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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 12, 1971)
rS.nnrmv nrisno JUaMJAJ BJLJaJIXJ WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1971 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA VOL 94 NO. 115 1 jjj Interest is steadily mounting over who will be the new President of the Lincoln Campuses and Outstate Activities. This is the first of a three-part series on the search. by GARY SEACREST Staff Writer One of the few persons on campus trying to remain disinterested in the search for a new campus president is Joseph Soshnik. The reason Soshnik would rather not play a part in the choice is because he is the outgoing president-the only man to hold the position since its creation almost three years ago. "I will probably not recommend anyone for the job since any recommendation could be a disservice to the person," said the 51 -year-old Soshnik, who also holds the rank of professor of business administration. Throughout his last days in office this summer, Soshnik will undoubtedly stay on the sidelines. But both students and faculty are rapidly taking ?n interest in the search for a successor to Soshnik, who announced his resignation in March to become a vice-president for an Omaha investment banking firm. "IT IS ALMOST necessary that the new person have previous academic experience," said Soshnik in talking about his successor. He added that the work of the 16-member search committee "depends a lot on what the committee perceives as the needs of the institution." What role will the new president play in heading a state university with an enrollment of over 20,000 students? "The president has to use influence, not power," he said. "There is a great deal of mediation that the president is asked to provide. "He is in the middle between the outside community and the University. He has to become bi-lingual in that he has to translate the needs of the University to the outside community and the needs of the outside community to the University." Because of the intense involvement of the President's Office with the affairs of students, it is that office that often feels the brunt of their problems and protests. SOSHNIK NOTED that during his tenure, he has tried to maintain channels of communication between the Administration, faculty and students. He remarked that the involvement of these different groups is necessary in developing new campus programs. "While we have a significant distance to go," he said, "I think we have improved our ability to communicate with one another. The Omaha native said that he has "a sense of satisfaction and some accomplishment" in the creation of the Council on Student Life, which is charged with making policies concerning all aspects of student life outside the classroom. During his tenure Soshnik has also been actively involved in improving the academic side of the University. "The Teaching Council was brought into being during my term as president after a lot of study," Soshnik said. "It has served as a clearinghouse and stimulator for improving teaching and education." He also expressed great pride in the creation of the Academic Planning Committee, which was started in January, 1970. "Before the committee's creation we were planning our physical facilities better than our academic programs," he remarked. PROGRESS WAS also made during Soshnik's tenure in recruiting black students and providing for their special needs and interests once they arrived on campus. "'Although many view our progress in this area as slow, we have made some progress," the President said. He added that the special programs originally designed for blacks have now brought the plight of Indians and Mexican-American students to the attention of the University. During Soshnik's two and a half years as president the University has seen the rise of student activism. There have been demonstrations protesting the conditions of blacks on campus, the war and Board of Regents personnel decisions. Turn to page 6 Women's Rights Committee finds 'sexual caste system' The University's "sexual caste system" has relegated a disproportionately small percentage of women among faculty and students, but has allowed them a virtual monopoly on low paid clerical positions on the Lincoln campuses, according to a Women's Rights Committee. In a spring report accepted by the Faculty Senate Tuesday, the Human Rights Committee sub-committee, said: "The University has not consciously discriminated against women through any policy or policies of nonemployment of women." THE PATTERNS of employment, promotion and wages surrounding women employees do, however, the report states, constitute sexually discriminatory practices which deny equal opportunity for employment, promotion and raises. The sub-committee, created in the spring of 1970, based its findings on established patterns from preliminary surveys. Other statistical data has not been confirmed by the computer and will be included in a complete report next fall. To illustrate the institutional sexual discrimination, the committee,' headed by English instructor, Linda Pratt, cites that women comprise only 39 per cent of the total undergraduate enrollment with the percentage dropping to 32 per cent of the senior and graduate school women. Only 1 1 per cent of the professional schools' enrollments are women. Females total 5 1 per cent of the U.S. population. WOMEN CAN claim only 13 per cent of all faculty positions. Again, according to the report, women occupy the lower ranks with 41 per cent of the female faculty at the instructor level and only 10 per cent as full professors. The College of Arts and Sciences, for example, employs only two female full professors, according to the report. It also states that of the five women department heads, all are in Women's Physical Education and the College of Home Economics. At the other end of the scale, "virtually all clerical positions are filled by women," the committee said. "The low wages and lack of promotion possibilities create low morale among the women of the clerical staff," the report states. THE COMMITTEE noted that no more than 20 per cent of the women surveyed could see any future for themselves at the University. This combines with a 46 per cent to 48 per cent turnover rate which, it adds, "must seriously effect the efficiency level within the University." An Affirmative Action Program introduced by Howard R. Neville, vice-chancellor for business and finance, and approved by the Regents, provides the most hopeful sign to increase equal opportunity for women, the Women's Rights Committee said. But it adds that "in the crucial area of higher wages for clerical staff, no relief is in sight." The survey revealed that 47 per cent of the staff work for under $2 an hour and another 45 per cent for under $2.50 and hour. Less than 2 per cent of the respondents received an annual wage of $6,000 or more. The committee also reported that discussions with Jack Snider, Marching Band director, and Emanuel Wishnow, School of Music director, have resulted in opening the Marching Band to women. This reverses the long-standing tradition of an all-male Marching Band except for the baton twirler, Nebraska's Sunshine Girl. (See other Faculty Senate story on page 2) Compromise on horizon for 'special interest' bill by STEVE STRASSER Staff Writer Compromise on LB 93 9. a controversial environmental protection bill several NU students and teachers have termed a tool of polluters, appears to be in the offing after Unicameral debate Tuesday. As it now reads. LB 939 "puts the fox in charge of the chicken coop," according to NU philosophy instructor John Diehl. coordinator of an informal environmental advisory group to Lincoln Sen. Harold Simpson. Diehl said that out of 16 members on LB 939's proposed environmental protection council, at least eight would have a conflict of interest, since they would represent manufacturing and agricultural industries, electric power generating industries, and other "special" interests. "We're not going to get realistic standards when the men making them are the ones doing the polluting, Diehl said. But the Legislature seems to be moving toward a compromise whereby the governor would have more control of the environmental protection council than LB 929 now calls for. David City Sen. Loran Schmit, the bill's chief sponsor, said a condition of the compromise would be a requirement in the law that no state anti-pollution regulation could be any more stringent than that imposed by the federal government. Under the compromise, he said, the council would become advisory rather than one with executive powers. The governor would appoint the executive director, subject to legislative confirmation. The compromise would bring LB 939 more into line with LB 879, killed by the Legislature several days ago. Turn to page 6 Great Caesar's ghost! The Subcommittee on Student Publications will hold interviews May 19 for the executive positions on next fall's Daily Nebraskan. Full-time students interested in being editor, managing editor, news editor or advertising manager should fill-out an application and sign-up for an interview time in the Daily Nebraskan office in the basement of the Nebraska Union. The Subcommittee will also be interviewing for a sophomore member of that group. Students who are now freshmen can also apply and sign-up for an interview in the Daily Nebraskan office. Interviews for other Daily Nebraskan positions will be announced later.
