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Bad marks erasable
It may happen only once in a four-year college career.
A family member or close friend dies. A personal crisis makes
concentration on academic matters impossible. The student tries to
stick it out. Grades plummet. The semester, and possibly all hope
for a successful career, is in shambles.
The only alternative now for the student who finds D's and F's
piling up along with his other problems is to take the courses,
perhaps an entire semester's worth, over again. And, no matter how
well he does the second time, those poor grades remain on his
transcript. That they no longer influence his grade point average is
small consolation.
In universities across the country students have long been
penalized academically for personal matters over which they have
no control. UNL has been no different. There is a chance now to
change that.
The Faculty Senate will consider at their Feb. 1 1 meeting a
proposal to allow students to wipe from their records one or two
bad semesters.
There are two requirements. A good excuse, such as personal
problems, much be given for the poor showing. And the student
must, in addition, compile 15 hours of 3.0 grade average, 30 hours
of 2.5 grade average or 45 hours of 2.0 grade average immediately
following his bad semester.
The bankrupt semester proposal was first mentioned last spring
by ASUN Senator Jim Macomber. The idea was based on California
State University's similar procedure. Twelve months of wheeling
and dealing have brought necessary refinements.
What has taken a year to formulate should now take the Faculty
Senate only a few minutes to approve.
Wes Albers
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Equal rights amendment back for third showdown
Nebraska is bringing the Equal Rights Amendment
(ERA) back for another round.
When the state was one of the first to ratify the
amendment almost three years ago, no one dreamed
it would go through the Unicameral twice more. But
right-wing factions in the state called the ERA back
to the floor of the Legislature in 1973. The senators
took back their approval and again everyone thought
the amendment was gone for good.
Not a chance, said State Sen. John DeCamp of
Nebraska's fourtieth district. DeCamp, who
introduced the original resolution to the Unicameral
in March 1972, has taken steps to "wipe the slate
clean" ? d put Nebraska back on the list of those
states that have ratified the amendment.
It all sounds like a table tennis game. And as
DeCamp and I talked Wednesday afternoon, he
assured me both teams are picking up paddles and
preparing for the match.
DeCamp began this renewal-or resurgence-of
interest in the ERA by drafting a resolution which
will actually rescind the rescission. ( sorry about those
terms.)
Before bringing the resolution to the Legislature,
DeCamp circulated it among the senators and got 25
senators signatures. With this backing, he said he
hoped his resolution could move quickly through the
legislative body without encountering what he called
the "hassles and misinformation" which surrounded
the amendment's last visit to Lincoln.
It seems things will not go as smoothly as the
senator had hoped. Already, DeCamp said, senators
have received phone calls from opponents of the
resolution. And world was out that Zeke Brauer has
come to town.
S.I I. "Zeke" Brauer is an old pro at rallying for
right-wing causes. Brauer, who is executive secretary
of the Nebraska School Improvement Assoc.,
opposed state aid to education and comes from the
part of the State-northeast Nebraska-which
produced much of the anit-ERA mail to the senators
in 1973.
His friends and connections are many, and he
boasts an excellent ability for fund raising, so
Brauer's presence will certainly be felt in the
upcoming week as the Unicameral looks into
DeCamp's resolution.
When asked why he felt such a resolution was
necessary, DeCamp said a reaffirmation of support
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for the ERA might be an impetus to other states'
passage of the amendment. The ERA will come
before many states' legislative bodies this year,
including Oklahoma, Missouri, North Dakota and
others to the Midwest. And, as
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page 4
The Blizzard
daily nebraskan
friday, january 17, 1975
