n Daily
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Friday, October 26, 1984
VVccthcr: Partly cloudy, windy and. warmer
today with a high of about 64 (18C). Friday night,
not as cold with a low of about 47 (8C). Game
forecast: Partly cloudy, windy and warm, high of
about 63 (20C). Sunday, chance of showers with
ahighofabout63(17C).
Bob DrutacharDatEy Nabraskan
Su it
Joel SartoreDaily Nebr&skan
Fricke pauses before responding to criticism from Schwartzkopf, seated at left in background.
Tendency to memorize, forget facts
Specialized students lose track of big
By Brmd Kutin
Daily Ne&raskan Senior Reporter
Editor's note: This is the last
article in the five-part series
ex&oining current issues on the
quality of education in Nebraska.
Results of a scientific survey
conducted by the Daily Ne
br&skan on what UNL students
think about their education at
the university will be released
Monday.
Robert Fuller shuffles through
a handful of papers in his office,
entries in the "1993" contest spon
sored by the UNL LifeWork In
quiry Group.
"I expected at least a hundred,"
ents
By Kevin Dugan
Daily Nebraskan Staff Reporter
The Walter Scott Engineering
Center at 16th and Vine streets
was officially dedicated Thursday
by NU Board of Regents Chairman
Ed Schwartzkopf.
This formally initiates con
struction of a $1 million building
project that is part of an overall
plan to centralize the UNL College
of Engineering and Technology.
Construction of a connecting
link between Nebraska Hall and
the Nebraska Engineering Center
(renamed the Walter Scott En
gineering Center) will begin this
fall
hAemt nnd
chairman of Peter Kiewit Sons,
me
donated the money to the
A
of
Fuller says. The contest, which
asks students and faculty what
they want from the university
that will be of greatest value to
The Quality
of Education
them in ly'ytf, evolved from iri
formal discussions between Fuller
and others involved in United
Ministries in Higher Education
about the "short-term" orientation
of education these days. So far,
the contest has yielded only 20
entries.
But the very lack of entries may
NU Foundation in honor of his
father. The late Walter Scott Sr. is
recognized for his contributions
to the engineering profession and
to the UNL engineering college.
Scott Sr., a native of Nebraska,
was a 1923 UNL engineering
graduate, faculty member and
key figure in the early devel
opment of the Kiewit company.
"Walter Scott represents the
epitome of generosity," said D.B.
"Woody Varner, NU Foundation
board chairman.
About four years ago, Scott Jr.
established a $1.5 million en
gineering scholarship.
Stanley R. Liberty, dean of the
college, said construction of the
unmg cornaor ana generai-use
dedicate Scott E
kfew J3I i m WM i i i.J
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
page chock full
funnies...Pagei9
ft
7
prove Fuller's point. Students,
weaned on the capitalist dream,
are carving their niches in in
creasingly specialized fields and
are losing track of the bigger
picture, Fuller says.
Engineering students, for ex
ample, have little choice in their
education. They follow a strict
flow chart of mandatory classes
that allows little room for elect ives
outside of the engineering field,
say, world politics for instance.
Fuller says he's concerned with
what he sees as a tendency for
students to simply memorize facts,
regurgitate them for a test, then
promptly forget them.
"Knowledge is not just spitting
nsmeenn
computer-terminal facility will be
completed during the spring
semester of 1986.
The two-level building will house
the Electrical Engineering ad
ministrative offices and some
Mechanical Engineering faculty
offices.
Liberty said the lab space
underneath the offices eventually
will contain micro-computers as
well as central process technology.
Funding for extra equipment will
come from private donations to
the foundation and from state
taxes appropriated for the
college's budget.
Plans for the new complex
include the addition of a 500-seat
auditorium, complete with audio
visual equipment, to be built on
the south side of the center. Lib
erty said he hopes relocating the
Vnn-iiJ mi r 1
MCAA
basketballs...Pagei6
By Gene Gentrup
Daily Nebraakan Senior Reporter
NU Board of Regents candidate
Don Fricke discovered a surprise
guest at his speech Thursday in
the Nebraska Union .
Incumbent Ed Schwartzkopf,
Fricke's opponent in the District
1 race, criticized him for state
ments he made about the pro
posed NU veterinary science
school.
Fricke said the vet school would
be too expensive to operate and
that funds could be better used in
the business and engineering
colleges.
The vet college is one of the
most expensive colleges to oper
ate per student," Fricke said. "It's
like a golf course. It takes too long
to mature. The trees take too long
to grow to make it a good course."
Schwartzkopf said the original
plan was approved by the Legis
lature, only if specific require
ments were met. Those guidelines
were not met, and a modified
plan will be introduced to the
Legislature for approval next
back what someone has told you,"
says Fuller. "To know something
is to be able to pass it on."
A recent poll conducted by the
UNL Division of Continuing
Studies revealed that although
87 percent of a sample group of
463 UNL alumni who graduated
in the supposedly liberal 1960s
and 1970s were satisfied with the
education they received as under
graduates, 75.5 percent said they
had returned to school after grad
uation for additional education.
John Naisbitt, in his best-selling
book, "Megatrends," blames the
country's economic distress on
short-term thinkers and a de
mand for instant gratification.
Mechanical and Chemical Engi-
neering departments to the cen-
im rn a
g Center
I i:
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' 5 !
I
.'
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Dan Du!anyD2l'; Nsbrastksn
SeottJr. stands nsrt to an ensrewd piste bearing his fami
ly's nane dmriiistlis dedlcsticn cercEsororcf the Walter Scctt
Eiiiseerin3 Center en Ciiy Campus.
Vol. 84 No. 46
3
red
year.
"You're not giving the vet science
department the credit it deserves "
Schwartzkopf told Fricke.
Schwartzkopf said the vet
school would provide more jobs
at NU. He also applauded the
school's work with calf scours.
Fricke said the vet school s long-
range costs would outweight its
benefits, but that an emphasis on
the agricultural sector is impor
tant. "We need to turn raw products
into finished products here in the
state," he said. "Sending them out
of state won't help us in making
farming profitable."
Fricke said the university's farm
management program is impor
tant, but UNL is behind because
other small colleges started sim
ilar programs first.
Continued on page 7
picture
He predicts that during the next
decade, economic trends will be
toward long-range planning.
If long-range planning is the
vogue of the future, at present
students still wallow in the here
and now. Of the few students
who have responded to the "1998"
contest so far, most of them em
phasized the importance of grades
and social contacts. No one men
tioned philosophy, political ideol
ogy, sociology, art or music.
As long as there is no immediate
danger knocking on students'
emotions, Fuller says, they don't
see any need to challenge the
status quo.
Continued on Page 7
ter will be drawn into the overall
project.
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