m T 1 Ucllry -g 1 _ BB _ J _ ■ — ^ — southwest wind 10-15 mph. I i J0m% Si JtiF1* Tonight, dear with the low 10 ^Bk 1 I I mr® r ill flL ■ m Jr W W SF M 15. Thursday, mostly sunny ^|lkjl |BIWIHiW*wp gg ft t|J |Jgj4^k B jfe: with the high in the lower 30s. Bookin to finish Boon Hong Um, an actuarial science major, restacks books Tuesday night in Love Library. Professor: U.S. ignorance hurts By Becki Roberts Staff Reporter U.S. government officials, mili tary experts and citizens are generally ignorant about the Middle East, two professors said Tuesday in a discussion about the Persian Gulf war. Citizens’ lack of understanding will affect the U.S. military decisions in the war, said Rober, Oberst, a Ne braska Wesleyan University profes sor specializing in Middle Eastern politics. At a forum in the Nebraska Union, Oberst said the conflict bears little resemblance to the Vietnam War, but there is one significant similarity: “The United States finds itself with a very large commitment of troops in a country we are very ignorant of.” Stereotypes Americans hold about Arabs and Muslims are an example of that ignorance, Oberst said. For example, he said, many Ameri cans see all Arabs as terrorists. A University of Nebraska-Lincoln stu dent recently was assaulted, he said, apparently because of such anti-Iraq sentiment, even though the student was Iranian, not Iraqi. Such misunderstandings, he said, extend to the federal government. Referring to President Bush’s pol icy of “psychological warfare” against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, Oberst said he wonders how Bush knows what Arabs think, since he has net hired Arab specialists to gain insight on the Iraqi president. Bush also refers to Saddam by his first name, which Oberst said is proba bly an intentional show of disrespect. The Iraqi sense of honor is one concept Bush seems to understand, since he has shifted his position to personal attacks on the Iraqi leader, Oberst said. See FORUM on 3 Join higher education Midwest compact now, Nebraska senator says By Lisa Donovan Senior Reporter If Nebraska joins a handful of Midwestern states, passing leg islation to enter a higher educa tion compact, the state would create another form of financial aid, said one of the legis lation’s propo nents. Bruce Stahl, executive direc tor of the Ne braska Coordi natingCommis sion for Postsecondary Education, told the Nebraska Legislature’s Education Committee on Tuesday that the Mid western compact provides financial assistance to students by easing non resident tuition rates. Stahl said later that compact member states would set up systems to cut tuition fees. One way, he said, would be for compact states to waive non-resident tuition costs for students who live in a member state. LB209, which the committee ad vanced to general file, calls for Ne braska to join the 12-state Midwest ern Higher Education Compact. Education Committee Chairman Ron Withem of Papillion summarized the compact as an agreement among states to cooperate on matters involving higher education. “The compact does basically any thing the member states want it to do,” Withem said. To accomplish that, Withem said, member states would work on, among other things, minimizing program duplication within the compact. In turn, the compact would try to make tuition costs comparable, he said. Withem said that although the compact would require a collective effort, Nebraska’s higher education institutions wouldn’t have to give up their autonomy. Withem said that if Nebraska en ters the compact, its postsecondary institutions will be cutting costs, something that could benefit the en tire state. “As we all know, it’s (education) one of the most expensive portions of our state budgets. It costs a great deal to create new programs, it costs a great deal to continue programs. To join the compact, the state would pay an annual fee currently set at $58,000 to covet administrative costs. Sen. Gerald Conway of Wayne, chairman of the Midwestern Legisla tive Conference of the Council of State Governments and one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said he thought, now, more than ever, is the time to join the compact. Conway said Nebraska should enter now because Ohio entered into the compact in early January, making it the fifth state tp join — enough to activate the. compact. He said it is important that Ne braska be involved in the develop ment of the compact so the state can interject its needs and wants during the early stages. Phillip Sirotkin, a consultant from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in Colorado, concurred with Conway, saying Nebraska should be as involved as possible in the early stages. “In terms of reflecting the interest and the needs of the states which it serves ... I think it’s very important to be involved in the takeoff so that the shape of the early programs, at least, can be determined by as many states as possible.” Director search narrows to four By Pat Dinslage Staff Reporter The search for a new UNL di rector of university relations has been narrowed to four candidates, said Herb Howe, associ ate to the chancellor. Howe declined to release the names of the candidates, saying the search process normally is confidential. Only the name of the person selected for the position will be released, he said. Last year’s University of Nebraska presidential search, in which the names of the candidates were released prior to the interviews, was an exception, Howe said. Interviews with two of the four candidates have been scheduled for later this week, Howe said. The other two candidates have yet to schedule interviews. Howe said the candidates will come -44 -- I think this time he (Copple) really wants to retire_I hope somebody comes on quick. Howe associate to the chancellor to coin for talks with Interim Chancellor Jack Goebel, the search committee, the UNL vice chancellors, the Aca demic Senate president and the direc tor of public relations. The list had been narrowed from approximately 100 applicants to about 20. Howe said the search committee then selected eight candidates and forwarded their names to Goebel, who chose four finalisfi. Although Howe would not name the candidates, he said the final four includes women, but no ethnic mi norities. “The minority response was not strong," Howe said. “In fact, I don’t remember any minorities in the origi nal (candidate) pool." He said some of the candidates are from Nebraska, but none work for NU. All of the candidates have expe rience working with legislators and constituent groups, Howe said, and some previously nave been employed in higher education institutions. Howe said he thinks the new direc tor could begin working March 1 if the selection process goes well. Neale Copple, former UNL jour nalism college dean, is serving as interim director. “I think this time he (Copple) re ally wants to retire,” Howe said. “It’s been a matter of what’s critical — getting those appointments set up. I hope somebody comes on quick.” Controversy interrupts fine arts college plans By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Staff Reporter UNL intends togoahead with plans for a College of Fine and Performing Arts despite recent controversy over its crea tion, university officials said Tues day. The Nebraska Legislature with drew a “housekeeping” bill Friday after Sen. Ron Withem of Papil lion expressed anger over a section of the bill that would have organ ized existing arts programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln into a College of Fine and Performing Arts. Tne programs currently are in the College of Arts and Sci ences. Withem said he felt the fine arts „ college proposal, which appeared on page 23, was too vital to be included in the 30-page bill. Regents Chairman Don Blank of McCook said he thought the controversy resulted from a break down in communication and thought the fine arts college definitely had a future at UNL. “This was mainly a misunder standing,’* Blank said. “There was a perception we were putting to gether a whole new college, in stead of simply reorganizing exist ing ones.” See FINE ARTS on 6 __— President Bush ^... < says the Allies will win f the war and the U S. r recession will end. r,v V Page 2. ' Letters protest . conscientious objec L___I tor. Page 5. INSIDE 0 Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports I A&E ® Classifieds 11 Gulf war worsens; POWs killed, wounded DHAHR AN, Saudi Arabia - One of Iraq’s “human shields” — captured allied pi lots — was killed in a Baghdad air raid, the Iraqis said Tuesday. Other Operation Des ert Storm fliers struck anew across Iraq, and reported stopping an Iraqi armored convoy dead in its desert tracks. On land and sea, the tempo of the Persian Gulf war quickened. Both sides reported clashes and claimed small victoriesalong the remote northern frontier. On the Kuwaiti coast, allied helicopters attacked and chased a flotilla of Iraqi machine-gun boats. Refugees fleeing to Jordan told of non-stop bombardment, “fire everywhere” and civilian casualties in Iraq. “It is really hell,” one woman said. The U.S. command still seemed puzzled by the getaway flights of Iraqi warplanes to Iran. Bulan American general warned the Iraqis that if they tried to return to their home bases, “we’ll get them.” The Iraqis, who claim to hold more than 20 downed pilots, said Jan. 21 they were dispers ing the prisoners to potential target sites in an effort to ward off allied air attacks. On Monday, Iraqi broadcasts said an un specified number of POWs had been wounded in air raids. On T uesday, the offic ial Iraqi News Agency said one was dead. “One of the raids hit one of the departments of the Ministry of Industry, killing one of the captured foreign pilots, who had been evacu ated to that department,” the agency report said. Iran’s news agency quoted Baghdad Radio as saying the victim was an American. But no Iraqi broadcasts monitored by The Associated Press mentioned the nationalities or identities See GULF on 3