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Nebraskan
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February 8, 1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln
CORRECTION
State Budget Director John Rochford's name was misspelled in two recent
articles (DN, Feb 3 and 7).
WEATHER: Wednesday, decreasing INDEX
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cloudy and cold with lows 5-10 below zero Sports.................6
Thursday, sunny with highs around 15. Friday Art & Entertainment.9
through Sunday, continued dry conditions. Classifieds.11
Vol. 88 No. 96
Spire: Rulings should be appealed
By Larry Peirce
Senior Reporter
Nebraska Attorney General
Robert Spire said he will
advise Lincoln County Attor
ney Kent Turnbull to appeal two rul
ings made by Lincoln County district
judges based on the right-to-bear
arms amendment of the slate’s
constitution.
Judge Don Rowlands ruled Mon
day that the right-to-bear-arms
amendment, passed by initiative in
the 1988 election, grants felons the
right to possess firearms. Last week,
Judge John Murphy ruled the statute
that prohibits possession of a defaced
firearm is unconstitutional because
of the amendment’s language.
Spire said he was disappointed in
* the rulings and said he would advise
they be appealed because the state’s
statutes the rulings affect arc public
safety measures.
If the rulings were upheld by the
stale Supreme Court, Spire said,
Nebraska voters should repeal the
righl-to-bcar-arms amendment.
Spire said the amendment is
broader than any other in a state
constitution that he knew of.
“It’s very far reaching, very
broad,’’ he said.
The people who wrote the amend
ment never intended it to be inter
preted the way it has been, Spire said,
but was sold to “protect sportsmen
and hunters’ right to bear arms.’’
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
law professor James Lake said he
disagrees with both rulings.
“It wasn’t the intention of those
who drafted the amendment to pass
something that would have the effect
these two judges says it has,’’he said.
Because the right-to-bear-arms
amendment was added to the
constitution by initiative, which re
quired the signatures of thousands of
people to pul the issue on the ballot,
there is no way to find out what the
amendment’s supporters intended. If
the constitution is amended by con
vention or by the Nebraska Legisla
ture, there is more debate to indicate
intent, he said.
“You can’t ask 60,000 people
what they intended,’’ he said.
If the amendment would have
been debated by the Legislature, its
effect on existing statutes might have
been questioned.
The state Supreme Court would
have the same problem it had with
Initiative 300 if they try to decide
what the amendment’s intent was, he
said, because it was passed by initia
tive.
“They had a hell of a time finding
out what that meant,’ ’ he said. ‘ ‘They
had nothing to go back to.’’
Lake said he wasn’t surprised that
Spire would want the rulings ap
pealed.
“If you get some of these eases
going... a wildfire will start and this
amendment will abolish every
thing,” he said.
Lake said he thinks the amend
ment was drafted in Washington,
D.C. by a lawyer of the National Rifle
Association. He said it wasn’t the
intent of the NRA to allow felons to
possess firearms or to allow the pos
session of defaced firearms.
Warner sympathetic
to funding equipment
By Eric Pfanner
Staff Reiter_
When deciding NU’s 1989-91
budget in April, at least one
member of the Nebraska
Legislature’s Appropriations Com
mittee may support funding for lab
equipment for the College of Engi
neering and Technology.
*‘I am sympathetic to doing it if
we can,” said state Sen. Jerome
Warner, chairman of Uic committee,
at a speech Tuesday in the Nebraska
Union.
Although funding in the budget
probably will be less than the amount
requested, Warner said, problems
involving accreditation of University
of Nebraska-Lincoln programs need
to be considered by the Appropria
tions Committee.
Gov. Kay Orr requested no fund
ing for engineering lab equipment in
her two-year budget request for 1989
91, while the NU Board of Regents
included $525,000 for engineering
lab equipment in its 1989-91 budget
request
If the Legislature docs not give
money for engineering equipment,
engineering students may have to pay
another tuition surcharge next year.
Engineering students had to pay a $9
per credit hour tuition surcharge this
year.
Warner said that given a choice
between funding for research or fund
ing for equipment necessary for ac
creditation, he would support fund
ing for equipment
> 1 *"
“My outlook is to make sure exist
ing programs are solid before starting
anything new,” he said.
But Warner said he didn’t have a
‘ ‘clear picture’ ’ of the budget for N U
at this point.
Competition from other programs
in the budget makes it difficult to be
specific regarding the budget right
now, he said.
He also said he didn’t knew how
much would be included in the
budget for a faculty salary increase.
“Ask me in two months,’’ Warner
said.
The Legislature will decide on the
budget in April, he said. The NU.
budget is scheduled to go before the
Appropriations Committee March
14.
Between now ana April, ne saia, it
is important for students and Govern
ment Liaison Committee members to
establish close contact with legisla
tors. He said personal contact will
help the Appropriations Committee
decide what some priorities for fund
ing are.
Warner also discussed L.B160,
which proposes including Kearney
State College in the NU system.
Warner said that it would be “to
tally consistent” at this point to in
clude Kearney State in the NU sys
tem.
But the bill is not a budget issue,
he said.
“It is simply a question of a clear
definition of the role and mission ol
an institution,” he said.
-1
Center requests 10 cent per
student fee increase to CFA
By Lisa Twiestmeyer
Staff Reporter
The University Health Center
requested a 10 cent per student
per semester student tee increase
in its 1989-90 budget request to
the Committee for Fees Alloca
tion Tuesday night
The .19 percent increase
would generate an extra $4,570 in
the health center’s student f>c
budget. Students would pay
$55.03 in Fund B rees for the
center, up from $. 4.93 in th
current budget.
Kunlc Ojikulu, dreef >r r f the
health center, said the ou ter was
able to “hold the line’’ on ex
penses in its budget request be
cause the center has started using
generic drugs.
“We have saved lots of
money, and in return we are giv
ing credit to students on what has
been saved,” be said.
The biggest increase in the
budget request was a 233.33 per
cent increase in the small equip
ment budget to $20,000, up from
$6,000 this year. Ojikutu said this
is necessary so the center will
have < flexibility to purchase
equipment it may need in the fu
ture. ,
James Griesen, vice chancel
lor for student affairs, said the
center previously had to request *
money for small equipment from
the bond facility improvement
account. He said this account is
meant for large-scale facility
maintenance projects, and money
for smaller items shouldn’t have
to be drawn from this account
The budget request included a
30.64 percent decrease in the
center’s printing budget. Ojikutu
said the center recently bought a
new copy machine, so the center
has been able to save on outside
printing and copying costs.
UNL program improves quality of state math teachers
By Roger Price
Staff Reporter
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln has been working for
several years to correct prob
lems in mathematics education re
cently identified in a national report,
according to a University of Ne
braska-Lincoln professor.
The rejJbrt, released by the Na
tional Research Council, said mathe
k matics education in the United States
needs to be completely revised from
the kindergarten through the Ph D.
level. The report stated that today’s
schools leach children of the ‘ ‘infor
mation age” the same way they
taught children of the industrial age.
Donald Miller, assistant chairman
of the Department of Mathematics,
said UNL had been developing pro
grams to correct this problem long
before the report was released.
Miller said that since 1986, he has
headed a program that leaches the
newest mathematics to the best math
teachers of the stale. The program
identifies the 60 best secondary math
teachers in the state.
Those same teachers attend sum
mer school at college campuses
around the state for three years where
they are (aught the latest techniques
for teaching math. The faculty is ro
tated from campus to campus each
year and is chosen from schools
throughout Nebraska, he said.
The teachers share their education
with other teachers through work
shops, papers and organized math
contests.
The program’s participants arc
“taking the leadership in math edu
cation in the state," Miller said.
In return for participation in the
program, the teachers receive tuition,
room and board for the courses, in
addition to a $1,000 stipend each
summer.
Another program organized by
Miller and administered by UNL is
the Junior Mathematics Prognosis
program.
The test is given to high school
juniors and identifies their math defi
ciencies while they can still be cor
rected.
Miller said a similar program in
Ohio had dramatic results reducing
the number of freshman at Ohio State
University who had to lake remedial
math courses from 42 percent in 1977
to 25 percent in 1984.
The number of freshmen who en
tered calculus went up accordingly
from 6 percent in 1977 to 11 percent
in 1984.
Miller said that since UNL’s pro
gram has only been in operation since
1988, results will not be known until
next ytjar.
In 1988, the 45-minulc lest was
given at 21 high schools around
Nebraska, he said. In 1989, the test
will be given at 67 schools geographi
cally distributed across the slate.
Miller said he expects that stu
dents who take the test arc “more
likely to graduate m four years,"
because they are able correct their
math deficiencies while they are still
in high school.
The program also will help save
students money by allowing them to
take remedial math classes in high
school where they arc free, Miller
said.
The program currently is a pilot
program funded by UNL and the
Nebraska Department of Education,
but Miller said the program has ex
panded as far as its pilot budget will
allow.
State Sen. Sandy Scofield has in
troduced legislation that would fund
this program for cXcry high school in
the state, Miller said.
This bill, LB 134, passed in the
Nebraska Legislature's Education
Committee and senators should make
a decision before the end of this ses
sion, he said.