Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1992)
Officials consider required curriculum Plan would apply to undergraduates, transfer students By Shelley Biggs Senior Reporter dministralors at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln are work ing on a plan that would re quire students to complete a uniform general education curriculum before they graduate, an official said: Joan Lcitzcl, UNL vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the plan would require undergraduate students to take a minimum of 20 hours of outlined course work by the second semester of their sophomore year. The program is designed to ensure that students are more well-rounded when they graduate, Lcil/.cl said. “The plan was developed because we realized that not all students were getting a strong program vwithin their majors,” she said. “Under the pro posed structure of general education, students will be receiving a coherent whole.” The curriculum is designed for tra ditional students, Leitzel said, but provisions also will be worked out for transfer and non-tradilional students. The tables that transfer students use to determijie if their class credits will transfer to the university will have to be reworked as a result of the new course curriculum, Leilzel said. UNL is prepared to work closely with community colleges and other uni versities, she said. The university already offers some of the required courses, Leitzel said, and could meet current requirements for majors. A college committee will be pri marily responsible for making rec ommendations to the university com mittee about any new courses needed to implement the plan. The commit tees will be formed soon, she said. Leitzel said the administration would run a pilot program next year and begin the requirements with the 1994-95 school year. One-time monies will be used to develop new courses, Leitzel said, but ongoing funds also will be needed to track enrollment changes that occur once the curriculum is in place. She said she did not know what the cost of the program would be. *d MB Scoti Maurer/bN Jeff Walling/DN Richard Carper, an AIDS activist, speaks at the Union Wednesday night. No immunity Activist says AIDS will affect all By Virginia Newton Staff Reporter Richard Carper, a nationally known AIDS activist, told a group of UNL students and members of the com munity Wednesday night that AIDS would touch each one of them. Carper, whose visit was sponsored by the Gay/Lesbian Student Association, spoke in front of a group of about 30 people at the Nebraska Union. He has appeared on “Donahue,” “20/20” and has authored a book about AIDS. His goal Wednesday, he said, was to inform students about the dangers of AIDS and to make them aware of its implications for society. “My focus is to try to get the student population to Acknowledge and understand that HIV is their problem,” Carper said. “A lot of people have never met somebody with HIV. “HIV is going lo touch every social ele ment of our society from the president, to the director of health, to the board of trustees of campus, to the student population, to the faculty that should be giving accurate infor mation out,” he said. Carper, a former heroin addict, was diag nosed with HIV in 1986. He had a blood transfusion in 1984, before testing blood for the virus became common. Carper said he could have contracted HIV through cither intravenous drug use or the blood transfusion. Long after people should have learned to lake precautions, Carper said, many are still making the mistakes that lead to contracting' the virus. The reason, he said, is that politics is preventing people from getting the informa See AIDS on 6 Close campaign sparks jump in student support By Jeff Zeleny Staff Reporter As the November presidential election gets closer, President Bush and Bill Clinton arc scrambling to gain voters’ support, and more college students are helping them. Interest in the upcoming election has doubled the membership of College Republicans and Young Democrats, two political organizations at the Uni versity of Nebraska Lincoln. Robert Sittig, a UNL po litical science professor, at tributed the high campaign interest to the close race be tween Bush and Clinton. Students need to pay at tention to the presidential campaign,even though candidates arc not making a specific appeal to Nebraska students, Sittig said. Suzanne Lipscy, a senior meteorology ma jor and president of the Young Democrats, said students realized the importanceol politics this year more than ever before, and that they were ready for a change. The economy is the big issue for students, Lipsey said. “Friends arc graduating and not getting jobs; it’s hitting closer to home,’’ she said. Trent Steele, a junior secondary education major and president of College Republicans, agreed that the economy was slow but said the president was not to blame. “I don’t think problems of the economy and jobs can be pinned on one man,” he said. “It isn’t that his ideas aren’t working; they just haven’t been tried.” The two groups endorse parties, not candi dates, and they will help local campaign work ers promote their parties’ messages. S teclc said Col lege Rcpubl icans would cam - paign by telephone and by foot. - : - “It’s fun volunteerstuff, not just grunt work,” he said. Students who want to support either Bush or Clinton can join one of the groups formed to promote each candidate. Students for Bush became an officially rec ognized student organization in January after it received approval from the Association of Stu dents of the University of Nebraska. About 50 people have expressed interest in the group, said organizer Kristine Hubka, a senior political science major. Patrick Adams, a junior political science major and coordinator of Students for Clinton Gore, said he expected AS UN to approve the Democratic group this week. “Students for Clinton-Gore gives people beyond party lines who arc fed up with the status quo an opportunity to participate,” he said. “People our age are feeling the impact of a failed Bush policy; they want change and progress.” But Steele said he thought most college students supported Bush. Students notonly identify with Bush’s goals, such as his concern for education, but they also trust and like the president, he said. ASUN to advise committee By Angie Brunkow Staff Reporter __ A SUN will play an important role in making Nebraska a leader in multicultural education, one official said. Jim Kubik, staff coordinator of the Nebraska Legislature’s multicultural education commit tee, said he wanted to use ASUN senators as advisers to help the committee spread multicultural awareness. Kubik said the Associa tion of Students of the Uni versity of Nebraska had gained a “soft spot” in his heart because it was instru mental in getting LB922 passed last spring. ; The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, requires Ne ' braska secondary and elementary schools to ^ develop and implement multicultural educa tionprograms. Tne programs would not add new classes or * tcacncrs to tnc scnooi, out wouta require scnoois to integrate multicultural programs into exist ing curriculums. Kubik said AS UN President Andrew Sigerson was one of the f irsl to come out in support of the bill. Sigerson lined up several speakers to testify at the public hearing before the Legislature last spring. Kubik said the vast student support over whelmed the Legislature and led to the bill being passed more quickly. He said he would like to report his ideas to the senate and get senators’ reactions, and he said he expected their candor and honesty, i “I can’t think of a better group than right here,” he said. Sigerson said being chosen as an advisory body to the multicultural education committee was a tremendous achievement for AS UN. He said it gave the senate a voice in multicultural education across the state. He said he thought students often came to See ASUNon 6 /