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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1988)
IT^ TT -Lx. JT Weather: Tuesday, partly cloudy and ^Jncaged A^son I H I m cold, high 25-30 with winds from the NW I I M» I Jr at 110-20»mph. Tuesday night, mostly clear Sports: Husker baseball » H Ml H « H » 1a ^,9 H ■ fd cold:low aroi?,.du5 above. Wednes- win stin in the air __ ft ms fM ■ If ■ dfrjm H ■ day, partly sunny, high around 30. p g X H Vl/Xll.^l\Cll L I_ J [! NU administration measures not advanced I By Dan Dwinell Staff Reporter The Nebraska Legislature’s Education Committee heard testimony Monday on a bill and a resolution that would alter the administra tion of the University of Nebraska. Neither measures were advanced from committee and are considered non-priority for this session. Sen. Ron Withem of Papillion, Education Committee chairman, introduced a resolution, LR269, to put the University of Nebraska Board of Regents under the direction of the Legislature. “We would treat the University of Nebraska the same way we treat agencies of the govern Iment,” he said. The resolution proposes that the general government of the University of Nebraska will be vested in a board under the direction of the Legislature. The board would consist of six to eight regents elected from newly organized districts. “The Legislature shall divide the state along county lines,” the resolution states, “into as many compact regent districts as there arc regents provided by the Legislature.” The districts, of about equal population, would be numbered consecutively. The Legis lature would rcdistrict the slate after each cen sus or upon the concurrence of a majority of the Legislature. The resolution also includes three student members serving on the board. The non-voting 'students would include the student body presi dents of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln. Withem argued that the NU Board of Re gents can’t handle the pressures of all the topics they face. “I know we as a Legislature deal with pres sure on a day-to-day basis,” he said. Kermit Hansen, a regent since 1970, testi fied against the resolution. He said the resolution would make the re gents a “useless appendage.” “The Legislature already has a vast array of things to deal with and the bill would increase the burden,” Hansen said. Sen. Richard Peterson of Norfolk was con cerned with the regents’ inability to correct the problem with foreign teachers. Sen. Arlene Nelson of Grand Island said she has heard six to eight different complaints from students about not being able to understand their teachers. “Why increase salaries when we’re not getting competent teachers?” she asked. Hansen argued that 80 percent of the stu dents complaining were using that as an excuse for bad grades. Hansen proposed that the Legislature re quire the regents, the State College Board of Trustees, and technical college officials to meet twice a year. A report would be presented to Gov. Kay Orr, the Education Committee and the Legislature after each meeting. Another issue heard by the committee would alter the administration of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The main change proposed by LB 1216 is making the vice chancellor of IANR a chancel lor. The promotion would give the new chancel lor more power, including coordinating agri cultural, natural resources and other related matters. The chancellor of the institute would also advise and counsel NU President Ronald Roskens and the NU Board of Regents. Sens. George Coordsen of Hebron, Roger Wchrbein of Platlsmouth and Stan Schellpeper of Stanton sponsored the bill. Coordsen stressed the importance of agri culture to Nebraska. “The impact of agriculture on our economy - is forefront,” he said. “We must be very careful not to forget what we’re good at in Nebraska.” Robert Anderson, president of the Fertilizer Institute of Nebraska, testified in favor of the bill. “Agriculture is the base to every industry in the state,” he said. “It’s time for agriculture to take a front seat (at UNL).” Robert Gingery, a Lincoln resident, testified neutrally to the committee. Gingery favored a compromise. “We should reserve the title of chancellor for the chief executive officer of the campus,” he said. Gingery favored having a title above vice chancellor, but below chancellor. UNL group goes to Boston Nebraska Model U.N. delegate honored at national conference By Lisa Richardson L Staff Reporter Bradley Walker, member of Nebraska’s Model United Nations delegation, received top honors at the Harvard National Model United El Nations conference in Boston. Walker received an outstanding delegate award at the conference, conducted Thursday through Sun f day. About 1,700 delegates went to the conference where awards were given tooutstanding delegates from each of its 15 committees. Nebraska’s 11 I member group represented Colom bia at the conference. University of Ncbraska-Lincoln students John Coffey, Cynamon Fosbinder, Mark Howe, Missy How ell, Jeff Kluch, LuAnn Krab, David Littlefield, Joe Lutes, Lori Pope, Shawn Schuldies and Walker at tended the conference. Walker, who served on the Politi cal and Security Committee, said he noticed a lack, of cohesivcncss at the conference. “I seized the opportunity to get in and moderate,” he said. Walker said he persuaded the U.S. and Soviet delegations to sign a treaty at the conference. “I sat down with the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (delegations) and negoti ated a comprehensive chemical weapons ban which was passed al most unanimously by the General Assembly,” he said. Walker said the delegation did a good job representing Colombia’s interests. However, he said he didn’t think Colombia could force the United Stales and the Soviet Union to sign a treaty in real life. The Nebraska students researched Colombia’s position on issues by writing to its embassy. The Harvard conference is the largest in the United States, Walker said, and is very different from Nebraska’s. More than 1,700 people from U.S. and foreign universities attend the conference, and UNL’s conference attracts roughly 300 people from high schools and colleges. Because more delegates attend the Harvard conference, U.N. com mittees and special agencies can be copied by delegates. At the Nebraska delegation, only a few important standing committees are selected, Walker said. Procedures at both conferences are also different, Walker said. The Harvard conference focuses on international problems, while the Nebraska conference educates dele gates on how the United Nations works. Kluch said he prefers Nebraska’s smaller conference. “It may be a prejudiced view,” he said, “but ours is a notch above theirs.” He said a shortage of tables hurt communication at the Harvard conference. “People were sitting on the floor and standing on chairs to work,” Walker said. However, Walker said, the Har- jj vard conference was more effective than Nebraska’s. “The UNL conference pales in comparison,” he said. “There are practical limitations, too few people on staff.” Walker said he was impressed with the intelligence of the delegates at the Harvard conference. j “They were the most brilliant students in the world from every major university I could think of, as well as international schools,” he said. Students from Dartmouth, Har vard, Yale and the University of Sorbonne in Paris attended, he said. He said Saudi Arabian King Fahd’s son was a delegate. Students from nations such as Luxembourg, Kuwait and Cuba also attended the conference. Walker said winning the outstand ing delegate award surprised him. “I think it says a lot for UNL to display a similar intellectual capac ity as the finest universities in the world,” he said. Walker said the chemical weap ons ban treaty that the conference passed was the highlight of the trip. Eric Gregory/Daily Nebraskan Walker | Legislature kills school consolidation bill Monday I By Amy Edwards Senior Reporter A bill that would require manda tory consolidation for Class I school iMi I districts was killed 23-14 in the Nebraska Legislature Monday. Sen. Yard Johnson of Omaha, who introduced LB726 in 1987, said Other education issues to be ‘left on the table’ for more debate many other education issues will be “left on the table” until legislators discuss the structure of school dis tricts. The bill would have required all Class I school districts to merge with an existing Class II, III, IV, V or VI school district. Class I school dis tricts include kindergarten through eighth grade. Under the bill, if a plan from a county committee for mergers was not presented to the state by July 1, 1990, the state committee would merge those districts before Sept. 1, 1990. Johnson said the bill would have eased property taxes in Nebraska by giving every school the same financ ing. Sen. Howard Lamb of Anselmo, who made the motion to indefinitely postpone the bill, said the bill had “nothing to do” with property taxes. Lamb later said the bill is similar to LB662, the school consolidation law that Nebraska voters repealed in 1986. LB662, unlike current measures, included a 1 -cent sales tax increase to provide property tax relief. Lamb said he would support rapmion sen. Kon w unem s iaeai 10 affiliate schools by having high school students from Class 1 schools pay a tax levy instead of non-resident tuition. Withem, chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee, is working with an ad hoc committee to try to reach a compromise on the consolidation issue. LB940, introduced by the ad hoc committee and amended by the Education Committee, would not mandate school consolidation.