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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1991)
■m -r g Daily g 1 1 ~ 73/53 I ■ ■ Today, partly sunny and I I H breezy. Tonight, mostly I ^B B^^B ^B^ r^B M ^ B J^r r^B ^B^^B Clear. Wednesday, partly iNeprahKan ir^ -i^—1 1-^-:-1—— Susan Rosowski, an English professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specializes in the study of works by Willa Cat her. Passion for Cather English professor devotes 20 years to research of novelist By Sarah Scalet Staff Reporter When Susan Rosowski moved to Nebraska two decades ago, she had hardly heard of novelist Willa Cather. But once she picked up “A Lost Lady,” she was hooked. ”1 found Cather exciting in all kinds of mways I hadn’t with other writers,” she said. Rosowski, an English professor at the University of Nc braska-Lincoln, grew —up in Kansas. After attending Whittier College in California and the University of Arizona-Tucson, she moved back to the Midwest in 1969 when her husband accepted a job at UNL. Since then, Rosowski has done extensive research on Cathcr, a Great Plains novelist who attended UNL from 1890to 1895. Rosowski first became interested in Cather when Rosowski was teaching a temporary assignment at UNL. She included “A Lost Lady” in the class - curriculum and decided to write an essay on the novel. At the time, she was completing her doctorate on Laurence Sterne, an 18th century novelist. However, Rosowski soon discovered that what she really wanted to explore was “A Lost Lady.” “I’d play games with myself,” she said. “If I would work for three hours on my dissertation, I’d kind of reward myself with an hour of playing with this essay on ‘A Lost Lady.’” Cathcr moved to the center of Rosow ski’s intellectual life while Sterne became more and more peripheral, she said. “For the first time, I was working with an author who was inviting questions and a reading that involved personal dimen sions of life,” she said. “It involved ques tions of what it is to be female and what it is to live in this country in the Midwest.” In 1986, a position opened at UNL in studies about Cathcr. Although shc‘ enjoyed leaching British Romantics and women’s studies at the University of Ne braska at Omaha, Rosowski took the opportunity to focus on the area of her interest. Since then, Rosowski has devoted much of her lime to writing about Cathcr. She has completed one book, “The Voyage Perilous: Willa Cathcr’s Romanti cism,” and is currently working on a book about woman writers in the West, tenta tively titled “The Birth of a Nation.” She also edited “Approaches to Teaching Cathcr’s ‘My Antonia”’ and is ~SeeTROSOWSKI on 6 BRRC told home ec essential to NU, state Proposal to cut 2 courses from human development By Roger Price Staff Reporter Preschool assessment and gerontology courses arc essential pieces of the Human Development and Family department, faculty, students and community members told UNL’s Budget Reduction Re view Committee Monday. The courses were recommended for climi n* ini^rT nation in a budget-cutting plan offered by Stan Lib- - erty, interim vice chancel lor for academic affairs. The \ plan is in response to a legislative mandate that UNL cut its budget by 3 percent over two years. Suzanne Ortega, assoc iatc professor of soci ology who specializes in aging, said that no official gerontology program exists at UNL, but the courses related to aging in the human development and family department have been designated for elimination. It docs not make sense to “reach into one department and pull out the faculty related to aging,” she said. See BUDGET on 3 Officials: Cuts hit nonexistent UNL home ec programs By Wendy Navratil Senior Reporter __ Proposed cuts in the department of human development and the family were based on a fundamental misunderstanding, said home economics college officials at budget hearings Monday. The programs targeted for elimination — Dl mrCT lhc gerontology and pre D U UlJ EL I school assessment programs — do not exist, said John Woodward, chairman of the department of human de vclopmcnt and the family in the UNL College of Home Economics. The elimination of the programs was part of a budget-cutting proposal submitted by Stan Liberty, interim vice chancellor of academic affairs, to the Budget Reduction Review See HOME EC on 3 Officials: Mental health help exists Editor’s Note: This is the First in a series of articles on student health. By Wendy Mott Staff Reporter__ From test anxiety to severe psy chosis, students at the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln suf fer from a range of mental illnesses, officials said. Dr. Robert Portnoy, clinical psy chologist and department head of ' ' ■ - mental health at the University Health Center, said 668 students visited the mental health department during the 1989 90 school year. The majority of students visiting the mental health department arc diagnosed as having “no mental disorder” or “adjustment disorders,” he said. Adjustment dis - J orders include reactions to stressful factors, such as the loss of a relative or sudden changes in environment that lead to mild anxiety or depres sion, he said. “These arc very stressful times (for students),” Portnoy said. “Students arc dealing with the issues of identity formation, career direction and inde pendence.” Portnoy said students may find it difficult to deal with their problems because their identities arc in forma tive stages. Many students are away from home for the first time, he said. They arc in a new environment and have left their friends behind, ,and this can cause feelings of isolation, he said. “Students are making decisions without their parents and arc dealing with the responsibilities of freedom, Portnoy said. Exposure to alcohol and drugs adds to the pressure of these decisions, he said. .( The most common problems stu dents have arc relationships involv ing spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends, roommates or parents, Portnoy said. One mental disease common to all college campuses is anorexia, and Portnoy said UNL is no exception. Of the mental health center’s patients, 4 percent arc treated for anorexia qr bulimia, he said, but this number is an underrepresentation. Many cases go unreported, he said, and some cases are not detected on first analysis. Portnoy said college stress may seem insurmountable, but on reflec tion, most people see this time as “the golden years.” Stress is a constant factor in most people’s lives, he said. Portnoy said the mental health center, like all psychological coun seling centers, has more female than male patients. He attributed this to a greater willingness in women to admit they have a problem and to seek help See HEALTH on 3 Oakland fire finally contained. Page 2 Grant enhances Department of Geography. Page 3 Cornhusker reflects on fumble. Page 7 Cross country team takes 4th place. Page8 Jason D. Williams honky tonks at the Zoo. Page 9 Movie hurt by unbelieveable ending Page 10 INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 7 A&E 9 Classifieds 11 Racial grouping possibly illegal, professor says By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporter_ he placing of minority stu dents together in first-year law classes has sparked disagree ment in the law college. Richard Duncan, a law professor, said the practice of separating stu dents on the basis of race is “almost certainly illegal.” “I think the purpose here was a very good-hearted purpose,” he said. “But I think it is of questionable le gality.” Harvey Perlman, dean of the col lege, confirmed that minority students arc intentionally grouped together. “In assigning students to each class, we made an effort not to isolate mi nority students from other minority See LAW on 6