editorial Qptatort-.pc&g.
Cultural
waste ?
Consider entertainment. Better yet, consider
entertainment in the form of fine arts and the
performing arts.
It remains to be seen whether this campus and
community can enthusiastically support a broad
range of quality fine arts programs appreciable by a
large number of people.
The problem is easily diagnosed. There just aren't
very many people who appreciate these types of
events. A small crowd with limited resources, no
matter how enthusiastic they may be about classical
and cultural productions, cannot sustain a number of
these programs with any measure of quality.
An editorial in the Daily Nebraskan on September
1 8, 1 967, concluded that Nebraska was not really a
"vast cultural wasteland", simply because of the wide
variety of offerings in the areas of cinema, music, art
and theater. That claim still holds true. However, all
of these events are still lacking in one thing-a regular,
diverse and enthusiastic audience. It is assumed that
the same group of people who were supporting the
fine arts in 1967 are sustaining the same type of
programming today. They do this with shear
perseverance and love of the arts.
The cause for this lack of awareness may be
pinned any number of places. One group to blame is
the high schools in the state, for their lack of
emphasis on the fine arts in their curriculums.
Another possible cause is the fact that Nebraska is
situated nowhere near a large metropolitan area that
can more readily accommodate the performing arts.
Anyone stating that these events are not available
is certainly in error. But if people continue to ignore
performances and fine arts programs, then that
speculation may come true.
For example, the UNL School of Music is staging an
excellent series of six performances the weekend of
April 20-23. It includes an address by Give Barnes,
music and drama critic for the New York Times, an
opera and five other diverse and potentially exciting
....
vocal and instrumental performances.
The future of similar music festivals produced by
the School of Music rests with the success of the
program planned for next week. Advance tickets sales
started slowly and tapered off. Response to date has
been less than mediocre.
If Nebraska one day is to be termed a cultural
wasteland, it is only reflective of the people who
refuse to be a part of the colorful, educational and
pleasurable experience of the performing arts.
If the UNL School of Music's "Weekend with
Music Festival" and other fine arts presentations fail,
it can only point out that the minds of a great
number of UNL students and Nebraska citizens are
the real cultural wastelands.
-Week's share
It's not just a display of monkey wrenches and
transistors.
The common contention that engineers are dull is
usually dispelled yearly as the students and faculty of
the College of Engineering put on their E-Week
program. "
The engineers have run into some problems again
this year, however. In yesterday's ASUN meeting,
senators voted not to give E-Week money to help
defray expenses incurred in staging the event to be
held this weekend.
In past years ASUN has been equally as helpful to
the Engineering College, by not exactly freely
contributing funds to the program. At the same time,
the student government group shells out money to
support other organizations and what are purported
to be educational programs.
This year's E-Week, "A New Look at Engineering"
is a serious attempt to look at the "engineering world
in revolution" and present those obervations to the
state and local community.
As long as ASUN is in part funding other programs
and organizations, E-Week deserves its fair share.
-J
Flexibility
Latitude in curriculum and more freedom of
course choice is a virtue when it is the part of an
undergraduate education. Or is it?
The Arts and Sciences faculty will apparently be
gathering this week to answer that very question.
Before them now are a number of proposals dealing
with changes in the group requirements. Although
there are a number of proposals expected at the
meeting, two new programs are being brought
forward by members of the Arts and Sciences
Curriculum Committee.
Part of the proposed plans is the fate of the
language requirement. It now consists of the completion
of four semesters of college level foreign language or
its equivalent. That requirement alone has led many
students into other colleges, denying them their first
choice major.
The language requirement is not all bad, however.
The ability to use a foreign language is a valuable
research tool for graduate students and career
academicians. It is also a cultural asset in today's
global village. Something may be wrong.
Aside from the language question, the proposals
may include changing the six categories of
requirements into three or four. Mandatory courses
within each of the categories also could be fewer.
Although implementation would not come for
another several semesters, (fall 1973 is the rumored
implementation date), increased latitude in
undergraduate course selection would be most
desirable.
It is sad that in an institution with graduate
programs available, undergraduate education
innovation is slow in coming.
If the Arts and Sciences faculty chooses to act on a
proposal this week that would provide the individual
student in the College of Arts and Sciences with more
flexibility in planning his own curriculum, this
University will be on the way to appropriately
renovating the lower levels of higher education.
Barry Piteer
PAGE 4
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 13. 1972
