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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1991)
m t | Daily | L" 32/18 ] I I ^0^0 ■ ^mm ^0^ Today, becoming cloudy with I 0 0- I H a chance snow. Tonight, hhB H H H H blustery with an 80 percent H V H ^^^0 ^r^0 H ■ chance snow JL 1V IL^X. MLvJXVMLJL B,_w.jm™. _j _ Home economics in demand, dean says By Wendy Navratil and Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporters Education at every level in Ne braska would feel the afteref fects of the elimination of the home economics education program, the dean of home economics said Tuesday. Gwendolyn Newkirk, chairman of consumer science and education, said PI 1pt about8,000home DUUv2lZ. I economics teach ers are needed nationally, but | only about 1,100 home economics education majors are in the national pipeline. UNL’s program, which allows home economics majors to receive teaching certification, is helping to fill that demand for home economics teachers, both nationally and within * Budget cuts will eliminate needed teachers the state. “Over the past five years, there has been an annual average of 33 home economics teacher vacancies per year in Nebraska,” Newkirk said. “The number of home economics teachers currently prepared in Nebraska can not meet this demand.” Karen Craig, dean of the home economics college, said enrollment in elementary and secondary home economics classes increased 9 per cent last year, signifying increased popularity of classes. This reinforces the need for UNL’s program in home economics education, she said. The home economics education program was proposed for elimina tion as part of a University of Ne braska-Lincoln budget reduction plan that would cut 2 percent this year and 1 percent next year. The Budget Reduction Review Committee is holding hearings over the proposed budget cuts. Newkirk said that because of teacher shortages, UNL should strive to re tain the home economics education program, even though enrollment in the program has declined from 114 students in 1981-82 to about 38 this year. “If we are going to eliminate home economics education, particularly in the state of Nebraska, I am very con cerned where these teachers are going to come from,” she said. “I shudder to think who is going to go back and teach these programs in the schools.” She added that if UNL ceases to offer the program, home economics students will either have to leave the state to get certification to teach or settle for a non-education degree. Craig said that while the Univer sity of Nebraska at Kearney and other colleges in the region offer programs, they don’t offer comparable quality. UNK offers only 50 home economics classes, she said, while UNL offers 150. Newkirk agreed, citing UNL’s accreditation as evidence of its qual ity. No other programs in the state are accredited, she said. She added that UNL is the only institution in the state qualified to offer master’s degrees and doctoral studies in home economics educa tion. Advanced degrees allow teach ers to continue to refine their teaching skills, which benefits students, she said. In conjunction with offering ad vanced degrees, UNL has the capac ity to offer workshops to teachers and extension agents throughout the state. About 900 administrators, extension agents and educators participated in workshops during the past five years, she said. Pamela Wright, a home econom ics teacher from Elmwood-Murdock High School, told the BRRC that the loss of supportive services the home economics education program pro vides to teachers across Nebraska would be devastating. “We have gained very valuable skills (through the support services) that have put us in a position of lead ership in the state of Nebraska. “In effect,” she said, “although I graduated a long time ago, I never left the university. Flans lor College of Fine Arts set aside By Wendy Navratil Senior Reporter The proposed College of Fine Arts has been put on the back burner, but fulfilling needs associated with fine arts programs has not, an official said. John Peters, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said that $ 150,000 worth of funding to establish the College of Fine Arts was temporarily eliminated because of budget reduc tions. But that doesn’t mean the col lege has no chance of being realized. “We don’t want this to be an indi cation that the commitment to the establishment of the college is any less strong now,” Peters said. “Obvi ously, when you start a program, you need some resources. And you may have to wait.” in me waxe oi nuugci cuis aneci ing established programs at the Uni versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln, Peters said it made academic sense to wait with establishing a new one. The College of Fine Arts, the concept for which was first explored about three years ago, would include music, theatre arts/dance and art/art history, Peters said. The proposal was drawn up in conjunction with the opening of the Lied Center, he said, with the idea of giving further identity to the arts in mind. The Academic Planning Commit tee and the NU Board of Regents endorsed the concept of the college, but now the newly formed Nebraska Coordinating Commission on Post Secondary Education must review the proposal. “If they decide it makes sense, it will move forward,” Peters said. Its progress, however, hinges on the administration determining when and where it can find funds, he said. Independent of that delay, needs of fine arts programs must be ad dressed, he said. Peters said his vision for the arts included the addition of one or more positions in the department of dance, more money for graduate assistance in art histoj7 and the injection of a significant increase in the art and art history operating and supply budget. Also high on the list, he said, was See FINE ARTS on 3 ---- ‘Spiritual experience 6 ‘Boyz’ director follows dreams in filmmaking By Adeana Leftin Senior Reporter When all his friends were practicing how to dribble the ball, John Singleton said he was looking for something different. The 23-year-old writer director of“Boyz N The Hood” Tuesday told a crowd of more than 200 in the Nebraska Union that he found his direction in film and called his first filmmaking attempt a “spiritual experience.” “Have you ever had an experi ence where all your energy, like lightning in a bottle, just flows into something you have your heart and soul in?” Singleton asked. Singleton grew up in south central Los Angeles, where he thought that one meal a day — a free lunch at school — was “jammin’.” UNL libraries able to order fewer journals By Jared Wittwer Staff Reporter Researchers will find fewer jour nals in UNL libraries after $450,000 of journal subscrip tions arc eliminated, the dean of li braries at the University of Nebraska Lincoln said. Kent Hendrickson said the sub scription cuts were the largest in the past five years. Subscriptions are being cut be cause increases in the library budget have not kept up with inflation, Hen drickson said. The expected price increases for books and journals this year is 12 to 14 percent, or S275,000, he said, but the budget has increased only 3 per cent. The library book and journal budget for 1991 is about $3 million, he said. Journal subscriptions make up /u to 72 percent of the libraries’ total budget, he said. In 1990-91, the library budget for books and journals increased 15 per cent, which Hendrickson said was the largest amount spent on books and journals in the past five years. However, on average, 10,000 fewer books are bought today than 10 years ago because the library budget hasn’t kept up with rising prices, he said. About $800,000 will be spent this year to buy about 15,500 books for UNL libraries. Inflation has caused libraries across the country to go through the same process, he said. Hendrickson said library staff members were meeting with UNL departments to decide which journal subscriptions to cut. Users of journals with canceled subscriptions will have to borrow from other libraries, Hendrickson said. Fax machines have helped to speed up the borrowing process, but users must pay a fee. Most items can be reached by fax within 48 hours depending on whether the item is available, he said. __— . - Charlie Burton and the Hic cups to celebrate beginning, end. Page 10 Huskersfry Jayhawks. Page 6 INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 6 A&E 10 Classifieds 11_ He owes everything he has to day to his parents, he said. His mother taught him his sense of love and humor and his father gave him focus and direction. His father also gave him his first inspiration for film when he look him to see “Star Wars,” when Singleton really wanted to see “Herbie: The Lovcbug.” “In the first five minutes,” he said, “my life changed.” After the seeing “Star Wars” in the fourth grade, Singleton started drawing what he called “flip movies,” which were movies he made by drawing several pictures and flipping through them. He soon realized that a friend was the belter artist, so Singleton resigned himself to coming up with the cartoon concepts. “If I found something that I really liked, I’d go with it and my mind was set,” he said. In his high school years, Sin gleton considered becoming a disc jockey, but he couldn’t afford the equipment. Instead he applied and was accepted to the University of Southern California Film School, where he wrote “Boyz N The Hood.” Brian Shellito/DN He said that when he writes a movie, he touches on the social and cultural aspects of his culture. “You can know your past,” Singleton said, “but if you don’t do anything in the present, there ain’t going to be no future.” One thing he believes cab be done in the present is strengthen ing the family unit. Many of today’s problems are a result of a breakdown in the family unit, he said. This breakdown, he said, also is the cause of gangs. “We’ve always had gangs ... “ Singleton said. “Gangs arc just a way for men ... to find identi fication with each other.” Gangs have become a “rite of passage,” for some people, he said, and if that rile is taken away, another will be found. “It’s not about gang preven tion,” Singleton said, “it’s about gang direction.” Reading and writing are the See SINGLETON on 3 . »