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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 1991)
_ ^ r~. ■" 1 m T 65/43 I Today, cloudy early then partly I I M M H cloudy by afternoon, north wind 1 I B B B^^B B^ 1 B B 1 B ^ 9 B . BrB 20 miles per To ^b^B B B B ^B IB B B mostly clear. Wednes 1 ivUICI JlVCIl I. ^p 9 I Official says UNL risks censure Group claims faculty left out of decisions By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporter UNL risks censure from the American Association of University Professors if it does not reform its budget-cutting process, a letter sent to Interim Chancellor Jack Goebel said. “Unless a serious shift in direction (of the budget' p | in/Nrr process) is made DULKjcT soon,” the letter says, “censure by the AAUP is a very | real possibility .. »» Dated Sept. 16, the letter was signed by Jerry Petr, president of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s AAUP chapter, and by eight mem bers of the chapter’s executive com mittee. Last spring, the Nebraska Legisla ture mandated a 2 percent cut in UNL’s budget this year and a 1 percent cut next year. The chancellor presented proposed cuts to the Budget Reduc tion Review Committee Sept. 10. “In the letter we suggest that the proposed budget cuts, particularly in academic affairs, arc in conflict with university bylaws, other university policy statements and AAUP guide lines,” Petr said. He said the cuts violate these stan dards because they were made by UNL’s administration without con sulting the faculty. In order to correct the problem, Petr said the AAUP would like UNL’s Academic Planning Committee to set aside the acadcm ic parts of the budget cuts until the faculty can give their opinions on them. Dick Wood, NU general counsel, said the Academic Planning Com mittee had forwarded him the letter and asked him to comment on it. Wood said he will respond to the committee in the near future. He said he cannot comment until after he reports back to the APC. Petr said a university can only be censured at the AAUP’s national meeting. If a school is censured, he said, prospective faculty are encouraged not to take jobs with the institution. Uma Lele, a professor at the University of the Florida, spoke Monday at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Lele worked for the World Bank for 20 years Turn around possible Africa’s future depends on economic factors By Adeana Leftin Senior Reporter Africa’s future may not be as dim as projected if certain criteria arc met, a speaker said Monday. Uma Lele, a professor at the University of Florida and a former World Bank official, said that if more people participated in the government and if Africa received aid in smaller packages so that the government could handle it more efficiently, Africa’s future might be hopeful. “Africa should have excellent Lele spoke at the Lied Center for Performing Arts as part of the Thompson Forum, a cooperative project of the University of Ne braska-Lincoln and the Cooper Foundation. Educated in India and at Cor nell University, Lele has authored and co-authored six books and 75 journal articles. For 20 years, Lele served in the World Bank as senior economist in East Africa, chief of the develop ment strategy division in the De velopment Economics Department and manager of agricultural policy in the technical departments of the African region of the bank. She is now a professor in the food and resource economics de partment at the University of Flor ida. Most view Africa’s future as bleak, Lclc said. Sub-Saharan Africa has a popu lation of half a billion with 165 million people living below the accepted minimum standard of living. By the year 2000, the num ber is expected to bq 265 million, she said. Lcle said that at best, Africa’s gross national product growth per capita would be .5 percent each year in the 1990s. But Lclc said she See LELE on 3 New computer link becoming reality By Wendy Navratil Senior Reporter A computer network with the capability to provide UNL students and faculty with ac cess to information from around the world is quickly becoming a reality. Doug Gale, director of the UNL Computing Resource Center, said the realization of the National Research and Education Network (NREN) is the final step in the development of a high-speed, high-precision computer network that will benefit both higher education and industry. Gale said the University of Ne braska-Lincoln is one of only 13 nodes, or network members, in the United Slates on the National Science Foun dation Network, or NSFNET. NSFNET is the largest component of IN TERNET. INTERNET, a system that links more than 300,000 computers in 50 nations, is the precursor to the devel oping NREN. High-speed network to access world “Right now, there arc only a hand ful of universities that have as good a connection out into the world as we do. No one has any belter,” Gale said. UNL, because it is a node on the developing network, has kept up with the technological advancements to ward NREN, a system that will proc ess information at two or three giga bits per second. “In 1985, we became a node,” Gale said. “We wrote the first pro posal — we got to the trough first. Now the competition is dom inated by the heavyweights. We just got a head start.” With the completion of NREN in 1995 or 1996, Nebraska business will be linked to global business and UNL will be linked to the global higher education and research community. Gale said. “The biggest advantage is that it tends to be an equalizer. Gale said. “It allows people in the rural U.S. to compete with people on the East and West coasts.” For education, the network will allow researchers and students in rural colleges to access a variety of data from other universities across the nation. Gale said its usefulness is not limited to the sciences. “Right now, I can access the card catalogs of Stanford, Harvard and the University of Nebraska at Kearney,” he said. “And increasingly, the informa tion itself is being made available,” not just the indexes of the informa tion, he said. “There is a tremendous amount of information being digitized," Gale said. “In Washington, D.C., the Hir shhom Museum has digitized the actual images of over 10 percent of their modem art collection. They arc ex ploring how to make those images available on the network.” With access to the system, a Greek scholar need not travel to the cities that possess the documents and infor mation needed to complete research. Instead the scholar could access it by computer. “Youcould save yoursell thcplanc fare,” Gale said. Students and faculty connected to the current NSFNET system already can obtain a myriad of information, such as weather maps, radiology data for medical purposes and images from the Magellan space craft. Scientists can operate experiments remotely, Gale said. As students and faculty have be come more aware of the capabilities of the network, demand for connec tions to it has increased, .. “A few years ago (in the initial stages of development), we had little interest in gelling connections to the network. Now we have more than See COMPUTER on 6 Governor says state must take responsibility for recycling By Kathy Steinauer Staff Reporter Gov. Ben Nelson brought the government to the people Monday night and discussed his desire to develop a “blueprint of Nebraska environmental initiatives.” Speaking at the University of Nebraska State Museum Planetarium, Nelson invited people to contribute their ideas on what environmental issues must be tackled by the state Legislature. Nelson and other state officials will discuss environmental needs with groups across the state this week. “Rather than for me to tell you what’s important, we’re here to learn from you and learn what you think is important and what really matters to the people of this state,” Nelson said. About 50 people gathered at the planetarium and discussed recycling as well as the preservation and re placement of wetlands, alternative fuels and maintenance of quality ground water reserves. Nelson stressed inc importance ot recycling, saying he agreed with one audience member that the state must take responsibility for recycling. The government as well as Ne braska citizens must demand j.hat products be delivered in recyclable containers, Nelson said. Although these cost more, he said, the cost now is small compared to what the future cost would be to the earth. Individual involvement is an im portant part of making recycling ef forts work, Nelson said. “Something has to be done at the most local possible level, and it has to be an individual commitment,” he said. These commitments come through public education on recycling bene fits, Nelson said. He said he addressed recycling and other environmental concerns at Weeping Water Elemen tary School Monday and plans to speak at other schools this week. Comprehensive efforts between communities and individuals are what will make any recycling program work, Nelson said. “We should never forget the most important resource of all, and that’s the people,” he said. Soviet turmoil spreadinq. Page 2. Try Bush Dry. Page 4. JUST CONFIRM ■ .. .... , . ... . ^ , J- a McBride confused about loss. Page 7. Hocus-pocus: Magic show to appear at Pershing. Page 9. INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 7 A&E 9 Classifieds 10
