The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, August 11, 1970, Image 1
TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1970 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA NO. 8 Legislative Council and Efegenfts discuss student strike By Roger Boye The student strike, administrative structure, and regulations governing faculty and student behavior at the University of Nebraska were discussed Friday when members of the Legislative Council Executive Board questioned univeristy administrators and Board of Regents members. The university personnel were reluc tant, however, to talk about some specifics of the May strike before the report of a seven-man investigating commission, headed by Richard Spelts of Grand Island, is completed and made public. The Board of Regents announced it will meet August 18 to hear the report which, according to Chancellor D. B. Varner, will be released unedited to the press. The commission, set up by the Regents ? NU's 1970 Summer Repertory Theatre moves into its final two weeks with productions of "Oh, What a Lovely War," (above) and "Indians." Plays begin at 8:30 p.m. at Howell Theatre. "Oh, What a Love ly War," Aug. 11, 13, 18, 20, and 21; "Indians," Aug. 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, and 22. Search committee mil select executive dean of student affairs A search committee organized to nominate persons to fill the position of executive dean of student affairs held first meeting last Tuesday. The thirteen-meniber committee, com posed of students, faculty members and administrators, met with President Joseph Soshnik to discuss what is ex pected of the committee. Soshnik will select the executive dean from a list of four or five persons, from Inside or outside the university, nominated by the committee. The position of executive dean of stu dent affairs was vacated in June by G. Robert Ross when the Board of Regents uppointed him Vice Chancellor of student programs for the entire university system. Faculty members on the committee are Mrs. Virginia Corgan, Teachers College; lrofessor Robert Haller. English; Professor Jerry Petr, Economics; Prof. Wallace Rudolph, College of Law; and Professor William Splinter, Agricultural Engineering. Dr. Franklin Eldrige, associate dean of the College of Agriculture and director of resident instruction, Ely Meyerson and Haze Pope of the Office of Student Affairs represent the administration on the committee. Students are Fred Anderson, Roger ltonneson, Bill Chuloupka, Beverly Goodenbcrger and Nancy Ryan. They were appointed by Steve Tiwald, presi dent of the Associated Students of the University of Nebraska (ASUN) and en dorsed by ASUN Senators who were present at a special Senate meeting July 9. According to Tiwald. the University will also hire an ombudsman this fall to help students "who run into hassles with administrative bureaucratic red-tape tvpe problems." ' The position would be filled by a full time uppcrclass or graduate student, who will be hired around Oct. 1, Tiwald said. Fees for Scholarships In other ASUN action over the summer, Tiwald said that the committee iiv vestigating the use of student fee money for minority student scholarships ha issued a preliminary report. The commi-.tee, after discussions with administrators, concluded that a student fee Increase of $3.00 per semester and $1.50 per summer session would be suffi cient for establishing a fund for minority and low-income scholarships. If such an Increase had been in effect List year it would have raised $t20,000. in June, was asked by Varner to in vestigate events on the Lincoln campus during May including: whether laws or Regents' policies were violated, whether there were "gross improprieties" that need Regent action, and whether there is evidence of substantial involvement of non-University personnel. Varner said that the commission may also recommend, for example, that the university modify some rules and policies. A university legal counsel assisting the commission, Flavel Wright, told the Legislative Council members that university policies are limited "by con stitutional safeguards of free speech and assembly which must be protected." He said that if these rights are not respected, "it will stir up a group of students and create emotional reaction ... As I understand it, the university handled this .-v.. i ' . v.. 'A , , ' ' ' ift'Af 0 o according to Sieve Fowler, chairman of the committee. Fowler said the money would be set in a special fund to be jointly administered by the Office of Financial Aids and the coordinator of special programs. The ac count would be open to additional con tributions from other sources such as campus organizations, foundations and alumni. "Since this is a proposal that affects nil students and requires the approval of the Board of Regents, there is a need to discover the size of student support for the proposal," Fowler said. "The com mittee considered two possible methods: a referendum and a petition drive. "The committee chose the petition method for the following reasons: In order for a maximum number of students to become knowledgeable about the need, the petition drive could be carried out over a longer period of time than the shorter, intensive campaigning period before a referendum. "The petition drive would probably register the support of a greater number of students than a referendum because It would last for a longer period of time," he added. Tiwald said that the conclusions of the committee are, as yet, tentative. Record Store The ASUN Services Committee has established a non-profit record store which will open in September. Prices of records and tapes will be lower than the average Lincoln prices, according to Bill Chaloupka. chairman of the committee. The store will be on the first floor of the Union and will emphasize rock, jazz, folk and classical music, Chaloupka said. New Vice President Randy Prior has been appointed second vice president of ASUN to fill the vacan cy, left by Mark Theisen, who resigned in July to enter Mount Michael Monastery in Elkhorn. Tiwald will ask for rn'ification of this appointment at the first student Senate in meeting in September, he said. Tiwald said he thinks the Senate can be more active than it has been in the past. "ASUN's involvement In the student strike of last May was good. Students saw that we had finally done something by calling the Town Hall Meetings. They are more aware that there is a student government and that it is willing to stand up and do sometning." he added. Plans for fall ASUN action include "moves ahead in educational reform" and implementation of the Academic Planning CommitUMt report Tiwald said. situation! (strike) beautifully it avoided deaths, violence and damage." Others expressed similar opinions. Regent Ed Schwartzkopf of Lincoln said that by avoiding serious trouble during May the university "stands high." State Sen. C. W. Holmquist of Oakland, chairman, of the legislative group, said that "a fine job" has been done during May. He said the Friday discussion with the Regents was valuable and there should be more meetings between the two groups. Another senator, William Wylie of Elgin, said that people in his area "think the Regents are sitting on their hands" and don't realize that :here is a com mission investigating the May events. Regent B. N. Cireenberg of, York said that although the board has been criticized "for not having policies governing demonstrations, it established 11 s tJ". ' - v. Ross named to UNESCO commission Secretary of State William P. Rogers h;is appointed University of Nebraska Vice Chancellor 0. Robert Ross to the United States National Commission for the United Nations Educational. Scien tific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Dr. Ross is oive of 10 new appointees including Mrs. Claire Lee Chennault, Washington, DC, vice president of in ternational affairs for the Flying Tiger Line: U.S. Senator Robert Dole (R Kan,); Charles E. Perry, president of Florida International University, Miami; and Mrs. Thyra Thomson, the Secretary of State of Wyoming. Dr. Ross will begin his official duties when the Commission has its 34th annual meeting Sept. 17 ami 18 in Washington, D C. He was appointed as a represen tative of state ami local government. Two other University staff members will leave Commission posts this year. They are Dr. Walter Beggs. dean of the Teachers College, representing the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; and Dr. Wesley Meierhenry, professor of adult and con tinning education, representing the Na tional Education Association Department of Audio-Visual Instruction. The National Commission is a Congressionally authorized 100-member body of individuals and organization representatives which advises the Department of State on UNESCO matters and serves as liaison between the American public and UNESCO. Education reform report is available The Academic Planning Committee's final report on the May 13 meeting on educational reform has been completed. Copies of the report are being sent to each member of the faculty, and five copies will be available in each campus library for interested students, according to J. M. Daly, chairman of the com mute. The 40-page report lists proposals for reform In grading, courses, administra tion, curriculum planning, and numerous ether areas which were presented by faculty and students at the Hf jytng. such regulations in 1968 which are today listed in the Campus Handbook. Included in the regulations is the statement, "the University community may impose behavioral restrictions which are necessary to preserve the orderly functioning of the University . . ." In reply to a question from Sen. Jerome Warner of Waverly, Lincoln campus president Joseph Soshnik said the "tent city" north of Love Library was allowed to remain in May because it was decided "this type of dissent was not disruptive and there was no threat of violence." Holmquist asked Vice Chancellor G. Robert Ross if he "knew the names of faculty members who participated" in the May events. Ross, who said "participating" needs a definition, sug gested that reading newspapers published Minority student fund NU College Opportunity faculty The Nebraska University College Op portunity (NU-COP) faculty drive, a fund drive to raise tuition and college expense money for minority and low-income students, has raised $2,200 toward its $10,000 goal. The faculty drive is p;wt of a fund raising campaign that also includes a student fund raising drive and an anonvmous gift of $20,000-25,000. A total of $70,000 is needed if 100 new minority and low-income students are to be ac cepted into the NU-COP program. Dr. Alan Seagren, director of summer sessions and member of the NU-COP ad hoc committee of the Faculty Senate, said the committee hopes to have pledges of $10,000 from the faculty by Aug. 15. " For the past two years the Board of Regents has made available twenty tui tion waiver scholarships per year for low income and minority students. As ;! outgrowth of this. 41 student s participated in a special program during the past year, Dr. Seagren said. "The grade-point average for the pro gram students the first semester was 2.2." he said. "These results suggest that students who in the past have been locked out, given proper support, can do a first rate job at the university." Haze Pope, coordinator of special pro grams in the Office of Student Affairs, cited an example ol a black coed who was in the bottom fourth of her higli school graduating class and scored poorly on the SAT test. It was predicted that the girl would make a grade point average of around 1.0 at the university. At the end of her first semester here, the girl had a 4 plus average. Other cases are less dramatic than this one, but similar. Pope said. This may in dicate that the methods of predicting the performance of minority students may be inaccurate and that perhaps different criteria should be used to predict minority student performance than to predict the middle class white student's performance, he added. Pope said that in the past some minority students have received scholarships from the Office of Financial Aids, but that some government funds have been cut back. The Special Pro grams office has exerted its influence to get additional funds, he added. One such effort resulted in a $100,000 grant, from the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare to provide counseling, advising, tutoring and social and educational programming for low income and minority students. However, this grant does not provide for tuition and expenses for students and that is what NU-COP will provide, Seagren said. The program is important for the University because "a person shouldn't be deprived of a college education because of economic conditions," Seagren said. "This is on? way to improve the social problems of minority and low-income communities to provide young people with the opportunity to gain an education and to go back and have an impact on the problems that exist," he added. If a high school student feels there is no possibility of his going on to college, he may not perform so well in high school. Seagren continued. The chance for a col lege education may provide the high schooler with motivation for self-improvement. Also, he added, the development of such a program on the college level will assist the university in "improving education and making us more aware of our responsibility to face up to the pro blems" of society. "The University can play an important role in breaking the cycles that low-in-come sutdents come from," Pope said. "The fund-raising drive is definitely important, ami I praise the professors who have investigated the area and dedicated their time and resources to make it a success." Pope said he felt there is some con fusion aiming some professors as to the univerity's participation in the source of minority student, funds and what the program is all about and that he would welcome talking to anyone professor w ho wants facts clarified. "The university Is an Important In stitution In assisting these young people," Tope said. "It's going to take effort, time, tolerance and the know-how of the whole university to make this program succeed. during the May events would be a way to obtain names. He added that many faculty members wanted to help maintain order rather than being in sympathy with students. The long-range result of what started in May as a reaction to southeast Asia events and student deaths at Kent State seems to be a gradual change toward improving the university, according to Soshnik. "There has been an intensified review of educational programs in recent months," he said. In answer to another question, Varner and Soshnik explained the administrative structure of the university. Varner said it had a "diffused operation" with power ultimately in the hands of the people of the state who "put up the money" and elect legislators and regents. The regents delegate some authority to the chan cellor, but always hold "the reserve of "And it's going to take (he dedication of top administrators. "If they do not ac tively support it. it will not succeed, it can't be a token program." Dr. James G. Kendrick. professor agricultural economics, said that the fund-raising drive is "a good thing and should be widely supported." Konilrick said he looks at the fund as an experimental program to see if relieving financial worries can overcome a low-grade background. Scholarships are usually dependent on grades, he continued, and, if a minority s.i;(Je:it is short on monoy i'nd can't meet the grade requirements, he cannot go to college. This program would relieve the financial worry and let the studeiV. study instead of having to take a job. Lvle E. Voting, assistan: dean of th? O.nkge of Engintrrirg and Architecture, said "Students from minority groups haven't had the opportunity to go to col lege. This is n way of giving them Mr1 opportunity. "Tlrs is a start. It's soiue:hing the faculty can do now." Dr. Dudley Bailey, chairman of the Department of English, stressed the necessity of havina a student poiuihi i n lofleetive of the general population. The university now has a lower percentage of minority group members than the population at large. "If we are going to educate for a democracy, we should attract students from sectors of the population that Sheldon closes to ready for sculpture exhibition The first completed piece of specially constructed sculpture was installed Wednesday in Lincoln's 15th Street Mall, according to Norman Geske. director of the University of Nebraska Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. Geske said "Parcippanv," the work of Lyman Kipp of New York, is one of four specially-constructed pieces which will be placed in the mall areas during the next few weeks. All four. Geske added, are part of the two-month long exhibition of American sculpture scheduled to begin Sept. 11 at the University. The exhibition, in honor of the dedica tion of the University's Sheldon Sculpture Garden, is tho Nebraska Art Associa tion's Annual Exhibition. Geske explain ed. Funds for the exhibition have come from individual contributions and from the Iron Horse Jubilee, according to the association president, Mrs. Curtis Kim ball of Lincoln. "Parcippanv." Geske said, represents a personal variation of the style currently popular among American sculptors. This style, he explained, is characterized by architectural scale, monochromatic col or, and industrial techniques of coo struetion and finish. The specially-constructed replica of the Kipp piece on Lincoln's mall stands 18 feet high and is 20 feet wide. Geske added. It will be bright blue and oraiHie in color when painting is finished, Geske said. The construction and installation of the Kipp work was possible, Geske said, because of the "time and materials given by the Nebraska Art Association by Martin Aitken. John Bordogna. and Leo Hill, by Richard Dittenber of Carpenter's iAical 1055, and by the Sherwin-Williams Co." Another piece of sculpture. Tal Streeter's "Five Lines to the Skv," is being constructed on the Mall im mediately south of R Street. Some 20 young apprentice carpenters, members of Carpenter's Local 1055 are trying their hand at building some of the specially-constructed sculpture models. Richard Dittenber, secretary of the Carpenter's Local, said the would-be carpenters have donated about five working days to complete one of the creations. Geske said these specially-constructed models are, in s;ructure aitd design, ex actly as the artists intended, except that they are made of wood instead of metal. Dittenber said the work is "good ex perience" for the young apprentices, ranging from 18 to 27 years. Sheldon Art Gallery will be closed to power," Varner said. Historically, establishment of university rules has been t h e responsibility of the faculty, Soshnik said. He said faculty members had been "put on notice" since May 16 by the Liaison Committee and Committee on Academic Privilege and Tenure two important Faculty Senate committees that "their citizen rights do not override their obligations to students." Holmquist asked if there are limita tions on hanging obscene signs in the Union. Legal counsel Wright said the problem is defining obscene. He said that according to the Supreme Court, obscenity is something that violates community standards, but this too is vague. The university has reviewed some obscenity matters with the county at torney. Ross added. drive continues haven't attended college before If white and minority students are going to live tone her after they graduate, he added, "ihey shfudi karn to live together now." Record enrollment surpasses 13,000 S 'mtrcr student enrollments at the I niversiiv of Nebraska total 13.096 for t!i.- land m sessions, a new record and a "iiin of 1.000 iHid.nts compared to last s turner. Regisii a'lon figures for the two five-and-one-hnll-week session show 7.720 ;,!t:den:s w 're cni lied in the first session .li'd 5.:;7ii slutieats are enrolkd in the se c ml session. The secod session began Jul ' 2') .-.ad e 'd; Aug. 25. "The cortiminly growing student res mnse to our two-summer-session t rav't indicates that they are eager to . vl- adv.vi' igc of the educational op-p-Tt unities it provides," said President Joseph Soshnik, "The tandem summer P"ogram makes it possible for the I'tiiversity to achieve greater use of its f.-ciltties t n a year-round basis." There will be no graduation exercises at the ead of tho second summer session, but those who complete requirements at that time will be able to obtain their degrees at the Registrar's Office. the public for the rest of the month of August and early September, Geske said, to enable preparation of the exhibition. The interior of the gallery will be used for the display of smaller works of sculpture and more valuable and historic ones, he added. The gallery will reopen after formal dedication ceremonies for the garden September 11. v, 3 N- A- i HI v ' M 1 Three telephone poles against the sky will be trans formed into Streeter's sculp ture, "Five li .es to the Sky." - - ''-'"-, - -