Approval greets UNL's Role and Missions Statement
By Barbara Lutz
Three UNL faculty members spoke in support of the
UNL Role and Mission Statement Tuesday at a public
hearing, the last step before the document is presented to
the NU Board of Regents.
One faculty member criticized the statement saying it
should place a greater emphasis on teaching, than on
research.
In addition to comments at the hearing, written state
ments submitted to the task force will be considered and
possibly added into the statement tonight.
The regents will review the document Saturday.
'W. Cecil Steward, dean of the, College of Architecture
and task force member, said there will be other public
hearings Oct, 7 in Lincoln by the regents, on the NU
Medical Center, UNO and UNL Role and Mission
Statements.
There will be a similar hearing in Omaha Saturday
morning, he said.
In September, a two-page role and mission statement
for the NU system was approved by the regents.
Voicing his disapproval, Donald Hanway, agronomy de
partment chairman, said his 'initial reaction was quite
disappointing."
Hanway said the role and mission statement "sounds as
if it were written' by an aged, tenured professor of arche
ology in an ivy league university.'
The repeated references to "tradition" in the docu
ment "sounds like a broken record," he said. Today's
function of a university is renewal of civilization, Han
way said. However, the document fails to recognize the
challenges and responsibilities to the world a university
should address.
Specifically, Hanway was critical of the emphasis on
research when the faculty emphasis should continue to be
on teaching. He said many undergraduate classes are
dai
Wednesday, September 28, 1977 vol.101 no. 16 lincoln, nebraska
'Hello, Ma Bell? Checkmate!'
By Joe Starita
A telephone rings: "Los Angeles opens with a Nimso
vitch." Lincoln replies: "We were hoping for a Sicilian De-
tense."
Ma Bell's operator thinks: a) Some drug-crazed psy-
copathic kumquat has tak
en one too many spills
on his skateboard ;
b) The Grandson of Sam has
fled to the Bible Belt with
a half-baked plot to cor-
. rupt youth, undermine the
government and threaten
national security;
c) Both of the ; above.
Call 466-1542 and a 23-year-old UNL graduate philo
sophy student will calmly tell you the FBI and the Lincolr '
Regional Center have nothing to worry about.
He will explain that a Nimsovitch attack and a Sicil
ian Defense are two standard openings in a game fami
liar to approximately 30 million Americans, a game
that he says "encourages mental discipline, careful organi
zation and is aesthetically very pleasing."
Complicated game
Lloren Schmidt has been playing chess since the age of
six. A member of the UNL chess team, he describes the
sport as a complicated game of strategic skills with a
simple goal: to trap the opponent's king-to checkmate.
Using a king and queen, two bishops, two knights,
Approval is expected
The University of Mid-America (UMA) trustees are
expected to approve a budget of $2.6 million Wednesday,
according to Marketing and Information Director Milan
Wall.
UMA is a partnership of nine midwestern universities
including NU, University of Kansas, Kansas State,
University of Missouri, Iowa State, University of Iowa,
University of Minnesota, University of South Dakota and
South Dakota State. The group uses television and news
papers for home adult education programs in each state.
The National Institute of Education is the primary
source of funding, Wall said. He expects it will grant UMA
$2 million this year, he said.
The remaining $600,000 will come from the Ford
Foundation and many smaller organizations, he explained.
Most , of the money is used to develop new courses,
Wall said,. with 57 per cent of the National Institute
money budgeted for this. Other expenditures are for busi
ness overhead, delivery systems development, marketing
and information for courses, research and administration.
UMA will use most of the $600,000 for development
of new courses and delivery systems development, he said.
inside Wednesday
Then there was this big snowball . . .":UNL Ombudsman
says it takes all kinds in his business p. 6
What did you expect, a peace treaty?: Former President
Gerald Ford's visit gets mixed reviews p. 7
10S, NL 11: Former probation officer works on faults
of a different kind at UNL P-10
two rooks and eight pawns, the UNL chess team check
mated its way to the 1975 Pan American Intercollegiate
Chess Championship a title it hopes to regain at this year's
tournament slated for St. Louis in late December.
"We were 10th last ; year," Schmidt said, "but we
lost two of our top players just before the nationals start
ed. We should be a lot stronger this year.' ,
Schmidt attributes part of his optimism to a new mem
ber of the team, John Rose.
"John was the Iowa State high school champion last
year," Schmidt said. "Dean College in Massachusetts
offers a minor in chess studies, and they let John know
a scholarship would e available if he went there. .
Weekend tournament
That enthusiasm funnels into two or three major col
lege tournaments each year for UNL's 18-member chess
, team. Jn addition, members compete in weekend tourna
ments sponsored by surrounding state, colleges, Schmidt
said. .r;r;a:r?M' ";v---: - ;
"The Chess League conducts their matches by tele
phone," Schmidt explained. "Each city in the league has
six team members and you are required to make 30 moves
an hour.
v. "
"Jn correspondence tournaments you play your
opponent by mail, , with-three days allowed for each
move."
Two games of tournament chess can eat up 16 hours of
playing time daily, Schmidt said, and many top players
gobble vitamins and train hard to get themselves ready,
Stamina needed
Once a major tournament begins the body may be
ready, but yet to come is a war of wits, willpower and
nerves-nerves that can fray, snap and produce peculiar,
behavior.
Michael Chess
"Michael Chess v was on the UNL team and he was
plaving in a room that had all mirrors on one of the
walls," Schmidt recalled.
"In the middle of the match a CBS news team came in
and started filming. The film lights started exploding off
the mirrors. Michael took it for as long as he could before
exploding out of his chair.
taught by graduate assistants, doing research, whom
may not be a good teacher.
"It is a matter of wording and interpretation," he said,
adding there might be better ways of stating the roles of
a land-grant institution.
The question of wording also was questioned by Joe
Baldwin, theatre arts professor.
Vice Chancellor Ned Hedges, who moderated the
hearing, said more time was spent by the task force on
that question and the relationship of research and
teaching, than other questions.
The question is whether UNL is the land-grant part of
the NU system or if the entire institution is a land-grant
institution. . ....
Hedges said the regents have the authority to make
that clear.
The task force "tried to pay some attention to those
features of UNL that distinguish it from other institutions
in Nebraska," he said. -
James McShane, associate English professor, spoke at
the hearing as "an interested member of the faculty, and a
. member of AAUP, (American Association of University
Professors)."
McShane raised questions concerning the wording in
the document on academic freedom and clarification of
the relationship between research and creative activity
for professors.
"The business of peer review and academic review is
crucial to a university," he said.
I
"He started waving and shouting and chased the
stunned film crew out of the room."
Anyone interested in hustling a good game of chess,
Schmidt said, should stop by the Nebraska Union lounge
where members are pplishing skills for the Nebraska State
Chess Championships in two weeks.
"If you don't see anyone playing chess," Schmidt cau
tioned, "look for the ones playing bridge That's what all
chess players do in their spare time."
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No need, Noah,
elephants are OK
A broken pipe in the air conditioning system at
Morrill Hall Tuesday sent water pouring down the west
stairwell and brought two Lincoln Fire Department
trucks to campus.
Harley Schrader, UNL physical plant director said
the water caused little damage to the building, other
than peeling some paint off the walls. Nebraska State
Museum exhibits remained dry, he said.
The leak came from a chilled water pump above the
fourth floor of the building and soaked through the
ceilings and walls. Lincoln firemen were called when
the water set off the fire alarm system.
; Hie water leak W3S a replay of last year. A differ
ent water pipe broke in the same stairwell last fall.
Schrader said last year's broken pipe also caused little
damage.
Harvey Gundcrson, associate museum director, said
water stood two or three inches deep in some places.
Lincoln firemen and UNL maintenance men equipped
with mops and squeegees had the water mopped up
within an hour and a half, according to Gundersoa.