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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 1984)
af3 - C""3 Wednesday, November 23, 1934 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 84 No. 63 II If r" 3 cr.thcr: Sunny, windy and warmer today with a high of 47 (8C). Wednesday night, becoming cloudy and not as cold with a low of 23 (-2C). Thursday, cloudy with a slight chance of showers and a high In tho lower 403 (GC). ML Caaero draw mined reviefJG...Page8 G live i'Q ps'ofsso "9 i EcEli .Page 10 Academic dislumesty often ignored iii li w y &y.LtltLJLY 1- . c J1 H H' By Kevin Disn Daily Nebra&kr.a EtxfT Reporter cademic dishonesty occurs no more often at UNL than at other schools, but it is still there. LuAnn Krager, assistant to the dean of students, said that although cheating at UNL occurs at about the same rate as other schools, violations of the university's code of conduct occur frequently enough to keep the Judicial Board active at lease twice weekly. , "We do get complaints and do act on them," she said. But Ed Sisson, a UNL engi neering student concerned Bill about cheating, said he thinks academic dishonesty b "more widespread than people would Eke to think." Last spring Sisson surveyed 287 UNL seniors and came up with figures representing those who cheat or perceive others as cheating, which put UNL on par with other schools where sim ilar surveys have been conducted. Krager said reported occur rences of academic dishonesty appear to be no more promi nent in one college than another, but most of the cases do occur in 100- or 200-level classes, she said. However, not all of the cases reported from these classes involved freshmen and sopho mores. This raises a question of whether class size (since lower level courses are often large) and students' familiarity with the teacher affects their deci sion to cheat, Krager said. Chemistry professor Robert . Karris, who teaches large freshman-level classes, said he thinks "a one-to-one relation ship between teacher and stu dent is the best deterrent to cheating. You don't cheat some one'you know." However, Harris said, a large class is inevitably more imper sonal, so a teacher must rely on an elaborate, mechanical system to prevent cheating. This system can easily be foiled, he said, and lots of cheating does occur, but his strategy against failure of the mechanical system is vigilance. Along with an elaborate mechanical system and watch fulness to prevent cheating, Harris said he likes to maintain a degree of flexibility in his classroom. ' "An automatic F is overkill," he said. "It's a lot like the death penalty seldom used. Teachers are here to get people to learn, not flunk. "Most students want to do well," Harris said. 'They are forced into it; cheat or flunk as tHey see it. I'd rather get them to realize the error of their ways." Harris said he is an example of psychologist B.F. Skinner at work. He said he tries to deter cheating through praise and personal rewards. "This is more effective than . different levels of punishment," he said. "The final exam can bring about their grade if they work hard." Another part of Harris' flexi bility, he said, entails giving oral exams to those he thinks are cheating. Thomas Mehle, an assistant professor of psychology, con ducts a Keller-plan section cf Psychology 181, one of UNL's largest classes. Mehle said the course incorporates 15 units, 13 exams and a self-paced approach by students. Mehle said problems with this system developed because the same question pool was used every semester. Students created files of the questions and inventories of the tests, he said. As a service to the honest students, he said, he then rewrote test questions every semester. But I wasn't sure things weren't getting out that fast." Mehle said he caught people outside his office door studying from photocopied exams,' and eventually caught up with a teaching assistant who was sel ling copied exams to students. Mehle said he needed to build honesty, into the system, so he adopted i. different book and a ' different test structure. Psy chology 181 now uses enor mous versions of identical ques tions compiled in a pool of tests so that students are confronted with the option of studying 100 versions of the same test, or else reading the book. Continued on Page 7 Pros ury s ecution predicts week-long election for Douglas trial By Brad Gilford Daily Nebraskan Staff Reporter Jury selection for the trial of Attorney General Paul Douglas moved into its second day Tues day as questioning of the first 24 people was completed. The prospective jurors have been interviewed in groups of four, and before completing the interviews with group No. 6, Judge Jeffre Cheuvront called in nine more reserve jurors. He also scheduled 12 more for Wednesday. Prosecuting Attorney Kirk Nayior, who last week predicted that jury selection would take : two or three days, said he now expects the process to last a week. Nayior and Defense Attorney William Morrow will continue the selection procedure until they agree on 12 jurors and two alter- A lae U.S. IV By Brad GifTord Dai!- Keir&skaa Staff Eepcrter An agricultural aide to Rep. Doug Bereuter said he expects the administration to grant Bereuter's request that 300,000 metric tons of wheat be sent to famine-stricken Ethiopia. John Amick said in a telephone interview Tuesday that "informal information" from administration officials indicates that the request might be granted this week. Bereuter and 18 other repre sentatives made the same request in February, but specific condi- nates. Lancaster County District Court Clerk Marge Hart mailed 320 summonses to people in the county to establish a pool of pros pective jurors. Douglas is accused of lying under oath, a felony, when he tes tified to the Legislature's special Commonwealth Committee about his dealings with Marvin Copple, former Commonwealth Savings Co. vice president. Douglas has maintained that Copple did not influence his actions as attorney general and that he paid correct income tax on payments he received from Copple, which he said totalled $32,500. The prose cution contends that he received about $40,000. The second charge against Douglas accuses him of obstruct ing government operations, a mis demeanor, involving a statement he gave to Special Assistant TP IP iieat may tie tions permitting use of grain in the Food Security Wheat Reserve had not been met. Those qualifi cations are: . A national disaster must be declared by the country's govern ment, a United Nations ambas sador or agency, or the U.S. ambassador in the affected country. All PL480 foreign aid fund ing must be exhausted or com mitted. Tiie affected country must be considered unable to purchase the grain. A supplemental request to Attorney General David Domina. Douglas said in the sworn state ment that he had not discussed a letter he had received from the FBI with Copple. The prosecu tion alleges he did. Douglas was found innocent by the Nebraska Supreme Court after he was impeached by the Legisla ture in March. Commonwealth depositors then circu lated a petition and gathered enough signatures to legally demand the county grand jury be called. The jury indicted Douglas in June. Morrow asked Cheuvront to move theJocation of the trial in a pretrial conference, contending that the media had editorialized against Douglas on news pages as well as the editorial page. Cheuv ront dismissed the motion and said that press coverage had been fair. Ip Ethiopia Congress must be made. If denied or unduly delayed, access to the wheat reserve can be granted. Bereuter's Nov. 20 request, signed by 40 House members, noted that the first three condi tions had been met and that since Congress will not convene until January, a supplemental re quest is unattainable. "Ethopia, in particular, cannot wait while Congress considers a supplemental Tequest," Bereuter said in his letter to President Reagan. "Thousands of people are dying every day." Continued en Page 3 ; v h Dsn DularsayDsily N&brssksn Eoskens receives the Order of Merit from von Siegfried. West Germany honors NUP resiaen NU President Ronald Roskens on Monday was awarded West Germany's Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit for helping to build exchange programs be tween the University of Nebraska and West German universities. Oskar von Siegfried, consul general of the Federal Republic of Germany based in Chicago, pres ented the award to Roskens at a private dinner in the Nebraska Union's Centennial Room. The Order of Merit, which was created in 1951, is presented to Germans and foreigners who have contributed to West Germany's political, cultural or economic social fields. Roskens has fostered exchange programs between the University of Nebraska and West Germany's University of Hannover and Braunschweig and the University of Hohenheim. Students, faculty members and adminstrators have participated in the programs. "The activities of the University of Nebraska to cooperate with German Universities and scien tific institutions are an outstand ing example of the value of coop eration which may prove fruitful in the future and stimulating for others," von Siegfried said. Von Siegfried said West Germans also appreciate Midwestern uni versities' efforts to study the German language. ' Learning for eign languages helps nation's bet ter understand each other, he said.