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New Senior
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Fellow seeks
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By Harry Baumert
First a friend of the arts, then a friend of chamber
music, and now a friend to education, Associate
Professor of Philosophy Nelson Potter takes over the
post of senior fellow to UNL's Centennial Education
Program (CEP) this fall.
Potter has put to work his interests in ethnics,
aesthetics, and music since coming to Lincoln and is
interested in alternatives to traditional classroom
learning.
He received the Ph.D. from, Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore in 1969, but has been teaching
at UNL since 1965. He started the"University
Friends of the Arts" three years ago and is president of
the "Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music", both groups
aimed at building interest in the performing arts in
Lincoln. He will hold his post at CEP for two years.
Cntennial was born in 1969 on the suggestion of
UNL's Centennial Committee as a means of finding
alternatives to classroom education. The program is
housed in the north part of Neihardt Residence Center,
where students live and a staff of professors called
fellows help them pursue individual or group study
projects, the topic decided on by the students, with
approval of the fellows.
"The dormitory living, situation has an important
impact on how people learn," says Potter. "That's
Centennial's theory tooliving and learning. It' very
important part of the program."
He's known students and fellows involved with CEP
since its inception, but became concerned with the
- program after conducting a freshmen seminar in UNL's
Philosophy Dept. t JU . . ,
"It really helped introduce me to the f idea n,
alternatives to the usual classroom activity, r uttct
said "We have a need not to just soak up learning m
the classroom, with its impersonality ,
Enrollment this year in CEP is about 175 students,
nearly the same as last year. There is room for more
students and final enrollment won't be known until
after the drop-add period.
According to Potter, the enrollment in CEP reached
240 a couple of years ago, but he says, that's a few too
many. "Things get too large when you start loosing a
sense of community."
Students who enroll in CEP really aren't a cross
section of the University, according to Potter. Both
upperclassmen and Jreshmen come in, but they're a
special type of student, in: that theyre searching for.
something, with a desire to try new things, he said.
According to Potter, one misconception some
students have is that CEP is an honors program for
above average students onlv.
"When you start a program like Centennial, there's a
lot of excitement about it because it's new," he says.
"Consequently, at the outset you'll draw in a lot of
exceptional students. But after a few years the
excitement dies down and the problem becomes how to
make it work on a year to year basis.
"In a way, to run an honors program is to cop out.
Highly intelligent students of course will achieve high
things. But to work with more average students is much
more of a challenge," he said. Any' interested student
may enroll.
Students can earn a six-hour biock of credit each
semester which may apply to the group requirements in
the College of Arts and Sciences.
There are 12 full and part time fellows in CEP this
semester representing a number, of disciplines
including history, social work, American foldkore and
English.
"There's no distinction between faculty r ;d students
here," Potter said. "Alot of the decisions made in the
program come out of weekly fellows meetings, which
are open to students, and each has a vote. ' '
The previous Senior Fellow, Professor Gene
Harding, carried over this equality. "Gene believed
very strongly in a democratic aspect to Centennial
one person, one vote," he said.
The face and personality of CEP changes from year to
year. "Centennial has to be constantly recreated. Each
year the program redoes itseif,:r Potier said. "Espe-.
cially under Gene Harding, Centennial has been
interested in moving into the community, not closing up
within itself."
Social action came from CEP during the two-year
stay of Harding, when a number of CEP students went
into the Lincoln community and learned firsthand about
social problems by working with the elderly, mentally
retarded and minorities. Projects relating to the
American Indian have come from the work of Garnet
Larson, a fellow from the School of Social Work. For
example, a number of students have studied Lakota, a
branch cf the Sioux language.
How will CEP change the next two years under the
guidance of its new Senior Fellow? Potter sees his role
as a multiple one, including teaching, administrating,
and trying to identify emerging problems. Helping to
educate and letting ideas grow win be his main
emphasis, he said.
"We should have a variety of viewpoints about
education. The key word is pluralism different Ideas
growing side by side, with some kind of fruitful
relationship."
Wednesday, august 28, 1974
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Nelson Potter, the new senior fellow for CEP, says "pluralism" is the key e-arJ
in teaching and learning. ";
nterest in Greek system .stable
W 1 1 h s o i o r i t y pi e d g e s a p p a r e n t ! y
equaling last year's totals, there seems
to be no lack of interest in the Greek
system ctmong freshmen women U'a.;
fail, according to Jaync An'de-r-".'?.
coordinator of fraternities, soroniiu.
and cooperatives.
' L : t year about 400 women IMae-i
sc-ities. This year, er.tirn-at' pal
ph;..ges at approximately 390, An re c r
"!f you look across the country, in the
past two years there has been a general
upsurge of interest in the Cror-k
system." she said. "If there is no
upsurge at UNL
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Hush Week is orgVehiztv
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'.; i its f .met ion is strict!' ne
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h a ..ear it y i loeses a '
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! "respective members . were
I : ha'ee of three sororities
reference by Monday hfrf r
s rer ek:s then submit ;the
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: ehnoa tr .- o lists. '"
Andorra-. - ad 85-90 of the von.en
ueaed ....-eve their firist choh. Last
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