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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1991)
I • "I, riTi I i .. ^ • ■•••' V.l. ■ ■ , ,_: " ■ ._ 1 mr |Paily | fT l=^ m* •j wm H V ■ H ■ snow. Saturday, cloudy ^JBL snow the morn ^HHWBBHHB!l8iMP<PWBM—^__^___^____ ~ ~~ ~ ' B Present, arms! Cadet Pfc. Quintin Treadway keeps a steady salute while Cadet Maj. Jim Workman (left) inspects the other cadets. UNL Navy ROTC spared from cuts By Sean Green Statf Reporter Forced budget reductions in the U.S. Navy have caused some Naval ROTC units to be selected for closure, but the UNL NROTC has not been directly affected by the cuts. Col. Dan McKnight, chairman of the De partment of Naval Science at the University of Ne braska-Lincoln, said the Department of the Navy has selected five host NROTC units and 68 crosstown NROTC units at colleges and universities across the nation to be phased out over the next five years. UNL is considered a host unit because it houses the NROTC program on its campus. Nebraska Wesleyan University and Concordia College in Seward, which are slated for elimi nation, are crosstown units because they send NROTC midshipmen to UNL for training. However, the UNL NROTC program will not be phased out. Nor has the chief of Naval Education and Training put a cap on the number of midship men any university NROTC unit may recruit or train, McKnighl said. NAVY “We’re developing midshipmen to be offi cers in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps,” he said. “We have no limit as to the number of students we can accept into our program at UNL as we have not been limited in size or significantly affected by the overall program reduction.” However, McKnight said the future of NROTC programs is uncertain. Over the next four to five years, he said, NROTC program may be cut as much as 40 percent nationally. And while the amount of money the UNL unit gets from the Department of Navy today has not been reduced significantly, funds may be reduced more in the future. For future midshipmen and the 110 mid shipmen in the UNL NROTC program now, the standards for becoming a commissioned officer may be raised because of a reduction in the number of positions available in the U.S. Navy. “Anybody who is physically qualified and wants to join the NROTC program is encour aged to attempt to satisfy the requirements to receive a commission,” he said. “Students shouldn’t let the reduction of forces scare them off.” But the academic criteria that students must meet continue to increase. The overall NROTC program goal is a 3.0 grade pointaverage, he said. The UNL NROTC had an average GPA of 2.998 last semester, so the unit already is close to meeting its goal. GPA is the primary indicator used by the Navy to select midshipmen, McKnight said, and to decide who to commission and what jobs to assign. Mandatory AIDS tests may enter sports world Wrestling coach says virus adds risk to contact sports By Wendy Navratil Senior Reporter The threat of transmitting the AIDS virus to athletes in contact sports may culmi nate in mandatory AIDS testing for ath letes, the Nebraska wrestling coach said. “If a cure hasn’t been found within five years, I’d be in favor of mandatory testing,” Tim Neumann said. Jack Harvey, chief physician for USA Wrestling, the governing body for interna tional Olympic wrestling, said he had been talked into supporting mandatory testing for wrestlers. “Wrestling is the most risky of sports,” he said. “Twenty-five percent of our matches inter nationally result in blood being spilled.” International wrestling is more risky than collegiate wrestling because athletes come into contact with people from other nations, such as Romania, where the incidence of AIDS is higher. But the threat exists at the collegiate level as well, he said. “It only takes one droplet of blood in the cornea of the eye” to transmit the virus from an HIV-positive wrestler to an opponent, Harvey said. “We will see mandatory testing.” Harvey, chief of sports medicine at the Ortliopedic Center of the Rockies in Fort Collins, Colo., said an incident in 1990 in which an HIV-positive soccer player in Italy transmitted the virus to another player received relatively little attention. The virus was believed to be transmitted when the two collided and both cut their heads during a match. But both Harvey and Neumann said that concern about the AIDS virus and its implica tions for athletics has elevated since Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced earlier this month that he tested HIV-positive. Chuck Fallis, spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said the threat of transmitting AIDS through contact sports such as wrestling is more theoretical than real. “There have been no cases of transmissions of HIV in this way, fortunately,” Fallis said. “There’s always a theoretical risk, but it would have to involve huge amounts of blood.” See AIDS on 2 Faculty roles coming into question Professors say research shares time with teaching By Tom Mainelli Staff Reporter_ _ he importance of research at the University of Nebraska Lincoln doesn't distract from the school’s role as a teaching institu tion, UNL officials and faculty said. UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier said a university’s job is not only to transfer knowledge, but to help de velop new knowledge. “A great deal of the knowledge that is generated in our society comes from universities,” Spanier said. But, he said, neither teaching nor researching predominate at UNL. “It's not a matter of of which gets emphasized. This is a teaching and research university,” he said. Research at UNL is “critical, but it’s not more important than teach ing,” said Derrel Martin, an associate professor of biological systems engi neering. “It’s the feeder program that keeps teaching up to date.” Martin said his personal appoint ment at the university calls for 80 percent research and 20 percent teach ing, which translates into about three classes a year. He said that he has balanced his workload well, but added, “There’s no such thing as a 40-hour week. Sometimes it feels like 110 percent on research and 50 percent teaching.” Research is important in fields such as computer science because the half life of knowledge is so short. Marlin said. Knowledge that was new five years ago is now outdated, he said, and teaching students this information will make their education obsolete by the time they graduate. While research benefits students, it’s also necessary for a land-grant university, he said. Bill Splinter, interim vice chan cellor for research and the dean of graduate studies, said that UNL’s emphasis on research comes, in part, because of its unique position as See RESEARCH on 6 The figures below I exdude student 5J teaching super ■ vision, indepen ■ dent study and B masters and Wdissertation thesis r courses. Average course credit hour* per instructor Agriculture 6.45 Ag. Waaaaroh Division 1040 Other IANR 20.49 ArcMtgctUfs .. & MS Alia A Sciences 7.36 *vrnm Admin la tr at ton • *■ 7.M Englnooring A Taehnology Horn# Eoonomlca :im Journalism 6.90 Law "' 9.t5 Teachers 7.93 Other 6647 Source: Stan Liberty, In la rim vice chanoattor tor academic affairs Amie DeFrairVDN Study to clarify university image, UNL official says By Wendy Navratil Senior Reporter UNL faculty may view a univer sity faculty workload study by the Nebraska Legislature as a witchhunt, but they shouldn’t, a UNL official said. “I don’t see this as something that is threatening at all,” said Stan Lib erty, interim vice chancellor for aca demic affairs. “I see it as an opportu nity for the university to clarify its image.” The study, which Liberty said will focus on the entire NU system with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as a focal point, is being conducted by the Legislature’s education and ap propriations committees. Sen. Dan Lynch of Omaha, a member of the appropriations com See WORKLOAD on 6 NU basketball teams set to open season. Page 7 Top comedian coming to Un ion. Page 9 Studio Theatre full of Fire bugs Page 10 INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 7 A&E 15 Classifieds 17
