UNL officials predict drop in new student enrollment
By Jennifer O’Cilka
Senior Reporter
New student enrollment at the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln is
expected to decrease by 200 to 250
students this fall because of a drop in
Nebraska high school graduates.
James Gricsen, vice chancel lor for
student affairs, said the projected
decline was a minor adjustment that
would have little effect on the univer
sity.
Last year, UNL’s fall enrollment
was 23,926. Peak enrollment at UNL
came in 1982, with 25,075 students.
Gricsen said he expected this year’s
total to be about 23,700.
“That (decrease) is almost an exact
reflection on the decline in the num
ber of high school students,’’ he said.
The number of h igh school seniors
in Nebraska dropped 5.36 percent
during the past year, from 20,554 in
1989 to 19,452 in 1990, Griesen said.
That number is expected to de
cline again next year by about 7.68
percent, Griesen said.
“It’s iust a function of population
trends and shifts,” he said.
Griesen said he was not worried
about this year’s decline.
“It’s a small enough decline that
we don ’ t have to worry about the base
eroding for student fees or tuition,”
he said.
Some adjustments to the housing
budget may be the only ones needed
to compensate, Griesen said. More
students may get single rooms, he
said.
“It’s nothing serious,” he said.
“Nothing we can’t live with.”
Housing Director Doug Zatcchka
said the number of applications for
residence halls shot up after early
reports of a large decrease from last
year.
At one point, Zatcchka said, hous
ing applications were down from last
year by 150-200.
“We still expect (numbers) to be
down a little bit, but not as bad,” he
said.
Last year’s occupancy rates were
higher, so occupancy was expected to
be down a little this year, he said.
Zatcchka projected a rate of more
than 90 percent full, but said he could
not be sure yet. He said final occu
pancy figures would not be available
until next week.
Gricsen said a university-wide
census would be conducted the sixth
day of classes. Definite enrollment
figures will be available after the
census.
1
Brian Shellito/Daily Nebraskan
UNL spends summer debating divestment, Kearney vote
By Matt Herek
Senior Editor
The University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln didn’t take a break this summer
when students went off to take a
vacation, study, sleep or work.
Debate concerning the NU Foun
dation’s refusal to divest from South
Africa continued to rage, the Nebraska
Supreme Court decided to allow
Kearney State Col lege to become part
of the University of Nebraska system,
and UNL received a record number of
research awards.
James McShane, UNL Academic
Senate president, who is working to
get the foundation to divest from South
Africa, offered a compromise to the
NU Board of Regents.
He said the foundation could in
vest in South Africa the same way the
Merrill Lynch investment company
does.
Merrill Lynch keeps track of
companies that do business in South
Africa and it will not invest in those
companies unlcssaclient specifically
asks for such an investment, McShane
said.
The foundation would be selec
tively investing, he said.
“(If the foundation) were willing
to say, ‘Well, we’re insufficiently
unsure about this, but for people who
... would like to invest in this particu
lar area, we might be willing to ac
cept it, although under ordinary circum
stances we don’t invest our money
here,’ it seems to me that would be a
reasonable kind of compromise,”
McShane said.
Many UNL faculty members feel
“very strongly about this issue,”
McShane told the regents.
Some faculty members formed an
action group to work for South Afri
can divestment, said UNL English
professor Paul Olson.
Olson said the group is informal
and discusses ways to encourage the
foundation to divest.
Olson said he is “very surprised
with the enthusiasm and concern”
about the divestment issue and with
what the group is doing.
Another issue that hasn’t been
resolved is Kearney State College’s
fight to get a vote on the N U presiden
tial search committee.
KSC is scheduled to become part
of the NU system July 1, 1991.
The Board of Regents denied KSC
voting membership on the search
committee during its June meeting.
Regent Rosemary Skrupa of Omaha
had said she would introduce a reso
lution giving KSC voting member
ship at the board’s meeting in July,
but said at that meeting she would
wait until the September meeting to
introduce the resolution.
Skrupa, who originally voted
against the resolution, said part of the
reason she changed her mind was
because of a letter written to Regent
Chairman Don Blank by state Sen.
Doug Kristcnscn of Mindcn.
The letter had a “very persuasive
logic to it,” she said.
Kristensen said it was an insult to
the Nebraska Legislature and to KSC
toexcludc it from voting membership
on the committee.
Granting KSC voting membership
would have been an excellent oppor
tunity to bring it into the university
system on an important matter, he
said.
“It was an excellent opportunity
that they (the regents) fumbled,” he
said.
Excluding KSC from voting
membership “doesn’t work well in
this system,” Kristensen said.
A new requirement implemented
for the UNL Teachers College will
affect student teaching assignments
in the fall, according to Alvah Kilgore,
associate dean of the college.
The change requires students to
have substantial teaching experience
in schools with at least a 10-percent
minority enrollment.
The requirement is part of the
Teachers College Multicultural En
richment Plan, Kilgore said.
This will be a transitional year,
Kilgore said, and the college still has
some things to work out in imple
menting the new requirement.
Tom Krcpel, director of university
relations and assistant to U NL ’ s chan
cellor, resigned his post to take a
position in Minnesota effective Sept.
4.
Krcpcl will become an associate
professor at St. Cloud State Univer
sity in St. Cloud, Minn., in ihc Center
for Educational Administration and
Leadership,
He said his experiences in his four
years at UNL would provide a back
ground for his teaching position at St.
Cloud.
It was disclosed over the summer
that the amount of money UNL re
ceived in grants for the 1989-1990
fiscal year increased.
The research initiative helped in
stimulating this growth, according to
Bill Splinter, interim vice chancellor
for research.
UNL received a record S29.7 mil
lion in research awards in 1989-1990,
SI.5 million more than the previous
year and almost $7 million more than
in 1987, before the research initiative
program.
The program, established by the
Nebraska Legislature two years ago,
provides money for economic devel
opment research in Nebraska.
Nobody sells more I
music for less. f
17th & P • 237 S. 70th -3814 Normal
