University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Thursday, January 21, 1982
Vol. 109 No. 9
Lincoln, Nebraska
Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan
Regents looking at stricter admission standards
By Mary Louise Knapp
A proposal to tighten NU admission standards, present
ed at Saturday's meeting of the NU Board of Regents, re
ceived mixed reactions from board members.
The proposal had been suggested to the regents in
1979, but was voted down.
Robert Simmons of Scottsbluff spoke in favor of strict
er admission standards, suggesting that students applying
for admission to the university maintain certain grade
point averages and class standings.
Remedial education should be the responsibility of
high schools, not the university, he said.
"It costs four times as much to educate a student in
remedial classes as it does to educate someone else," that
Legislators introduce
drunken driving bills
with tougher penalties
By Alice Hrnicek
Lincolnite Pearl Floth thinks drunken driving laws
should be more strict.
Floth, 63, remembers vividly the sight of her car burn
ing when she lay on a stretcher after the car was struck by
a 17-year-old drunk.
At the time, Floth was confined to a wheelchair be
cause of poor circulation in her left side. The 1980
Oregon accident aggravated her condition, preventing her
from performing the few household chores she could once
do.
Floth is one of many who testified Tuesday before the
Nebraska Legislature's judiciary committee on four pro
posed legislative bills that would increase drunken driving
penalties.
The bills are:
LB568 - introduced by Sens. Rex Haberman of
Imperial and Peter Hoagland of Omaha. It would require
mandatory prison sentences for DWI offenders, and make
them ineligible for pre-trial diversion, probation or parole
until the minimum jail term is served and reduction of
sentence for good time served.
LB733 - co-sponsored by Haberman and Hoagland.
The bill would mandate a 30-day work release senten'
for a drunken driver causing an accident resulting in injui
or death.
LB618 - introduced by Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh.
It would require anti-drinking treatment for six months
unless the offender's health would be endangered by the
treatment.
LB747 - co-sponsored by Sens. Tom Vickers of
Farnam and Harold Sieck of Pleasant Dale. It would re
quire the revocation of an offender's driver's license.
Of LB568, Flock said, "This bill is not strict enough.
Anyone who gets into a car and drives recklessly is wrong
because that car is a lethal weapon."
Sen. Ernest Chambers of Omaha said he opposed
mandatory sentences because already there is a shortage
of space for jailing persons.
Hoagland said he didn't think jails would be over
crowded by enforcing 48-hour sentences.
"I would hate for that to be a reason not to pass a law
like this," Hoagland said. "We're concerned with saving
lives."
Sen. Karen Kilgarin of Omaha said 48 hours in jail
would not be enough to tell someone he is an alcoholic.
"If alcoholism is a disease, why would we have a pro
gram that would require that they be caught three times
before treatment?" Kilgarin said.
"It seems like you've got the bill backwards," she said.
"Shouldn't we have the treatment before jail? It seems
like the vision of a bat."
Jeff McGrath, a UNL junior political science major,
said he favored current laws that allow probation.
McGrath is on probation for a drunken driving offense.
Continued on Page 2
Inside Thursday
Budget Battle: ASUN wants an increase of 22 cents per
student in its share of student fees Page 7
Super Secret: The Super Bowl is approaching without the
usual hype and hoopla Page 8
Dirt D'Art: Native Lincoln artist Glen Eppens' Nebraska
landscapes are reviewed by critic David Thompson
Page 10
is, a student who is fully prepared for college, he said.
Simmons said eliminating some remedial programs
from the university and recommending stricter standards
in high schools would improve the quality of education at
the university.
John Payne of Kearney said he had not come to a con
clusion on the admissions issue yet, but said students
should not be penalized because they have not reached
sufficient maturity to deal with the demands of college
immediately upon entering.
Rick Mockler, student regent and ASUN president, said
students should be adequately prepared for college in high
school, however, remedial classes should be offered at the
university level for those who weren't.
"It is unfair to arbitrarily exclude students on the basis
of grade point average, ACT or SAT scores," he said.
Mockler said there have been many instances in which
students who performed poorly in high school became
good students in college.
Mockler said that now is a poor time to propose
tightened admission standards because NU will experience
a decline in enrollment during the next few years. The
rising age of the college student population and the small
population of high school and elementary school students
will cause that decline, he said.
A study presented at the Saturday meeting revealed
that several universities of comparable size, including the
university of Iowa, Oklahoma State University and the
University of Missouri-Columbia, have set minimum
admission standards.
Cliffs Notes meant to supplement
class texts, says consulting editor
-"f ! I s v 1 ti II 1 1 til 1 1, ilii
-: is fw. Iu)r w . '
V Steyrs- " I
Photo by D. Eric Kircher
Jim Roberts
By Eric Peterson
Students who read Cliffs Notes instead of their re
quired texts don't bother Jim Roberts, UNL English
professor and a consulting editor for Cliffs Notes.
"If they read this instead, at least they've read
something," Roberts said and grinned broadly. He said
instructors should be able to tell if students are using
Roberts said his favorite case of plagiarism occurred
when one of his students copied an essay word for
word from the Cliffs Notes for Faulkner's Light in
August. Roberts wrote the essay.
"I didn't blame the notes, I didn't blame myself, I
certainly didn't blame Faulkner for writing Light in
August. I did hesitate whether to give the paper an A
or an A, and finally decided on the A because I had
changed my mind about something I'd written in the
third paragraph. Me did, in the end, flunk the course."
Roberts said he is pleased with the general quality
of the notes.
"The notes, when properly used, increase one's
understanding of a work," Roberts said. "It works like
any criticism at enhancing or deepening the under
standing. It's supposed to have some of the same effect
as a lecture."
There are more than two hundred titles offered in
the Cliffs Notes, Roberts said.
"I say over 200 because we're constantly doing
away with old titles and adding new ones," he said.
The big sellers include the notes for Macbeth, Hamlet,
The Divine Comedy and To Kill a Mockingbird, he
said .
Writers from across the country, including several
from UNL, work with various titles, Roberts said. He
said he has written quite a few of the titles, including
those for Faulkner, Robert's specialty, and some major
European works.
Roberts said Cliffs Notes began in 1958 when Cliff
Hillegass began selling 16 titles, mostly Shakespeare,
out of his basement. Hillegass was wholesale manager
at the Nebraska Wholesale Bookstore at the time,
Roberts said.
Cliffs notes are printed at Boomer's Printing
Company, 1212 O St., and are distributed directly
from the main office at 1701 P St.
What is the ideal way to use Cliffs Notes?
"Read the book, read the notes, then read the book
again," Roberts advised. "If it's something especially
complex, like Ulysses by James Joyce, or the Divine
Comedy, read a chapter or a canto at a time, then a
section of the notes."
Gary Carey, editor of Cliffs Notes, said the notes
are sold in bookstores all over the United States and in
Puerto Rico.
LTS group discount proposed
By 3etsy Miller
A new approach to student transportation was pre
sented to the ASUN Senate at its Wednesday night meet
ing. Monica Frank, a member of the Senate's Student Life
Commission, said the commission, along with the Lincoln
Transportation System, is proposing a group discount for
students who wish to ride LTS buses.
Frank said each UNL student would be charged an
extra $10 in Fund A student fees and would be entitled to
ride regularly scheduled LTS buses during non-peak hours
for free.
Non-peak hours are 9 ajn. to 4 p.m. and after 6 p.m.
on weekdays, as well as all day Saturday, Frank said.
During peak hours students could ride the buses for a
25 cent charge, she said.
The proposal, which must be approved by the LTS
Advisory Board, the University of Nebraska arid the City
of Lincoln, received mixed reactions from the senators.
Sen. Nancee Shannon said she thought many students
would not care for a $10 increase in Fund A student fees
and would ask for a refund.
Sen. Greg Abboud questioned the need for students to
pay an additional 25 cents fee to ride the bus during peak
hours in addition to the $10 fee they will pay for service.
However, Sen. Amy Cox said she thought the bus
service would save students a lot of money over the span
of several years.
Mike Steele, an LTS accountant who attended the
meeting, said the plan "is still very preliminary."
In other action, the senate approved $100 to the Big
Eight Conference Planning Committee of the Afrikan Peo
ple's Union.
The APU is planning to attend the annual conference
of the Big Eight Council on Black Student Government at
Iowa State University Feb. 19 and 20.
Sen. David Bracht said if ASUN approved the APU
money for this project, the senate should be expecting
other groups unrelated to ASUN to request money.
President Rick Mockler said he felt the appropriation
was justified.
He said APU should not feel that ASUN is not respon
sive to APU needs.