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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 1992)
Officials differ over new UNL program A Some say graduate guarantee inappropriate, unnecessary By Susie Arth Senior Reporter Employers may give UNL Chancellor Graham Spanicr a pal on the back for his guarantee of graduates, but other Big Eight administrators are giving him mixed reviews. Eddie Smith, associate dean of the Univer sity of Oklahoma’s Graduate College, said he did not think the guarantee was appropriate. An education should instill in students the desire for further education, Smith said, not training for specific jobs. “We’re not a Big Mac university,” he said. “We don’t teach students how to cook ham burgers.” The guarantee is impractical because of the statistics on how often college graduates change careers, Smith said. “A college education is only the beginning of a life-long learning process.” Oklahoma, he said, tries to prepare its stu dents with the skills they need to adapt to different jobs. Smith said he thought Spanier made the guarantee to combat a widespread belief that universities were failing their students in work force training. John Fairman, assistant vice president of University Relations at Kansas Stale Univer sity, said he thought Spanier’s guarantee was consistent with the theory behind the entire university system. UNL’s guarantee will project an image of academic excellence to employers, he said, and job recruiters may sec it as an incentive to come to UNL to look for guaranteed employ ees. “(UNL) is showing that it is providing prepa ration to make students viable and valuable employees,” he said. KSU has never considered making a similar guarantee, he said, because employers in the area have always expressed satisfaction with graduates. “It’s an excellent idea,” he said. “It just has not arisen as an issue here.” Natalca Watkins, director of communica tions at Oklahoma State University, said OSU offered a similar guarantee for students in technical branches. See GUARANTEE on 8 Graduates’ skills ‘guaranteed’ to future employers by Spanier By Susie Arth Senior Reporter The University of Nebraska Lincoln’s Guarantee Program will improve the university’s image and attract more job recruiters, an official said. Mike Mulnix, director of the Office of Pub lic Relations, said the guarantee of graduates issued by the UNL ChanccllorGraham Spanicr would only improve the school’s status. In a press conference last week, Spanicr guaranteed employers that UNL students would have all the basic skills for their specific job. If students do not, the university will pay for them to make up for any deficiencies. Mulnix said he thought the guarantee would improve UNL’s image among employers. The timing of the guarantee corresponds with tight economic limes and a decrease in the number of job recruiters coming to the UNL Career Planning and Placement Center to find employees. The number of job recruiters has been falling over the past few years, he said. “It’s not a public relations gimmick,” Mulnix said. “It’s an attempt to try to increase the number of recruiters coming to this campus.” The idea, he said, did not stem from com plaints coming from employers. Mulnix said he had heard only minor complaints about a few UNL graduates. Mulnix said he did not expect the guarantee to lead to an increase in employers’ com plaints. If employers do complain, Mulnix said, the students would not necessarily return to UNL to make up for the deficiency. Instead, students could lake classes through Continuing Studies and satellite technology. “We won’t fly somebody in to take a course at UNL,” he said. “We’ll send the course to them.” The publicity the guarantee has brought to the university has been positive so far, he said, and he wouldn’t be surprised if UNL started a trend that spreads to universities across the country. “(Spanicr’s) willingness to propose stand ing behind our students shows he has confi dence in this institution,” Mulnix said. “It will help our image as a place of quality education.” Kiley Timperley/DN Traipsing trunks Children watch the elephants march past Tuesday morning as the Grand Animal Walk ol The Greatest Show on Earth winds its way from Burlington yard to Persning Auditorium for the Ringiing Bros, and Bamum & Bailey Circus. ‘Freshman’ falls out of favor By Susie Arth Senior Reporter A UNL official said she wouldn’t be surprised if the university got rid of its “fresh man” class some day. Peg Blake, assistant vice chancel lor for student affairs at UNL, said Nebraska Wesleyan University had changed the term “freshman” to “first year student,"and similar discussions have been arising at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln. Colocn Gowcn, assistant vice presi dent for university relations at NWU, said the university decided to change the term “freshman” to “first-year student” in its magazines, newsletters and brochures to avoid sexist lan guage. The College of St. Mary in Omaha stopped using the term last year. Blake said she was unaware of any official movement to do the same at UNL. But many professors and adminis trators have made efforts to quit using the word “freshman” and have found alternate ways to refer to first-year students, she said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the ; Official says Andrew’s storms staying south By Keri Brabec Start Reporter Hurricane Andrew was the most powerful and destructive slorm to hit Florida in more than 70 vears, but its force won’t send storms Nebraska’s direction. Many times when a slorm as powerful as Hurricane Andrew strikes, even the weather in distant areas, such as Nebraska, can be affected, a National Weather Service spokesman said. But Hurricane Andrew should have no effect on Nebraska weather, the spokesman said. “We may have some showers dur ing Wednesday and Wednesday night, but this is not associated with the hurricane in any way,” he said. It is hard to predict whether a storm or hurricane will affect distant areas, the weather service spokesman said. Tropical Storm Lester, for example, caused a great deal of precipitation in Nebraska, he said. Most of the moisture from Hurri cane Andrew will fall along a front that moved through southeast Nebraska Monday evening, the National Weather Service reported. The front will be located near the Tennessee Valley and the Appalachian Mountains by the time the hurricane causes any precipitation along the front. Fifteen people died and more than 50,000 were left homeless after Hur ricane Andrew struck southern Flor ida Monday, according to The Asso ciated Press. Along with 168 mph wind gusts, the storm brought $15 billion to $20 billion worth of damage to the state. Hurricane Andrew was moving across the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana Tuesday. 1 See FRESHMANon 9 As of 11 PM. EDT, Tuesday * Atlantic i Ocean '-- 30 200km ^ 5 PM. 5 P. M. * V I If lueaoay ti p.m. cut _ ip9 0N.ST.iW „0 20° IA4U. Wnd$: 140 mph 70 b**Vi&**'*» I --3- S fc°* >. ", ao-.l ( ■»'_ AP