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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 1974)
. , -is -at- 4 -V V''' f y . X f m i UUli Wednesday, august 28, 1974 lincoln, nebraska vol 98, no. 3 f I ! y College classes offered on ETV By Deb Gray This fall the sun will shine bright hot only on Kentucky homes, but on Nebraska ones as well. On September 29, the State University of Nebraska (SUN) will open its progressive program for higher education. SUN is an experimental project delivering college courses to peo ple in their homes throughout the state. These people perhaps can not get an education in any other way. According to Dr. Milton Hassel, SUN's director of development, the idea dawned four years ago. In 1970, two national reports, the Newman Report and the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, were Issued. "Each report emphasized that all post-secondary higher educa tion significantly left out a segment wanting higher education," Has sell said. "But because of personal factors they could not avail themselves of the opportunity." Hassel said University President D.B. Varner decided if the report was true, the University of Neb raska should assume leadership to bring ah educational program to all age groups. Varner founded a five-man committee headed by Dr. Wesley Meirhenry, Chairman of the Adult and Continuing Educa tion Program, to recommend fur ther action. Their findings affirmed the nationwide report. There Is a need fcr extra-campus education In Nebraska. Sines 1970, SUN has grown from infancy to a toddling stage. Regi stration began August 15" for two courses, accounting and psychology. "We based our curriculum on a, clientele study of thousands of individuals in which they said what courses most interested them," Hassel said. "Our biggest re sponse was in two areas, so all experiments are in these pro grams." J Additional courses will radiate from this hub. Hassel said he hopes 11 courses will be developed in five years, eventually 55-60. One proposed course deals with cultural history in the Great Plains. This summer the SUN program was awarded $75,000 from the National Endowment for the Hu manities to develop a study of the folk music, art, literature, architec ture, and government of the Great Plains. , Hassel said he doesn't know when the class will be offered since it is still in the talking stages.' Earlier this summer Robert Man ley, resident consultant of the course, said planning will take four months. r For SUN, the media Is the message. ' A student will watch 15 29-min-ute segments over the ETV net work. He will listen to each lesson's accompanying audio tape. Every Sunday He wili read a commentary on that week's lesson in the Omaha World-Heraid. The SUN program was described in The Omaha World-Herald as an "open learning experience." "It means open learning in terrriS of the elimination of spacet.j factor, '''- Hassel, saicfr uh person -can pursue a course in his own environment." There are no time pressures. "The individual can work at his pace in terms of his own personal schedule," Hassel said. "These classes are made avail able to anyone. There are no admission requirements." . SUN will eventually comprise a pie-slice of a larger network known as the University of Middle Amer ica (UMA). UMA will produce and design curricula for SUN-inspired programs in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa. "I think this is a great opportun ity for unity in the entire region," Hassel said. "It's a fine example of the universities working together." Hassel said University of Nebr aska students will probably be eligible for SUN enrollment. "This would depend on the load of the student," Hassel said. "He should discuss it with his adviser. But it's very possible for him to do this." Tuition rates for SUN courses compare to the University scale. The fees run $18 per credit hour, $9 to audit the course. With a foundation built under them, SUN is pushing into the future through continuous plan ning, discussion, and experimen tation. This week SUN coordinators for have been training the staff assistants and coordinators for other state centers. These are located in Scottsbluff , Kearney and Omaha, with headquarters in Lincoln. But the headquarters might be moved. In June, the owners of the defunct Pershing Colleg in Bear -trlcG offered it as an outright gift to "hs University-of Nebraska, . no strings attached. W.W. Cook of Beatrice recommended the site' as the future SUN headquarters. Hassel said a committee was appointed to study the proposal, but no action has been taken. I in If hftiM een local bookstores invesiioate .by Lynn Silhasek Students shopping in either the Nebraska or Campus Bookstores may not know It, but they're buying their books and supplies from two stores in one of the nation s largest bookstore and warehousing chains, according to an ASUN Bookstore Study Committee Report. Released last week at an ASUN Senate meeting, the report contained information from Nebraska Book Company source who said the business, until last year, consisted of ten corporations,. Nebraska Book Company being one of them. Ron Ciingenpeel, ASUN president, said he would not identify the source. John Wehr, Nebraska Bookstore manager, verified the organizational information provided by the committee's source. According to commit too chairman Steve Kay, the report was drawn up to investigate three areas: whether the University Book store in the Nebraska Union, controlled by the NU Board of Regents, provides students with competitive prices In books and supplies In comparison with other campus bookstores; . organization of the Nebraska and Campus Bookstores and Nebraska Book Company; and problems with the ASUN book exchange. In their investigation of pricing and organization in other bookstores, committee .members were told by the source that the Nebraska Book Company owns approxi mately 25 bookstores. According to tin source, the bookstores are located at several . Nebraska state colleges and near campuses in Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota. The company owns both the Campus and Nebraska Bookstores in Lincoln, according to the report. in addition, tho Nebraska Book Company owns Quentin's Town and Campus, a clothes shop west of Campus Bookstore; Acidemia, a bookstore; Nohawk Cap and Gown Company; Henry's a. restaurant, all west of Nebraska Bookstore; and the building the Optical Shop, is located In, acocrdinq to VVohr. The Nebraska Book Company and five other bookstore corporations operating out of Des Moines, Los Angeles and Denver were sold to Lincoln Industries last year, according to the report. Lincoln Industries Is a subsidiary of Lincoln Grains, controlled by George Lincoln, of Lincoln, the report said. The chain grew out of a business begun in 1937 by Johny Johnsen of Lincoln that Included what is now the Nebraska Bookstore and a warehouse operation, according to Wehr. Johnsen Is still president of Nebraska Book Company, even though it was sold to Lincoln Industries, Wehr said.- To determine whether the University Bookstore offers students competitive pric ing, committee members compared it and Nebraska Bookstore in the areas of storage space, books and convenience items (toi letries, school supplies). Specific Information In the report regarding the University Bookstore was not verified by University Bookstore manager Larry Behrends. John Stafford, bookstore manager at the time the committee conducted the study, also could not be reached for verification. Se Bookstore, p. 3 3 UNIVERSITY Bookstore CAfifWS V Kslore Aw..3 y- "" T li WcWtk w NEBPAS Obsfrefre -..mm -" 1 .if -1 I ! , jjJ k .iy . .4& jtfr .y dfc A. 4 . & 4, ( ;4f .4 4, 4. 4 4 ft 4 A