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.thursday, apri! 25, 1974
lincoln, nebraska vol. 97, no. 51
v.
: 'HEP
prepares
for jobs,
college
By Pat Moynihan -
The High School Equivalency Program
(HEP) has been operating in the basement
of the 501 Bldg. for six years, yet many
UNL Students are not aware of its
existence, according to director Victor
Resendez.
HEP's purpose is to help migratory
and seasonal workers receive their high
school diplomas to place them in college
or a good job, Resendez said.
The program is funded by the U.S.
Department of Labor through the Human
Resources Foundation at UNL.
The program's capacity is 50 students,
Resendez said, but the average
participation is about 45 students.
These students, ranging in age from 17
to 24, are referred to the program by
other migratory and governmental
agencies such as the US. Employment
Service, he said.
A great number of students also are
referred to the HEP by former students,
he said. .
"Almost 13 of our students were
informed about the program by
relatives," he added.
The majority of HEP students are
Mexican-Americans, Resendez said, but
blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans, and Indians
also are involved.
"Their families are from Texas, New
Mexico, and Arizona," he said, "but they
migrate northwards to work the fields,
especially the beet fields of western
Nebraska."
The students live in the Abel-Sandoz
Residence Halls with University students,
he said, and many take part in hall
activities, especially sports prograrps. .
However, he added, HEP also sponsors
recreational activities such as , roller
skating parties, record . hops, and
swimming parties. . :
"These kids are a long way from
home," he said, "and we do our best to
keep them from getting homesick."
HEP's goal is to prepare students for
the General Educational Development
tests (GED) that determine if the, student
will receive his high school diploma.
The students usually finish t.he course
in five months, Resendez said, but the
teachers decide when a student is
prepared. A letter of recommendation is
required from HEP before a student is
allowed to take the test. . '
The Lincoln testing center is in
Whittier Junior High School, where the
state gives the teits Monday through
Friday.
Classes are held in the basement of the
501 Bldg. weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to
3;3U p.m. rive teacners ami uneu
teachers' aides- instruct the five
mandatory GED courses: history, science,
literature, mathematics and grammar.
Students are also allowed one elective,
Resendez said, such as- art, typing,
shorthand, or law.
The law course was started this
semester by several UNL Law College
volunteers, Resendez . said, and it has
proved very successful.
"They are teaching these students the .
fundamental rights and obligations of
being a U.S. citizen," he said.
Education, however, is not the only
function of HEP, he noted. Placement
also is a very important part of the job.
Perhaps only three students from one
class will go on to attend UNL, Resendez
said. Most return to junior colleges or
jobs in their home towns.
Resendez, who has been HEP director
for one year, said he was satisfied with
the present program. He said he would
like to ;see more students take advantage
of the program.
"I would also like to see more UNL
students become involved in the program
as tutors or individual counselors," ha
said. . . J
ehraskan' editor 'smarter, practical'
By Mark Hoffman
Seven years ago Wayne Kreuscher
was editor of the Daily Nebraskan, a
newspaper accused of being controlled
by radicals. ,
Within two months he will be a
lawyer with an Indianapolis corporate
law f irm.
Has he changed?
"It has been seven years since I was
editor," Kreuscher, 28, said last
week," and in those seven years I hope
I have matured some-a little smarter,
a little more practical . . . have a little
more interest in (my) future."
H began his 2-semester term as,
editor with an editorial (Sept. 14,
196G) in which he noted that
University administrators had attacked
the previous eme$ter't editor for
being "tactless, impulsive and
irresponsible."
"The truth of the matter is," he
wrote, "she put out a good newspaper
that represented the students against
the hodgepodge of secrecy, confusion
and politics in many of the
administrators' offices."
The Free University, a program
offering tuition-free classes usually not
available in the UNL curriculum, and
the Student Bill of Rights began
during the next two semesters then
and with them came a question
Kreuscher often voiced in his
editorials:
(Feb. 3, 1967)
"While centering around different
aspects, both thy Bill of Rights and the
Free University are asking the same
question: what type of education are
students at Nebraska getting?"
While Kreuscher was editor, UNL
sophomore jo F laugher flaunted
UNL authority by moving from her
sorority house to an off campus
apartment "because," she said, "I
cannot afford to pay the $35 a month
house or dorm bill in addition to
tuition," according to a Daily
Nebraskan article.
This violated UNL policy which
required all unmarried undergraduate
students, not living with their parents
during the school year, to live in
residences approved by th daan of
Student Affairs.
Kreuscher devoted an editorial
(Feb. 20, 1967) to Helen Snyder,
associate dean of Student Affairs, who
was in charge of enforcing the ruling.
He wrote:
"Dean Snyder apparently thinks
that a majority of students and their
parents will believe her when she says
that noisy, overpriced and often
inadequate University housing 'is a
part of a person's total experience at
the University' ...
"The Daily Nebraskan feels sorry
for Dean Snyder." i ' . r , - .
The regents rejected a proposal
that semester which would have
allowed coed visitation in dormitory
rooms. Their action prompted
Kreuscher's editorial reply (April 24,
1967):
"University students are urged to
be responsible, to seek change through
proper channels . . . yet when students
are responsible and use the right
channels, the truth is that they still
want to be successful. They want to
see results."
UNL students also were aware of
national concerns during the mid '60s.
The Vietnam war was one of those
issues. A number of UNL students, in
protest of the war and particularly
napalm bombings, proposed , to
organize "Operation Marshmallow."
"Operation Marshmallow" was to
be a relief food fund of marsh ma Hows
sent by the United States to
Vietnamn,
"But think of the pragmatism
suggested by a heartwarming scene of
a smiling Vietnamese child toasting the
marshmallow over a flaming right
arm!", and "the thought of a fresh
marshmallow sizzling over the embers
of a ruined peasant cottaoo." student!
wrote to the Daily Nebraskan'i
"Campus Opinion."
Kreuscher replied with this
editorial (Oct. 3, 19G6):
"The Daily Nebraskan, joining the
majority of university publications
throughout the United States, agrees
that Johnson's Vietnam policy is
wrong in many ways find "possibly
detrimental to the aimi it i trying to
accomplish."
But he went on to say:
"The Daily Nebraskan objects to
any type of demonstration or
campaign, no matter how funny,
which does not put Nebraska students
firmly behind the men who are
fighting-regardless of the policy."
Today he says, "I wish I could
destroy all the copies of that
editorial."
His attitude changod and by his
senior year, Kreuscher and msny of his
friends were working for Eu'jcne
McCarthy's Democratic presidential
bid against President Lyndon Johnson
and sgainst Johnson's war policy.
The Vietnam War became a flaming
issue on the .UNL campus in 1970 with
the student takeover, of the Military
! and Naval Science Building -and
Kreuscher took notice.
"People felt that organized action
could do more good" such as
campaigning for McCarthy, Kreuscher
said.
"My. feeling is that I was sorry we
(Kreuscher and his friends) hadn't
done it, sorry we didn't have more
active protest," he said.
Kreuscher's class was a class in
transition, he said. He described it as
"the most liberal" up until that time,
yet more conservative in lifestyle than
students of today.
"It appears ... on the surface at
least," he said, "students' life styles
are more liberal, more individualistic
today."
"Philosophically we were
completely prepared ... for the (life
styles) that students have today,"
r? r
Kreuscher said.
That philosophy put the Daily
Nebraskan and him under fire during
the ASUN elections campaign in 1987.
The top two presidential
candidates were Dick Schulze,
supported by a conservative group,
and RiwiS Pfeifer, eventually endorsed
by the Daily Nebraskan.
Kreuscher said the conservative
group was concerned that people in his
class running for ASUN executive
positions were a threat to the
University.
The conservatives thought them a
threat because of their involvement
with Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS), because their hair was
longer, and because they believed in
allowing women to live off campus, he
added.
Before the election, the Daily
Nebraskan was charged with being
"controlled by radicals." The charge
came in the Tombstone Epitaph, a
publication supported by the
conservative group, Kreuscher said.
See Kreuscher, Page 9
L
Wayhsj Kreuscher
,....4 rJ , - '