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I Staff added to Hazardous Materials Program
1990 EPA fines
warrants larger
waste site facility
By Karen Okamoto
Staff Reporter
The handling of hazardous ma
terials at the University of Ne
braska-Lincohi has taken a turn
for the better, a university official
4 dead week
violationsfiled
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
Despite more awareness among
students and faculty members
about UNL’s dead week
policy, complaints of violations arc
alive and well.
Shane Ham, chairman of the Asso
ciation of Students of the University
of Nebraska’s Academic Committee,
said he already had received four com
plaints of dead week policy viola
tions.
Three of the written complaints
had been taken care of as of Sunday,
Ham said.
» "* “Twe-of them were valid viola
tions, and the third was a communica
tion error between the professor and
the student,” he said. “The fourth one
is still being worked on.”
Ham could not comment on details
of the complaints.
According to the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s official policy,
the only examinations that can be
given during dead week are labora
tory practical examinations, makeup
or repeal tests and self-paced exams,
like those used in Keller Plan courses.
Projects, papers and speeches
scheduled for dead week must have
been assigned in writing by the end of
the eighth week of the semester.
Last semester, the AS UN office
received only two reports of dead
week violations, well below the usual
average of around 10 complaints.
Ham said the lower number of
reported violations came from in
creased awareness of the dead week
policy.
“In past semesters, we’ve had a
pretty steady number of complaints
from students,” he said. “Last semes
ter, we only received two complaints.
This semester, I don’t foresee any
new reports.”
Ham said he thought better com
munication between professors and
students eliminated much of the pos
sibility of violations.
“Teachers are more aware of the
policy, and so arc the students,” he
said. “That helps keep the number of
problems to a minimum.”
said.
Since September, UNL has added
four people to the Hazardous Materi
als Program: three hazardous materi
als specialists and one secretary.
But Dan Olsen, UNL chemical
safety and hazardous materials spe
cialist, said even more staff members
were needed because the potential for
a big problem still existed.
Olsen said that before the staff
increase, he-was basically the only
person in the program. James Rhone,
the director of the hazardous waste
I-<
program, works out of Omaha and
overseesall four university campuses.
Before September, Olsen said,
more problems occurred than he could
solve, and he had a backlog of six to
eight weeks’ worth of work just pick
ing up chemicals from the depart
ments.
He said the backlog caused other
problems, including:
• delays in customer service.
• laboratory space wasted on the
storage of materials not picked up.
• a safety problem in the laborato
ries, especially when the chemical to
be collected was a flammable liquid.
• possible regulation violations
because some chemicals cannot be
stored for an extended period of time,
which would mean fines from the
Environmental Protection Agency.
The enlarged staff has improved
the program's service, Olsen said.
The five-member staff was able to
keep ahead of problems for once, he
said.
But the work still may not be fast
enough to erase the safety concerns
Therrese Ooodtett/DN
Just so
Carolyn Loop, a senior fine arts major, finishes up some semester-end projects
for an independent oil class Sunday afternoon in Richards Hall.
worrying the university or a regula
tory agency such as the EPA, he said.
“The EPA doesn’t understand or
accept the lack of resources as an
excuse for not getting something
done,” Olsen said.
To remedy the situation, Olsen
said, he would like to hire three tech
nicians to pick up hazardous materi
als, a job that currently is performed
by hazardous materials specialists.
Olsen said the specialists, who have
See HAZARD on 3
Joyce says ^ ^
racial climate
remains same
Actions didn’t lead
to change, she says
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
Joyce Joyce is known for making waves,
but she questions whether her struggles
have made a difference.
Joyce started making waves at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln one year ago after she
filed a grievance with the UNL Academic
Senate. Reverberations of her actions were felt
again four months ago, when she resigned from
m her position as a UNL English professor.
But Joyce said her actions hadn’t changed
the racial problems she said existed at UNL.
Joyce spoke to about 60 people in the Ne
braska Union Saturday night. She read her
personal response, “Race, Class and Gender
and Their Influence On My Voice and Author
ity in African-American Literary Criticism,”
two essays about Afrocentrism, and answered
questions about African-Americans and the
roles they play in a society.
Joyce, now a professor of English and asso
ciate director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center
for Black Literature and Creative Writing at
Chicago State University, said in an interview
after her address that things had not changed at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Joyce said UNL’s problems with racial ten
sions would not change until administrators
admitted to themselves and others that prob
lems exist.
“They had an opportunity to work at it with
me,” she said. “They arc failing.”
Controversy abounded on the UNL campus
after two of Joyce’s former students had grades
raised by the grading appeals committee. The
appeals led to the regrading of a test, which
Joyce said violated her academic freedom.
The Academic Freedom and Tenure Com
mittee of the Academic Senate ruled that Joyce’s
rights were violated because she was never
informed of the grade changes.
Joyce said she was pleased with the senate’s
investigation, and credited Helen Moore, chair
woman of the committee, for her work.
“The university is very lucky to have the
women on the senate comm ittcc that conducted
the hearing,” she said. “They were superbly
See JOYCE on 3
I Studying spots for finals vary with students’ demands
Best choices include
i library, union, homes
By Karen Okamoto
\ Staff Report*_ ___
i he best place to study for next week’s
final exams depends upon the student,
' — according to the Academic Success
Center.
Graduate student Mike Coplcn, a tu»or for
the center, said some students preferred a noisy
place, while others liked a quiet place.
Students studying in various places cm and
off campus had differing opinions on the best
_t_,_. ' . • .. .... ‘ . .
atmosphere.
Love Library is the best place to study,
according to some students.
Sarah Swihart, a senior Latin American
studies major, said she liked the library because
it was quiet most of the lime.
Other students preferred the Nebraska Union.
Kristine Futa, a graduate student inpsychol
ogy who was studying for Finals Saturday, said,
“Hike it because it’s not as quiet as the library,
and there’s not as much opportunity to sleep.”
But one student studying at The Mill, 800 P
St., said neither the union nor the library was a
good place for studying.
“I like some place that’s not loo quiet but so
loud, like this (The Mill),’’ said Trung Nguyen,
a sophomore psychology and biology major.
“The library is too quiet and the union is too
loud.”
But one student said he didn't have a favorite
place to study
Jim Hill, a senior actuarial science major,
said he would study just about anywhere.
“It just depends on what I’m studying,” he
said. “For something like statistics, I like to
study in a group. But for business classes, I
study alone.”
Another student said he had three favorite
places to study.
Steve Grics, a senior political science major,
said he liked the Nebraska Union, Love Library
and his kitchen.
Gries, who has roommates, said he studied at
whichever place was the quietest.
-44
I have to be around coffee. If
I’m not around coffee, / can’t
study.
—»Joel Halpine
graduate student
-tt -
But for another student, noise, or the lack of
noise, was not important.
Coffee is the important factor for Joel
Halpine, a graduate student in audiology.
4,I have to be around coffee,” he said. ‘If I’m
not around coffee, I can’t study.”
Halpine said The Coffee House, The Mill
and Village Inn were good places to study.
'
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