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LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
VOL. 92, NO. 76
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Modified semester plan may b
answer to system controversy
by John Dvorak
Nebraskan Staff Writer
Compromise may be the solution
to the quarter system-semester
system controversy.
Proponents of the semester plan are
In the majority, but many of them
still dislike the Christmas interruption
and subsequent "bobtail" period.
Those University faculty who want
realize they don't have sufficient sup-
1 Uni
So the modified semester plan, or
compressed semester plan, proposed
several weeks ago in the ASUN Senate
could be the answer.
In a unanimously approved resolu
tion, Student Senate recently recom
mended that classes begin several
weeks earlier in the fall and that
finals be given before Christmas.
SEN. TOM LONNQUIST, who in
troduced the resolution, said that
considerable support exists for such
an alteration in the calendar. Lincoln
campus President Joseph Soshnik has
reacted favorably when approached
with the proposal, but refused to make
any official statement, Lonnquist
said.
Dr. Norman H. Cromwell, chairman
of the chemistry department, would
like to see the semester end before
Christmas. Then everybody could
"take a real holiday," he said.
(This Is the third article in a
.four-part series examining the dif
ferent calendar scheduling sys
tems, such as the semester and
quarter plan.)
Dr. C. Peter Magrath, current dean
of the arts and sciences college, would
also rather see the University's sched
ule structured to finish before Christ
mas. It is difficult to pick up the momen
tum again after the holidays, he poin
ed out:' Classes don't often accomplish
much after the bobtail. Magrath, who
will become dean of faculties April
1, stressed that he was giving only
his own opinion.
A PROFESSOR IN the English
department termed the bobtail period
undesirable, ineffective and worthless.
Another faculty member, Dr. 0. W.
Kopp, chairman of the elementary
education department, said,' "Our
basic semester system is good. But
with innovation it could be better."
A survey taken last year by a
University Senate ad hoc committee
showed that out of 456 faculty
members polled, only 17 favored the
modified semester while 25 listed it
as their second choice.
However many faculty members
who back the semester or quarter
system Indicated that they might be
willing to alter their stance slightly
and approve the modified plan. "I
could be persuaded," "This wouldn't
be a bad idea" and "I just might
buy that" are oft heard opinions.
ONE BIG 'QUESTION is what to
Draft Resistance Union
exists 4in name only'
One of the University's more con
troversial student groups is now
operative "in name only' according
to member John Dietz.
The Nebraska Dra Resistance
Union, founded last year by Charles
Marxer. a former University
philosophy instructor now living in
Canada, had a membership of "about
12 or 13'' last semester, Dietz said.
"Business was never heavy." he
continued. "One of our problems was
that we never had enough well-trained
counsellors, and it takes clients to
develop them."
Diets said that besides draft
counselling, the group also distributed
leaflets downtown and at high school
football games.
"The police ran us off at Seacrest
field," Dietz said, "supposedly
because of the location at which we
Centennial College
Upperclassmen interested in participating in the Centennial College
should attend a meeting March 12 at 7 p.m. in the Nebraska Union
Centennial room, according to Dr. Philip Scribner of the philosophy de
partment. Applications for enrollment in the college are now available. Twenty
five to fifty upperclassmen will be admitted under a selection process
not yet determined. Students may carry a five or six hour class load from
the college and will assist in projects.
do in January under the modified
plan? Conceivably, classes could
begin right after the first of the year,
but the term would then end in the
first week of May and NU already
recesses earlier than many institu
tions. Also, the traditional spring
vacation or Easter vacation would in
some years create a bobtail period,
exactly as the Christmas holidays do
now during the first semester.
In order to coincide with other
schools using the semester plan,
classes could begin around the end
of January or early in February as
the University always has.
The month between clases would
not have to stand vacant. Hastings
College operates on this modified plan
and uses the "free" month for interim
study projects.
"WE OFFER FOUR semester hours
credit for the interim," remarked
Marvin M. Fink, administrative vice
president of the college. "Study during
that period can be conventional
classroom work or other more dif
ferent and interesting projects."
Earlier this year, during the one
month interim, a 33-member student
group went to Israel and parts of
the Mideast on a language study.
Another Hastings group studied
literature in England.
Fink estimated that about 80 per
cent of the students remain on campus
during the interim, since financing for
long tours Is a problem. In the past,
however, student groups have
travelled throughout North
America.
Activities during the interim are all
geared with an intregal part of the
normal course of study at Hastings,
Fink noted. The college has operated
with the modified semester system
for three years now, and he said that
reaction throughout the college is
"highly favorable."
SUCH AN INTERIM period has "a
lot of merit," according to Dr. Gene
Harding, assistant professor of
journalism. It would be an excellent
wjjy to individualize study. - .
Administrative matters would be "a
problem in a school the size of NU,
he pointed out. The registration pro
cess would probably have to be hand
ed back to the individual
departments.
"This is something more easily
handled by a small school," Harding
said. "It is not something we could
just jump into."
The modified semester plan and in
terim study period sound ideal at first
glance, but as every other scheduling
idea they face serious drawbacks.
One of the biggest is tho interim
study idea, which may be perfect for
a small college, but almost
unworkable for a large Institution like
Nebraska.
THE IDEAIS NEW: Hastings Col
lege is still the only school in the
state to employ it. Most of the col
leges who do use it are small, liberal
arts institutions.
Hastings has 800 students.
Macalaster College in Minnesota,
which helped pioneer the Idea, has
less than 3,000 students.
One NU professor pointed out that
were operating." He explains! that
the group was distributing leaflets on
a sidewalk near the parking lot, and
that the sidewalk constituted "public
property."
"The school board had ruled that
no political leaflets were to be
distributed on public property," Dietz
continued, "so the police told us we
were breaking the law. Other than
this, there was no police harrass
ment." He said that although Interest had
fallen off and that many of the
(Resistance) people had left the cam-
Eus at the end of the semester, the
raft Resistance Union might possibly
be revived.
"What we need is some new blood
and some new interest," he said. "It
wouldn't take too much of either."
a month is almost too short a time
to accomplish anything meaningful.
To shut the entire physical plant down
for a month during prime attendance
time would be unprecedented.
Political overtones would be too
great ; the state legislature would
never stand for it, he said.
The University Senate ad hoc com
TTiittde, wh i c h studied the various
calendar schedules, raised another
significant question about the
modified plan. Would there be a lack
of academic equivalence between the
first or shorter semester and the
second?
THERE MIGHT BE. During the
1968-1969 school year, first semester
consists of 8414 days (counting half
days for Saturdays). The second se
mester has 81Vfc days.
Under the modified plan, if first
semester contained the usual final
examination period and began
September 2, there would be only 75Vi
class days. Second semester would
then have six more class days than
the first.
One way to squeeze in more first
semester class days is to shorten or
abolish the final exam period. The
test period, nine full days this year,
has existed at NU as long as the
football team, but many faculty
members would like to see it chang
ed. Dr. Charles S. Miller, dean of the
college of business administration,
would like to do away with the final
examination period altogether.
ASUN presidential possibilities discuss
endorsement plan and party systems
by Jim Pederscn
Nebraskan Staff Writer
Two types of political slating to be
used in this spring's ASUN elections
are now beginning to take form.
Two of the candidates reportedly
running for ASUN president have in
dicated they will probably follow an
endorsement system whereby the ex
ecutive slate would endorse senatorial
candidates.
A third presidential possibility has
said he is world ng on a political party
which will be without a rigid Internal
structure.
SEN. BILL CHALOUPKA and Ran
dy Reeves have Indicated they will
most likely use the endorsement sys
tem. Sen. Bob Zucker intends to form
some sort of a political party different
in structure from the parties of the
past.
"The party system has been the
cause of some unfortunate senates,"
according to Chalmpka. "Parties
have been just a way of getting
elected. They serve no other function.
According to Chaloupka, there are
better alternatives than a party
system. One such alternative is the
endorsement plan.
"THE EXECUTIVE slate or anv
other organization on campus could
endorse candidates they think are
capable," he added. "Anyone who
gets the endorsement of many
organizations and executive slates
would probably be elected."
The only safeguard against logroll
ing and the granting of favors by
an organization Is to have trustworthy
people in the organizations who are
more concerned about their organiza
tions than personal favors, Chaloupka
said.
"If we don't have these kind of
people in our campus organizations,"
he continued, "our problems are
greater than just electing a senate."
Chaloupka feels that there has been
a trend in the past towards Informal
parties of senators after elections.
'Enrichment is a means to an end . .
Bereday relates economy to education
"Enrichment is a means to an end,"
Dr. George Bereday told the second
Centennial Symposium on Education
and Economic growth Thursday.
An individual is to get an education
"to cultivate the mind, to develop the
senses and to live of the sound of
music," Bereday said. The goal of
education is not to only attain
monetary riches, the Columbia
University professor emphasized.
No nation can exist without prac
tical hardworking people, Bereday
added. He said that there are two
conflicting theories in economics.
First, education had previously been
considered a luxury for the rich.
Secondly, the purpose of education i
to make money. However, B.rcday
observed that the richest countries
were more educated.
Therefore, he concluded there is a
relationship between the expansion of
Ok
Dr. Raymond L. Borchers
also like to see the demise
would
of the
test period. "We could give
during the last several
meetings," the chairman
biochemistry and nutrition
ment said. "The instructor
have the right to give or not
exams
class
of the
depart-
should
to give
a nnai, anyway.
A NUMBER OF OTHER faculty
members added that, in their opinion,
the final exam period could be
shortened to perhaps a week.
Examination lengths could also be
shortened. The University Senate ad
hoc committee recommended that
examinations be given in units of
two, rather than the present three
hours.
Dr. Samuel B. Treves, chairman of
the geology department feels that both
the exam period and the test length
are too long. "I just don't need three
hours to administer a final," he
emphasized.
But Borchers was frank when asked
what chance there was of abolishing
the final exam period. "None," he
said.
As a matter of fact, the chances
of changing to the modified semester
system seem to be not much be'er
than abolishing the final exam period.
The University Senate committee
summed things up by saying, "The
elimination of the bobtail by this type
of schedule perhaps raises more pro
blems than it solves."
(Next The majority are against
any change at all.)
"This is a divisive tendency,
however," he said. "It is nothing that
should be worked for."
REEVES THINKS 'that the senate
structure doesn't allow for efficient
working of a political party.
"A party cannot work from year
to year," Reeves said Wednesday. "I
don't think there should b e
partisanship in the ASUN Senate."
"If we follow the endorsement plan,
there won't necessarily have to be
mutual endorsement," he continued.
"One senatorial candidate could be
endorsed by any number of executive
slates simply because they think he
would make a good senator."
According to Reeves, endorsement
would not have any binding affect
on senators as far as voting is con
cerned. "ISSUE BY issue, two sides usually
develop," he said. "It would be up
to the Individual senators to act ac
cording to their own feelings on a
vote."
Zucker, although he Is quietly
working to form a political party,
wants a party structure different from
past parties.
"I do want a party which eliminates
the disadvantages which were present
in the parties of recent years." he
said Sunday. Under the structure of
ASUN government, Zucker feels that
the purpose of a political party should
be two-fold.
"The party should serve to increase
Interest in the campaign." he said.
"Secondly, a party can work towards
getting good candidates together and
identifying them to the voter."
Mike Gottschalk, a law school senior
who helped organize the now defunct
Vox Popull party as a n un
dergraduate, feels that it Is entirely
possible for parties to exist on cam
pus. "PARTIES ARE the only viable
means of modilizing the 18,000 warm
bodies that the University computes
into a unit." according to Gottschalk.
education and general well-being.
"Educated men are more intelligent
and are more likely to take care of
their lives," Bereday said. He said
that the more widely educated a na
tion's people are, it is more likely
the country will be rich.
Bereday used examples of education
and the quality of labor, saying that
education has raised the quality of
labor nine per cent.
Bereday said that in countries
where education development i s
related to high economic development,
the economic development will "shoot
up quickly." The rate of growth is
the element in the relationship, he
explained.
He cautioned that findings on this
were contradictive and not conclusive.
However, the precise relationship
between education and economic
growth is yet to be found.
NBC News' Washing
ton Correspondent San
der Vanocur will speak
Wednesday, March 12
in the East Campus
Union at 2 p.m. Vano
cur has been the repor
ter for several NBC
News one-hour specials
and is seen regularly on
the NBC-TV "Morning
Report," "Today" show
and the "Huntley-Brink-ley
Report." He is also
heard on NBC Radio
Network's "News on
the Hour" and "Emphasis."
"If a party is adequately organized,
plays ball with the party or loses
It can tell a senator that he either
the next election," Gottschalk added.
Senate is dismally ineffective, he
continued. It has no support of the
students and therefore it can't work
its will on the campus.
"The only way to change this is
to get better qualified people on the
Senate," he said. "Anvone who is
dedicated and cares more about
Senate than a steppingstone to the
Innocents Society can make a good
senator "
TOM MORGAN, ASUN f i r s t vice
president, thinks that the failure of
a controversial, dividing Issue to arise
in Senate has been the cause of the
decline of parties.
"Any representative political body
is adaptive to parties," according to
Morgan. "But the way in which ASUN
Senate is organized there hasn't been
t .."V'"' jT " T P
A
Jan At
What thoughts and schemes lurk in the
discreetly perpetrate the future of ASUN .
hopping?
Two problems, according to Bere
day, are planning for educational ex
pansion and educational waste. He
said that people are always eager to
expand, but they do not use their
educational or economic sources
wisely.
Bereday said that in democratic
countries, the Idea of public demand
is used to develop industry and
education. In other systems,
particularly the Soviet Union. Bereday
said that the "supply" system is used.
This is careful government planning
of what is to be done in the future.
It is detailed projections of the right
education for a particular number of
people at the right time.
Bereday continued that the "fre
economy relies on industrialization."
If needed, it will borrow money to
supply the demand.
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a lasting issue over which controversy
could develop."
JAN KREUSCHER, former
Netoaskan staff writer and news
dltor' also feels that the lack of
dlvf ? & senators has
contributed to the demise of parties.
As lon.? j" s "dent government
concerns itself only with reacting to
problems on Wednesday afternoons,
there can t be much difierence of opi-
m"n sne s.3"1- T . .,
, wml ASUN Senator Phil Bowen
fecls that tne changeover 1 n
leadership in ASUN Senate is the big-
gest detriment towards forming
workable parties,
"It is the duty of the people in
the party to make their campaign
promises known after they are elected
as well as before," he added. "If
parties are to be successful, senators
have to be responsible for fulfilling
their party policy."
1 I' '
minds of those who
. . anybody for party
"We know very little about how
children learn," be said. However, all
the child learns is not at school.
"Everyone has equal or over
powering impact on what -the child
learns," Bereday said. .1
"School work should be compensa
tion money," he emphasized. The
purpose of education is not only for
attaining riches. To grow rich is to
je bored, and to become greedy,
Bereday continued. However, it is a
means to be free from menial labor
and poor health.
Bereday said that people should
procure active men, men who are
willing to make self-improvements.
He also added that education needs
validation or it will be unlearned. This
is the purpose of tests. "There must
be some measurement of success,
however crude," Bereday said.
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