153/30
' Today, mostly sunny, breezy
and warmer, northwest winds
10 to 20 mph. Tonight, partly
cloudy. Thursday, partlysunny
and mild with a nigh near 55.
1. Mh mm g. m .. t M H. JiJHg.ru , I--- ^
. . _ ’
5
Cliff Bettis, a UNL physics and astronomy professor, holds a lute that he made recently. Bettis also makes scientific
projects for the Lincoln Children’s Museum.
Myriad wizardry
Professor’s imagination leads him in science, art fields
By Lori Huff
Staff Reporter
Physics, astronomy, ballet, music and
Mr. Wizard.
This curious combination repre
sents just a few of the many pathways that
Cliff Bettis’ imagination has taken.
Bettis, a University ■nwnni—
of Ncbraska-Lincoln
astronomy
professor, has put his
knowledge into practice a(r
for more than just UNL
77
In addition to work- ■
ing at the university, Bettis donates inven
tions to the Lincoln Children’s Museum and
teaches students of all ages.
I Bettis’ position at UNL, which began as
a one-year appointment in 1976, has be
come permanent.
“I have kind of a unique role,” he said.
Bettis is in charge of the physics depart
ment’s lecture and demonstration equip
ment. He spends most semesters preparing
demonstrations and teaching professors how
to use the equipment, he said.
A member of the original board of direc
tors of the children’s museum, Bettis has
maintained his link to area children by
donating inventions for display.
He said a major challenge in building an
invention for the museum was designing it
to withstand the wear and tear of children.
“I have to figure out how to make it so
that all sorts of kids can interact with it
without destroying it,” he said.
One of Bettis’ inventions, a pendulum
apparatus on display at the museum, already
must be repaired.
“Kids seem to enjoy it,” he said. “In fact,
they’ve enjoyed it so much that it has to be
repaired.”
Another local exploit of Bettis’ is UNL’s
“Saturday Science Program,” which began
Feb. 8 and runs for five weeks. The pro
gram, which was started 15 years ago, is
designed for 5lh and 6lh graders interested
in science.
Students attend a one-hour demonstra
tion in Brace Laboratory’s lecture hall and
participate in lab activities where they make
projects to take home.
For example, students at one session made
a musical instrument made of different lengths
of pipe, he said.
Bettis’ inventions also have enjoyed
See BETTIS on 6
UNO, UNK
peer groups
reevaluated
Director expects schools
to rise in group rankings
Editor's note: On Jan. 28, a consulting team
visited UNL to analyze and recommend
whether the university's faculty salary peer
group is viable. This series will examine the
various aspects of UNL’s peer group and
how it is determined.
By Cindy Kimbrough
Senior Reporter
Despite UNL’s ranking of average fac
ulty salaries within its peer group —
tenth of 11 schools — other University
of Nebraska schools have fared well in their
own peer groups.
Randy Haack, NU assistant vice president
and director of budgets and analysis, said both
the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the
University of Nebraska at Kearney should place
in the middle of their individual faculty salary
peer groups this year.
UNO, which had a 1990 average of $46,200
for professor salaries, should move up in its
peer group, taking into account a 6 1/2-percent
projected salary increase this year, Haack said.
UNK, which had an average professor sal
ary of $44,900, should also approach and pos
sibly surpass its peer group midpoint, he said,
with an 8.7-pcrccnl increase in faculty salaries.
See CAMPUS on 6
Party pledges
clean campaign
in ASUN race
By Angie Brunkow
Staff Reporter
The COMMIT parly reiterated Tuesday
its decision to run a clean student elec
tion campaign.
At a press conference in
the Nebraska Union, An
drew Sigerson, the party’s
presidential candidate, said
that by repeating COM
MIT’S position on this is
sue, he hoped the message
would gel through to both COMMIT and
ACTION, the competing party.
“This campaign will be absolutely spot
less,” he said. “Not only will there not be dirt,
See COMMIT on 6
Minority committee budgets reduced
By Phuong Vu
Staff Reporter
Three UPC committees focus
ing on minority groups are
frustrated by cuts from their
proposed budgets for the next aca
demic year, committee chairwomen
said.
The Chicano Special Events
Committee proposed a $5,925 budget
to the Committee for Fees Alloca
tion, and $4,252 was approved. The
Asian-American Committee proposed
a budget of about $3,025, and CFA
approved about $2,332.
CFA also cut $250 from the Afri
can-American Special Events and
Entertainment Committee’s proposed
budget of $6,200.
Not all budgets proposed by mi
nority groups were cut, however. Frank
Forman, president of the University
Program Council, said the Native
Member says cuts hypocritical
American Special Events received a
$973 increase.
Rob Broomfield, CFA chairman,
said the committee reviewed the pro
posals and cut what its members
thought were excessive costs. Most
of the budget cuts were for advertis
ing and food, he said.
But CFA did not cut any program
ming costs, he said.
Cathy Maestas, chairwoman of
Chicano Special Events, said the budget
that CFA approved for that commit
tee was the lowest since 1988. CFA
not only cut funding for advertising,
she said, but also for programming.
Ha Do, chairwoman of the Asian
American Committee, said the mes
sage she received when appealing to
CFA was that advertisements were
not important. Less advertising would
have an indirect affect on attendance
at events, she said.
Angela Green, chairwoman of the
African-American Special Events and
Entertainment Committee, said the
group’s focus was not to inform mi
norities, who already know their own
culture, but rather to reach the white
culture. The best way to do that, she
said, is through advertising.
CFA is hypocritical in saying that
it wants to be more diverse while it
cuts minority budgets, Green said.
Emilia Juarez, president of the
Mexican-American Student Associa
tion, said she felt “powerless” during
CFA’s budgeting process.
Juarez said her group was asking
for basic necessities to complete its
prc unming.
e of MASK’S most important
functions is sponsoring a yearly dance
that gives Hispanic students on cam
pus a chance to interact with the His
panic community, Juarez said.
Because of the budget cuts, an
other program must be eliminated to
bring the dance to the community,
she said.
Angel Diaz, a member of MAS A,
said CFA’s cuts were limiting the
group’s ability to share with other
people activities that reflected His
panic culture.
Maestas said she thoughtCFA was
taking the cuts lightly.
When the university does some
thing for the African-American group,
she said, it thinks it has covered all
minority groups on campus.
“They can’t forget about the other
minority groups,’’ she said.
Maestas said that when she ap
See CUTS on 6
Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey
takes primary win in South
Dakota. Page 2
ASUN set to vote on Affirma
tion Day resolution. Page 6
Newly ranked ^
Comhusker men’s f\ \'
basketball team
sets its sights on \
Oklahoma State. \ \
Page 7
Lincoln recording studio of
fers a personal touch. Page 9
INDEX
Wire 2
Opinion . 4
Sports 7
A&E 9
Classifieds 11