WEATHER: INDEX
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Friday, mostlysunny, high of 50. cS^7.7.7.7":::lJ
November 30,1989__ University ot Nebraska-Lincoln_ Vol. 89 No.
— .. . ■■■"■ _
David Hansen/Daily Nebraskan
The light at the end of the stacks is the end of the semester. JuniorphUoso
phy major Chris Brockway, of 1527 S 13th St., gets some study time in at
Love Library.
Fellowship program expanding
for minority graduate students
By Robin Trimarchi
Staff Reporter
To increase the number of minority
graduate students at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, the university’s
Research and Graduate Studies Office is ex
panding its minority graduate student fellow
ship program, according to Dean of Graduate
Studies John Yost.
Although the minority fellowship program
was initiated late last year, Yost said this is the
first year the university has been able to
“maximize the effort,’’ using available re
sources for nationwide minority graduate stu
dent recruitment and award funding.
Twenty-one fellowships were available for
the 1989-90 academic year, three times the
number available for last year. All the money
received by the Research and Graduate Studies
office from the NU Foundation, about
$100,000, was allocated for minority graduate
student fellowships, he said.
Seventeen of those fellowships were
awarded, he said. The Research and Graduate
Studies Office determines the award recipi
cnts, said Yost, who also is vice chancellor for
research.
Because funding is limited, Yost said, fel
lowships for doctoral students can be awarded
for two academic years and one year for mas
ter’s students. The academic departments then
provide assistantships or fellowships for these
students to continue with their degree pro
grams, he said.
Yost said that as part of the recruitment
program, the university has established a Mi
nority Graduate Student Recruitment Travel
Fund to provide financial support for prospec
tive students’ visits to UNL.
The Graduate Studies office also is encour
aging faculty members to use the Faculty
Speakers Program as a money source to pay
faculty members to speak at academic institu
tions with predominantly minority enrollment.
Only students who arc U.S. citizens or per
manent U.S. residents, and who belong to ra
cial minority groups “traditionally under
represented in graduate education” arc eli
gible for fellowships, Yost said.
See MINORITY on 3
Study calls for coordinating body
Consulting firm recommends
overhaul of governing system
By Jana Pedersen and
Jerry Guenther
Senior Reporters
Nebraska has outgrown its current gov
erning system of higher education and
should eliminate existing post-secon
dary governing bodies, including the NU
Board of Regents, according to an independent
consulting firm.
Patricia Widmayer, president of the con
sulting firm hired to study post-secondary
education in Nebraska, said that based on inter
views, letters and poll results, Nebraskans
think all state technical schools, colleges and
universities should be structured under an
overall coordinating body.
Widmayer’s comments came Wednesday
as sne ana two otner members ot the Chicago
based Widmayer and Associates consulting
firm presented the Higher Education Commit
tee with an interim report on Phase I of the post
secondary education study.
The consulting firm’s proposal would
eliminate not only the current NU Board of
Regents, but also the State College Board of
Trustees and the Postsecondary Education
Coordinating Commission, replacing them
with a modernized system.
“Total change is the only way to achieve
the goals Nebraskans talked to us about,’’
Widmayer said.
The hiring of a consulting firm was man
dated under a provision of LB247, which was
passed by the Nebraska Legislature last spring.
The statute calls for a comprehensive study of
Nebraska’s higher education system and the
Nebraska’s higher education system and the
creation of a committee to oversee the firm’s
recommendations.
Members of the consulting firm outlined
four recommendations for changes in the gov
ernance of higher education in Nebraska in an
85-page report.
One change would create lay boards of
trustees for Wayne, Peru, Chadron and Kear
ney state colleges and the three branches of the
University of Nebraska system.
Other changes would include establishing a
new board of regents, expanding the role of the
Nebraska Technical Community College As
sociation and setting up a Council on Coordi
nation composed of government and higher
education leaders.
Widmayer said that if the changes are
adopted, they not only would set a new course
for Nebraska, but also would start a trend for
colleges across the nation to follow.
Harold Enarson, senior consultant for the
study, said the diversity and roles of Ne
braska’s post-secondary educational institu
tions leaves the state without an overall struc
ture in higher education.
“The flaw in the (current) system is that
there is a confusion of governance and coordi
nation,” Enarson said.
He said governance should be handled at the
campus level, while coordination works best at
the state level.
To separate governance and coordination,
the seven boards of trustees would be respon
sible for governing individual institutions,
while the new board of regents would be re
sponsible for coordinating collective concerns
of all seven institutions, Enarson said.
Each board of trustees would be composed
CAl/An mAmknro o■ nIn^ ki, ikn
nor and one student member assigned from
each campus’s student government.
The new board of regents would have six
elected members and five members appointed
by the governor.
I I
'Total change is the
only way to achieve
the goals Nebraskans
talked to us about. ’
—Widmayer
Although both the new board of regents and
the Council on Coordination would have coor
dinating duties, the council would operate dif
ferently from the regents, according to the
report.
The 14-mcmber council would be com
posed of some members of the new board of
regents, the Technical Community College
Association, the Association of Independent
Colleges and Universities in Nebraska, two
senators, the governor, the commissioner of
education and one citizen-at-large. Its main
duties would be to coordinate the entire stale’s
higher education goals.
According to the consulting firm’s findings,
the dissimilar campuses and different missions
of each branch of the NU system provide
conflicting needs that arc loo varied for the
current NU Board of Regents and president to
adequately address.
The report also states that, based on inter
views with constituents of the university, “we
See REPORT on 3
ASUN tables amendment
to anti-discrimination bylaw
By Jana Pedersen
Senior Reporter
fter passing a bylaw amendment Wed
nesday that would prohibit ASUN from
discriminating on the basis of gender,
sexual orientation, creed, handicap or place of
residence, senators voted to reconsider and
table the amendment until next week.
Graduate studies Sen. Clark Sackschewsky
initialed the motion to reconsider, expressing
concern that passing the amendment would
nullify the constitutions of student organiza
tions that didn’t include similar wording.
Sackschewsky said senators should wail a
week before passine the amendment so student
organizations caifwaft and consider legisla
tion to comply with the amended bylaw.
Marlene Beyke, director of development for
I
the Association of Students of the University of
Nebraska, said that if ASUN adopted the
amendment, all student organization constitu
tions would be void.
Student organization constitutions must
comply with ASUN bylaws, she said.
Teachers College Sen. Marc Shkolnick,
who also expressed concern about voiding the
constitutions, said ASUN should adopt the
amendment only after developing a way for
student organizations to change their constitu
tions to comply with the new standards.
‘‘If we’re going to great lengths to gel this
passed,” he said, “we must give a long time
frame for the organizations to comply. We
have to make this work.”
Senators voted unanimously to postpone
action on the amendment for one week.
-1
NU I-back arraigned on Wednesday
From Staff Reports
- charges stemming from his arrest June 18,
Comhusker I-back Lamont A. White 1989.
was arraigned Wednesday in Lan- McGinn set a Jan. 16, 1990, jury trial
caster District Court on possession date for White,
of cocaine charges. Conviction on the charges carries a
Appearing before Judge Bernard maximum penalty of five years in prison
McGinn, White pleaded not guilty to the and a $10,000 fine.