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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1992)
»T , Daily , Nebraskan Collective’s role was clear, official says Former member says dissolving board premature By Alan Phelps Senior Editor Tradition and administrative mistakes may have led mem bers of the Women’s Resource Center Collective to believe they were in charge of the WRC, an official said, but the bottom line is the collec tive cannot be the governing body. Peg Blake, executive assistant to the vice chancellor for student affairs and a member of the WRC advisory board, said the board might have made a mistake when it began to discuss the roles for the coordinator, advisory board and collective, which was re quested in a Feb. 26 memo by James Gricscn, vice chancellor for student affairs. “The vice chancellor is ultimately responsible, and he outlined the roles very clearly,” she said. “There wasn T room for negotiation on that point. The advisory board made a mistake in attempting to sec if there was any room for compromise.” Blake said that as an advisory board, she and the other members failed to perform the task assigned to them. The advisory board was dissolved by Campus Activities and Programs director Marilyn Bugenhagen April 12, because of disagreements over who was in charge of the WRC—the university-appointed coordinator or the collective, the student group that began the WRC in the 1970s. A new board will be appointed in the fall. Helen Moore, a professor of soci ology and women’s studies and a member of the dissolved board, said the advisory board had been working through Gricscn ’s outl inc on the roles of the coordinator, and an agreement on the roles would have been pos sible. She called Bugenhagen’s action “premature.” “This had not been fully debated or discussed,” she said. “We were right at that point in agenda. “The pessimism was not on part of the advisory board.” But Blake was pessimistic about what the board could have accom plished. She said board members had agreed on what role the advisory board would play, but disagreed on the col lective’s role. It was plain that “very stark differ ences” existed in the ways board members viewed the collective, she said. Blake said some board members believed the collective and the WRC were one and the same. “We were spending an inordinate amount of lime and seemed to be getting very little accomplished,” she said. “1 don’t think we would’ve been See WOMEN on 3 CBA to eliminate credit for computer course By Mindy L. Leiter Staff Reporter _ _ The College of Business Ad ministration will no longer award college credit for its beginning computer classes because personal computer use has become more common among undergrade, ales, the college’s dean said. Gary Schwcndiman said the four hours o f col lege c red i l g i ven for com - puter classes taken through CBA would be eliminated Aug. 29. Next year, Schwcndiman said, students in the college will be re quired to lake a written and practical computer proficiency exam to gradu ate. “Th is is a more cffic ient way to do things,” he said. “It allows students with computer experience to move ahead more rapidly and gives stu dents an alternative to their educa tion.” He said the resolution was passed unanimously by faculty, who thought the college “should have done this years ago.” The college will use the exam over, the summer lo determine whether it is a valid trial of a student’s competence with computers, he said. But Schwcndiman said he thought the elimination of the computer course was the “wave of the future.” The computer now is what the slide ruler or calculator was in the past — an educational tool that has become standard for all students, he said. Schwcndiman said the college would encourage students to lake the proficiency exam in their first year at UNL. Students who fail the exam can: • Take the CB A computer course or a course offered by a community college to help them pass the exam. • Use computers in computer labs lo gain experience. • Learn how to use computers through self-leaching packets. Students who pass the proficiency See COMPUTER on 3 *.—■ — *!■*■■■■■* ■ ■ —_! Shaun Sartin/DN John Anderson, an economics professor at UNL, says the Nebraska Legislature’s tax plan will solve the problems at hand. “It’s like a lot of tax policy,” he said. “It’s not by any means elegant or beautiful, but it would do the job.” Tax talk Professor brings economic skills to UNL By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporter UNL economics professor John Anderson compares tax policy formulation to sausage making: One really doesn’t want to sec how it’s done or what goes into it, but what comes out often tastes good. Anderson should know. He has the unique perspective that comes from having been in volved in both the academic study and actual creation of tax policy. Anderson has been an econom ics professor since 1977, and he spent two years — from 1985 to 1987 — as Michigan’s — deputy state treasurer. He was appointed to the office to head the state’s Tax Policy Oflicc and serve as the governor’s tax-policy adviser. Anderson’s job was to study Michigan’s lax system and antici pate any problems that could surface — such as the ones Ne braska is experiencing. His office worked to provide the governor with future options on tax policy and estimate the results of those options. “We didn’t have to go from brush fire to brush fire just reacting See ANDERSON on 6 Peruvian vice president re turns to lead opposition. Page 2 Clinton has unique brain trust. Page 2 Rain prolongs Husker base ball team’s stay in Missouri. Page 7 INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 7 A & E 9 Classifieds 10 Husker Offense overwhelm ing in Spring scrimmage. Page 7 UNL em ploy ee moonlights as folk musi cian. Page 9 UNL sponsors mentor program By Mindy L. Leiter Staff Reporter mentorship program sponsored by UNL and coordinated by the Lincoln Public ■— — Schools seeks to harness the talents of gifted elementary and junior high students, said a university student involved in the pro gram. Steve Holliday, a junior mathematics major at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln, said the mentors were used to enrich thccurriculumsof gifted students and work with them at an accel erated rate. ‘‘We get the regular curriculum, and we go faster, with broader study and resources,” he said. Mentors work with students one-on-one every day during the school year, Holliday said, and they arc required to have at least n nours 01 college credit in whatever subject they tutor. Michael Radelich, a doctoral candidate in English, said mentors tried to lake their stu dents about two years ahead of their class mates. Tim Erickson, a UNL graduate with a de gree in German, agreed. “We don’t try to push them, but their inter-; csts alone arc different,” he said. “They have talent, and we want to develop that talent. “We don’t want to deny their interests or abilities.” Holliday said he tried to inject reasoning skills into the learning process of his students. “I try to gel the students to work with logic puzzles, board games, chess, Othello,” he said. SeeGIFTEDon 6