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November 27, 1990 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 90 No. 62
Read any good books? Bu,ch ,ra'andDa:ly Nabra3kan
Kevin Kroon, a 1984 UNL graduate, browses for a bargain book at the Nebraska Bookstore Monday afternoon.
Senators want NU to prepare for budget process
NU regents ponder effects of search
By Pat Dinslage
Staff Reporter
Two NU regents were optimistic that the
board’s handling erf- the presidential search
would not affect relations between the
university and the state Legislature, but a third
regent said the university had lost respect.
Don Blank of McCook, chairman of the NU
Board of Regents, said he had talked with some
Nebraska legislators and he didn’t think there
would be a problem with relations between NU
and the Legislature.
“I think the majority of the legislators real
ize that a search like this is difficult,” Blank
said.
“We needed to find the best candidate pos
sible (for the NU presidency),” he said. He and
the board “kept a finger on the pulse of Ne
braska,” but had to make a difficult decision.
Sen. Ron Withem of Papillion had said that
requests from the university will get “closer
scrutiny because there won’t be the trust level
(between the Legislature and the university)
that ideally should be there.”
Sen. Scott Moore of Seward had said that if
the university can “put it all together” before
the budget process begins next spring, the Leg
See REGENTS on 3
Watchdog student group shifts focus
By Jennifer O’Cilka
Senior Reporter
Some members of a group formed to make
student government more accountable
say the focus of their organization has
changed.
Members of the Alternative Candidate
Resource Association said the group formed
last spring to hold the Association of Students
of the University of Nebraska accountable to
students and to provide information and advice
to potential AS UN candidates.
ACRA member Chris Potter said the group
was started to provide resources for potential
AS UN candidates who otherwise might not
have the chance to run for office.
The group tried to develop ways to raise and
distribute money among potential candidates,
he said. But members could not decide on an
objective distribution method.
“Now, we’re sort of purely an information
resource,” Potter said. The group will offer
advice to any ASUN candidate.
Jeremy Felker, a political science major and
ACRA member, said that when ACRA was
formed, members wanted to inform students
about how their representatives were voting
and when their senators were absent from
meetings.
“Our views at the beginning were that we
felt as though ASUN was not being very repre
sentative of their constituents, and we didn’t
know how ASUN was voting on things, what
the senators stood on,” he said.
Felker said the group wanted to inform
students about the “ins and outs” of ASUN:
how to get involved, when committee meet
ings were and how the senate was acting on
issues.
The group decided that the best way to do
that was to videotape meetings, he said.
Scott Cunningham, ACRA’s director of public
information and a Teachers College student,
said the meetings now are broadcast on the
Government Educational Access channel, cable
Channel 5.
Felker said that once the six-member group
devoted its time to covering the meetings, it did
not have lime for other activities.
The group hoped to put out a publication
that included the voting and attendance records
of senators, Felker said, but the group needed
more members and money.
Cunningham said watching AS1JN changed
See ACRA on 3
Officials say
controversy is
best forgotten
By Sara Bauder Schott
Senior Reporter
The controversy surrounding the selection
of Martin Massengale as University of
Nebraska president must be forgotten
and the campuses must unite befiind him, the
presidents of NU’s faculty senates said.
John Shroder, president of the University of
Nebraska at Omaha faculty senate, said that if
Massengale accepts the job of president, UNO
faculty members will work closely with him.
Robert Young, president of the Kearney
State College faculty senate, William Gust,
president of the University of Nebraska Medi
cal Center faculty senate, and James McShane,
president of the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln Academic Senate, echoed those senti
ments.
Massengale was selected in a 5-3 vote by the
NU Board of Regents at a Nov. 20 meeting, but
has not indicated whether he will accept the
presidency. He and Don Blank, chairman of the
NU Board of Regents, are negotiating a con
tract, which Blank said might be finished by
midweek.
The faculty senates at UNO, UNMC and
KSC, which will join the university system
July 1, 1991, had opposed Massengale’s selec
tion.
The UNL senate had not opposed the action
but had called for amended rules governing
searches for any officer with systemwide aca
demic responsibilities.
Shroder predicted that Massengale will work
closely with the campuses, especially in light
of the controversy surrounding his selection.
Massengale will need to find ways to help
the campuses cooperate, Shroder said. Divi
sion among the branches of the university
system has been a long-standing detriment to
NU, he said, and Massengale will need to work
with the campuses to get rid of those divisions.
McShane, speaking in an interview after the
Nov. 20 meeting, predicted that division among
the regents over the appointment will end and
the board will “line up behind the president.”
Young said the faculty at Kearney has not
had much experience in dealing with Massen
gale because Keamey is not yet part of the
university system.
But all the factions concerned with the se
lection of Massengale need to put their differ
ences aside and work with him, Young said.
Gust said faculty fnembers at his campus
had had legitimate concerns about Massen
gale’s appointment as interim president more
than a year ago because of his connection to
UNL.
But, after a year as interim president, Gust
said, Massengale will have the perspective of
someone responsible for the entire university
system, not just one branch.
The concerns many faculty members had
were about the search and not about Massen
gale, Gust said. Because the four candidates
who had been recommended by the Presiden
tial Search Committee withdrew from the race
for president, Massengale got the job by de
fault, Gust said.
However, now that the decision has been
made, the university needs to move on and
address other issues, he said.
Two environmental classes to be ottered
By Gris Wildhagen
Staff Reporter
□niversity of Nebreska-Lincoln
students will be able to aug
ment their knowledge of the
ciivnunment next semester when two
courses arc added to the curriculum.
A geography class will tackle
environmental issues and a sociology
class will look at the relationship
between humans and the environment,
said Jeanne Kay, chairwoman of the
geography department.
Geography 181, a cooperative effort
between the College of Agriculture
and the College of Arts and Sciences,
is a pilot project for an interdepart
menial general liberal education
course, Kay said.
Faculty members from the biol
ogy, sociology, psychology, geogra
phy and agriculture departments will
contribute to the three-credit-hour
course, she said. A committee of faculty
members from those departments will
submit a proposal to the university
curriculum board for approval next
spring.
If the course passes the board, it
will become the introductoi7 course
for the environmental studies major
by the spring of 1992, she said.
The course will be offered under
the name “Quality of the Environ
ment” next semester, Kay said. After
it passes the board, it will be called
“Earth in Crisis,” she said.
Two sections of 100 students each
will be open.
The course will be open to all
students and will cover six environ
mental issues, Kay said. Natural re
source depletion, species extinction
and air, water, waste and land issues
will be discussed, she said.
Kay and David Lewis, an agron
omy professor, will teach the class,
but professors from other departments
will contribute, Kay said.
Kay said a $27,800 planning grant
from New Partnerships in Agricul
ture and Education paid for media
supplies, teaching assistants for the
class, and relief time for faculty
members to plan the class.
The class has been planned since
last spring. J. Allen Williams Jr., a
sociology professor, said the univer
sity had wanted to add this type of
class for some time.
“We need UNL students to be aware
of the ecological problems and what
they could do to stop them,” Wil
liams said.
A sociology class is being intro
duced in the spring under Special
Topics 498 and 898. In the future, the
class will be offered as “Environ
mental Sociology” in the bulletin.
Williams said he has been plan
ning the class for three years. It re
ceived final approval by the curricu
lum board last spring, he said.
The class will outline issues deal
ing with the sociological impact of
environmental change, Williams said.
Topics that will be addressed are
the relationship between social and
ecological systems, the relationship
between population and natural sources
in the environment, and the relation
ship between the socioeconomic sys
tem and the environment.
The thrcc-crcdil-hourclass will be
taught by Williams. It is limited to 35
students, he said.