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April 3,1990___University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. £25 / u
Legislature amends higher education bill
Student trustee vote added to proposed constitutional amendment
By Victoria Ayotte
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska Legislature on
Monday reversed itself and
decided to make the question
of a student trustee vote part of the
proposed constitu
tional amendment
to restructure
higher education. [
On a 32-7 vote,
senators adopted an Lj^3
amendment to f yl
LR239CA which
puts a student vote
in the same pack- H * I
age with the re- V ul
structuring of higher education.
On March 8, senators had voted to
adopt an amendment by Sen. Jerome
Warner of Waverly which made a
student vote a separate question on
the November ballot.
LR239CA would abolish the cur
rent NU Board of Regents and Ne
braska Stale College Board of Trus
tees and establish a Board of Regents
tor Nebraska Higher Education and
one board of trustees for each univer
sity and state college.
Senators adjourned before voting
whether to advance LR239C A .which
is now in the second round of debate.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha
offered the amendment, which re
versed the effect of the Warner amend
ment. Chambers said the student vote
should not be “treated differently”
than the other issues presented in
LR239CA.
Having a student on the board of
trustees without a vote would be a
“hollow activity,” Chambers said.
“Now we have to make that par
ticipation substantive,” he said. Stu
dents now are given an unofficial
vote on the NU Board of Regents.
Although Chambers said many
times young people “get on our
nerves,” they should not be brushed
aside.
Sen. Scott Moore of Seward sup
ported the vote, saying the student
vote should not be a separate issue
from LR239CA. Students have votes
on university boards nationwide,
Moore said, and those aren’t “Podunk”
universities, citing the University of
Florida as an example.
A student vote is a “tried and
true” concept, he said.
Moore told senators that students
are concerned about government and
cited the higher percentage of stu
dents voting in recent elections at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“I think it’s time we give the stu
dents their due,’’ Moore said.
“Without a vote, everything seems
to be like playing house,” Chambers
said, with students playacting at par
ticipating in the governing process.
“That can be somewhat demeaning.”
If students are the “hope for to
morrow,” he said, they need the
opportunity to participate today.
Omaha Sen. Tim Hall also sup
ported the student vote and said sena
tors cannot continue to segregate
students and make them “second
class” to other citizens.
UNL Student Regent Bryan Hill
said he was “happily surprised” at
the 32-7 vote and that senators must
have realized the merits of the student
vote.
The Legislature considered sev
eral other amendments. One was a
proposal by Sen. Dianna Schimek of
Lincoln to elect all the members of
the Board of Regents for Nebraska
Higher Education instead of a system
of election and appointment
One regent would be elected from
each of the nine districts. Schimek
said an elected system would be more
democratic.
“People do need to have that re
sponsibility and that opportunity to
judge for themselves the issues of the
day,” Schimek said, especially in
Nebraska with its Populist history of
independence.
Sen. Jim McFarland of Lincoln
opposed the amendment, however,
and said such a system would further
the problem of “parochialism and
provincialism” that exists with the
present system.
Schimek withdrew the amendment
before it was voted upon.
McFarland proposed an amend
ment to put a faculty member on each
institutions’ board of trustees. He said
this would make “even more sense”
than having a student member since a
faculty person would have knowl
edge of credit transfers and degree
requirements.
Moore said a faculty member is
very different from a student member
since a faculty member is employed
by the Board of Regents. It would be
a conflict of interest, he said.
McFarland withdrew this amend
ment and then failed in an attempt to
delay consideration on the bill until
April 9, 1990, when the legislature is
adjourned for the year.
Joe HeJrurle/Daily Nebraskan
Library boogie
Julie Adamson, 19, studies while listening to music in the Love Library stacks Monday
afternoon. Adamson is a freshman business administration major.
Studies show students are undereducated
By Carri Koetter
Staff Reporter
Although two corporate studies
indicate students entering the
work force generally are un
prepared and undereducated, several
local businesses that recruit at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln say
its graduates are competent
According to a survey by the Insti
tute of Industrial Engineers, based in
Atlanta, Ga., 75 percent of the 2,700
members active in the engineering
profession said the nation's produc
tivity is being killed by generations of
minimally educated students.
The survey, released in March,
also showed that about one-third of
those surveyed thought education
would be the biggest cause of eco
nomic weakness in the 1990s.
Janie Meeks, communications
specialist for the institute, said to
day’s students are not getting a solid
elementary and high school educ'
tion in math, science and writin
That, she said, contributes to the
problem.
Today’s students, especially those
with only high school education, are
not keeping up with technological
changes, she said.
Joan Jennings, director of career
development for Northwestern Mu
tual Life in Lincoln, said many stu
dents lack basic grammar skills.
Sometimes the writing skills of those
with four-year degrees is "‘almost
frightening,” she said.
Laurie Kortum, management re
cruiter for the Lincoln Telephone Co.,
said she sometimes is surprised at the
sloppiness and errors on college gradu
ates’ applications.
Meeks said businesses have begun
training to compensate for the lack of
skills.
And they are seeing improvements,
Meeks said. Seventy-three percent of
survey respondents said they recently
began training programs, and all said
they have seen positive results.
Along with Northwestern and
Lincoln Telephone, State Farm In
surance, which also recruits UNL
students, also has a training program
for new employees. Most of the pro
grams emphasize product knowledge,
understanding sales and case prepa
ration.
A survey by another recruiting
See JOBS on 3
Parking committee
considers new rates
Pat Dinslage
Staff Reporter
The UNL Parking Advisory
Committee delayed voting on
parking rates for the 1990-91
academic year because it didn’t have
a quorum at Monday’s meeting.
But Ll John Burke, University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Parking Division
administrator, proposed new parking
rales at the meeting in the East Cam
pus Union.
The committee suggested two dif
ferent types of reserved parking per
mits, beginning next year. They would
be for 24-hour and 10-hour parking.
The 10-hour permits would be effec
tive in specified parking lots from 7
a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Fri
day.
Rates suggested by the committee
at its March meeting for the 1990-91
school year were $360 for 24-hour
faculty and staff parking and $180 for
the new 10-hour parking permits.
Burke’s 1990-91 budget proposal
specified $300 for 24-hour faculty
and staff permits and $240 for 10
hour permits.
He said John Goebel, vice chan
cellor for business and finance, and
college deans and directors, were
concerned the $360 price lag was too
expensive.
Committee member Gordon Karels,
See PARKING^3
Orr signs bill to reimburse
depositors of Commonwealth
From staff reports
Gov. Kay Orr on Monday signed
a bill to reimburse depositors
of Commonwealth Savings
Company and other failed financial
institutions in Nebraska.
Depositors of the failed Common-'
wealth, which closed Nov. 1, 1983,
eventually would be paid up to $30,000,
the amount guaranteed by the Ne
braska Depository Institution Guar
anty Corporation.
The bill passed by the Nebraska
Legislature, LB272A, appropriates
$16.9 million in 1989-90 and $16.9
million in 1990-91 to the Department
of Banking and Finance to pay the
depositors’ claims.
“The closing of Commonwealth,
State Security Savings and American
Savings was a dark chapter in Ne
braska’s history,” Ott said in a press
release. “While we cannot eliminate
the pain and suffering that the clos
ings caused depositors, LB272A can
help in the restoration of faith in state
government.”
On added that the Legislature’s
decision to pay depositors was one of
the spending priorities of the session,
but has left little money for other
programs.
“It is lime that state lawmakers
begin showing spending restraintand
say ‘no’ to additional spending. They
have to remember you can only spend
a dollar once. Nebraskans will accept
nothing less than a balanced budget.
If lawmakers fail to halt this spending
spree, I will make a tough decision
for them through my vetoes.”
Late fee waivedfor classroom accidents
From Staff Reports
The University Health Center
will waive its S10 after-hours
fee for students who are in
jured in classroom accidents, accord
ing to Dr. Gerald Fleischli, UHC
medical director.
Students will be required to pres
ent notes from their instructors attest
ing to the accident, he said.
The policy began recently after a
student was injured in a chemistry lab
last semester, he said. The student
was upset at being charged the late
fee because his professor sent him to
the health center.
Fleischli said he received a letter
in January from a concerned dean
saying the after-hours fee might deter
students injured in classrooms from
coming to the health center. That
would raise liability concerns for the
university, he said.
The health center gets about two
or three patients a year who are in
jured in tne classroom, he said.
The policy will remain on a trial
basis for a year and then will be
reviewed, he said.