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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