4 SPORTS
Battle of
Big Reds
Nebraska rips Thursday
Cornell in straight tun a
sets in the NCAA *Wlc.*+
volleyball Today, mostly
tournament 'SZ&ZgS'*'*
Page 5 chance of snow.
Number of tenured professors declines at UNL
By Paula Lavigne
Staff Reporter
Although the number of tenured
faculty members at the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln
has started to decline, the impact on
the university will be minor, UNL’s
chancellor said.
Ten years ago, 75.3 percent of the
faculty had tenure. In 1993, that per
centage dropped to 68.5 percent. Ten
ure, granted after professors work
about seven years, practically guar
antees employment by giving profes
sors added protection and job securi
End of era
of yearbook
cuts contests
Editors’ Note: College heritage is
an important part of student life.
UNL students today, however, don’t
have the chance to take part in
many long-standing campus tradi
tions. This is the second in a weeklong
series of stories about UNL’s for
gotten traditions.
By DeDra Janssen
Staff Reporter
Nowadays, it’s anybody’s jguess
as to who UNL’s most eligible
bachelors arc.
A yearbook list during the 1950s
and 1960s solved that mystery for
students who attended the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln then.
But with the
1973 demise of
UNL’s yearbook
came the demise of
the eligible bache
lor contest and sev
eral other beauty
contests that had
been UNL tradi
tions.
During the year
book era, a panel of
local judges selected 12 finalists for
the eligible bachelor contest after a
scries of interviews with candidates.
Candidates were nominated by mem
bers of their respective living units.
Each living unit — a residence hall or
greek house — could nominate one
candidate for every 25 yearbooks it
sold.
After the finalists were selected, a
celebrity would choose six winners.
Finalists were judged on personality,
poise, appearance and eligibility.
To be an eligible bachelor, candi
dates could not have a steady girl
friend, be pinned or engaged.
The eligible bachelors were an
nounced at the Kosmct Club fall show
and listed with their photos in the
yearbook.
“I think it was just sort of a fun
See TRADITIONS on 2
ty
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier
said the decline in tenures could be
attributed to an increase in retiring
professors.
“The university went through a
great period of growth in the ’60s and
’70s. There were a lot of facul ty mem
bers hired then,” Spanier said. “Now
that group of people arc approaching
retirement age.”
Spanier said many of the positions
left open by retired faculty members
would be filled by new, younger pro
fessors.
He said this shift in faculty mem
bers had a positive and negative side.
“On the positive side, this allows
the colleges increased flexibility in
how they fill these positions,” he said.
“When you have so many faculty
members retiring, you lose a lot of
experience and wisdom,” he said.
“This is the downside of the demo
graphic bulge.”
UNL English Professor Frederick
Link was part of this “bulge.” Link
opted for a tenure buyout when he
retired.
Tenure buyouts, payments encour
aging older professors to retire earli
er, were practiced between 1988
through 1992. Link said he received a
ful 1 -year sal a ry spread over three years.
“If your salary was $70,000, you
would receive that over a three-year
period,” Link said. This benefit was a
financial incentive for him, but it also
saved the university money in the
long run.
He said the buyout was a minor
motivation for his retirement.
“I had been teaching for 40 years,
and I thought that was a reasonable
number of years to teach,” he said. “I
didn’t want to retire over the hill. I
wanted to retire at the peak of my
abilities.”
II I I IB— I I—— — ^II
Damon Lee/D N
UNL seniors Brandon Mann and Andi Mollring near their 11th hour of a kissing contest
Wednesday morning.
Pucker up
Lincoln couple wins trip to Cancun with 18-hour liplock
By Dionne Searcey
Senior Reporter
Two UN L students gave up a
free trip to Cancun, Mexi
co, in the name of academia
during a kissing contest that mea
sured the smooching stamina of
two local couples.
“We just quit,” Brandon Mann
said about he and his partner, UNL
senior English education major
Andi Mollring. “We had some stuff
to do for school, so we just quit.”
The contest, sponsored by
KKNB-FM, 104.1 The Planet,
started at noon Tuesday and ended
6 a.m. Wednesday.
Mann, a senior business admin
istration major.explained his drive
to continue competing with Megan
and Andrew Jobson for more than
halt a day.
“You think they’re going to quit
anytime soon, so you think, ‘we’ll
just go another hour,’ but they
didn’t,” he said.
Eighteen hours later, Mann and
Mollring gave up allowing the
Jobsons to win the contest, co
sponsored by Twisters Music and
Gifts, Subway and Pepsi.
The kissing wasn’t too passion
ate, Mann said. “It was just
touching your lips trying to keep
them together,” he said.
Kissers were allowed a 10
minute break every hour.
“It was hard work on every part
of your body,” he said. “It was
probably fun maybe the first two
hours, three hours.”
Staff members of The Planet
worked in shifts to make sure the
couples didn t let up on tncir lip
locks.
Just two couples participated in
the contest, which was held at Twist
ers, 48th and Van Dorn streets.
Radio station officials received
manycontcstentries, Kelli Reischl,
sales executive for the radio sta
tion, said. They randomly selected
10 names to participate, Reischl
said, but some of the couples were
late, and others didn’t show.
The losing couple received free
tickets to Wednesday’s BEST
KISSERSINTHEWORLDconccrt
at the Rockin’ Robin downtown.
The Jobsons could not be
reached for comment Wednesday.
Dave Douglas, program direc
tor for the radio station, said the
couple probably catching up on
their sleep after having kissed for
more than 18 hours.
Although UNL could lose experi
enced senior professors. Link said
buyouts would give the university the
opportunity to hire exciting new peo
ple.
“It would revitalize the depart
ment,” Link said. “I think it’s a trade
off.”
“Obviously you do lose senior ex
perience and national reputation in
some cases, but it balances out,” he
said.
Link said buyouts did not create a
large decline in faculty. Retirement is
See TENURE on 2
IFC’s vote
recommends
suspending
Fiji chapter
By Dionne Searcey
Senior Reporter
Members of the Phi Gamma
Delta house may return from
Christmas break no longer
members of a recognized fraternity;
James Griesen, University of Ne
braska-Lincoln vice chancellor for
student affairs, said members of the
UNL Interfraternity Council recom
mended Wednesday night the Fiji
house be suspended five semesters.
“I’ve been given a very strong
statement from the governing council
of the fraternity system at UNL that
they feel it’s important to have a
completely new start of that fraternity
in the future,” he said.
Griesen said he would soon take
the recommendation to UNL Chan
cellor Graham Spanier for a final de
cision. Griesen would not say wheth
er he agreed with the proposal but said
he thought drastic changes should be
made in the chapter.
“The violations in the chapter house
that occurred in relation to the injury
of Jeffrey Knoll were very serious,’’
he said.
Jason Sanders, Fiji president, said
he had not been officially notified of
the recommendation and would not
comment.
The recommendation came after
injuries suffered by UNL student Jef
frey Knoll at the Fiji house. Universi
ty officials have said Knoll was hurt
when he fell from a third-story Fiji
window after being forced by frater
nity members to drink alcohol.
Griesen said the council suggested
a national memberofthe fraternity—
probably a UNL graduate student —
live in the house in the fall of 1996
after the suspension. The national
member would serve as a supervisor
for one semester.
“I felt it was essential that we not
go into the Christmas break period.
See HAZING on 2
Engineering consultants to visit UNL, UNO next week
By Steve Smith
Senior Reporter
Engineering experts will visit
two University of Nebraska
campuses next week to judge
whether a new engineering college at
UNO would benefit the state.
Donald Langenberg, the chancel
lor of the University of Maryland
system, and John Christian, the chair
man of a Boston engineering compa
ny, will be at the Lincoln and Omaha
campuses Dec. 9 to evaluate the NU
system’s engineering facilities, NU
spokesman Joe Rowson said.
I
The consultants will make recom
mendations on how the university
could improve engineering education
in the state, including whether or not
an independent college is needed at
the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Currently, the engineering college
is administered through the Universi
ty of Ncbraska-Lincoln. UNO and
several Omaha businesses want a sep
arate college on the Omaha campus.
Langenberg will remain in Lin
coln during his one-day visit, Rowson
said. He will meet with UNL Chan
cellor Graham Spamer, UNO Chan
cellor Del Weber, Dean Stan Liberty
of the UNL College of Engineering
and Technology, faculty members and
administrators.
Christian will be in Nebraska two
days, Rowson said — Dec. 9 in Lin
coln and Dec. 10 in Omaha.
Two other consultants — James
Halligan, president of New Mexico
State University, and Charles James,
an engineering dean at the University
ofWisconsin-Milwaukec—will visit
UNO and UNL in January, Rowson
said. °
The regents hired the four consult
ants Oct. 15 for S20.000. The NIJ
Foundation will pay for the consult
ing services with private funds,
Rowson said.
The hiring came amid controversy
among regents about what the con
sultants’ task should be. Several re
gents, including Rosemary Skrupa of
Omahaand NancyO’Bricn ot Water
loo, wanted the consultants to look
specifically at establishing a UNO
college.
, Rqwson said bringing in outside
consultants was the most reasonable
way to resolve the situation.
“(The regents) found people in the
engineering field, both in the world ol
work and who have experience with
universities and multi-campus sys
tems,” he said.
Rowson said the regents agreed to
give the consultants “a freehand to do
work objectively and then have them
recommend what the best course of
action would be.”
Because of the consultants’ exper
tise, Rowson said, the regents will pay
close attention to their recommenda
tions.
“The board wouldn’t have select
ed these people unless they’re giving
serious considerations to their recom
mendations,” Rowson said.