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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 1989)
WEATHER: INDEX I H J& ■ XBM Wednesday, cloudy with highs B Bmj B 30s, NE winds 5-15 mph Wednes i #'",!* j J I j#ji I 1 kmxs *»*■ i February 15,1989 _ University of Nebraska-Lincoln_ Vol. 88 No. 101 Representatives of public schools oppose bill By hve Nations Staff Reporter The Nebraska Legislature’s Education Committee heard testimony Tuesday on a bill that would change priorities for the awarding of State Student Incentive Grants and state overmatch for the SSIG funds. If passed, LB651 would alter funding for private and public postsecondary schools by consider ing the cost of the institution instead of the personal resources and needs of a student. Representatives from private in stitutions favored the bill because it would provide greater financial assis tance to private schools. John Ober, a representative for private colleges, told the committee that the passage of LB651 will “en sure students attending independent colleges a fair and acceptable share of funds.” Two other representatives from private institutions, Union College President John Wagner and Doanc College President Fred Brown, also urged support for the bill. Representatives from public col leges and universities told the com mittee that the passage of the bill would greatly deplete funding for students who attend lower-cost pub lic schools. Tom Johnston, a representative for community and technical col leges, told the committee that if the bill passed, it would shift $350,000 to $450,000 from public sector schools to private, four-year institutions. “This bill favors full-time private institution students,” he said. “It would take funding away from the people who really need it. “If you take funds out of commu nity colleges, we will have students who won’t be able to afford any postsecondary education.” . Richard Hoover, vice chancellor for educational student services at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, expressed his opposition to the bill. “We had $5.6 million of unmet need at UNO last year,’ ’ Hoover said. “Any change in funding would be detrimental to students who need financial aid.” James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, also stressed the importance of continuing funding for public schools. Public institutions have large numbers of students who need finan cial aid but there are not enough funds available, Griesen said. In a written statement presented to the committee, Debbie Fiddelke, UNL’s student lobbyist, stated that she opposed the bill because state funds would not be received by stu dents who have the greatest need. ASUN introduces bills opposing LB 160 By Larry Peirce Senior Reporter Bwo bills opposing the merger of Kear ney State College into the University of Nebraska system will be introduced at tonight’s Association of Students of the Uni versity of Nebraska meeting. ASUN President Jeff Petersen, who spon sored the bills along with Sen. Jill Durbin of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the bills oppose KSC’s merger and call for a task force to study higher education prior to any reorgani zation. Petersen said the bills are in response to LB 160, a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that would make KSC part of the Nu system. He said their bills show suonger opposition than a resolution passed at last Saturday’s NU Board of Regents meeting. That resolution, like the ASUN bills, calls for a task force to study reorganization of Nebraska’s educa tional systems. See ASUN on 3 Alcohol, Valium consumed in apparent suicide attempt From Staff Reports University of Nebraska-Lincoln gradu ate student was reported in fair condi tion Tuesday at Lincoln General Hospi tal after apparently attempting to commit sui cide earlier in the day. Lt. Albert Maxey of the Lincoln Police Department said police went to the student’s home, 134 S. 17th St., after receiving a phone call from a Crete resident at about 11:20 a.m. The man had allegedly taken four Valiums and drank an undetermined amount of alcohol. Maxey said he did not believe the suicide attempt had been life-threatening. Lt. Ken Cauble of the UNL Police Depart ment said a UNL professor called Monday at about 11 a.m. to warn police about the student. The professor received a note from the student earlier in the morning saying the student was going to commit suicide. The note later was given to the Lincoln police. The student is enrolled in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. Maxey said it appeared that the student had been receiving treatment at the University Health Center. Cauble said a health center counselor reportedly went to Lincoln General following the student’s admittance. DrvkJ Frana’Dully N«tor«sJun Carl Warner sits outside the shanty town built In the plaza north of the Nebraska union by Early Warning! Klamer Is a sophomore political science major from the Netherlands. Students start work on plaza shantytown By Roger Price Suff Reporter I. .. ... With Bob Marley’s “One Love” playing in the background, about 15 members of Early Warning! and other concerned students started work on their shantytown Tuesday night on the plaza north of the Nebraska Union. The shantytown, constructed of old door frames, bicycle boxes and other donated materials, was being built to raise people’s awareness about the problems the homeless face, said Joe Bowman, the facilitator for the group. ‘This project is to create an awareness. .. living in Lincoln you get so sheltered,” said Michele Emo Syvert, a freshman women’s studies major. Mike Sorrell, one of the students work ing on the project, said there are more than 700,000 people living in similar shanty towns in Peru and more than two millic^i homeless in the United States. He said that one fifth of these people arc employed, but still can’t afford housing. Katie Toiler, a freshman engineering major, said: ‘‘The point is that other people are out there in the cold without even these materials, and this is to show our solidarity with these people.” Amy Frederick said that the group has been planning this for months and everyone was “psyched” even though “it would be nice if it was warmer.” Ginger Dzerk, Early Warning! secretary, said the group was planning to work late into the night and some were planning on sleeping in the shanties either Tuesday or Wednesday night. “It makes me realize when people have to live in these things, how awful it must be, especially when it’s this cold,’’ Dzerk said. The temperature was around 25 degrees while the group was constructing the shan tytown. Dzerk said the group plans to tear down the shantytown Thursday. Craig: Doctoral shortage limits home-ec labs By Roger Price Staff Reporter A nationwide shortage of people with doctorates in home economics is causing the number of lab sections in some homc-ec courses to be limited at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, according to Karen Craig, dean of Home Economics. One factor responsible for the shortage of available professors is the small number of universities that offer doctorates in these disciplines, Craig said. Another factor is that many who do earn their doctorate in home eco nomics go on to work for government and industry because the salaries are higher, Craig said. Currently, UNL has about 55 fac ulty members in home economics, 40 of whom arc involved in teaching, but, Craig said, she would like to add about five more doctoral positions. Craig said each faculty member usually leaches three three-hour courses each semester. She said faculty had expressed concerns that this was an unusually heavy load to expect of them. Ac cording to the Institutional Research and Planning office, the average hours each full-time equivalent pro fessor spends in the classroom is 9.5 credit hours per semester. This figure represents the average amount of time faculty would spend in the class room if their sole responsibility was teaching. One of the effects of this shortage, Craig said, is that the college has had to cut around 10 lab sections in under graduate courses forcing some stu dents to be turned away, and other sections are offered only once every other year. One solutidh, to this prtiblem was introduced to the NU Board of Re gents Saturday. Craig said the regents will vote next month on whether the college will offer a doctoral program to compliment their masters program that is the second largest in the nation. The proposed doctoral program would involve restructuring current staff allocations by having some advanced graduate students teach undergraduate courses and having professors leach graduate courses, Craig said. Craig said she doesn't plan to hire doctoral graduates from UNL be cause “it is not academically good policy to hire your own people. Craig said hiring people from other institutions promotes the interaction of ideas. She said that by increasing the number of people with doctorates in home economics, the number of people available to work at UNL also would rise. While most openings for faculty positions in other colleges at UNL are sought by around 30 applicants, Craig said openings in home eco nomics currently set about six appli cants because of the shortage of people with doctorates.