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Regents structuring plan
to improve racial diversity
By Sean Green
Senior Reporter
The NU Board of Regents is designing a
plan to improve racial diversity and cli
mate on its four campuses, a regent said
Wednesday.
The Regents’ Commit
tee on Minority Affairs,
which met Tuesday in Lin
coln, said diversity might
be increased by establish
ing more financial incen
tives to students, staff and
faculty, said Regent Nancy O’Brien of Water
loo.
“1 think all of the regents are committed to
improving diversity and the climate for all
minorities on the campus,” O’Brien said.
Financial incentives may include giving
departments that have their faculty positions
filled funds to hire an additional minority fac
Lilly member, she said.
While the lough budget year may hinder the
effort to provide incentives, O’Brien said, the
Nebraska Legislature may be willing to chip in
some funding.
“It may be foolish, but I’m kind of assuming —
the Legislature may be willing to help us in
crease diversity,” she said. “Legislators have
been fairly receptive to a diversity of curricu
lum bill, and they may support our measures,
too.”
O’Brien said the time frame for implement
ing the plan was one of the missing pieces. But
she said the committee hoped to lay the ground
work by summer break and make a recommen
dation to the regents by the end of summer.
The committee set goals Tuesday for further
defining the diversity plan, O’Brien said, but
the specific action the plan will propose still is
uncertain.
See REGENTS on 3
Victims start support group
for other harassed women
By Michelle McGowan
Staff Reporter
Two women who testified at a legislative
hearing on sexual harassment in January
have started a sexual harassment survi
vors group.
Lanelle Kant and Tanna Kinnamcn, both
victims of sexual harassment, said they de
cided a support group was necessary in the
recovery process for sexual harassment vic
tims.
“People often think they’re the only ones,”
Kant said. “There’s a lot of shame and guilt.
We wanted to offer a confidential support
group and resources to help them get over this
thing.”
Kant said her interest in a support group was
a personal one. Several years ago, while living
in small Nebraska town, she was sexually har
assed by her therapist, she said.
The survivor group offers support to those
who have experienced or are experiencing sexual
harassment in their lives.
“We arc there to share our experiences and
to offer comfort,” Kant said. “This group is not
only for women — it’s for everyone, male or
female, involved with sexual harassment or
See HARASS on 3
Spring Break travel
not ebbing, agents say
Consultant says
airfares on rise
By Alan Phelps
Senior Editor
The recession does not appear to
have broken many University
of Nebraska-Lincoln students’
plans to get away for Spring Break.
While one travel agent said she
had seen a decline in Spring Break
bookings this year, two other agents
said students were not letting the bad
economic times tie them down.
Karen McGinn, a travel consultant
at Contact Travel, 4001 S. 48th St.,
said that although the recession had
driven up airline ticket prices, it had
not dampened Spring Break business.
“It’s noi slopping people from
traveling,” she said.
McGinn said many airlines ran the
same specials every Spring Break,
which made prices to popular Spring
Break destinations fairly stable.
However, McGinn said she had
noticed more students were choosing
to go skiing this year instead of flying
to warmer areas.
Jon Van Bloom of Via Van Bloom
Tour and Travel Service, 237 S. 70lh
St., said the recession had not stopped
students from leaving town for Spring
Break.
Air fares have not gone up much,
Van Bloom said.
‘‘I don’t think it has hurt in this
area that much,” he said. “We’re ahead
of last year on people going on Spring
See SPRING BREAK on 3
1
Mandela cautiously optimistic after
— South Africans vote in favor of
reform. Page 2
Diversions looks at cowboys.
Page 5
Nebraska faces Connecticut
tonight in Husker’s third*
ever NCAA tournev
appearance. Page 13
... INDEX
Wire 2
Opinion 4
Diversions 5
Sports 13
Classifieds 14
Teaching methods class to be required
UNL course to train
teaching assistants
By Sarah Scalet
Staff Reporter
The implementation of a methodology
class, offered for the first time at UNL
next fall, is a breakthrough for the modem
languages and literatures department, an offi
cial said.
Andre Kapanga, an assistant professor of
French and linguistics at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, said the course would be
required for all incoming teaching assistants
and college seniors interested in teaching at the
college level.
Kapanga, who wrote and submitted the
proposal for the class, “Seminar in Applied
Linguistics and Methodology,” said the class
would leach students how to use the principles
of linguistics in the classroom.
Kapanga will teach the class.
The class is important because some teach
ing assistants have no teaching experience when
they are given a class, he said.
“They come here, and we just say, ‘Teach,’”
he said.
And by the time teaching assistants begin to
learn different teaching methods, he said, the
semester is over.
When students reach higher-level courses
taught by professors, Kapanga said, they arc •*
not always proficient, partially because some
teaching assistants for lower-level courses did
not understand teaching principles.
“If the teacher understood the principles of
methodology, the principles of language ac
quisition and the principles of language learn
ing, that would definitely help improve his or
her performance in the classroom,” Kapanga
said.
Harriet Turner, chairwoman of the Depart
ment of Modem Languages and Literatures,
said some leaching assistants had requested the
course.
See METHODOLOGY on 3
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