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Wednesday, September 24, 1975 volume 99 number 17 lincoln, nebraska
doi
Social work school hearing granted
By Theresa Foreman
A hearing has been granted, but a date
has not been set for the School of Social
Work's bid to show why its accreditation
should not be taken away, according to
University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO)
Chancellor Ronald Roskens.
Last July, the Council of Social Work
Education Accreditation Committee voted
unanimously to revoke the school's accred
itation. Roskens said he has asked the com
mittee for a hearing to allow the school to
show just cause for retaining its accredited
status. In the interim, the school has been
taking steps to correct deficiencies shown
in the study, said its director, Ronald
OzakL -
The School of Social Work is admin
istered by UNO, but courses are offered on
both the UNO and UNL campuses.
A team from New York which visited
the university in May reported to the ac
creditation committee the deficiencies it
found in the school, Ozaki said.
Support cited
Deficiencies stated in the accreditation
committee's letter to the UNO and UNL
chancellors include:
-overall lack of university support for
the school
lack of adequate faculty resources
lack of congruity between the
missions of the Lincoln and Omaha
campuses. (The accrediting team said it did
not understand how the school could relate
its objectives to the objectives of the host
institution when there are two different
hosts.)
a minimal number of racial minorities
in faculty and student body.
-curriculum uneven in quality, develop
ment and expectation. . , , v
The school's objectives and aims now
are being revised, Ozaki said, and no
written record of the school's goals is
available.
The school held a retreat for faculty
members and students last Friday and
Saturday to discuss revising the goals, he
said.
Hubert Locke, dean of the College of
Public Affairs and Community Services at
UNO, said efforts have been made to
increase the percentage of minority faculty
members and students.
Two minority instructors have been
hired, he said, and the percentage of minor
ities in the student body will increase next
year.
Locke said he does not expect any
financial relief for the school.
"No university programs are funded at
the level we would like to see them
funded," he said.
Locke said it is difficult to know what
the accieditation committee had in mind
when it criticized the lack of congruity
between the missions of the Lincoln and
Omaha campuses as being a liability to the
School of Social Work.
UNL is a land-grant university, thus its
focus is on outstate education, he said,
while Omaha is mainly an urban college.
"I don't see this as a conflict in the
social work school," Locke said. It is good
to have two different vantage points from
which to teach social work, he said.
Locke said he did not think the
situation warranted loss of accreditation.
1967 warning
The school has been warned by the ac
creditation commission since 1967 that it
faced loss of accreditation if deficiencies
were not corrected, Ozaki said. The school
has been accredited for more than 30
years, he said.
In 1971, director Theodore Ernst de
veloped a three-year plan to improve the
School of Social Work. The plan was ap
proved by the accreditation commission
and accreditation was extended until 1975.
"When I became director of the school
it was in the same position it is in now,"
said Ernst, who has been director of the
University of Kansas School of Social Work
since July.
Ernst said he thinks the plan was not
successful because of a "large turnover" in
faculty members and administrators at
UNO and UNL. -
"There was no .antagonism or opposi
tion to the school by the administration,"
he said, "but the new administrators were
unfamiliar with the school's problems and
budget situation."
Ernst said the accreditation commis
sion's decision did not influence his move
to the University of Kansas. He said he had
decided to take the new position before he
was aware of the commission's report.
Larger budget
"I came to Kansas because the social
work school here is three times as large as
NU's, the budget is four times larger and
there are three times as many faculty
members here," he said.
Ernst said he hopes the NU administra
tion in the system and on individual cam
puses will provide the support needed to
maintain accreditation.
Loss of accreditation for the School of
Social Work could mean the school's end,
Locke said.
No one wants to participate in or ad
minister an unaccredited program, Locke
said. "I don't see how we can ask the Legis
lature or the NU Board of Regents to
support a nonaccredited program."
If the school is not accredited, "no one
will enroll and the faculty won't have
jobs," said Mary Quattrocchi, social work
graduate student and chairwoman of a 50
student committee working to gain support
for the school.
No federal jobs
Quattrocchi said that according to
federal law, students graduating from an
unaccredited school may not be hired by
any agency receiving federal funds.
The committee has contacted profes
sional social workers in Nebraska to alert
them of the school's problems, Quattroc
chi said. The students also are trying to get
the school's problems into the Regents
agenda, and to bring them to the attention
of the Legislature's budget committee, she
said.
"Right now, we aren't even considering
what will happen if we lose accreditation,"
Locke said, "we are working to retain it."
'j; ' I':;'
fir" -
I;
P
The Daily Nebraskan
gives NU administrators
and college deans a "cloak
of invisibility" for a
special feature on these
officials' feelings-good
and bad-about the
university. See page 6.
Chancellor search group
seeks 'champion for UNL'
The search committee appointed to find
a new chancellor for UNL Monday
established qualification guidelines for
James Zumbergc's successor.
According to Richard Gilbert, search
committee chairman and chemical engin
eering professor, the group is looking for
"a champion for UNL.
Guidelines are:
-Someone with a strong academic
record (including teaching end research),
wide academic interests and high profes
sional standing.
Someone who has had successful
administrative-line experience in a compre
hensive university and a commitment to
academic standards and values, including
academic freedom.
-Someone who has pronounced ability
to represent convincingly and forcefully
the programs of UNL to the people of the
state, their officers and elected representa
tives. -Someone with the ability to reflect
both urban and outstate goals and needs
back into specific university programs.
Someone who has those personal
qualities (vigor, integrity, imagination and
sensitiviiy to the various interests of all
parts of the university and the state)
necessary in the leader of a major academic
community and land -grant institution.
"Applications and nominations have
just started to trickle in," Gilbert said.
The deadline for candidate applications
is Oct. 20.
inside
r
e !
r
"And
few t
Tuesday,
chunking
the days dwindle down to t precious
The autumn season officially begsn
bringing with it the reminders of nature's
colors, leaves, and eventually the cold
shcad. Frisbees, footballs, .biking and
Photo by Ted Kirk
hiking all will soon yield to the forces of winter.
Tking advantage of one of the remaining pleasant
days for outdoor activities is Pat Garvey, guitar
pkkln on the shores of Lake Herkimer. '
Grain and Meany: The Legislature
hears testimony on the
longshoremen's grain boycott p .14
Tickets and Bellows: Questions
concerning the raffle of
football tickets by UNO's
student regent p. 13
Dean and Students: UNL gets
a new student dean p. 8
Also Find:
Editorials p.4
Arts and Entertainment p. 16
Sports ..p. 18
Crossword p.20
Short Stuff p.3
Weather
Wednesday: Sunny and mild. Highs in
the mid-70s. Winds light and variable.
Wednesday night: Clear and cool.
Temperatures in the low 40s.
Thursday: Mostly sunny, tempera turti
in the low to mid-70s.