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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1975)
Wednesday, february 12, 1975 lincoln, nebraska vol. 98 no. 80 (l ' V ) Advising --'room for change' 3 t' . . 7 A. .f Ml , ; A v Ken Rader, vice chancellor for student affairs. UNL power shortage to pose big problem By Jim Zalewski Energy shortages and power production will be greater problems for UNL in two years, according to Verne Traudt, UNL manager of utilities. UNL buys power from the Bureau of Reclamations, a federal agency that sells power to state and municipal customers, he said. In addition to the power provided by the bureau, UNL is committed to generate up to 3,000 kilowatts at peak load of its own power, he said. By October 1977, the bureau will supply power to UNL up to a level determined to be the "peak out" point. Traudt said the bureau may list as its "peak out" point, any level within one year previous to the October 1977 date. Traudt explained that if the bureau peaked out at 16,000 kilowatts in October, 1977, but had produced only 15,000 kilowatts at peak load during April of that year, it could use the April figure as its "peak out" level. Penalty rate After April 1 UNL will pay a penalty rate five times the regular rate of $1.15 per kilowatt for any power bought from the bureau in excess of the 3,000 kilowatt limit. Continued on p. 13. Editor's note: This is the first of two articles about the advising system at UNL. By Lynn Roberts UNL needs to assess its student advising systems and the importance of good advising, according to Ken Bader, vice chancellor for student affairs. Advising students is not always a primary goal and more emphasis needs to be placed on it, he said. Although Bader said there are good examples of advising at the university, he added that many students are dissatisfied. Bader said he has talked with "too many students who are dissatisfied with advising systems to believe there is not a need for improvement." What's Phi Beta Kappa? He cited a student who consulted him last year who had been invited to join Phi Beta Kappa, but didn't know what the organization was. He said the student never had established a relationship with an adviser to get that kind of information. Bader said many students ask him where they can get job and scholarship recommendations because they don't know any professors well enough to ask for one. He said half the students don't know who their advisers are or haven't been in touch with them for six months. A survey conducted by the Council on Student Life (CSL) in the spring of 1974 revealed advising system inadequacies, said Roy Arnold, chairman of a task force formed to make recommendations on improving registration, which includes advising. "There was a disturbing frequency of complaints about advising throughout all the colleges," Arnold said. Advisers not available Most students said their biggest complaint was that advisers aren't available where they need them. Other complaints cited were lack of information, poor advice and the adviser's lackyof interest, Arnold said. Bader said the lack of communication between adviser and student often is as much the student's fault as it is the adviser's. No rewards One problem with advising is that it is not a part of the reward system, Bader said. Faculty advancement is often based on teaching quality, scholastic publications and University service. Good advising usually is not considered as a great achievement, he said. The CSL task force submitted a proposal to UNL Chancellor James Zumberge in December which suggested that more emphasis be placed on advising during a student's first year at UNL and that more informal advising be used for upperclassmen. It also recommended that more recognition be given for advising, which should be considered when promotions and raises are given. Zumberge said he has forwarded the report to college deans for their consideration and suggestions. V A r '- l ft L lot: . jX ft 1 X ,..mmm r v lit-: If u ...jlwf , -- 4 5 te iv i -3 -"- '-.- 'A UNL power plant UNL officials may end use of religious cards Tlie Relieious Preference Card. It's been tucked away in registration packets for years to supply campus ministries with information about students. The card has now become something more, as administration officials contemplate the removal of the card from registration materials. Campus pastors met with Gerald Bowker, director of academic services, and Ted Pfeifer, director of registration and records, to discuss alternatives to the card. Representatives of six of the University's reiigious organizations attended the meeting. Bowker described the meeting as an "attempt to explain our position" to the ministers. He said that a decision to eliminate the card has not been made, but that it is one part of an attempt to "streamline" the registration process by eliminating all materials except the actual registration form. Value not questioned "It's not a question of the value or the use of the Religious Preference Card, but its relations to the registration process." Bowker explained that an evaluation of the registration process began almost two years ago. He added that information obtained from a CSL survey more than a year ago provided the basis for the "mainly inter-office operation." Registration officials receive many requests to include materials in the 20,000 packets distributed to UNL students each semester," he said. "It's the best way to reach the students," noted Bowker. "We're trying to put registration back into perspective, to make it a single procedure " he added. Reactions mixed The reactions of three of the six ministers who attended were mixed. Al Norden, pastor at the University Lutheran Chanel ("Missouri SvnodV thinks that the University "should certainly recognize that students have a spiritual dimension" and so have a responsibility to help students fill that need. "Where else and how else can we get this information?" asked Norden. The suggestion that UNL provide the campus churches with lists of incoming freshmen during the summer "oversimplifies the problem," according to Norden. A list of upper-classmen would be made available within two weeks of the Semester's start, but Ncrden doubts the efficiency of such a system. "It would make life awful tough for us," he said, noting that the cards have been instrumental in compiling accurate mailing lists for his parish. "All the churches use the cards in some way," he added. Another service Father Leonard Kalin of the Catholic Student Center sees the campus ministries as another service to students and thinks that the preference card is important to make students aware of the service. He said he also has a responsibility to the parents of his parishoners, to keep them informed of the activities of the Catholic Student Center. "Over 60 per cent of the people of Nebraska are churchgoers," said Kalin. "This shows that religion is a part of most student's lives." Kalin is eager to have the relationship of the campus churches and the Univers..y better defined. Legal question "This may be a legal question. I'd like to know where we stand." He commented that if the question of separation of church and state were to be pushed to extremes, "the use of Handel's Messiah in the Music Deoartment miaht have to be eliminated." , Alvin Petersen, pastor of the Lutheran Student Chapel and Center, thinks that the University administrators "have a right to say what belongs in the registration materials." "Registration and Records have been carrying the freight for us and other services," he said. "The University has no obligations to us. But we are a part of the UNL community and any cooperation reflects the University in a positive way." Petersen noted that the removal of the Religious Preference Card would force an intensification "on our part to alert (student's home) congregations to send in names of UNL students." Machine stuffed The costs of printing the cards are paid for by the Association of Campus Ministers. The cards are delivered to the registration and records office, where machines stuff them into pre-registration packets. When they are returned, UNL personnel separate the cards and a member of the minister's association picks them up. All information is confidential, and completion of the card is strictly voluntary. Bowker denied any connection between last week's meeting and an AS UN report by Senator Doug Voegler calling for the elimination of the Religious Preference Card from registration packets. The report, compiled after two months of research, concluded that the inclusion of the cards "evidences a less than neutral stance by UNL". But Voegler, a second year law student, finds it rather coincidental that after "thirty years" of use of the Religious Preference Card, registration officials would now decide to eliminate it. "I feel the report is still valid, since the elimination of the card is tentative," said Voegler.