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 .
»
