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September 26,1988 University of Nebraska-Lincoln_ Vol. 88 No. 20
Petersen vetoes bill,
ASUN misinformed
By David Holloway
Senior Reporter
A SUN President Jeff Petersen said he
vetoed legislation Friday that would
have given $500 to the “Do It Sober”
program because the student senate had been
misinformed about the bill.
The Association of Students of the Univer
sity of Nebraska passed the bill 13-7 on Sept.
21. The “Do It Sober” program is co-sponsored
by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Pi Beta Phi
sorority, Residence Education and the Univer
sity Health Center.
Petersen said he vetoed the bill in executive
session because ASUN was told the Residence
Hall Association would also sponsor the “Do It
Sober” program.
“I found out Thursday that RHA wasn’t
going to sponsor the program,” Petersen said.
Petersen said he believes ASUN should
never support anything that is just greek -spon
sored because ASUN represents the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln as a whole.
Petersen said he plans to find out where
ASUN was misinformed and for what reasons. •
I m still in full support of the ‘Do It Sober’
program,” Petersen said, “but in mv own opin
ion, AS UN passed the bill with the idea that
RHA was also sponsoring the program.”
Tyler Correll, general studies senator who
wrote the bill, said a lack of communication
caused the misinformation.
Correll said Jerry Hoffmann, coordinator of
the “Do It Sober” program, had not intention
ally misinformed him by saying RHA was also
sponsoring the program, because he had no idea
that RHA was not.
Hoffmann said the “Do It Sober” committee
had an understanding that RHA had been con
tacted. Only Residence Education, a division
within the Office of University Housing, had
been contacted, he said
“It was a lack of communication by the ‘Do
It Sober’ committee concerning the RHA,”
Hoffmann said.
Shari Kliptenstein, programming coordina
tor for Residence Education and RHA adviser,
said she has been meeting with Hoffmann since
last spring concerning the “Do It Sober” pro
gram. She said Hoffmann apparently assumed
that she was representing bom RHA and Resi
dence Education during their meetings. She
was only representing Residence Education,
she said.
Hoffmann said he thought Kliptenstein had
been representing both groups.
“We assumed that she was representing Res.
Ed. and RHA,” he said. “But she didn’t tell us
and we didn’t ask. It was a lack of communica
tion on our part.”
Hoffmann said RHA president Larry
Koubsky supported the “Do It Sober” program.
“As of Friday when I met with Larry, he said
he is 100 percent in support of the program,”
Hoffmann said.
Hoffmann said Koubsky plans to bring the
“Do It Sober" program up at the next RHA
meeting to sec it RHA will approve donating to
See VETO on 5
*
\
Cultural diversity to be celebrated
By Victoria Ayottf
Senior Reporter
A week for “Appreciating Cultural Di
versity” at the University of Nebras
ka-Lincoln will be Oct 3-9. t
James Griesen, vice chancellor for student
affairs, said planning for the event began last
spring at a meeting of the Student Affairs
Executive Council.
“The primary focus of discussion was the
lack of interaction between the white and
tittnority students,” Griesen said. “Minority
student involvement in the major campus or
ganizations is almost non-existent.”
Griesen called together a group of students
and staff to look at the issue of diversity on
campus and begin planning a strategy to recog
nize and appreciate diversity.
The Student Affairs Executive Council has
planned 10 workshops, which will be led by two
consultants, Jenny Laster and Linda Weiner of
Massey Enterprises of Chicago. Massey’s pri
mary focus is on minority issues, said Peg
Johnson, director of special programs in
Griesens office.
Johnson said the workshops will be given to
student groups including the Afrikan People’s
Union, Native American Student Association,
Mexican American Student Association, Viet
namese Student Association, foreign represen
tatives, Interfratemity Council, Panhellenic
Association, the Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska, Residence Hall Asso
ciation, University Program Council and black
greek organizations.
Some groups will combine during the work
shops, she said.
Three workshops also will be given to in
vited faculty and staff, two of which are being
sponsored by Robert Furgason, vice chancellor
for academic affairs.
Griesen said the workshops will address “the
problem of making minority students feel more
a part of this campus community.
“There is not integration of majority and
minority students on this campus,” Griesen
said. “In fact, we are a segregated campus —
they don't feel equal and we’ve got to do
something to break that down.”
Griesen said the week will culminate in a
retreat at the Gretna 4-H camp Sept. 8-9. Four
students from each organization and an equal
number of faculty and staff have been invited.
“We hope to gel in a serious discussion that
weekend about getting a series of programs
started,” Griesen said.
Griesen said he is looking forward to the
weekend.
“It’s going to take time to build our minority
status, but we must start with something,” he
said. “I’ve got my fingers crossed.”
enrollment increases
Student interest spurs expansion in language department
By Angie Beiriger
Suff Reporter
Students’ awareness of the
need to communicate ideas
with peoj^ggf foreign coun
tries is reflected intWgrow ing enroll
ment of modem language courses at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
said Helmut Planner, chairman and
professor of the Department of Mod
em Languages and Literatures.
ptvanner said enrollment in mod
em language courses is up about 10
percent. He said an increase in mod
em language enrollment is also a
national trend.
UNL offers courses in 10 lan
guages. Students can mayor in Span
ish, French, German and Russian,
Pfartner said. Portuguese, Czechoslo
vakian and Italian can be taken as
minors. The other three, Japanese,
Chinese and Lakota Sioux are two
year programs oiicnng no degrees
“Good job prospects are offered in
these non-traditional fields," Pfanner
said. Non-traditional languages are
languages besides French, German
and Spanish.
“Most students take them to round
out their degree. It isn’t uncommon to
have a business major taking Japa
nese or a political science major tak
ing Russian," he said.
Other than job prospects, students
take non-traditional Languages be
cause they are usually more challeng
ing than traditional languages or
because they have an interest in their
own ethnic heritage, he said. Courses
on the culture of these countries art
also offered.
Students taking non-traditional
languages make up only about U
percent of the more than 3,000 stu
dents enrolled in the language depart
ment. Out of 46 instructors in the
department., six teach all the courses
in the non-traditional languages.
Pfanner said lie would like to see
UNL’s language program expand.
Currently there are two Russian pro
fessors, one of which will be retiring
soon. A replacement has been found
and Pfanner said he would like to
conduct a similar search to find a
Czechoslovakian professor. Right
now, a lecturer teaches Czech.
Enrollment is up in both Italian
and Japanese, he said.
A second section in Italian was
offered this year for the first time in
the university’s histocy. Similarly,
some students wanting to take Japa
nese were turned away because of
limited class space, he said.
The department was recently
granted another instructor which
enabled them to add another section
in Japanese. Japanese is usually of
fered alternately whh first year Chi*
nese. Next semester could be the lust
time both will be offered at the same
time, he said.
‘ The overall program is solid,”
Pfanner said. “There are good rela
tionships between professors and stu
dents. The classes have a maximum
of 30 students so the professors and
students really get to know each
other.”
Pfanner said that he would like to
see the department expand, not only
in the number of sections offered, but
also in the number of languages avail
able.
Pfanner said he would like to offer
sections in such languages as Arabic
and Korean.
“It’s hard to say if there's an inter
est in these languages,” he said. “If
there was an intersct, it would proba
bly be in cooperation with business or
economics. Saudia Arabia is an eco
nomic force in the world. Korea is an
up and com mgpoweralso.lt s impor
tant for people to know what to ex
pect.”
There are no plans to set up these
programs, though, he said.
<rlt’s not easy to start up a new
program,” Pfanner said. "We’d have
to start small and build up before you
can get a solid teaching program. We
need professors to get the program
going. It’s a very difficult process.”
Pfanner said he thinks the univer
sity has the potential to be one of the
best multi-section language depart
ments in the country.
“I’ve been the head of the depart
ment for two years,” he said. “In that
time, we’ve hired four or five new
instructors each year. Wc have hired
four new instructor s for next year. It’s
a great plus to hire so many new
people.
It adds considerably to the
strength of the department,” he said.
m
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