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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 1988)
Connie Sheehan/Daily Nebraskan Paul Stromberg, a junior anthropology student, looks for small artifacts by sifting mud from excavation pits near Lex ington. UNL Field School students ‘dig’ looking for artifacts By Victoria Ayotte Staff Reporter As the mid-morning sun parches the earth below, 12 University of Nebraska-Lincoln students sift through the dry sou, digging history from a central Nebraska cornfield. For hundreds of years, this farm land se ven m i les southeast of Lex ing ton teamed with Woodland Indians. m See DIG 6 Problems in Financial Aid Office result in director’s resignation By Curt Wagner Senior Editor Problems in the Office of Scholar ships and Financial Aid caused the June 15 resignation of director Wil liam McFarland, according to his let ter of resignation. McFarland, director since January 1987, has agreed to stay on through December as a special consultant, said James Gricsen, vice chancellor for student affairs. This nnsilinn will hn full limn Griescn said. McFarland could not be reached for comment, but according to his letter, four main discrepancies caused his resignation. In his letter, McFarland said he resigned because he had “to assign too many of my scarce professional staff members to the FAM (financial aid management) project and still try to provide excel lent service to students.” Griescn said the computer-based FAM project, has given the financial aid office problems since it was in stalled two years ago. It is not yet fully operational, he said. McFarland also stated in the letter that the office did not have adequate technical assistance to install the FAM system properly. Griesen said that during the 1987 88 school year, the administration supported the financial aid office with temporary and permanent funds. “We provided as much resources as they could consume the past year,” Griesen said. He said over $115,000 has been distributed to the office. The money was used to hire a larger and better accommodated graduate assistant I I FAM system’s effectiveness questioned by UNL officials By Curt Wagner Senior Editor The recent resignation of Wil liam McFarland as director of the Office of Scholarships and Finan cial Aid has raised questions about the effectiveness of a computer system that office uses. In a letter McFarland gave four main points for his resignation. A computer-based financial aid management system was men tioned in two of those four reasons. McFarland’s letter said too many members of his staff were being used to operate the system, taking away manpower from the office. It also pointed out that the office didn’t have adequate techni cal assistance to operate the sys tem properly. The FAM system can keep track of all information about stu dents seeking financial aid, can generate award letters and model the awarding and dispersement process, among other capabilities, said James Griescn, vice chancel lor for student affairs. The system, purchased in April 1987 for $175,000, is not yet fully operational, Griescn said. He said the financial aid office has been bothered by problems with the FAM system, which has two parts, since it was installed. The year it was installed, prob lems arose in interfacing the com mercial-made Information Asso ciates data system to a computer system custom-made for the finan cial aid office by university com puter experts, Griescn said. This year, he said, federal laws were changed requiring new man dates for financial aid eligibility. The university had to wail for In formation Associates to update their existing computer software, then had to rcinterfacc that sofl See FAM on 3 staff, and to expand office space, Gricsen said. McFarland’s letter also expressed the existence of additional problems due to “the pressing need to revise the freshman and upperclass scholarship programs.” Griesen said he ordered the revi sions in application and processing procedures. When implemented on schedule, they "worked tme," he said. The final problem McFarland ■ _ I __ identified in the letter was the change in federal regulations for financial aid in 1988-89. Griesen said these changes not only affected the FAM system, which was already troubling the office, but also office procedure. Staff members in the financial aid office had to be taught the new federal system, and new internal office pro See RESIGN on 3 _I_X New smoKinq policy aireaay lawna some neai By Larry Peirce Staff Reporter Less than two weeks before the Nebraska Union’s Clean Air Policy goes into effect, the Union Advisory Board voted Tucsday night to alter the policy and allow smoking in recrea tion rooms in both unions. The change came in response to a complaint from union staff members, who argue that not allowing smoking in these rooms might cause smoking customers to go elsewhere to bowl and play pool and video games. A memo from Marv Buysman, Nebraska Union recreation manager, and Ray Koziol, assistant director of operations at the East Union, said that despite the decline in smoking, a large percentage of recreation room cus tomers were smokers. The memo, written to Nebraska unions director Daryl Swanson, said “This is to say that the type of person who frequenUy plays pool, bowIs and/ or plays video/pinball is more apt to smoke than others.” The advisory board, made up of student and faculty members, voted 3*2 to allow smoking in the East Union recreation room, the video game room in the main lounge of the Nebraska Union and the east side of the Nebraska Union’s recreation room. The plan already allowed smoking in the video game area in the base ment of the union. There was disagreement among members whether allowing smoking would help or hurt business. Union Board member Lee Kimmons said some businesses, such as airlines, may have seen an increase in business because smoking was not allowed. “We have to keep an open mind about this,” Swanson said. Swanson said the no-smoking policy will be a big change for the union. He said the policy follows a national trend to -*rotect the rights of non-smoking pub».c. “Up until this I think we’^c been protecting the rights of smokers to smoke somewhere, wherever,” Swanson said. “I think the balance has lipped now to the rights of the non smoker to clean air. “The union is going to be affected a great deal by this because we arc such a public place, and we arc the kind of place where people spend a great deal of time.” Swanson said the current smoking areas in Burger King will stay the same. The union policy is in accordance with the clean air policy adopted by the NU Board of Regents in February. UNL’s policy for all other campus buildings and vehicles goes into ef fect Aug. 8. Swanson expects a fe 'complaints and some confusion about the policy. He said there will probably be a few people who will be defiant and smoke, but that peer pressure will help enforce the policy. The policy provides no sanctions or penalties for smoking in non smoking areas, but smokers will be told that they arc breaking the rules. Enforcement of the policy in offices will be left up to office managers, he said. Swanson said that the board had to be careful not to designate an area where non-smokers walk as a smok ing area. “You almost have to set up an area in a comer,” he said. “Otherwise you’re going to set yourself up for complaints.” Swanson said the union was taking a chance by designating the south corridor on the second floor as a smoking area, since non-smokers may have to walk through that area. One of the more difficult areas in which to enforce the policy will be the restrooms, he said, because smokers assume the restroom is one place where they can smoke. See related story on 3
