The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, December 16, 1991, Image 1

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    I-■"" ' ---- ■ ”
40/2 Ji§j|j •
1 Today, rain likely in the morn
ing, decreasing clouds in the
afternoon. Tonight, cloudy.
Friday, partly to mostly sunny.
High 40 to 45.
» J I ,
Ralph Nader discusses “Educational Priorities and the Quality of Education” Friday at
Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Idea man
Consumer advocate offers group blueprint
Capsule’s future
still up in air
despite meeting
By Roger Price
Staff Reporter
The NU Board of Regents left
unresolved Saturday the pro
posal to transfer Apollo 009
to a museum in Kansas.
Regents refused to discuss the fu
ture of the space capsule following a
presentation by three members of
Nebraskans for the Advancement of
Space Development and a report by
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier.
The members asked the board to
move forward with transferring the
capsule to the Kansas Cosmosphcre
and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kan.,
where it would be restored.
The center had offered to give the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln SI.5
million in space artifacts in exchange
for the capsule.
Craig Cleaver, president of Ne
braskans for the Advancement of Space
Development, told the board that of
the 19 remaining capsules from the
Apollo program, the Apollo 009 is
the only one that hasn’t been restored.
He said five of the capsules were
displayed by NASA, and 13 were in
private museums.
Because Apollo 009 is stored out
side and continues to deteriorate,
Cleaver said, the capsule must be
taken care of immediately, and the
cosmosphcre is the only facility that
can provide this care.
“Keeping the capsule is nothing
short of greed,” he said.
Cleaver said the board had two
options in dealing with the capsule.
“You can make a self-indulgent
decision based on emotion,” he said,
“or you can make a rational decision
based on facts.”
Spanicr told the board that after
looking for other possible options,
trading the capsule to the cosmosphcre
was the best alternative.
While the UNL administration
stands by its original recommenda
tion to trade the capsule, Spanicr said
he had made arrangements to store
the capsule inside until the board
reached a decision on the proposed
trade.
Cleaver said moving the capsule
inside would do little for the capsule.
Because water and other chemi
cals have gotten inside the capsule,
he said, the only way to stop the
deterioration is for the cosmosphere
to restore it.
Cleaver said that while the cos
mosphcre would not restore the cap
sule immediately, it would apply a '
chemical treatmentto Apollo (X)9 that
would slop further corrosion.
See APOLLO on 3
Ay
By Kara Morrison
Staff Reporter
£ £'W"'V 0 y°u *ovc y°ur coun
I m try?” Ralph Nader’s
^ mother asked him when
he was a child as they watched a
Fourth of July parade together.
To his affirmative answer,
Nader’s mother demanded, “Well
you better work hard in your life to
make it more lovable then.”
Nader encouraged college stu
dents to do the same Friday when
he spoke at Nebraska Wesleyan
University on “Educational Priori
ties and the Quality of Education.”
Nader, a lawyer and consumer
advocate, is noted for his book
“Unsafe at Any Speed,” * which
pointed out safely defects in Corvair
automobiles and led to the Auto
Safely Act in 1965.
Still active in consumer and cili
zcn rights, Nader told the primarily
student audience that organizing
public interest research groups
would help students improve their
education by leaching them “citi
zen skills” — skills he said were
not easily learned in the television
generation and were not taught in
schools.
“Citizen skills arc what a de
mocracy is,” Nader said. We can
not have daily democracy without
daily citizens.”
Instead of citizen skills — skills
needed to understand how the gov
ernment works for citizens — Nader
said that what was taught too often
in schools were memorization skills,
which do not help learning since
“learning is doing and motivation.”
The public interest research
groups also would help solve other
education problems, he said.
“Problems (in education) melt
down when students arc treated
seriously and given serious oppor
tunities,” Nader said.
Public interest groups can be
started by students who hold a ref
erendum or a petition drive on
campus, Nader said. If the major
ity of the students agree to support
such a group, the students could
ask the administration to add a
small amount, for example $6, to
the tuition bill.
“The minority of the students
who oppose it can refuse to pay, so
winners win and losers gel another
chance to say ‘no’ . . . that they
won’t pay,” Nader said.
The money could go to support
a non-profit organization run by a
student board elected by the stu
dents, he said.
Then, Nader said, the board could
See NADER on 6
Chancellor concerned
with UNL’s success
Tougher standards
for admission sought
By Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Senior Reporter _'
SCOTTSBLUFF — Visiting
Scousbluff Thursday, UNL Chancel
lor Graham Spanicr spoke to many
groups but stressed one message: his
vision of the university’s future.
“I’d like to see if there are some
things we can do to make people
realize that we arc a very high-quality
institution,” he said.
Spanicr traveled to Scousbluff to
j visit the University of Ncbraska-Lin
! coin’s facilities and to get acquainted
with western Nebraska. He plans to
take nine similar trips around the state.
Improving UNL students was a
common theme in Spanicr’s speeches.
He said that stricter admissions poli
cies were needed to do that.
“The (admissions) system we have
in place is simply not a good system,”
he said. “We have students coming to
UNL not prepared.”
Spanicr said 25 percent of UNL
freshmen did not return as sopho
mores, and 50 percent of students
who took introductory math courses
received D’s or F’s.
“We arc letting in students that we
know dam well aren’t ready to suc
ceed,” he said.
Spanicr said that UNL’s admis
sions policies must change from
admitting any student who graduated
from high school to admitting stu
dents prepared to learn at the college
level. Students should be required to
take four years of English, two years
of a foreign language and at least
three years of math to be admitted to
UNL, Spanicr said.
Currently, UNL students are re
quired to meet one of three require
ments for admission. They must
complete a core group of classes that
varies with their college, be ranked in
the upper half of their high school
class, or have an ACT score of 20 or
See SPANIER on 7
Committees forward cut proposals
By Adeana Leftin
Senior Editor
A (though there arc mixed fpclings about
the budget-reduction process, the jcc
^ Commended cuts were good, a UNL
official said.
Thomas Zom, chairman of the Academic
Planning and the Budget Reduction Review
committees, said the two BUDGET
committees made outstand
ing recommendations with
the choices they were given.
“Everyone involved
made a sincere effort to do
things for the benefit of the campus,” he said.
The two committees released their recom
mcndations for budget cuts Friday and for
warded them to UNL Chancellor Graham
Spanier. .. . . .
The budget process, which has been ongo
ing for the past three months, is the result of last
springes Nebraska Legislature mandate that the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln cut 2 percent
from the budget this year and 1 percent from
next year’s budget.
Zorn said the APC would continue meeting
with Spanier during the next few weeks to help
him come up with the additional SI .7 million in
cuts that were not met by the committees.
“The committee members understand that
he (Spanier) has a tough job to do,” Zom said.
“A number of the committee members want
some input on his decision-making.”
* v ■**
The Budget Reduction Review and Aca
demic Planning committees approved the fol
lowing proposals:
• Eliminating nine full-time positions and
related supply expenses in custodial services,
—etrtUng $d 24,500. - —-—.
• Eliminating one director position in busi
ness and finance management, $72,500.
• Elim inating an assistant manager position
in Utility Plant Management, $42,300.
• Eliminating a permanent landscape worker
and a temporary groundskeeper from Land
scape Services, $30,300.
• Changing the processing of first- and
third-class pre-sorted campus mail, $30,000.
~ See LETTER on 3
i
Spanier wants to remove “assigned
minuses” from colleges’budgets. Page
7
•v W'
Ohio State takes Huskers’ Final Four
trip. Page 8
Klingon dictionary is a must for Star
Trek fans. Page 12_■ _^
k . .. ' . * ! +
INDEX
Wire 2
Opinion / 4
Sports 8
A&E 12 - *
Classifieds \ 15
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