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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1975)
EL X A I I I mm mm. dmmmimk WrTfc m wr - thursday, january 30, 1975 lincoln, nebraska vol. 98 no. 73 SUN program to expand under education grant By John Kalkowski University of Mid-America (UMA), a regional experiment in adult open learning, Monday received a boost of $1.41 million from the National Institute of Education (NIE), the educational research arm of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). The "university without walls" in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri, will offer college credit and noncredit courses to adults who are unwilling or unable to use existing postsecondary opportunities. An NIE official told The Omaha World Herald Tuesday that the grant will help fund "a great expansion of the State University of Nebraska (SUN) program." SUN offers courses to adults through a statewide program using television, newspapers and the mail service. The SUN program, started in Nebraska on a pilot basis, now offers two courses, psychology and beginning accounting. The courses have been "well received" by the institute and persons taking the courses, the NIE official said. According to Jack McBride, SUN executive director, four new courses are to be added. A computer science course and a consumer experience course will start in March, McBride said. Within five years, the number of courses offered by SUN will be increased to 50, according to the NIE official. UMA, a nonprofit educational organization, is governed by representatives of five Midwestern universities Iowa State University, Kansas State University, and the Universities of Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. It is a regional outgrowth of the SUN project, launched three and one-half years ago at the University of Nebraska. It has been funded through research and early development largely by federal grants. "The federal government has been funding this project throughout its planning and development stages," said NIE Project Officer Jerome Lord, "in order to reach this crucial point, in which a unique combination of midwestern institutions and people can test a regional open learning system for adults over the necessary number of years. "We hope to find out whether such an open learning system can be educationally and economically viable and a useful alternative to the traditional postsecondary system," Lord said. The $1.41 million grant will permit Iowa, Kansas and Missouri to complete planning for their state open learning situations, allow UMA to develop new courses and fund new research projects. NU President D.B. Varner said the biggest share of the money will go to SUN. With the new grant, federal assistance to the SUN and UMA projects will total more than $3.2 million, beginning with planning grants from the U.S. Office of Education in 1971 . Courses developed by SUN will be used outside of Nebraska by four universities. SUN courses will be contracted to the four universities to a regional audience. According to the NIE official, the potential student audience in the four states is estimated at 10 million. However, Varner said the four-state program could attract 15,000 students or more, creating a major delivery operation for SUN. Development of additional courses will be high priority, according to McBride. Those course will be designed to use a combination of media, which may include television, newspapers, cassettes, printed materials or any other educational or mass communications material appropriate, he said. "Such courses will also be made available nationally for use by other postsecondary institutions and agencies on a lease basis," McBride said. "They will be distributed through the Great Plains National Instructional Television Library in Lincoln to permit the widest possible experimentation and utilization." ASUN to investigate McDowell speech Josh McDowell came under attack at the ASUN Senate meeting Wednesday night, as one student called his visit to UNL "a blatant violation of University policy."-' Joe Eisenberg said McDowell told how religion changed his life in his appearances on the UNL campus Sunday and Monday. Such testimony is a violation of the N.U. Board of Regents religion policy, he said. ASUN President Ron Clingenpeel said he will appoint a committee to determine if a violation has occurred and what action, if any, should be taken. In other business, the ASUN Senate adopted two resolutions, one calling for increased married student housing and the other creating a task force to study the intercampus bus system. The first resolution stated that UNL had 67 housing units for married students, the lowest total in the Big 8. Totals given for other schools ranged from 300 at Kansas to 1 ,300 at Iowa State. The resolution recommended that the Board of Regents give priority to construction of married student housing over any other construction except classrooms. It also called for the Legislature to appropriate money for such housing. The second resolution said the task force should provide student input to John Duve, UNL parking coordinator, concerning solutions to problems he faces in running the intercampus bus system. Election procedures for the ASUN spring election were presented, but the Senate was unable to vote on them because of the lack of a quorum. However, the procedures were rejected in a straw vote of members present. Several senators objected to a provision which said each prospective party must secure 2,500 student signatures before it can be placed on the ballot. Council to hold open hearing The City Council will hold an open hearing tonight concerning the Lincoln Police Dept.'s policies on drunk driving arrests. The hearing will begin at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at the County-City Bldg., 555 S. 10th St. Council members have said testimony will be restricted to three areas: -Police procedures on drunk driving arrests and the law setting the legal limit for HIUBMBMIM MHilliHIJIIJlMWMJWII III IMMIIIIII UtllMWIIWMialllJIMiMMiiaMMBtllWIIMUIMIimiil drunkenness at .10 per cent blood alcohol content.. -Public intoxication arrest procedures. -Policies dealing with police patrol of taverns and other businesses which hold liquor licenses. The council decided to conduct the hearing after complaints from Lincoln businessman Roger Dickenson, who has been critical of police procedures in a series of memos sent to city, state and federal officials and to the news media. Alumni weekend begins today Starting today, many older students may be seen roaming the streets and classrooms of the UNL campuses. It's not because it is taking longer than ever to get a degree from UNL; today marks the start of Alumni Weekend College. According to Jack Miller, executive vice president of the Alumni Assoc., "the Alumni Weekend College is being revived for the first time in a decade to give alumni the opportunity to examine, in a relaxed, on-campus setting, the various aspects of the University they attended and its educational role." Today through Sunday the alumni will observe classroom activities and attend special programs. The specific departments the alumni will observe in class include animal science, chemistry, crop physiology, journalism, life sciences and nontraditional education. Social activities planned for the visitors include a reception and dinner at the University Club tonight and participation in Walpurgisnacht at the Nebraska Union on Friday. Saturday night no activities are planned. For alumni who want the total feeling of being on campus once again, living space will be provided in Abel Hall. A fee will be charged for the use of the residence hall. Those attending the Alumni Weekend College who don't want to live on campus again, even for a weekend, will have to make off-campus arrangements. Food stamp limitation may affect students No estimate can be given on the number of UNL students who will be affected by a Department of Agriculture directive limiting students who may qualify for food stamps, according to Fay Shalta, Lancaster County supervisor of food stamps. There are about 50 college students in Lancaster County who receive food stamps, most of whom are UNL students, he said. The directive says that a student whose parents provide more than half of the student's support will no longer be eligible for food stamps if the student is claimed as an income tax deduction by his or her parents. "It's hard to determine the effect of this directive," Shalta said. "It could affect one, a half dozen, of all of them. Or it may not affect anyone. "All we've heard is what we've learned from the newspapers and the wire services," he said. Under old regulations, a single student could receive food stamps if his or her "adjusted" income was less than $194 a month, he said. Shalta said the adjusted income is basically the total income-wages, money from parents, loans, scholarships and grants-minus deductions for such things as tuition, medical bills and any rent or utility expenses exceeding 30 per cent of the total income. "It (the directive) is going to be a pretty hard thing to implement," he said. "They're going to have to come out with some clear-cut guidelines." f 1xitfr'J:'S. l""'rT f!r,'j"it7-A t ,v LltOOO - - (fi!5cg :- " 1 it 4 I , ' ' 5 1 v i h t ' I mm