Editorial
T^ai1v Eric Pfanner, Editor, 472-1766
^ Victoria Ayotte, Managing Editor
'#'* '"'ft I/■ ^ ■*o% Darcie Wicgert, Associate News Editor
X «y¥ X Cl, O* J&. CA X l Diane Brayton, Associate News Editor
Jana Pedersen, W’ir* Editor
ii ■ u :ii.k l i ■ i Emily Rosenbaum, Copy Desk Chief
University of Nebraska-Lincoln . . L c ,, , B v.,
Lisa Donovan, Editorial rage Editor
NU role defined
Firms suggestions should he applied
R¥ T NL, as the comprehensive research institution of the
I University of Nebraska, should occupy a principal niche
in the system.
But a consulting firm’s report, released last week, says the
i University of Nebraska-Lincoln has taken that role and “tried
to do too much for too many.” The Widmayer and Associates
study, authorized by the Legislature in 1989, contains specific
recommendations for each of the three — soon to be four —
NU campuses.
Nebraska needs a comprehensive research institution, and
cannot support more than one such campus, the report says.
| That makes UNL unique. In the eyes of the consultants,
| though, it also means UNL, as “flagship,” is carrying some
| excess baggage.
By cutting back its offerings and services UNL could better
1 address what the report calls its primary mission — teaching.
At the same time, UNL should streamline its admissions
| policies as well, the report says. If the latest admissions statis
tics are any indication, that’s a necessary change.
In Barron’s Educational Senes, which contains a listing of
w the selectivity ol colleges and universities, UNL in 199U
ranked in the lowest category among the undergraduate
branches of NU. While the University of Nebraska at Omaha
1 received a “less-competitive” rating and Kcamcy State College
— soon to join NU — received a “competitive” rating, UNL’s
rating fell to “noncompetitive.”
In 1990, The Associated Press reported, UNL admitted
every resident undergraduate who applied.
: UNL docs have a responsibility to keep Nebraska high
school graduates in the state. And it could not survive long if it
, accepted only the top applicants.
But there’s a big difference between a high level of selectiv
Iity and no selectivity. In order to maintain its credibility as a
research institution, UNL needs to do some paring. Surely
some of this year’s applicants would have been served better if
they would have attended state colleges or community colleges
instead.
An open admissions policy increases UNL’s size, but takes
it into areas the state and community colleges are better
equipped to handle.
The policy, in effect, makes some freshman-level courses
the standards for admission. And it forces the university to
adopt remedial programs.
Creation of a statewide policy on transferring credits, as the
study advocates, would give students greater mobility. Even if
they were denied admission to UNL at first, students still could
reapply after completing remedial programs at the colleges.
The report reinforces the suspicion that UNL has been so
protective of its turf that it has moved into those institutions’
territory.
Both the state and its interdependent systems of higher edu
cation would benefit from a careful overhaul along the lines of
the Widmaycr recommendations.
J — Rric Pfanner
for the Daily Nebraskan
Search disgusts reader
The recent debacle concern ing the
NU presidential search bothered me
(like it did many other students), and
itonly reinforces my beliefs about the
pathetic state of Nebraska politics.
After spending 15 months and $65,(XX)
of taxpayer money, all of the candi
dates chosen by an impartial commit
tee dropped out, leaving only Mas
scngalc left. The entire affair disgusts
me.
You know, on football Saturdays
during home games, 80,(XX) people
. have to pay to park because all of the
university’s lots are closed. Except
for one. The lot east of Andrews Hall,
which has more than 100 stalls, is
reserved and guarded for “friends of
Masscngalc” who park there. It’s about
a block from the stadium and guarded
by a UNL police officer and another
person, who ward away all but the
closest buddies of Martin Masscn
gale. Now we read that Masscngalc is
reported to have had friends do inter
nal lobbying of the NU Board of
Regents for him. If that isn’t a “good
ol* boy network,” I don’t know what
is. Masscngalc has more than an “inside
track”on the presidency. His network
of cronies, who all owe him favors,
arc helping pressure the regents into
picking him.
So what am 1 complaining about?
There is no competition in the proc
ess. Rather than bring in fresh ideas
and new blood, our tax-supported
university is being run by a bunch of
inbreeds who support each other purely
for personal gain. Some bunch of old
cools who think they know best w rangle
soft jobs for themselves, and spend
their time once they get the job gath
cringdust. 1 hadn’teven known that it
was legal, much less ethical, to at
tempt to influence the selection proc
ess by lobbying (a nice word for fa
voritism).
The position of NU president is
not meant for a politician. It is not on
ballot; and no voter has any control
(other than the regents) over who
holds the position, as far as I know.
The position is supposedly for an
unbiased university administrator.
Martin Massengale, by all accounts,
doesn’t come close to that.
Mitchell Michaelson
senior
finance
TT'S FROM GEORGE.BUSH... SOMETHING
ABOUT ENUSTING WUR HELP KGMNST
KN OLD RWA^L
/ ^ "Ik?
Break causes feeling of deja vu
Thoughts of marriage bring fear, confusion to old friends' faces
Iwent home to Columbus over
break to sec my folks for Thanks
giving and to watch a high school
friend of mine walk down the aisle
that 1 wouldn’t touch with a branding
iron.
Aside from that great dinner my
mother served, and the annual cut
ting-down-and-decorating-of-the
Christmas-lree ceremony, the week
end was a break from tradition that
was kind of unsettling.
Usually, holiday vacations are spent
with my family, except for a perfunc
tory beer at the local pub with the few
high school friends who arc still liv
ing i n to wn and the one or two who ’ ve
come home instead of working or
going to Grandma’s.
I don’t sec my folks much, so
going home means spending time with
them — going up to see the geese on
the lake, reading the paper with my
dad and having my mom kick my bull
in Scrabble.
This weekend was different. 1 still
got my bull kicked, but I also did
some things that l had relegated to the
summer alter my freshman year in
college, when my only job was lifc
(Tii»rHin« :»n/t m\i uyr»rr* crtnnl
playing volleyball at Ross’ cabin with
my classmates from high school.
I hadn’t seen some of those class
mates since graduation, and walking
into Glurs Tavern (the oldest pub
west of the Missouri River) to sec
them sitting around a table with the
same expressions they wore on their
faces four years ago gave me was this
terribly surreal feeling of d6ja vu.
1 was waiting for someone to ask
me w hat 1 had scored on the ACT, or
where everyone was going to college.
Luckily, the conversation had changed,
and the closest we came to those
questions was asking Kelly how she’d
done on the Optometry Admissions
Test, and where she planned to go to
study optometry.
Otherwise, the conversation was
one we would never have dreamed of
starting just out of high school. Craig
was getting married, and confusion
and fear were written all over every
one’s faces.
Don’t get me wrong. Craig mar
ried a wonderful person and I’m sure
they’ll live happily ever alter in Tulsa,
Ok la., but the implication that others
of us would be going soon left a cloud
of impending doom over the table,
and made us sound pretty old.
We talked about where people were
getting jobs and what they were doing
with their lives. That, at least, was
good news. Two of my classmates are
in medical school, one’s a law stu
Amy
Edwards
dent, three arc in actuarial science
fields, and at least three others are in
accounting. We have a soon-to-be
pharmacist, an elementary school
teacher and a part-time model.
An/4 I li-W 1 l' nrottu if il\ml
about it, because 10 years from now
when 1 make my first million as a
reporter for The Daily Planet, I’ll
have a good doctor, a lawyer, an
accountant and an eye doc tor, and I’ll
know where to go to get really cheap
drugs.
But our conversation moved closer
and closer to the fact that others of us
would be including marriage in our
futures. We talked about who had the
most serious beaus, who would be the
most likely to marry next and what
they would do after gelling married.
Adam was more concerned about
finding someone worth dating. Going
to law school in St. Louis made him
think Nebraska was the best bet for
finding women who were looking for
a good guy more than a man with a
Mercedes and who didn’t care that he
ended his sentences with prepositions.
Whal surprised me was that most
of my classmates echoed that in some
form or another. I’ve always figured
on leaving the slate after graduation,
but most of the others planned on
coming back at some point — like
when their children reach an impres
sionable age. At least now 1 don’t
have to feel guilty when people talk
about the brain drain. It’s not coming
from 1986 graduating class of Co
lumbus High School.
The consensus was that nobody
was eager to plan the next wedding.
Even the one engaged classmate turned
green when Craig said his vows.
And that seemed a little odd to me.
1 was expecting more of my friends to
look forward with starry eyes to the
day when they too walked down the
aisle. At one time, that would have
been expected. Our parents’ friends
moved logically from asking about
school to asking about new boys and
girls in our lives, to asking about
wedding plans and when our parents
were going to be made grandparents.
Ecck.
Now my friends talk about gradu
ate school and professions and how
lUUgfl II WUUIU IK. IU IIIIU .mjiiiwi.v
willing to move when they got a job
offer halfway across the country.
That I can live with. That, to me,
seems more natural than nesting. Our
parents will just have to live with the
fact that the women held their hands
behind their backs when Craig’s bride
tossed her bouquet and the guys kept
their hands in their pockets when Craig
Hipped the garter belt at them.
But that may change. We’ll all be
home again in a month — probably
for the last lime for another lour years
— and we’ll see if anyone is sporting
an engagement ring or handing out
invitations.
I’ll be glad to attend the ceremony,
as long as I don’t have to walk down
the aisle.
Kdwards is a senior news-editorial major
and the Daily Nebraskan Diversions co-edi
tor and a columnist.
-r.
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