K
WEATHER INDEX
Today, cooler and partly cloudy, north wind 10-20 n _
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of showers, low in the mid 50s. Friday, partly Q^f/te'008.in
cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers, high *. .' ,
in low 70s. Classifieds.is
[ SePtenr|ber 27, 1990__University of Nebraska-Lincoln__Vol. 90 No. 23
Commission
formed to back
new amendment
By Kris Karnopp
Staff Reporter
□oncem for the future of higher education
has prompted some Nebraskans to form
a committee to fight for passage of a
proposal to change coordination of postsecon
daiy institutions.
The 48-mcmber group, Nebraskans for Cost
Efficient Higher Education, is working toward
the passage of proposed Constitutional Amend
ment Four, which will be voted on by Nebras
kans in the Nov. 6 election.
If approved, Amendment Four would create
a more powerful coordinating commission for
Nebraska’s state colleges and universities.
The current Coordinating Commission for
Postsccondary Education has no binding au
thority and serves as an advisory board.
Charles Wilson, commission chairman from
January 1986 to July 1988, said Nebraska’s
current coordinating commission is “ineffec
tive and completely out-of-line with similar
programs in other states.”
“We need a coordinating body that will
organize and integrate all of the components of
higher education in Nebraska,” Wilson said.
“The lack of coordination results in the dupli
cation of programs and unmet needs.”
The Appropriations Committee of the Ne
braska Legislature has become by default the
coordinator of higher education programs, said
Wilson, who is running for the Board of Re
gents.
The new coordinating commission’s au
thority would extend to all public post-secon
dary educational institutions -- the university,
stale colleges and technical community col
leges.
The coordinating commission would have
the power to implement new programs and
abolish duplicative programs. It would design
the role and mission for separate institutions
and for Nebraska higher education as a whole.
The commission also would serve as achcck
on the NU Board of Regents and the Nebraska
See AMENDMENT on 3
Anna Dockins Daily Nebrnakan
Grounds crew worker Sandy Wacker trims plants in the pond at the Sheldon
Memorial Art Gallery Sculpture Garden on Wednesday.
New fiscal year
endangers grants,
UNL official says
By Dionne Searcey
Staff Reporter
As a federal budget deadline nears, un
certainty looms over college students’
financial futures.
Unless Congress and the Bush administra
tion work out an agreement before Monday,
the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduc
tion Act will cut the U.S. Department of Edu
cation’s budget for 1991 by $5.5 billion from
the 1990 level.
John Beacon,director of thcOffice of Schol
arships and Financial Aid at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, said the Pell Grant program
will be most severely affected by the cut.
The national program’s budget in 1990 was
$4.8 billion, said Tom Lyon, spokesman for the
Department of Education. However, this figure
may not remain the same for the 1991 fiscal
year, he said.
UnderGramm -Rudman, the program would
be cut $1.6 billion, according to an Education
Department statement on the cuts.
But if the cuts are passed, students wouldn’t
feel them until the 1991 spring semester, Lyon
said.
The cuts would eliminate grants, averaging
$1,000 each, to 1.4 million recipients, accord
ing to the Education Department statement.
Pell Grants to another 2 million students would
be cut by an average of S120 each.
Beacon said the average award per qualify
ing student at UNL is $1,434.
In 1990, Beacon said, about $7.5 million in
Pell Grant money was distributed to 5,261
students at UNL. The amount of each award
ranged from $200 to $2,300.
If less federal gram aid is available, other
options would be open, Beacon said. But stu
dents would have to borrow more money, he
said.
“The Pell Grant is free money. If it’s cut,
you’ll find students replacing grant money
with loan money,” he said.
Beacon said about 48 percent of financial
aid awarded is in the form of loans.
Beacon said the number of Stafford Loans
awarded would not be affected by the cuts to
See CUTS on 3
Professors say women students participating more
By Cindy Wostrel
Staff Reporter
Although studies say that women
are missing out on educational
opportunities and feedback by
fSnol participating in class, two UNL
professors say that’s changing.
Delivee Wright, direc tor ofUNL’s
Teaching and Learning Center, said
UNL hasn’ t been immune to the prob
lem. But Wright and William Seiler,
a professor of speech communica
tions, said that professors are more
aware of the problem, which has led
to more participation by women in
the classroom.
Seiler said classroom participation
by women varies. Although five or 10
years ago he would have agreed that
women participate less than men in
class, he said, he’s not sure that still
holds.
David and Myra Sadker, profes
sors of education at American Uni
versity in Washington, found in a
1983 study that women participate in
class half as much as men.
Myra Sadker. who has researched
women’s participation in the class
room, said women act as spectators to
classroom discussion and don’t do as
well on standardized tests because of
it.
But Seiler said he doesn’t think
there has been a problem in his classes.
Some women have voiced their views
strongly, he said.
He said he thinks that professors
play a part in keeping all students,
including women, involved in class
room discussion.
But professors sometimes fall vic
tim to the “squeaky wheel” syn
drome, Myra Sadker said. The stu
dents who shout out in class, more
often men than women, are likely to
get attention, she said.
Wright said part of the problem i&
that professors have learned to re
spond to men and women differently.
“My observation is that every
body wants to be equitable and fair,”
she said, but faculty members some
times unconsciously pay more atten
tion to men.
Women students contribute to the
problem, Wright said.
‘‘I think they’ve been enculturatcd,
too,” she said.
Women sometimes doubt them
selves more than men, Wright said,
and men tend to be more competitive.
Women may know the answer to
questions asked, she said, but do not
feel a need to answer them.
‘‘I feel it’s more that than some
one keeping them from answering,”
she said.
Whatever the reason, women lose
out by not participating, Wright and
Myra Sadker said.
As spectators, women aren’t get
ting the skills they need for jobs,
Myra Sadker said.
Just the act of speaking in a class
room can help students exercise their
minds, she said. When students pre
pare to speak, their minds “go a mil
lion miles a minute,” she said.
Professors can encourage women’s
participation by calling on students
instead of relying on those who vol
unteer, Myra Sadker said. A bonus to
calling on students is that they pre
pare better for class, she said.
Wright said students who partici
pate in class learn quicker and better
than those who don’t.
“You don’t forget that question
that you answered today,” she said.
Students who participate get feed
back on how they are doing, Myra
Some officials shocked
Roskens ’ appointment gets mixed reactions
By Adeana Leftin
Staff Reporter
The shocked and dismayed reaction of
some university regents to the appoint
ment of Ronald Roskens to the NU
Foundation Board of Trustees met with sur
prise from other officials Wednesday.
‘‘I was very pleased to see him (Roskens)
among our trustees,” said William Smith,
chairman of the NU Foundation Board of
Directors.*‘I was stunned by the reaction of
some of the regents.”
Roskens and his wife, Lois, were appointed
last week with 33 others to the board. There arc
more than 400 trustees on the board.
NU Regent Rosemary Skrupa of Omaha
said she thought it was an ill-advised move on
the part of the foundation’s Board of Directors.
Skrupa had told The Omaha World-Herald
she was “shocked” about Roskens’ appoint
ment. “He’s got a job back in Washington, and
I think he ought to tend to it.”
Skrupa now says she was assuming too
much.
“I was unaware of the fact that there arc
over 400 trustees. I thought it was a position
that required a tremendous amount of lime,”
she said.
Roskens served as University of Nebraska
president for 12 years. He was fired by the
Board of Regents July 31, 1989. Currently,
Roskens is director of the U.S. Agency tor
International Development in Washington.
Smith said, “It wasn’t like someone sneaked
him in.”
Roskens’ name was submitted to the foun
dation’s nominating committee and sent to the
Board of Directors. On both levels, Roskens*
appointment was unanimously approved. The
Board of Trustees gave final approval to his
appointment, Smith said.
Smith said Roskens has given 17 years of his
life to the university and has a love for it. He
said Roskens had been helpful in fund raising
since his departure and was in a good position
to help the university system with his connec
tions in Washington.
Don Blank, chairman of the NU Board of
Regents, said, “I think people are misinterpret
ing as to the magnitude of that appointment.”
Blank of McCook said people were making
it comparable or equal to the foundation’s
Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors decides foundation
policy. Trustees help support the university
and the foundation, but do not vote on policy.
‘‘He was president (of the University of
Nebraska) and I have no trouble with this
appointment,” Blank said.
Regent Margaret Robinson of Norfolk said
she had no comment on Roskens’ appointment.
‘‘Dr. Roskens is a citizen of this country,
and he is free to go where he wants,” she said.
