Sexual discrimination alive,
more subtle, speaker says
Stereotypes said
responsible for
work difficulties
By Roger Price
Staff Reporter_
Recent Supreme Court rulings have
established that gender does not have
to be the sole cause for discrimination
in sexual discrimination suits, a re
searcher said Monday.
Susan Fiske, a professor of psy
chology at the University of Massa
chusetts-Amherst, told about 80 people
that as long as gender is a factor in the
way an employee is treated, that
employee has grounds for a sexual
discrimination suit.
This decision, she said, allows
people who aren’t perfect but are
capable of performing their jobs tc
bring discrimination suits if they feel
their race or gender has played a role
in their treatment.
“You don’t have to be perfect to
win,” she said. “Otherwise it’s only
superstars that can win.”
Fiske, who has researched sexual
discrimination and has served as an
expert witness to two key court cases,
was in Lincoln to give the Roberta
Morris Lecture, an annual endowed
lecture sponsored by the psychology
department in memory of Morris, an
alumna and professor at UNL.
Fiske said sexual discrimination
has become much more subtle bui
still occurs in many work places.
“Prejudice has evolved from the
most blatant sexism and racism to
prescriptive stereotyjj>es,” she said.
Prescriptive stereotypes, she said,
are a certain set of actions that a group
is expected to follow to be considered
normal. Examples of prescriptive
stereotypes include thinking that all
blacks should be street smart, all Asians
should do well in math and science
and all women should act feminine.
“People who fail to meet prescrip
tive stereotypes are viewed as diffi
cult,” she said.
Because they are considered diffi
cult, the employee who does not
conform to prescriptive stereotypes is
usually passed over for promotions or
fired, she said.
Employers, she said, should be
open to considering that their judg
ments are influenced by prescriptive
stereotypes.
Fiske said research shows that
people immediately notice sexual and
racial differences within the first second
of contact but have the power tc
override these initial reactions if the)
have the desire.
“If a person is sufficiently moti
vated, they can overcome these stere
otypes,” she said.
When employers know that accu
rate judgments are important or thai
their decisions will be evaluated, the>
are more likely to override initial
stereotypes.
Another form of sexual discrimi
nation, she said, is sexual harassment
For people to prove that they have
been the victim of sexual harassment
she said, four conditions must be met
The four criteria are unwelcome sex
ual conduct and conduct based or
gender. It must alter the terms oi
employment or job conditions, and
the employer must be proven respon
sible.
She said lawyers will often call
into question the credibility of a woman
who claims to be the victim of sexual
harassment but delays reporting it.
But, Fiske said, most people would
rather try to solve their own problems
before taking legal or administrative
action.
“They need to realize that com
plaining is a last resort,” she said.
“People prefer to solve their prob
lems in a less risky way.”
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Apollo
Continued from Page 1
handle restoration of the capsule, he
said. , . .
“I wouldn’t have any hesitation
sending it there,” he said.
Max Ary, director of the cos
1 mosphere, also disputed Schultz’s
observations.
“We are not a private organiza
tion,” he said. “We are a public, non
profit organization.”
Ary said the cosmosphere is the
only organization besides NASA to
have space capsules from all three
Gemini, Mercury and Apollo — space
missions, and said the cosmosphere is
the only museum in the United States
that has been selected to receive Soviet
space artifacts.
Schultz’s estimates of S3,500 to
S6.000 to restore the spacecraft do
not make sense, he said.
“I think he needs to understand
what restore means,” Ary said. The
capsule must be taken apart piece by
piece to be restored, he said.
The cosmosphere is not looking
for a battle with UNL, Ary said, but it
does want some action taken on the
capsule soon.
“The most important aspect of this
is to save the spacecraft — whether
we do it or the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln does it,” he said.
Letting the capsule deteriorate has
brought great embarrassment to UNL,
A A I
Ary said.
“I don’t think they recognize the
tremendous historic obligation they
have accepted,” he said.
And, Ary said, the cosmosphere
has already lost S600.000 in grants to
restore the spacecraft because of the
delay by UNL.
Getting further funding to restore
it will be difficult but not impossible,
he said.
The main difference between the
cosmosphere and UNL is that the
cosmosphere places a high priority
on restoring the craft, Ary said.
“All they are worried about is los
ing it off their campus,” he said.
Bill Splinter, interim vice chan
cellor for research and dean of gradu
ate studies, said he has maintained his
position that UNL must either restore
the capsule or trade it to the cos
mosphere.
“If we can’t do it, then we have a
responsibility to let someone else do
it,” he said.
Professionals such as those at the
cosmosphere are needed to restore
the capsule, Splinter said.
“We can ’t just let somebody tinker
with it that doesn’t know about space
capsules,” he said.
UNL must act responsibly in re
gard to the capsule, he said.
“If we cannot come up with the
funding (to restore it), it would be
foolish for us to keep it,” he said.
of nurnose.
rouer
Continued from Page 1
what was going on,” he said. “We
were very low profile because we
were not with the embassy or
military.”
His experience in Turkey has
spurred him to seek other interna
tional research experience.
Potter said he would like to re
search in South America. He is
scheduled to teach for a month in
Sao Paulo, Brazil, during the sum
mer of 1993.
“My main interest is to find the
commonalities in developing places
around the world, rather than the
specifics of a certain area,” he said.
Potter said his interest in the ef
fects of architecture on people
started when he was working as an
architect.
“My motivation started as a
sense of dissatisfaction when I was
a practicing architect,” he said. “I
see people as the center of architec
ture. How they want to live their
lives is central to architecture.”
As well as research, Potter said
he works to improve human envi
ronments through his involvement
in professional organizations.
He is the chairman of the board
of directors for the Environmental
Design Research Association.
Design professors, sociologists and
behavioral scientists make up the
EDRA and arc “dedicated to im
proving the quality of human envi
ronments through research based on
design,” according to the group's
“The EDRA is the largest or
ganization of its kind in North
America,” Potter said.
Potter, 49, described himself as a
“lifetime learner.” He obtained his
undergraduate degree from Califor
nia Polytechnic in architectural
engineering. Potter then worked as
an architect in San Francisco and
Boston before attending graduate
school at the State University of
New York at Buffalo, where he
received a master’s degree in
architecture.
“I just intended to get a master’s
degree, but in Buffalo I found that I
enjoyed the academic life,” Potter
said.
He received his Ph.D. in man/
environment relations from Penn
sylvania State.
He began teaching at UNL in
August 1981 after teaching at Texas
A&M for four years. Before his trip
to Turkey, he served as chairman of
the architecture department.
This semester, he is teaching a
graduate-level design studio and an
architecture class that examines the
social and behavioral factors of
architecture.
Potter said he has enjoyed work
ing at UNL.
“I find the students excellent,”
he said. “The people in the admini
stration have been very responsive
to ideas and the things I’ve wanted
to do.”
Potter also said that the depart
ment shares the goal of intema
! tional involvement._
Scholarship
Continued from Page 1
a full tuition scholarship,” the flier
quotes R. Edwards of the University
of Nebraska.
The Omaha post office box, to
which students are to mail fees, is
registered to Rodney Edwards and
Utopia International.
Representatives from Utopia In
ternational in Omaha could not be
reached for comment.
Beacon said that last year a private
company offered to find financial aid
and scholarship sources for students
at a cost of S60. The company also
guaranteed a refund of the registra
tion fee if aid was not found.
But to receive the refund, students
had to show proof that they had been
denied aid from all of the associations
to which they applied. Often students
received information about where to
apply after deadlines had passed so
they couldn’t show proof of being
turned down, Beacon said.
“Why pay somebody for that serv
ice?” he said.
James Griesen, UNL vice chan
cellor for student affairs, said stu
dents should first try to find scholar
ships through parents’ jobs, military
background and organizations of which
they are a member.
Students also can apply for schol
arships at UNL’s Scholarship and
Financial Aid Office or at Nebhelp,
located at 1300 O St.
The Nebraska Higher Educational
Loan Program, or Nebhelp, conducts
computer searches to match students
with national private scholarships.
Dcana Unger, director of the Lin
coln Educational Planning Center, said
that because Nebhelp is sponsored by
the Nebraska Student Loan Program
and the Nebraska Higher Educational
Loan Program, it can help students
for free.
“We feel that we provide the same
service for free,” she said. “So we
encourage students to come in here
instead (of paying for the service).
Griesen agreed that students
shouldn’t pay for financial aid infor
mation.
Students paying money to organi
zations to help them find sources ol
scholarships and financial aid are
“spending money on a hope that is
very slim,” he said.
And the response students get from
organizations selling scholarship in
formation often isn’t useful, Griesen
said.
“I’m not going to call it a scam,
he said. “It’s just an unnecessary
expense.”
