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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1971
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
VOL 94 NO. 68
The Student Tribunal, in a
statement presented late Tuesday to
Chancellor D. B. Varner, has criticized
the Board of Regents for causing "a
disruptive environment in the
University community."
"In the process of learning,
students are taught to question in '
order to understand," the statement
said. The Regents have failed to
respond to "some of these questions,"
the one-page document said.
"THE STUDENTS are not the
employes of the Board .of Regents," it
continued. "The past actions of the
Board of Regents have implied that
this relationship exists. This
relationship between the Board of
Regents .and the students must be
redefined."
The statement was an outgrowth of
Student Tribunal hearings with
student demonstrators last week in
connection with recent protests of the
Regents dismissal of Stephen Rozman,
Tribunal says
Regents9 cause
'disruptive
environment
in University
community9
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according to Michael G. Canar, head Qf
the Tribunal.
Ambiguous channels of
communication available to students
were one of the reasons for the
student-administrative confrontation,
the statement said.
Varner, who met with Canar and
six Tribunal members for about 90
minutes Tuesday afternoon, said his
initial reaction to the statement was
"not unfavorable."
"WE ARE ALL TALKING about
improving communications on
campus," the Chancellor commented.
Improved communication,
however, is an extremely difficult
thing to accomplish, Varner pointed
out. Each member of the Regents, for
example, already spends about 30 days
a year on University business and each
has one or more vocations besides
their Regent duties.
Said Varner: "Constant
communication is an exceedingly
difficult thing to contemplate."
According to the Tribunal's
statement: "It is essential that some
procedure be set up to eliminate this
deficiency, in order for the University
to carry on its normal operation."
The statement made no specific
recommendations, although Varner
proposed one alternative that he
admitted might not be feasible.
Varner suggested the Regents could
have lunch with, or meet in some
other capacity with elected
representatives of students on each of
NU's three campuses.
WHILE THE MEETINGS would
not be public, they would give student
representatives the opportunity to talk
informally with all members of the
Board, Varner said.
But demands on Regent's time
might be too great, the Chancellor
admitted. In addition to the three
meetings on each campus, the Regents
would also have to meet informally
Turn to page 8
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Health and welfare
hears sexual course bill
by JIM PEDERSEN
Staff Writer
The Legislature's Public Health and
Welfare Committee deferred action
until next week on a bill which would
prohibit the teaching of any course
relating to aberrant sexual behavior at
state institutions of higher education.
Sen. Terry Carpenter's LB 443
would allow instruction in aberrant
sex only at the University of Nebraska
College of Medicine in Omaha.
Carpenter introduced the bill in direct
response to the Pro-seminar on
Homophile Studies taught at the
University's Lincoln campus during
the first semester.
CARPENTER'S DEFINITION of
aberrant sex in the bill includes, but is
not limited to "homosexuality,
lesbianism, sodomy in any- of its
variations, or necrophilia."
In introducing the bill, Carpenter
criticized the faculty decision to offer
the course, a decision, he said, which
"apparently has the weight of law."
He also pointed out that two of the
regents who approved the course were
defeated in last fall's elections.
One ot Carpenter's main objections
to the course was the refusal of the
University to notify parents that the
student was enrolled in the course.
"Sen. Herbert Duis (of Gothenberg)
visited the University campus recently
and the first student he met he asked
about homosexuality on campus,"
Carpenter said, "and the student told
him he (the student) was one."
Carpenter said there is no way to
rehabilitate homosexuals because
"they don't want to change. The only
way one is going to learn about
homosexuality is to be one or watch
one.
"THIS BILL TELLS the Regents
that they can't ever start another class
like this until this Legislature or some
other Legislature gives them approval
by law. If you don't pass this bill you
are giving your stamp of approval to
this sort of thing."
No one, besides Carpenter, spoke in
favor of the bill.
Regent Ed Sen wart zkopf appeared
against LB 443. He told the committee
that the Regents deliberated on the
course much longer than any previous
course. He added that he felt the
homophile course had been "terribly
misconstrued."
Refuting Carpenter's implication
. that the course will be attended by
curiosity seekers and impressionable
students, Schwartzkopf quoted figures
which show 60 per cent of all
homosexual behavior is molded in
junior high school, 30 per cent in high
school and the remainder later.
"This course is designed to help
those students headed for careers in
social work, the ministry, law or
medicine," he said. "Beyond that, it is
important for us all to understand
homosexual behavior."
SCHWARTZKOPF SAID people
should recognize that homosexuality
exists, and advocated offering similar
courses at the University of Nebraska
at Omaha and the state colleges.
Merk Hqbson, executive
vice-chancellor, also testified against
the bill. Hobson was concerned with
the interference in academic matters
caused by the bill and its potentially
disruptive affect on related matters in
several departments.
"The strength and success of higher
education in this country is in large
measure due to the fact that what is
taught, how and where it is taught,
and by whom," he said, "have not
been made by our political systems
but rather by specialists in the subject
matter involved."
Associate professor of psychology
James Cole, co-ordinator of the
homophile course, testifying against
the bill, explained that the course has
been broadened since last semester to
include a general study of human
sexuality.
COLE SAID THE course is best
fitted for students intent on careers in
clinical psychology or social work of
some kind but that it isn't limited to
those students.
"1 think any citizen would benefit
from a better understanding of human
sexuality," Cole said.
In closing, Carpenter lashed out at
the University as an institution which
doesn't believe in supervision. The
University, he said, "believes in total
freedom, not just academic freedom."
Carpenter told the committee that
if "you kill this bill and people back
home ask you why, what are you
going to say? Do you think you can
convince them it is a good thing?"
The committee will probably vote
on the bill next Monday.