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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 1989)
4 m «gg L^WllV -HI WEATHER: INDEX BL I |K Y M| News Digest.2 j^Bk I Bjjlfeft, 9 Friday, mostly sunny and cold high 0 to 5, light Editorial 4 1 mS la Bp****Ir^Ha aflf SS ntf^^Sga northwest winds Friday night, partly cloudy, low Sports 7 Iwk a m MB Ha JB |B Jp Hi SB ]fl| about ten below zero. Saturday, mostly sunny, Arts & Entertainment. ... 9 ^9y? Py fm S H 9|Hk jg^Wi 9 S high in the mid-teens. Classifieds.11 JL IV mJ*M. <Mj&JE\JMlJL 1LI-- -I | December 15, 1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. 75 Big Eight figures vary I NU is third in dropout survey By Eve Nations ■ Staff Reporter A Ithough the University of jt-A Nebraska-Lincoln freshman x dropout rate isn’t the high est in the Big Eight, according to an Oklahoma State University Official, UNL places in the top three. According to the survey, Okla homa State University placed first with a 28.8 percent dropout rate, followed by Kansas State with 25 to 30 percent and UNL with 27 percent. The University of Colorado claimed the lowest non-retention rate with 14.9 percent followed by Iowa State University with 16 per cent, Kansas University with 20.4 pcrcentand the University of Okla homa with 25.9 percent. Percent ages for University of Missouri were unavailable. Anthony Schkade, assistant di rector for Registration and Rec ords at UNL, said many things cause freshmen to drop out. ‘‘We know students come to UNL for other purposes than gradu ation," Schkade said. “Some stu dents, especially those from small towns, come just to meet new people. John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan Others come because their parents want them to go to UNL for a year before they work on the farm.” The variation between the drop out rates in the Big Eight schools are because of the “distinct differ ences” between the schools, he said. Other reasons for the dropout rate, according to Schkade, is that many students transfer to another university during or after their first year. “Some students aren’t dropouts, they arc stopouts,” he said. ‘ ‘They come to school for a semester and then take a semester off or they go somewhere else.” The dropout rates decrease as the student progresses toward gradu ation, he said. The closer students are to graduating, the more likely they arc to graduate, he said. Schkade said several avenues arc available to freshmen to keep them in school. A class called University Foun dations helps students adjust to life at UNL and helps them feel more comfortable, he said. Another alternative is the Multi cultural Affairs office. Schkade said this office helps minority stu dents adjust to the university. A third way students receive help is through their advisers, he said. “A majority of advisers try and help students who are having prob lems,” he said. The advisers get to know the students, he said, so the students arc comfortable in seeking help. Schkade said there hasn’t been a great deal of research done at UNL for retention rates so it is difficult to predict retention pat terns. i 1 — Ban or live Christmas trees continues in residence halls By Jana Pedersen Senior Reporter ^ tudents who wish to deck their resi dcnce halls may have a problem if they want to use live boughs of holly. Doug Zatechka, director of housing for the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln, said live trees and other live decorations, such as branches, aren’t permitted in UNL residence halls. “If somebody wants a tree, it means going out and buying a small artificial one,’’ Zat echka said. "Live trees arc a real fire hazard.’’ 1WWWBHH8H1 1811 WMBMI If somebody wants a tree, it means going out and buying a small artifi cial one.' -- Zatechka I He said the residence hall office began to ban live trees several years ago after the trees were blamed for fires in residents’ rooms. “When pine trees burn, they burn very fast and very hot,” he said. “But what burns most is paper, and students have ... tons and tons of paper.” Although past fires generally were confined to a single room, Zatcchka said, the smell of smoke penetrated to adjoining rooms as well, inconveniencing more students than just those who put up the tree. There have been no fires attributed to holi day decorations since the ban was adopted, he said. Although Deputy State Fire Marshall Steve Schneider said there haven’t been any Christ mas tree fires in the Lincoln area this season, there already have been two in the Omaha area. Schneider said that even though having live trees in homes can be dangerous, having them in living units is more dangerous because more people can be injured if there’s a fire. “Live trees are removed from the public basically when they’re in the home,’’ Schnei der said. “Whereas in a dormitory situation we have a lot of people packed in a small area.” He said fires usually start when live trees are placed near healing units or when humidity levels aren’t high enough. Faulty lighting, candles or cigarettes com monly provide sparks that can start I ires, Sch neider said. Alcohol is another, less familiar, common link behind holiday fires, he said. “Just like drinking and driving, drinking See LIGHTS on 6 Truck accident causes power outage in two UNL buildings, part of Lincoln By Jerry Guenther Senior Reporter A power outage Thursday afternoon cut off electricity in a large portion of Lin coln north of O Street, including two University of Nebraska-Lincoln buildings, but had few effects on operations in those build ings, officials said. Harold Simmons, Lincoln Electrical Sys tems manager of energy conservation services, said electricity was knocked out at 1:08 p.m. and was restored within 40 minutes in residen tial areas and UNL, and within an hour and five minutes in all remaining areas. Richard McDermott, director of the UNL Physical Plant, said the outage hardly affected the university because the subsystem that feeds electricity to most of UNL was not hampered by the outage. McDermott said he thinks the only build ings affected by the outage were the UNL Police building and the Watson building, where university maintenance is located. Simmons said electricity was knocked out when a truck struck a guy wire on Burlington Avenue between 66lh and 67th streets. Guy wires, which are made of steel, are inserted into the ground and connected to util ity poles at about 45-degree angles to give the poles support and stability. Simmons said the guy wire snapped and flipped onto an overline wire, tripping a breaker that eliminated power at five substations. The substations supply electricity to “a food portion” of Lincoln north of O Street, immons said. No suspects in Keller Plan theft Today last day to file Psych 181 incomplete By Jerry Guenther Senior Reporter University of Nebraska-Lincoln students enrolled in Keller Plan sections of Introductory Psy chology 181 prior to the theft of test files during Thanksgiving break have until today to file incomplctcs. John Berman, chairman of the psychology department, said students who had not dropped the course when the tests were stolen can either re quest an incomplete or take a final exam. Students choosing to take an in complete in the course will have another opportunity to take the class without being charged tuition again, Berman said. As of Thursday morning, Berman said, about 20 percent of the more than 600 students in the course had filed requests for incompletcs. Students have until today to take the comprehensive, multiple-choice final exam and can use the best of five test scores to determine their final grade, he said. Berman said those students who still want to take incompletcs should fill out forms m 105 Burnett Hall, the same room that is used for testing. Initially, students were upset when they found out the tests had been stolen, Berman said. But given the situation, he said, most students have adjusted well. “As far as I can tell,” Berman said, “it’s as good as can be ex pected.” Students enrolled in Keller Plan psychology normally take unit exams at their own pace and cannot advance to the next unit until they earn a passing grade on the previous unit. Because the tests and files were stolen, psychology officials had no way to determine students’ progress in the course. Investigator Ron Lundy of the UNL Police Department said police arc checking on several leads related to the theft, but still have no suspects. Many UNL students, faculty and staff members have contacted UNL police with information concerning the theft, Lundy said. “People have been very coopera tive,” Lundy said. -- William L/iuer Daily Nebraskan Mack Beatty, custodian at Sheldon Art Gallery, sweeps Thursday’s snow off the steps. Forecasts for the weekend call for rising temperatures but no snow.__