WEATHER INDEX
Monday, considerably cloudy and breezy News Digest.2
with highs 55-60, NW winds 15-25, 20 per- Fdilorials...'....4
cent chance of showers. Monday night, colder ArU & Entertainment.' .7.7..... 5
with lows in low to mid 30s. Tuesday, high 50. sports.6
Wednesday through Friday, cool with scat- Classifieds 7 .. 6
tcred showers, high in 50s.
April 3,1989 _._University of Nebraska-Lincoln_Vol. 88 No. 129
South Dakota educators argue college definitions
By Roger Price
Staff Reporter
Last month South Dakota Gov. George
Mickelson sparked controversy by
signing into law a bill that will change
the name of the three state colleges in South
Dakota to universities.
The South Dakota law, which will lake
effect in July, is similar to Nebraska’s LB760,
which is currently being considered by the
Nebraska Legislature. LB760 would change
the names of the four state colleges in Nebraska
to universities.
If nassed. LB760 would change Chadron
State College into Western Nebraska State
University, Kearney State College into Central
Nebraska University, Peru State College
into Southeastern Nebraska State University
and Wayne Stale College into Northeastern
Nebraska State University.
South Dakota State Sen. Jerry Lammers
said students at the University of South Dakota
have started a petition drive to place the name
change issue on a 1990 state-wide election
ballot.
The petition drive was started as a campaign
promise by Dave Hosmer, student body presi
dent at the University of South Dakota in
Vermillion. By putting the issue on the ballot,
a mm
Hosmer said, he hopes 10 reverse the name
changes.
Hosmer said he will need 14,700 signatures
on the petitions in order for the name change to
appear on the next ballot.
Hosmer said student apathy is the main
obstacle he faces trying to get the issue on the
ballot.
“Only about 1 percent of the student body
doesn’t support the petition drive, but only
about 1 percent actively support it,’’ Hosmer
said. “They’ll sign the petitions, but they
won’t get active.’’
Hosmer said he also has encountered prob
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stralion. He said administrators have told him
privately that they arc opposed to the name
change, but will not take a stand publicly
because they are “team players.”
Hosmer said most of his supportcomes from
both undergraduate and law school alumni.
He said the alumni arc helping to make the
name change a statewide issue instead of just
a local one. He said statewide support will be
necessary for the petition drive to succeed.
Hosmer said University of Nebraska stu
dents opposed to LB760 should show their
opposition to any name changes now, before
they are forced to take retroactive measures
like those in South Dakota.
l
It will be harder for Nebraska students to
start a similar petition drive because if the
Nebraska Legislature passes LB760, it is likely
to do so during the summer, Hosmer said.
Lammers said the controversy over the
South Dakota bill deals mostly with resent
ment among students at the two state universi
ties - South Dakota and South Dakota State
University.
“It’s an ego problem with the two existing
universities,” Lammers said. ‘‘I can under
stand that students might feel the change de
creases the status of their institutions, but the
arguments for making the change far outweigh
those against.”
The colleges would benefit from the name
change because several grants are available
only to universities and not colleges, Lammers
said.
Lammers said the name change also helps
make the South Dakota colleges more com
petitive with colleges in North Dakota and
Minnesota who already have changed their
names to universities.
Twenty-six other states have already re
named their state colleges and another seven or
eight are considering it, Lammers said.
Kay Albright, director of public affairs for
Northern State College,-one college affected
by the name change, said, 'This measure puts
us in line with the rest of the nation. Today,
college refers mainly to two-year institu
tions.”
Albright said Northern Stale has to fight a
perception problem because smaller institu
tions in neighboring states arc called universi
ties instead of colleges.
Lammers agreed.
‘‘The old university definition is going by
the wayside,” Lammers said. ‘‘Times are
changing and we need to change too.”
Sen. Roland Chicoine of Vermillion said he
is opposed to the name change because ‘‘there
is more to being a university than a name.”
‘‘I definitely support the petition drive and
would sign a petiuon as soon as I see one,”
Chicoine said.
Chicoine said he is disappointed that the
petition drive was necessary
“The board of regents should show that
type of leadership - not the people,” he said.
Chicoine said that changing the name of the
state colleges is “camouflaging the whole
process of getting an education.”
“Our state with 700,000 people docs not
need six universities, he said. We have two and
that’s all the state can support.
“Instead of bringing the colleges up to the
university level, we brought the universities
down to the college level,” he said.
-1
Attention given to stress
subject of a UNL survey
By Scott Cook
Staff Reporter
C survey is being conducted by
a University of Nebraska
Lincoln psychiatrist to deter
mine if more attention should be
devoted to problems associated with
stress among UNL students.
Victoria Weis/.,aclinical psychia
trist at the University Health Center,
is in charge of the effort to determine
students’ problems.
The survey consists of three sec
tions and includes questions ranging
from school-related stress to drug and
the most common and most serious
problems.
Weis/ said she hopes the survey
will enable her to determine whether
students have excessive stress and
• how they deal with it.
Weis/ said she hopes to establish
areas on campus where students can
go for help if she finds students need
to relieve stress. She said the Coun
seling Center, International Educa
tion Services, the health center and
other places on campus also would he
used.
Weis/, said the university occa
sionally seems insensitive to stu
dents. She said she hopes the survey
results will help improve the scope
and effectiveness of available help.
The survey, which was conducted
through the mail, involved sending
questionnaires to 896 students picked
at random. An additional 105 surveys
were sent to hand-picked faculty
members who have dealt with student
problems.
“We wanted faculty members
who had talked to students who have
had these problems,” Wcisz said
The results will be available this
summer, she said.
American Indian organization
earns substance abuse grant
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A Lincoln American Indian or
ganization received a three
year, SI59,926 grant last week
that will be used to support alcohol
and drug prevention programs for
Lincoln and Omaha American Indian
families.
Syd Beane, executive director of
the Indian Center Inc., said the pre
vention programs will be targeted at
families that have a history of alcohol
and drug abuse.
Beane said the programs will help
American Indians with substance
abuse problems develop bicultural
competency skills.
American Indians moving to ur
ban areas have to adjust from a circu
lar world view that emphasizes spiri
tuality, to a linear world view that
stresses time and economics, he said.
Because of the rural to urban
migration, some American Indians
often feel empty, Beane said.
Bicultural competency training
helps American Indians retain the
spirituality from their circular world
view while developing the skills
needed to survive in a linear view, he
said.
‘‘It’s not meant to be seen as one
versus the other,” he said.
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cause of substance abuse among
American Indians, Beane said.
American Indians suffer from ex
tremely high unemployment rates
and the lack of economic develop
ment on reservations, he said.
Also, American Indians were
never taught about the evils of alco
hol abuse by the early American set
tlers who introduced liquor to them.
“Alcohol was used historically as
a weapon to dislodge Indian people
from land, and to destroy their reli
gious values,” Beane said.
“They have been trying to get out
from under that for a long time,” he
said.
Beane said he hopes the grant
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and Human Services will be used to
reach more families. The program
plans to help 25 families in the first
year, 50 in the second and 1(X) in the
third, he said.
The programs will use guest
speakers and traditional American
Indian activities such as games, din
ners and native arts and crafts to talk
about alcohol prevention, Beane
said.
Traditional activities provide a
relaxed setting to talk about alcohol
and drug prevention, he said.
David FahlesoivT/dily Nebraskan
Flippiri out
Nebraska gymnast Jane Clemons competes In the floor exercise In the Comhuskers’
victory against Washington on March 25. The Huskers finished second at the NCAA
Midwest regional Saturday at Salt Lake City. See story on page 6.
