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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1989)
~~l WEATHER: INDEX Wednesday, sunny skies wifri highs 20-25, NE winds 10-15 mph Wednesday night, cloudy, cool with a high of 5. Thursday, sunny I News Digest.2 and breezy wrth highs in low 30s Friday Editorial...... ....4 through Monday, chance of rain or snow on Art* Entertainment.? Friday with highs between high 30s and mid ycy?,-.r)'. * 40s Saturday and Sunday, lows in 20s oiassineas.to February 22,1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 88 No. 106 Officials debate university status for KSC By Jana Pedersen Staff Reporter Che Nebraska Legislature’s Education Committee heard testimony Tuesday about _ Kearney State College to the state’s university system under LB 160, but took no action on the bill. Sen. Jerome Warner of Waveriy, co-sponsor of the bill, said the status change is necessary. “The only guuuaniee one can make in any public policy area is that change is going to occur,’’ he said. The changes being made in higher education within die state could come in two forms, he said, as a new university system or as an expansion of the existing system. The stale “can’t support compet ing university systems,” he said. Adding KSC to the existing sys tern will prevent competition, he said, while at the same lime granting KSC the status it deserves. Currently, KSC meets all but one of the criteria necessary for gaining university status, according to a study by the Nebraska Fostsecondary Coor dinating Commission, Warner said. KSC lacks the suggested number of master degrees to be considered for university status, but it will be able to expand its graduate programs to meet the criteria, Warner said. Even if LB160 is not passed, KSC will expand its graduate program, he said. Sen. Doug Kristensen of Minden, another co-sponsor, said KSC would be a logical addition to die university system because of its location and its dedication to rural economic devel opment Bf.UlffW'1 ’ -H ■ ■ ... ff'.y u> ■ “Kearney is not UNL," Kris tensen said. “We don’t need another UNL." Adding KSC to the university, he said, would make the positive effects of the system more easily available to people in western Nebraska. “It will bridge this state together through education," he said. Bruce Elder, chairman of the KSC faculty senate, agreed. “ITie (KSC) faculty feel that if Kearney State were to become a part of the university system, the state would be drawn closer together,” he said. KSC President Bill Nestcr said the size of KSC, with an enrollment of 9.275 students, makes it more com parable to NU than to the other state colleges. In the United States, Nester said, ■ ■ mv :% • vviumm __ there are 602 institutions with enroll- t ments smaller than KSC that are des- t ignated as universities. Only four \ institutions with enrollments larger t than KSC are designated as colleges, he said. j Jim Bachmann, student lobbyist for the KSC student senate, said the I university designation is necessary < for KSC in Nebraska because it i would be a university in most other < states. < Not only would the university designation be more prestigious for j KSC, Kester said, but it would also help to foster economic development j in the area. i Bachmann agreed. ] “In serving Nebraska, we could do it more effectively as a part of the university system,” he said. The committee received part of he testimony on the bill through a slephone feed from Scousbluff vhich enabled citizens from that area o testify without coming to Lincoln. Jean Lavelle, chairperson of the 'iebraska State College Board of rrustees, who testified against the nil, said the board was not in favor of he bill because of the legal questions t raises and the possibility of in creased tuition costs for KSC sal ients. UNL student regent Jeff Petersen dso testified against the bill. The economic ramifications of idding KSC to the university system ire enough to discourage the bill's passage, Petersen said. Currendy, KSC is facing a severe lack of funding, he said. ~See KEARNEY on 6 Muslim students ask for ban on novel in University Bookstore By Brandon Loomis Senior Reporter __ A group of muslim students at the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln has requested that the University Bookstore not order or sell any more copies of “The Satanic Verses,” the book Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini has declared blasphemous. Larry BeWrends, manager of the bookstore, said three students approached him Monday, asking if the store had sold the book and whether he intended to keep selling it. He did not remember the students’ names, and said they did not give specific reasons for wanting to stop the book’s sales. Benrends said his store sold out of the book last week when tne controversy nu me news. Author Salman Rushdie wrote the book. “We will be Retting it again for those who special order it, he said. “The students indicated that they would prefer we not sell the book ... cither over the counter or by special order,” he said. Usamah Ulhman, director of UNL’s Mus lim Student Association, said he does not know which students protested, but that he under stands their feelings. “I feel the book should not be sold,” he said. “It’s very offending to muslims, which represent a large portion of the world’s popula tion.” See PROTEST on 6 Chizek says bill necessary to study institutions9 roles By Jana Pedersen Staff Reporter Concerns about expanding Nebraska’s university system mandate a study of the role and mission of each postsecon dary education institution, Sen. Jerry Chizek of Omaha said. Chizek told the Legislature’s Education Committee at a hearing Tuesday that his bill, LB247, would help coordinate postsecondary education by creating a commission to oversee a study of the system. The commission established by the bill would include three state senators and a repre sentative from each of the state’s postsecon dary institutions to be appointed by Gov. Kay Orr by Oct. 1. The commission would be responsible for hiring an independent organization outside Nebraska to study the staters higher education facilities. The hired organization would conclude its study and deliver a report addressing Ne braska’s postsecondary education needs by Jan. 15,1991. Paula Wells, chairperson of the Nebraska Postsecondary Coordinating Commission, agreed that the study would help answer ques tions about expanding the state’s university system. Changing the names of slate colleges and universities under other bills discussed by the committee could be postponed until the study is finished, she said. But Chizek said LB247 was not intended to be a means of delaying action on other bills. Kermit Hansen, an NU regent who was not testifying on behalf of the board, said he favors LB247 because the hiring of an independent organization would ensure objectivity in the report Also, the time frame allowed by the bill is adequate enough to provide a solid, in-depth study, he said. Tammy Schmidt, student senator from Wayne State College, also testified in support of LB247. The role and mission of stale colleges and universities needs to be clarified, she said. An out-of-state organization would be able to determine roles and missions in an unbiased manner, she said. The Education Committee took no action on the bill, but will reconvene Monday. Death penalty adversaries to begin eight-day annual protest fast today By Roger Price Sufi Reporter Sixteen members of Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty, including two Uni versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln profes sors, will begin an eight-day fast today to protest Nebraska’s death penally. At a Tuesday morning press conference, Janet Dennison, one of the fasters, announced that in addition to fasting, the group also plans to distribute fact sheets about the death penally at the west entrance of the state capitol building throughout the week. On March 1, the group plans to hold a “break-fast" in the morning to end the week long hunger strike. March 1 is Abolition Day, a nationally recognized day to protest the death penalty. That afternoon, members of the group will distribute candles of hope to all state senators, Dennison said. In the evening, Dennison said, the group plans a candle vigil to start at the Gathering Place at 15th and E streets and then march north to the capitol. Reasons for participating in the fast vary with each member, but Nelson Potter, associ ate professor of philosophy at UNL, said the reason for his participation in the fast is “ to call attention to the fact that there is a death penalty and it is used." The United States is grouped with Iran and South Africa in the use and frequency of the death penalty, Potter said, and that is an odd group for the United States to be in. Robert Haller, English professor, and UNL students Christy Phabe and Cindy Wall also arc participating in the fast. Bill Rounding, one of the fasters, said that fasting traditionally has been used to draw attention to civil rights, religious and political protests. Rounding said his group has fasted annually during the week leading to Abolition Day since 1987. Marjorie Manglitz, another faster, said, ‘‘1 know the bitterness, retaliation and revenge that lake place every time the slate kills a human being, it is our society, ourselves, that loses humanity as we sow the seeds of vio lence." Manglitz also quoted Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in saying ‘ ‘capital punishment is soci ety’s final assertion that it will not forgive." When asked about mass murderers such as Ted Bundy, Rounding said that people should ask themselves, "Do I feel any safer now that Ted Bundy is dead?" Rounding said the cost of executing a per son also should be considered. He said studies in other states show that the average execution costs taxpayers between $1.5 ana $2 million. Sharon Balters, a registered dietitian from the Madonna Centers, said she didn’t think a fast of this length would be life-threatening as long as fluid levels were maintained. The only harm from fasting might be a weight gain after the fast because of the body’s reaction to starvation or danger to borderline diabetics, Balters said.