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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1989)
WEATHER: INDEX Thursday, sunny and not as warm, high 75 to 80, News Digest.2 winds northwest 5 to 15 miles per hour, shifting to Editorial.4 southeast later in the day. Thursday night, partly Diversion .. 5 doudy, low of 45 to 50 Friday, sunny, high 80 to Sports.13 85 Classifieds.13 October 12,1989__ University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. 33 Ilolltni McHeynoMe/OaHy Nebraskan n in his honors program office, located in the Professor creates interest in past By Emily Rosenbaum Staff Reporter rust your instincts. You know this." Whether it’s a French history course with 50 stu dents or western civilization with 200, Patrice Berger expects his students to ask and answer ques tions. "That’s fantastic. That’s great. You’re right on target." And when they. do, he is always encouraging. |H>—] Berger, associ- WrJ ate professor ofpjij history and direc- jO^ tor of the Univer- \<!,0C sity Honors Pro-fcjX( gram, says interac tion with students is important for a history course. "I expect them to listen aggres sively and to act as judges of the theones I propose," he says. Berger is constantly in motion as he teaches. He circles the desk, wildly motioning with hts hands, raising his voice to an excited pitch and then dropping it to an intense hush. "I try to communicate mv interest ui history to the students,” he says. "If that doesn’t happen, I think a great opportunity to learn has beer lost.” He says students often are disin terested tn history because they as sociate it with dull memorization of dates and consider history ir relevant to their lives. Berger argues that by studying and gaining an understanding of the past, members of society can understand their actions better. “We can build on past experi ence and we can get a better assess ment of ourselves.” In order to get the interest of the students, Berger u\ys he not only provides the information of the past, but also tries to explain it ‘‘You can’t simply come into a class and rattle off a chronology. It • seems to me it is senseless to pro vide dates without making any effort tc describe what those dates mean.” He says he feels part of his re sponsibility as a teacher is to en courage students to question their pasts so they will challenge events and the actions of people in his tory. His exams are one way he en sures students are doing that. Berger says he uses only essay questions on his tests. ‘*1 want student!? to formulate an argument about the past and presemft” Students can take those com munication skills with them and apply them to everything they do, he says. Berger’s knowledge of French history comes from more than just textbooks. He was bom in Paris at die end of World War II and moved to New York City with his parents in 1949. To have been a part of France provided him with insight into its history, he says. “It is also convenient to learn French history when you know the language,” he says. He graduated from Columbia University in New York in 1965 and received a doctorate in history from the University of Chicago. He has been teaching at UNL since 1970. “From a very tender age I’ve had an interest in reading about history and cultivating a knowl edge of the past." Transferring that enthusiasm for history to his students is one of the objectives Berger hopes to gain in each of his classes. He also says he wants every stu dent to “learn some history." Each student should get a general grasp of the sequence of events and the historical framework of the subject, he says ■/ » - See BeSSeR on 3 Shirts considered offensive Phi Kappa Psi booth closed after complaint By Roger Price Suff Reporter UNL officials asked members of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity to stop selling T-shirts in the Nebraska Union Wednesday because of a complaint about the shirts’ ra cially and sexually offensive nature. James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, said a faculty member filed a complaint with his office and the Affirmative Action Office. The faculty member said the shirts could be considered racially or sexually offensive, Griesen said. The back of the shirt depicts a cartoon of a brown female figure who has a bone through her nose and is riding a tricycle out of a jungle. Griesen said that after the com plaint, Brad Munn, Affirmative Ac tion officer; Daryl Swanson, director of the Nebraska Union; and Jayne Wade Anderson, director of Greek Affairs asked Phi Psi members to stop selling the shirts. The fraternity was selling the shirts in a union booth to raise money for a philanthropy project. Phi Psi members voluntarily agreed to suspend sales pending a final decision by Munn as to the of fensive nature of the shirts, Griesen said. Anderson said the members of Phi Kappa Psi were “most cooperative and behaved admirably” in response to the complaints when they were asked to leave the union. Griesen said Munn decided Wednesday afternoon that the shirts were offensive and that they were inappropriate to be sold on campus. No other action will be taken against the fraternity because the shirts were not deliberately 'offen sive, Griesen said. “We’re convinced that there was no intentional offense intended,” Griesen said, “It was merely a matter of insensitivity.” Mike Harshman, president of Phi Kappa Psi, said, “We had no inten tion of upsetting anyone.” Harshman said the shirt was de signed by the Greek Shop, 1120PSt., to go along with the “jungle fever” theme for Phi Psi’s annual philan thropy. The philanthropy, called the Phi Psi 500, is a tricycle race to raise money for Cedars Home for Chil dren, Harshman said. The tricycle race is scheduled for Sunday. Wood: COLAGE suit possible over funding By Jana Pedersen Senior Reporter Che Committee Offering Les bian and Gay Events could sue ASUN if it refuses to sponsor COLAGE speeches, said Dick Wood, general counsel for the University of Nebraska. Wood spoke at Wednesday’s As sociation of Students of the Univer sity of Nebraska senate meeting to give senators information on the legal aspects of fee allocation. He said ASUN could be sued if it denies funds to any student organization based solely on the content of speeches. Last spring, ASUN voted to deny funds to COLAGE. Because ASUN is recognized under the Nebraska Board of Regents bylaws, Wood told senators, “with respect to the University of Nebraska, this body would be considered to be a slate actor.” When ASUN acts on behalf of Nebraska, he said, its decisions are subject to review under federal civil rights laws, including the First Amendment, which guarantees the right of‘free speech. That means ASUN can’t deny funding to any student organization simply because senators don’t agree with the content of its speeches, Wood said, unless they deny funding for all student organizations seeking speech money. “The university doesn’t have to choose to fund,” he said. “But if you do, you must do it evenly.” Wood said his advice was based on an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap peals decision from last year that ruled in favor of the Gay and Lesbian Student Association at the University of-Arkansas, which was denied fund ing by student government Because Nebraska is in the 8th Circuit, he said, last year’s decision would be law in Nebraska. See ASUN on 3 Faculty senators suggest change before hiring By Jana Pedersen Senior Reporter Although a University of Nebraska Board of Regents report on the results of NU self-evaluations said the univer sity only needs “minor corrections,” some University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty sena tors have other ideas. In a letter to Regent Don Blank of McCook, UNL Faculty Senate President James McShane named “the nature of the System Office” as the first major issue that needs to be settled before a new NU president is named or other changes to the univercil, system arc consid ered. The letter contained the Faculty Senate’s answers to self-evaluation questions that were discussed at a Sept. 23 retreat for senators, all senate ex-presidents and all UNL vice-chan cellors. “If the faculty assembled at the retreat last weekend were representative, and 1 believe they were representative of our more conserva live ranks, there is virtually no one here desir ous of continuing the system structure as we know it,” McShane wrote. McShane named such issues as computer acquisition, financial aid and budget difficul ties. the addition of Kearney State College to the NU system, debate over closing the phar macy college at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, funding for the engineering college and libraries, support of regents’ positions and coordination of common institutional data among other issues as areas in which “the centralized administrative system just has not worked effectively.” ”... it has seemed to those of us not close to it that the central structure was growing ever more expensive even as it failed to provide the leadership needed,” he wrote. Because central administration has no di rect academic ties to each campus, McShane wrote, it adds to inefficient bureaucracy within the system. Having a central administration also is un fair to UNL, he wrote. Although statistically, based on research grants and expenditures, UNL is a separate institution from the other branches of the NU system, the current NU structure prevents the UNL chancellor from certain opportunities that come with a chief executive officer posi tion at other universities of UNL’s size. “We at UNL are discomforted that our chancellor can represent us at the most prestig ious athletic meetings,” McShane wrote. “... but not at the prestigious academic councils.” Another problem with the system is a lack of a single vision of leadership, he wrote. The NU president lacks direct connection with individual campuses, McShane wrote, and can’t put “substantial body’’ behind his positions, while the UNL chancellor lacks an independent voice in governance. That lack of distinctive leadership results in confusion over “who is or who isn ’i a player in the higher education game,” he wrote. The recurring debate over the structure of NU government is a sign that there arc signifi cant problems with it, McShane wrote. The regents need to give some structure to the system quickly, he wrote, “so weean gel on with our work.” An important concern, he wrote, is to ensure that no matter what course is chosen for central administration, the central office functions do not duplicate the functions of the administra tive offices on each campus. One way to do that would be to combine the UNL chancellor’s office with the office of the president, McShanc wrote. Combining offices and “doubling up re sponsibility” has been a traditional way to solve problems at NU that has been able to prevent duplication, he wrote. “We deeply feel that we do not need a president such as what we have been used to,” he wrote. ‘ ‘This is simply not an efficient use of everybody’s time.” Making the UNL chancellor the chief ex ecutive of the entire system would reduce See FACULTY on 3