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Friday, November 9, 1984
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 84 No. 56
Weather: A good chance of rain today with a
high of 60 (16C), then turning colder late in the
day. Friday night, rain likely, changing to snow
late, little if any accumulation, with a low of 32
(0C). Saturday, snow ending early, windy and
cold with a high of 38 (3C). Sunday warmer with a
high Of 45 (7C). Bob BrubacherDally Nebraskan
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Huskers expected to
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Love of learning 'not enough '
UNL administrators discourage pass no
By Barbara Comito
Dally Nebraskan Staff Reporter
grades is somehow contemptible, and
, that learning for the love of learning is the
only respectable academic criterion." So
The '60s ideal that a love for learning, begins the essay of Nancy Lee Wallace,
not grades, should motivate students printed in "Teaching Without Grades," by
gave birth to the passfail system. Max S. Marshall, 1968.
"It is a familiar academic axiom that
we must learn for the love of learning,
that grades are unimportant, that the
student who thinks of grades or works for
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''Only a fool will kid himself that grades
are not important and that it is his privi
lege in college to satisfy his intellectual
curiosity. In the world of reality, the love
of learning hasn't a chance," Wallace
concluded.
The academic answer to such accusa
tions was the passfail system, which
began at UNL in 1970.
The original intent of the system was to
give students some encouragement to
explore without the threat of lowering
their grade point averages, according to
Ted Pfeifer, director of Registration
and Records
The system was popular at its onset,
according to a Jan. 3, 1972, article in
Newsweek.
"In 1969, 52 percent of (Brown Univer
sity's) undergraduates chose passfail in
a majority of their courses," the article
said.
At Johns Hopkins University, about
one-half of the student body was taking
one course a semester passfail, accord
ing to the Newsweek article.
UNL has no record of the number of
students who took courses passfail in its
beginning, but Pfeifer said his guess is
that the system initially was popular.
For the spring semester of 1984, how
ever, only 3,740 of the 73,970 courses for
which undergraduates registered were
taken passno pass about 5 percent.
Part of this low percentage may be
because of the 1980 change from pass
fail to pass no pass, Pfeifer said. A pass
was defined as a C grade or better.
Part of it also may be because of the
restrictions of the various colleges and
the admissions standards of graduate
schools.
In the College of Business Administra
tion, 12 hours of elective courses may be
taken passno pass. All general educa
tional business classes must be taken for
letter grades.
Students have a tendency to do
only the minimum amount required of
them in passno pass courses, said DVee
Buss, director of advising for the business
college.
They will get by, but they may not
devote the time necessary to get the most
out of the class, Buss said.
ass
Teachers College allows a maximum of
24 passno pass credit hours, six in the
field of endorsement and six in professi
onal education.
Donna Aksamit, acting assistant dean
of Teachers College, said she would like to
see stricter requirements universitywide
concerning the number of courses which
can be taken passno pass.
"We have tried to structure our require
ments in such a way that essential courses
must be taken for a grade," Aksamit said.
The Law School Admissions Ser
vice analyzes all transcripts of students
seeking admission into the UNL College of
Law and breaks down the cumulative
GPA into letter grades, with pass no pass
courses in a separate category.
A high number of passno pass courses
would detract from the significance of a
high GPA, said Ruth Witherspoon, assist
ant dean of the College of Law.
Finally, a school receiving a transfer
student Is free to interpret passno pass
credits as C's or D's, Pfeifer said.
While the administrators interviewed
said they thought the passno pass sys
tem helped to relieve excess tension and
pressure and encouraged students to
broaden their education, they also favored
keeping tight reins on the option.
State college presidents fear board
would favor Nebraska universities
By Gene Gentrup
Daily Nebraskan Senior Reporter
At least three st at e college presi
dents say they fear that a pro
posed statewide governing board
would be less responsive to the
needs of Nebraska's state colleges.
'The larger institutions would
get more consideration and the
smaller institutions would get
less," Peru State president Jerry
Gallentine said Thursday.
A committee from the Citizens
Commission for the Study of
Higher Education is discussing
the concept of a statewide gover
ning board that would appoint a
chief executive for the entire state
college and university system.
Andrew Cunningham, as
sistant director of the commission,
said the proposal is yet unspecified
as to the status of each institution.
The colleges include UNL, UNO,
the Institute of Agriculture and
Natural Resources, the NU Medi
cal Center in Omaha, Peru State,
Kearney State, Wayne State and
McCook Community College.
Currently, there is an elected
board of regents of the NU system
and appointed board of trustees
for the state colleges.
Gallentine said a new govern
ing board would not benefit Peru
State in a situation where one
board governs all the institutions.
He cited a big workload for the
board as a major problem.
"I know the board of trus
tees for the state colleges have a
tremendous workload," he said.
"An increased workload for a new
board might not be a good idea."
McCook Community College
president Harold Deselms said
his college would have a difficult
time obtaining adequate funding
if the board is approved.
"Our local board of trustees react
more quickly to our needs, so I
don't see the board as beneficial
to our college," he said.
Deselms said he didn't think
the board proposal would tran
spire. Wayne State president Edwin
Nelson also thought the board
would be less responsive to the
needs of Nebraska's state colleges.
"It seems they would favor
the larger institutions," he said.
"At this time I am against it
unless I hear some better argu
ments in favor of it."
Nelson questioned how many
levels of bureacracy there would
be between the governing board
and Wayne State and also ex
pressed concern about the board's
workload.
"If they get acquainted with
what I think they should get ac
quainted with, they would have a
tremendous workload on their
hands," he said.
Charles Andrews, chancellor
for the NU Medical Center, said
his only concern was whether the
medical center would get "timely
action." He said the board must
remember the center operates on
a 24-hour basis, unlike state col
leges and universities which
operate semesterly.
A public hearing on the idea for
a statewide governing board will
beTuesday at the Nebraska Wesleyan
Elder Theatre Center. The hear
ing begins at 1:30 p.m.
The committee studying the
prospects of the governing board
will hold a closed meeting Nov. 14
to prepare recommendations for
the proposed board.
Winners selected
1 98 " entries
ram
19
By Barbara Comito
Daily Nebraskan Staff Reporter
A photo album of friends, a
nasty letter from Moral Major
ity leader Jerry Falwell, a hand
shake from the chairman of
the Talks and Topics commit
tee, and an excellent GPA were
among the winning entries in
the "For Living in 1998" con
test. Ten winners were chosen
from the 170 entries through
small group discussion and
judging Thursday evening in
the Centennial Room of the
Nebraska Union.
The contest required people
to submit single-item entries
representing what the contes
tants expected to receive from
the university that would be of
value to them in 1998.
The contest was conceived
by the UNL Life Work Inquiry
Group in response to concern
over UNL students' apparent
preoccupation with short-term
goals and lack of interest in
the long-term future, accord
ing to Bob Fuller, UNL profes
sor of physics.
Fuller said small groups were
created to answer the ques
tion, "How can we get the uni
versity community as a whole
to consider long-term values?"
The contest was the answer.
Groups of faculty, students
and friends of the university
who judged the entries
divided the answers and broke
them down into their basic
values. Then they determined
which of those values were
most critical to life in 1984,
and chose a single entry which
best represented those values.
The 10 winners were: Paul
Ladehoff, Julie Russell, Tracie
Helms, Edee Davis, Cindy
Moore, Dana Luton, John
Dugar, Susan Kane, Pat Nebel
and Geri Farnick.
The values most commonly
represented in the entries in
cluded friendships, opportun
ity for a good career, commun
ication, technical knowledge
in computers, a degree, good
grades, cultural awareness and
knowledge.
Analysis say speeesi stems
csyeCi
i ueaga
By Michelle Kubik
Daily Nebraskan Staff Reporter
Analysts agree that President
Reagan's ability to communicate
well was the key in his landslide
victory against Democrat Walter
Mondale.
This was the consensus of a
group of UNL panelists at a "post
election" analysis, presentation
Thursday in the Nebraska Union.
"This campaign was a competi
tion between stories, rather than
a challenge of the issues," said
Jack Kay, assistant professor of
speech communication at UNL.
"Communication as a major issue
in campaigns is far more serious
than we realize."
Kay said Reagan is termed the
"great communicator" because he
knows what people want to hear.
He emphasizes the "greatness of
America" and the image that "we
are number one," he said.
"Mondale used the negative
issues in his campaign," Kay said.
"People don't want to feel bad
about themselves and their
country."
Robert Sittig, UNL political
n wm
science professor, said party affi
liation has taken a back seat to
the candidate's personality.
About 20 percent of the Demo
crats and 60 percent of the Inde
pendents voted for Reagan, he
said.
Continued on Page 8