The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, January 19, 1978, Image 1
Drop-add ' By Joe Starita Drop,. . .and. . .add. These are three words students traditionally have embraced with all the enthusiasm reserved for a two ,week paid vacation to a South Seas leper colony. 'As semester break wound down and students geared up for the semi-annual skir mish along the tabled trenches in the Nebraska Union Ballroom, the Daily Ne braskan dropped a reporter behind the battle lines to confront the enemy. It was an enemy accused of snuffing stu dents out of needed classes, of forcing in nocent freshmen and graduates alike to en dure long lines and icy stares and of snap ping out snooty, snotty answers to simple, gentle questions. Cleverly disguised as a student, the re porter marched up to the time appoint ment card window and asked to get in as soon as possible, assuming it would be sev eral days, , He was given a card to get in immediately. Undaunted, he got in a short, fast moving line and was soon face-to-face with Joy Boster, who collects the $5 drop-add fee at the first battle station. Boster, a veteran of six general registra tions and drop-add campaigns, laughed and chatted with students moving through the line as if she knew them. battlefield' quiet this year "I do know them," she said. "I've de veloped many friendships with students coming through these lines. "Students have told me, 'Well, this is the last' year you'll see me coming through here,' but then 111 see them the next year, and the next year and the next year." Boster said she tries to treat students with a smile and, expressed surprise at how many return to her line and have something kind to say to her. "You have to have patience," she ex plained. "No matter how many questions a student may have, someone around here always has an answer." The reporter was becoming impatient at not finding any of the legendary commotion associated with drop-add and asked two card-pullers deep in the battle zone why this was. Mary Hilley, pulling cards for the Eng lish department, said drop-add is better or ganized this semester than at any time in the past. "Actually, it's been pretty b6ring," she said. "It makes the time pass faster if you're busy, but by Wednesday it'll be really dead." Mary Pfeiffer, a co-worker, said one reason for the lull is that more students pre-registered this semester. " "I think they should cut down the num ber of days drop-add is offered because there's really nothing for us to do," Pfeiffer said. When there is something to do, Hilley said, the students have been cooperative. "The only bad thing for me is having to tell them a class is closed," she said. "It makes me feel like a creep." There would be no hard feelings on either side if students had more patience and took time to read the first eight pages of the class schedule, according to Sandy Smith and Paulette Tapp. Smith and Tapp guard the rear flank amidst a pile of paperwork. "It's hard on us if students come in here with a chip on their shoulder," Tapp said. "We can't drop everything to attend to -them." Both Smith and Tapp agreed that better organization for this semester's drop-add has eliminated long lines and mass con fusion. Tony Schkade, assistant director of registration and records, organizes drop a$d. He said there are definite reasons for this semester's success. "For one thing," Schkade explained, i4we published a list of all the closed sec tions before drop-add started. This helped out tremendously. Continued on page 9 3 n daily n is r.s v U "V V ' v rn. Vr "... - . 1 thursday, january 19, 1978 vol. 101 no. 60 lincoln, nebraska Daily Nebraskan Photo A solitary view far from the madden ing crowds students have long as sociated with the jungle of drop-add. r . ? t '1 Stiff penalties advocated to curb drunken drivers - Daily Nebraskan Photo "Hippies read books with just plain words, no pictures or anything," according to a Prescott Elementary School student. See story on page 5. By Kate Gaul Donna Carter drank a little more than she could handle Saturday night. When she . left the bar she was feeling no pain. But five minutes later, when Donna missed a red light, she felt the pain. Others also felt pain-the people who were seriously injured because she had driven while drunk. Donna Carter and her drunken mishap are fictitious, but the rising statistics for injuries and fatalities involving drunken drivers are not. Nebraska Highway Safety Commission statistics show that almost 41 percent of all fatal accidents were alcohol-related. In Lancaster County, there were 531 automobile accidents involving drunken drivers in 1976. State Sen. Patrick Venditte believes a "get tough" attitude will help curb these alarming figures. He has introduced a bill LB223, which would stiffen penalties for drunken drivers who injure or kill. Venditte said the problem of drunken drivers is not taken seriously enough. He thinks his bill would convince judges they need "to do more to enforce" the laws, he Bill defines college relationships, goals The relationship between NU.the state colleges and the state's technical com munity colleges will be defined by state law if a bill introduced in the Nebraska Legislature this week passes. LB846, a result of a three-year legisla tive study also would define school's roles and missions. The intent ,of the legislation is to: -coordinate state post-secondary educa tion systems; -provide for the maintenance and deve lopment of educational programs and ser vices for all people in the state ; -insure student and community access to comprehensive educational programs; -limit unnecessary duplication of pro grams and facilities through planning and reviewing; . -encourage long-term academic and fis cal planning for post-secondary education; -and to establish a legislative review process to. Insure that role and mission statements are updated periodically, and that schools comply with these state ments. The bill designates undergraduate educa tion as NU's first priority. The second priority would be to continue its research, graduate end postgraduate programs in academic and professional areas. The third priority would be continuing education, defined as education relating to an indivi dual's occupation or profession, but not terminating in a degree or certificate. The NU Board of Regents objected at a committee hearing to the statutory Legislative hearings The Legislature's Agriculture and En vironment Committee will hear a bill regu lating recycling of beverage containers, LBS 18, and LB821, which authorizes sale of land previously owned by NU. Both hearings are Friday at 2 pjn. in room 2230, East Lounge. priorities tor the University. The official stand of the regents, read at a Dec. 12 hearing by Minden Regent Robert Raun, says "the three basic parts of the University's mission-instruction, research and public service-are inter dependent, and taken together form the foundation of the University's contribu tions to the state as a land-grant institu tion." Waverly Sen. Jerome Warner, co-chairman of the Nebraska Postsecondary Ed ucation Advisory Conimittee, which intro duced the bill, said the proposal would not substantially change the present NU role and missions, statement, but would re strict which programs could receive state money. The use of state general fund dollars for recreational and non-vocational pro grams, and any other programs or activi ties In conflict with the NU role and mis sion assignment will be prohibited if the bill passes. . ' said. , Under Venditte's bill, a first-offense drunken driver involved in a serious acci dent could receive up to one year in the county jail andor a $3,000 fine, a second offense could result in up to a five-year term in the state penitentiary. Municipal Court Judge Thomas J. McManus declined to comment on any legislative actions or their effect on the judicary. Two Lincoln Police officers disagreed on the effectiveness of stiffening penalties. Lt. Peter Larimer, of the Lincoln Police Department, said he does not think stiffer penalties are the solution. Larimer spent about four years in charge of the police department's Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP), which attempted to curb the drunken driving problem by providing remedial anti-abuse programs for convicted drunken drivers. Larimer said he was not speaking for the Uncoln Police Department, but from his Dwn educated experience. "A social program, not a punitive one is needed to solve the drunken driving pro blem," he said. Larimer identified two main groups of drinkers. They are social drinkers, who indulge on weekends or as a social court esy, and the problem drinker or alcoholic, who drinks because of need. The alcoholic is addicted to a drug, and his actions are not going to be influenced by stiffer penalties, Larimer said. The problem drinker will think only of satisfying the need , he said . Continued on page 9 inside IIIOIUCTtj UNL's skeletons in the closet: Old bones mean big bucks page 6 Aloha Uuskcrs: UNL baseball is headed for a new diainond-the Hawaiian Diamond Head, .page 14 Ronald McDonald McRots UNL students McBrains: Student col umnist Jim Williams looks at fast food service page 13