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Ex-UNL employee allegedly altered refunds I
By Mary Nell Westbrook
Senior Reporter
A former employee of the Office of
Registration and Records at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln was
charged Friday in Lancaster County
Court with felony theft by computer.
Pankaj Shah, 35, allegedly altered
about 20 students’ records, giving
them full-tuition refunds on classes
they had dropped after the full-refund
deadline.
Ted Pfeifer, director of the Office
of Registration and Records, said he
learned of Shah’s alleged activity
from reports within the office. Shan
was fired before Christmas. He
worked at the office for five years,
Pfeifer said.
Between Aug. 1 and Nov. 23, more
than $1,000 in fraudulent refunds
were made to students, according to
the Lincoln Journal. Shah could have
made as many as $10,000 in refunds,
the article stated.
Pfeifer wouldn’t comment on the
exact amount of money involved
__
because the office is still trying to
determine how the money was dis
seminated to the students.
Shah may have lowered the stu
dents’ tuition before a refund was
made, Pfeifer said.
Pfeifer said he had no knowledge
of any previous computer fraud at the
university. But, he said, it is difficult
to stop computer-literate people who
commit computer fraud.
Pfeifer said the office will reassess
the students’ records. He said the stu
dents’ grades were not altered, “just
the business end of their records were
affected,” he said.
Shah, originally from India, alleg
edly gave most of the refunds to for
eign students, the Journal reported.
The Lincoln White Collar Crime Unit
is still investigating whether Shah
himself profited from the computer
alterations.
Shah is not a UNL student, but his
wife is enrolled full-time. Students
whose records were changed will not
face criminal charges, the Journal
reported.
Last semester, il a student dropped
a class by Aug .31, they would receive
a full tuition refund, if the class was
dropped by Sept. 4, 75 percent of
tuition would be refunded, 50 percent
by Sept. 11 and 25 percent by Sept. 18.
After these dates, no refund was
given.
Non-resident tuition is $121.50 a
credit hour, compared with about
$44.75 for resident tuition. Graduate ^
non-resident tuition is $144.50, and J
graduate resident tuition is $59.50 a
credit hour.
Massengale glad
vice chancellor
decided to stay
By Amy Edwards
Senior Reporter
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
Chancellor Martin Massengale said
he is delighted at Vice Chancellor of
Research John K. Yost’s decision to
remain at UNL.
Yost, 52, was scheduled to leave
UNL Nov. 1 to become vice president
for academic affairs at Western Wash
ington University in Bellingham,
Wash.
Yost, also dean of graduate studies
at UNL, decided at that time to remain
in Lincoln.
On Nov. 5, Western Washington’s
President G. Robert Ross, its vice
president for university advancement,
its vice president for business and
their pilot were killed when their
plane crashed near Bellingham.
If Yost had taken the promotion
when Western Washington wanted
him, he would have been on that
plane.
Because of the near miss, Yost has
decided to remain at UNL, where he
has worked for 20 years, Massengale
said.
Yost could not be reached for
comment Sunday.
Massengale said the circumstances
surrounding Yost’s decision were
See YOST on 5
Libertarian
to announce
platform today
By Anne Mohri
Senior Reporter
w m
Mark Davis/Daily Nebraskan
‘Parts is parts’
Dr. Michael Voorhies, professor of vertebrate paleontology, describes how parts of bison bones fit together during the
Morrill Hall fossil exploration day Sunday. The program was the third of a six-part series allowing students and the public
to explore science with university scientists.
i
Ron Paul, the Libertarian Parly’s
fifth presidential candidate, will
campaign at 10 a.m. today in the
Centennial Ballroom.
Four main points make up the
Houston Libertarian’s platform:
• to abolish the Federal Reserve
and reinstate the gold standard.
• take U.S. troops out of foreign
countries and cut military defense
spending in other countries.
• abolish the income tax.
• return to the preserving of civil
liberties.
Kevin Southwick, Paul’s Houston
office manager, said the Libertarian
Party believes in preserving both
economic and personal civil liberties.
He said the Democrats want to pre
serve personal liberties, but not eco
nomic liberties. The Republicans
want to preserve economic liberties,
but not personal liberties, he said.
“We bring you the best of both
worlds,” Southwick said.
Mark Shepard, state executive di
See PAUL on 3
Enrollment drops in seven UNL colleges
By Ryan Sleeves
StaffRcportcr
The University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln has broken a national ircnd as
seven of 11 UNL-based colleges and
divisions suffered declining enroll
ment during the fall semester.
The declines caused about a 2 per
cent drop in overall enrollment com
pared to the 1986 fall semester. In fall
1987, 23,469 students were enrolled
at UNL, compared to 23,899 in fall
1986.
UNL’s enrollment decline contra
dicts a national 1 percent increase
reported recently by the U.S. Educa
tion Department’s Center for Educa
tion Statistics. The center reported a
100,(XX)-student increase in two- and
four-year colleges as 12.5 million
students reported to classes in Sep
tember.
UNL officials gave several reasons
for enrollment declines in the various
colleges.
Harvey Perlman, dean of the Col
lege of Law, said bad publicity di
rected at UNL is partially to blame for
the college’s 2.7 percent enrollment
decline. Perlman said departing fac
ulty members and reports of instabil
ity at UNL cause potential students to
enroll elsewhere.
He said the decrease doesn’t sur
prise him. Law schools around the
country have experienced declining
enrollments, he added.
“It tracks what’s been happening
nationwide in law schools,” he said.
Morris Schneider, associate dean
of the College of Engineering and
Technology, said he also is not sur
prised by decreasing enrollments.
Demographies show fewer students
graduating from high school, Schnei
dcr said, so fewer arc going to college.
Last fall, the Engineering College
enrollment dipped 6.8 percent to
2,491 students.
Schneider said he hoped the re
cently adopted surcharge on engineer
ing students’ tuition would not curtail
enrollment in the future. The sur
charge won’t have an effect, he said, if
students “look at . . . what they’re
going to get out of this college com
pared to others.”
The College of Agriculture had the
largest enrollment decline last fall,
losing 11 percent of the 1,317 students
enrolled in the fall of 1986.
T.E. Hartung, dean of the college,
said enrollment has dropped in recent
years because of the agriculture crisis.
However, Hartung expressed opti
mism since new statistics show thp
number of freshmen in the college
remained about the same.
“I believe that’s an indication
we’re making a change — making a
turn around,’ Hartung said.
A large graduating class caused the
student decrease in the College of
Agriculture, he said, but enrollment
should stabilize.
“There ’ s a good demand for gradu
ates right now,” Hartung said.
Other colleges showing declines in
1987, according to the UNL Institu
tional Research and Planning Office
arc:
—Arts and Sciences College, from
4,224 students to 4,195.
—College of Business Admini
stration, from 3,356 to 3,257.
—College of Home Economics,
from 1,033 to 1,007.
—Graduate Studies, from 3,771 to
3,763.
Four colleges had enrollment in
See ENROLLMENT on 5