I INDEX
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the upper 30s with N winds at 15-20 mph Editorial 4
Wednesday night, cloudy and colder low Sports 7
1°-15. Thursday cloudy and cotder wth Arts & Entertainment 9
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December 14, 1988 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 88 No. 75
I Appointment consideration
flattering, Roskens says
I By Diana Johnson
Senior Editor
w Tniversily of Nebraska President
I I Ronald Roskens said Wednes
day he "has no information"
that he is being considered for a posi
tion in the cabinet of President-elect
George Bush.
Speculation arose Monday when
U.S. Sen. Janies Exon suggested
Roskens would be appointed to the
Bush administration as ambassador
to China. Roskens frequently visits
China because of university agricul
tural ties.
Exon told members of the Kear
ney Rotary Club that Bush officials
probably are considering Roskens for
the position.
In a telephone interview late
Monday, Exon told the Daily Nebras
Ikan, “In Washington, there’s some
knowledge that President Roskens
has some interest in and has educated
himself in the People’s Republic of
China.”
Roskens said that at the moment,
an appointment to the Bush cabinet
“is purely speculative.”
‘*It must be,” he said in a phone
interview Tuesday, “at least it is to
me.” ,
“But obviously, I’m compli
mented,” he added.
Roskens, who has been president
of NU since January of 1977, said he
does not wish “to engage in any
speculation” of whatchoice he might
make if an appointment to the Bush
cabinet was made.
“Speculation is useless,” he said.
“As of now 1 know absolutely noth
ing.”
Roskens, who said he has known
Bush for at least 7 years, met with the
president-elect and about six other
university presidents in an informal
50-minute meeting in Washington,
D.C. last week.
Roskens, who was appointed as
chairman to the National Education
Task Force during the Reagan ad
ministration, said he was impressed
with Bush’s attempt to discuss issues
“so early on in the transition.”
Roskens said Bush obviously has
made education a high priority in his
list of national concerns.
“He signals that this is an impor
tant issue to him simply by meeting
with us,” Roskens said. “And sec
ondly, he shows his willingness to
talk about how to resolve educational
issues.”
Roskens said he and the other offi
cials attending left the meeting “with
an optimistic feeling.”
“I think we got the feeling that
Bush is someone who will do more
than just talk about something,” he
said
Faculty Senate committe shows
UNL athletes academically fit
By Jamie Pitts
Staff Repotter
1a University of Nebraska Faculty
Senate committee told senate
L JLmembers Tuesday that UNL’s
student athletes arc academically fit.
■ Jim Horner, chairman of the Inter
collegiate Athletics Committee, said
I the committee reviewed IJNL ath
letes’ academic progress, advising
and the number of correspondence
courses the students take in ns annual
report.
Jim Lewis, a liaison between the
faculty senate and the Intercollegiate
Athletics Committee, said some fac
ulty had been concerned that stu
1 dents, athletes included, were taking
too heavy a course load, including
correspondence courses.
However, research by the commit
tee showed that the number of ath
letes taking correspondence courses
had dropped from 98 in the 1986-87
academic year to 34 in 1987-88.
Homer said he attributes the drop
in the number of athletes taking cor
respondence courses to policy
changes made by the Department of
Continuing Studies last spring.
Lewis said the change in policy
docs not allow students, including
athletes, to take a larger course load
of regular and correspondence
courses than university policy al
lows.
According to the National Colle
giate Athletic Association, athletes
are graduating at a comparable rate
with other UNL students.
“The 1987 graduation rate of all
students entering at UNL in 1982 was
39 percent compared to 38 percent ol
See FACULTY on 3
Hammerin’ away
Builders Inc. employee Paul Tlamka usesa Jackhammer to work on the steps of the north
side of Morrill Hall Tuesday afternoon. Workers are about halfway finished replacing the
steps, which are part of the ongoing renovation of Morrill Hall.
[ Officials to reviewmulti-use I.D. proposal
I By Lee Rood
Senior Hditor
rwialk of a multi-use, campus-wide photo
I.D. card may become a reality for the
fall semester of 1989 if University of Nc
braska-Lincoln Chancellor Martin Massengale
and UNL officials approve the card by late
January.
UNL students and officials have been work
ing on the idea of an all-campus I.D. card to
take the place of other credit, library and resi
dence hall cards since last year.
The Campus Wide Photo Identification
Card Committee, established last year by Vice
Chancellor for Student Affairs James Griesen,
submitted a proposal and the results of a six
month study to Massengale this week.
| Griesen and Doug Zatcchka, director of
tk university housing, said Massengale and other
UNL officials are expected to make a decision
H on the card sometime between now and mid
K January.
gg| Griesen said the decision would have to be
§t final by the end of January in order to implc
f ment a card system by fall, 1989.
fc The card committee, made up of about 20
UNL students, officials and faculty, meets
today at 2 p.m. About six members will hold an
open forum afterward at 3 p.rn. in the Nebraska
Union computer room to receive student input
about the card, Zatcchka said.
The committee is still trying to determine
the cost of the total project, but Zatcchka esti
mated that, if approved, it would require some
where between $250, (XX) and $400,000 to ‘ ‘gel
off the ground ”
‘An $8 fee is the abso
lute minimum. A $ 10 tee
would definitely cover
the rest of the costs. ’
—Zatechka
That money would help pay for staff, com
puters, I.D.-making equipment and everything
needed to “be in business,” Zatcchka said.
Because state money has been light in recent
years, Zatechka said, all money to finance the
card project would have to come from within in
the university. About $030,000 would come
from campus organizations using the cards.
Those organizations could “very possibly”
include, but are not be limited to, the Univer
sity Bookstore, UNL libraries, residence hall
food service, the UNL Athletic Department,
Campus Recreation, the Association of Stu
dents of the University of Nebraska and the
Nebraska Unions, Zatcchka said.
The rest will most likely come from a one
time student fee of $8 to S10.
“An S8 fee is the absolute minimum,”
Zatechka said. “A $10 fee would definitely
cover the rest of the cost.”
Griesen said the cost to students could cause
an adverse reaction, but students should realize
that they are already indirectly paying for other
card systems at UNL. that duplicate each other.
Most students use at least three “redundant”
cards - student I.D.’s, residence hall food
service I.D.’s and library cards, he said.
The card could function as those three cards
at a lower overall cost, Griesen said, and has
the potential for expanded capabilities.
The card could be used as a debit service for
students in the Nebraska Unions. According to
Griesen, students could use a paid account
within the union to pay for the services it offers.
According to the committee’s report, stu
dents should also be able to use the card to vole
in student government elections.
In the residence halls, the card could have
the capability to distinguish which meals stu
dents pay lor, Griesen said. Currently, students
who pay for 13 meals per week can cal only
lunch and dinner. The card, if officials approve
the capability, would allow students to choose
which meals they want to cal for their money.
In addition, the card could be used to gain
entrance into new facilities, such as the rec
center, and could be used as an I.D. for athletes,
Griesen said.
Zatcchka said the final cost of the card
depends on whether officials decide to use a
commercial contractor or to develop the card
system internally.
“Right now, the committee is tentatively
leaning toward the internal model, pending
further financial and technical analysis,” Zal
echka said.
Griesen said now is a good lime to develop
the card system because the residence halls’
current food service card system is “anti
quated” and needs to be updated. The library
also is planning to update circulation, he said.
If the card is approved, the committee
would make sure it could be used in place of
existing card systems, such as the University
Bookstore’s credit card system, which does not
need to be updated.
