scholarship stipend will rise from $500 to $600 per semester.

Like other Husker athletes, cheerleaders also are entitled to free uniforms, warm-up clothes and Adidas apparel.

In all, that benefit package — even with the loss of funds for textbooks and food — remains competitive, Athletic Department spokeswoman Chris Anderson said.

She said the changes were made after athletics officials reviewed the squad’s budget and size and researched cheerleading benefit packages at other schools.

“We still feel what we’re offering is a great, fair amount,” she said. “And it wasn’t something we took lightly.”

This year’s 54 cheerleaders are the most NU has ever had, Anderson said, and it’s too much for one coach to handle. She expects that number to drop to about 40 next year.

Anderson also said NU officials tried to call a meeting with cheerleading captains to tell them about next year’s changes before they were posted on Huskers.com.

But, she said, only one captain showed up.

“That was their responsibility to tell the rest of the cheerleaders,” she said.

She empathized with cheerleaders upset about being grounded but maintained fans will respond to a safer alternative, enthused cheering and clapping.

Stunting at NU has been an issue since 1996, when then-student Tracy Jensen was paralyzed in an accident during cheer practice. The university paid Jensen a $2.1 million settlement.

In 2002, NU did away with most stunting, including basket tosses, pyramids and tumbling. One year later, though, new Athletic Director Steve Pederson brought back two-person lifts, and cheerleaders had hoped he would further ease restrictions if they followed all safety regulations, Spirit Squad member Heather Ludwick said.

Just the opposite happened when former cheer coach Vera Branch stepped down last fall.

Cheerleaders were grounded — temporarily, they thought — for lack of a stunt safety-certified coach.

New cheerleading supervisor Carrie Vitullo, hired in December, earned stunt certification in February, Anderson said. But the grounding remains.

Ludwick, a junior marketing major from Omaha, called the decision “unprofessional.”

“Tell the football team they can’t tackle, and you’re going to get controversy. Expect it,” she said.

“They treat us like we’re children. … We feel like the Athletic Department just wants to get rid of us.”

Ludwick says a change of heart from the Athletic Department might be the only thing that could bring her back to the squad.

“Everybody is holding on to a strand of hope,” she said. “But we’re not expecting much.

“They’re taking steps back instead of taking steps forward. It says a lot about tradition.”

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.