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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.
