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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 8, 1977)
1 .1 ill S. wrr thursday,december8, 1977 vol.101 no. 53 lincoln, nebraska Committee will review stadium expansion lean Photo bv Mike Dahlheim High contrast enlarging silhouettes a lineman against the late afternoon sky. The lineman is stringing cable above the intersection of 56th and Cotner streets. It is not a football game day but Mem orial Stadium will be on the minds of at least several members of the NU Board of Regents at their monthly meeting Saturday. UNL Student Regent Greg Johnson said the regent's business affairs committee, of which he is a member, will review expansion plans before the general regents meeting at 1 :30 p.m. It is not known if the issue, tabled at the September regents meeting for further study, will be voted on at the regular meeting. Other items on the agenda for Saturday's meeting at Regents Hall include ; a vote on non-stated funded projects the university hopes to accomplish in the next fiscal year; curriculum adjustments for the College of Engineering and Tech nology; and appropriating $80,000 for utilities in the Life Science building. All three NU campuses will present a list of non-state funded projects they hope to accomplish in fiscal year 1977-78 These projects, not included in the univer sity's Capital Construction budget request Bilingual program to benefit minorities By Margaret Stafford A program to benefit Mexican-American children currently is being organized by the Elementary Education Department of the UNL Teachers College. The Interstate Bilingual Program will train teachers for elementary schools with Mexican-American students who do not speak English, according to O.W. Kopp, chairman of elementary education. 'We have discussed the problem of teaching minority students for a long time," Kopp said, "This program is finally an attempt to solve the problem." The program is being developed with the cooperation of the Houston, Texas In dependent School District. Kopp said the general superintendent of schools in Houston, Bill Reagan, suggested the pro--gram to UNL officials after talking to stu dents who are originally from Texas. Rea gan visited UNL and saw that the good things he had heard about the school were true and asked for the school's help, Kopp , said. . Because Houston has - thousands of Mexican-American students, it will be an excellent area to begin the program, according to Kopp. Houston also has the material and expertise needed to train new teachers, Kopp said. "It is just a great laboratory for beginn ing teachers with these interests," Kopp said. "It will be much better than anything we can offer in Nebraska." The bilingual program will be offered as a dual major with elementary education. The major can be completed within the normal 125 credit hour requirement by substituting 44 hours of Chicano-related classes for other requirements, Kopp said. Majors will be required to spend two summers training for the program. The first summer, students will learn the customs, heritage and basic Spanish of Mexican- Americans. The second summer, students will work together to develop language skills and prepare for the classroom, he said. The student then teaches in Houston under the supervision of the Houston school district. , - After student teaching and completing the requirements for certification, the grad uate will have the option of staying in Houston or returning to Nebraska, Kopp said. Job placement is "almost guaranteed" because of the great demand, Kopp added. The Houston School system is trying to secure federal funds for the program and if all goes well, students can begin the pro gram in January by taking the basic requirements, Kopp said. The first summer sessions will begin next summer if enough interest is shown, he said. Kopp said interested students should meet at the Union Dec. 14 at 7 pjn., when Bill Reagan will explain the program and answer questions. Sept. 15, are expected to be approved by the regents. The ten-member board also will vote on limiting the final two years of classwork for industrial engineering majors to the UNL campus. The program currently at the University of Nebraska at Omaha would be phased out during a three-year period, according to a report prepared by Ned Hedges, UNL interim vice chancellor .for academic affairs. In his report. Hedges said that the UNL engineering program has never been accre dited, which might lead to a weakening of the UNL program. Although transferring the entire program from UNL to UNO has been discussed, Hedges report stated there is not enough money available to either duplicate or move the engineering pro grams. The ASUN Senate's proposal to trans fer the Fees Allocation Board to ASUN control will be delayed until the January regent meeting, according to Johnson. The proposal, originally scheduled to be voted on at Saturday's meeting, is being held until NU President Ronald Ros kens presents his recommendations on a new student fees structure to the board, Johnson said. He added that ASUN isI;ope ' ful that Roskens' report will be made next month; Inside thutsday Making hay while the sun shines: UNL and state agencies are mak ing cheap energy from ol' sol. .p. 5 Are you talking to me: Lincoln now has more taxi drivers, thanks to a new company .p. 6 Hopefully, you're not what you eat: Lincolnite's film on city garbage premiers here. .-.p. 8 Oriee hot Go Big Red sales cool this Christmas By Mary JoPitzl Christmas shopping for the ardent Big Red fan? Although the stores overflow with items ranging from Big Red furniture to a piece of the AstroTurf trod on by the Huskef superstars themselves, the novelty item busi ness has cooled somewhat, according to Lincoln busi nessmen, k.V . Fans either have everything there is to buy, or are thinking twice before they put out money for another Big Red trinket. ' , , . Randall Klein and Frank Aerni are testimony to the dwindling buying power of the Nebraska football fan, and they have more than 49,000 pounds of Astroturf to prove it. Last spring, Klein, Aerni and three friends submitted an $11,101 bid for the AstroTurf in Memorial Stadium. The Athletic Department was getting a new carpet for the football field and put the old AstroTurf up for public sale. The five partners formed the Nebraska Football Sales Company and are making souvenir mats, desk cts and wall plaques from the 6,480 square yards of AstroTurf. Since sales began last April, Aerni estimates the part ners have made about $20,000. just recently moving into the profit column. He said that about 19 of the original 24 2,600-pound rolls of AstroTurf are left to sell. Operating in the red Although the five-member company spent more than six months operating in the red, Aerni said he and his partners are not overly-concerned about aggressively mar- keting their AstroTurf products. "We're not real concerned about it now because it sells well as patio covering in the spring," Aerni said. "They (sales) went down in toward the end of the season, and then picked up." .-. Christmas sales have helped profits, Aerni said. The wall plaques, mats and desk sets are sold in several Lin coin stores, according to Aerni, although the majority of sales are handled through the mail. Klein, who describes himself as a Mdyed-in-the-wooi fan," said he is not too worried about sales. Klein said that when he and his friends started their company, they realized they were taking a chance and might not make any money. ' ' (PHI Jiiu-x WANT A H iffnfel ft Mt t m 1 1 YOU PIECE THAT JOHN N V "RODQEBS J'Lh SKB IP THERE'3 ONE LEFT. 1i "I don't think it's a good market at all for a one shot bit," Klein said, explaining that the souvenir value of the AstroTurf probably would not last more than two years. Saying that he can not sense the same football fever as when he was a UNL student in the early 1970s, Klein speculated that fans "might have been let down after the great years (Nebraska's two national championships in 1970-71). "I think people are peaked out, but it can come back again. It may take a few years to dull the fever from the early 170s." Many people have commented that the souvenirs are attractive but they have not put their money where their mouth is, according to Klein. Worst customers 'Our worst customers are the people you would ex pect to be the best," he said, adding that sales are low among ardent Big Red fans. The best sales are from people who really are not crazy about Nebraska football, Klein said. Many of these people are buying the souvenirs as gifts for avid Big Red boosters, he said. Letters from the end zones have been selling for $200 each, and strips of the goal line were sold at the Nebraska State Fair last fall, Klein said. Trie numerals from the field Yyardlines sell for$n apiece, he-said. A Holdrege man, who said ne is related to .imer Nebraska quarterback Jerry Tagge, bought a "10" and a 40" from the company and sold back the zeros, Klein said. He explained that the man wanted an AstroTurf "14 to hang on the wall of his cabin in case his cousin, who wore jersey 14, ever came to visit. 'Am