^SPORTS
Blue Collar
Bruce Chubick is
using hustle to
make up for his
lack of height in
the middle of
Nebraska's
lineup.
Page 9
Thursday
40/11
Cloudy and colder
with a chance of
light snow.
Lincoln
Vol. 93 No. 81
By Jeffrey Robb
Senior Editor
and Amie Haggar
Staff Reporter
The authority of the Coordinating Com
mission for Postsecondary Education
may be reined in by changes proposed
in a bill introduced to the Nebraska Legislature
earlier this week.
Recently, individual universities have raised
concerns that the commission was overstep
ping its bounds by interfering in the internal
operations of campuses.
Debate on LB 1063, introduced Tuesday by
By Jeffrey Robb
Senior Editor
and Amie Haggar
Staff Reporter
he authority of the Coordinating Com
mission for Postsecondary Education
may be reined in by changes proposed
in a bill introduced to the Nebraska Legislature
earlier this week.
Recently, individual universities have raised
concerns that the commission was overstep
ping its bounds by interfering in the internal
operations of campuses.
Debate on LB 1063, introduced Tuesday by
Sen. Jerome Warner of Waverly, would be an
opportunity to review the
practices of the commission,
the senator said.
“If items need clarifica
tion or changes to make it
more efTicient,” W amer said,
“then definitely we ought to
be considering them.”
The commission was ap
_ proved by Nebraska voters in
LEGISLATURE November 1990. Its original
role was to prevent duplica
tion of programs among colleges and universi
ties and to provide a communication link be
tween them.
LB 1063 would clarify that role.
The bill says the commission “shall be pol
icy-based ... and shall not invade the institu
tional governance or management authority of
any governing board.”
The bill’s specifics are not set, Warner said,
but it addresses most of the interference com
plaints raised by the Nebraska Council of High
er Education, which includes the NU Board of
Regents, the board of state colleges and com
munity college boards.
Regent Don Blank of McCook said, “I’m in
favor of having coordination on the
postsecondary level, but what has happened as
the commission is acting now has gone beyond
coordination and has gone into governance and
administration.”
J.B.Milliken,NU vice president for external
affairs, said the legislation wouldn’t change the
commission’s original role.
“This legislation would help to define where
the line is between coordinating and govern
ing,” he said.
Bruce Stahl, executive director of the com
mission, said the body was formed to maintain
a consistent long-term vision for postsecondary
education in Nebraska.
But confusion about the commission dates
back to problems with definitions in the found
ing constitutional amendment, he said.
See COMMISSION on 8
Long lines may
be coming to an
end at Drop/Add
By Kara G. Morrison
Senior Reporter
Students who drop and add classes next
semester will no longer be greeted by Joy
Boster’s smile at the Drop/Add door.
But they won’t be clenching pencils, poring
over stacks of forms and bubble sheets at
crowded folding tables in the Nebraska Union,
either.
NRoll, a touch-tone phone registration sys
tem, will replace the university’s Drop/Add
procedure in March.
The upcoming change met mostly with ex
citement from the students who packed the
Union Ballroom Wednesday afternoon.
But employees who have helped students
through the complex prove**) were a little twd
dened
“I’m going to miss meeting the students,”
said Boster, who has been been in charge of
floor control at Drop/Add for more than six
years. “I’m going to miss the people. They’ve
been nice to work for and with.”
+* **
Kate Kuhlmann, a junior nursing major,
peered up from a mass of registration sheets
spread over the floor. She was crouched over
them, her head in her hands.
Kuhlmann is a Drop/Add veteran. She said
she had gone through the process at least four
times since she had been at the university.
“Absolutely!” Kuhlmann said, when asked
whether the phone system would make things
easier. “I’ve been waiting for (NRoll) ever
since I got here.”
*+*♦
Around the comer, Mike Hansen glanced
over his schedule of classes, which he had been
studying intently. Hansen just transferred to the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln from the Uni
versity of Nebraska at Kearney, which already
has phone registration.
His said ne missed Kearney’s Drop/Add
procedure.
“To register, you just had to punch in the call
number for the class you wanted.” Hansen said.
“It worked well.”
The senior animal science major said
Kearney’s phone system had only taken half an
hour to use. Hansen already had been at Drop/
Add for an hour and a half Wednesday.
****
Beyond a seemingly constant line to the
See DROP on 6
Gov. Ben Nelson, left, talks with Dennis Smith, NU President-elect Wednesday at the governor’s
office in the State Capitol.
Jeff Haller/DN
Smith: It’s premature to discuss goals
President-elect plans
to study problems
before taking office
By Angie Bmnkow
Senior Reporter
NU President-elect Dennis Smith said
Wednesday it was too early for him
to discuss his goals as the new lead
er of the University of Nebraska, a job he
will begin March 1.
During a press conference, Smith said he
would better be able to answer questions
about his goals for the University of Nebras
ka when he replaced NU President Martin
Massengale.
“The University of Nebraska can only
have one president at a time,” he said.
Smith, executive vice chancellor of the
University of Califomia-lrvine since 1987,
has been in Lincoln for three days. During
his visit, he has met with central administra
tion officials and acquainted himself with
his future office.
Two issues already confronting Smith
are the establishment of an independent
engineering college at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha and planning the NU
budget.
Smith wouldn’t comment on the engi
neering issue, but he said he would begin
work on the project after a committee study
Smith aiso wouldn’t comment on his
plans for the budget, but he said he would be
heavily involved in the budget-forming pro
cess when he assumed his new post.
He said that compared to California's
budget, which is always being cut, the NU
but’ ’KJkcdgood.
said NU probably had areas that
needed more legislative funds, but he want
ed more time to consider budget details
before he could form an opinion.
“It takes time to really acquaint yourself
with the operations of a university,” he said.
During his February visit, Smith will
meet with chancellors and regents to discuss
university issues in greater detail.
Smith said he didn’t anticipate problems
interacting with the chancellors and planned
to work with them as a team.
The university system is designed so
individual campuses report to chancellors,
chancellors report to him, and he reports to
the NU Board of Regents, Smith said.
“I don’t want to run their campuses,” he
said.
After a meeting with the Ag Builders
organization Wednesday morning, Smith
had a meeting with Gov. Ben Nelson at the
State Capitol.
CFA to begin budget hearings; groups want increases
By Matthew Waite
Senior Report*
The Committee for Fees Allo
cation will begin hearings
today to review budget re
auests of organizations that use stu
ent fees.
The Daily Ne
braskan, the Uni
versity Program
Council and the As
sociation of Stu
of the Uni
versity of Nebras
ka — all Fund A
groups — have submitted requests
thus far.
ASUN, UPC, DN request Fund Astudent fees increase
The committee divides groups us
ing student fees into Fund A and Fund
B, CFA chairwoman Shawntell
Hurt gen said. The groups are divided
based on whether they are student or
professionally operated.
The Fund B groups include the
University Health Center, the Cam
Eus Recreation Center and the Ne
raska Unions. Hurtgcn said these
groups generated much of their own
money.
The Daily Nebraskan is requesting
the largest increase in the Fund A
group. Jeremy Fitzpatrick, Daily Ne
braskan editor, said the newspaper’s
needs were temporary.
“We’re asking for a 12 percent
increase in our student fee this year
only,” Fitzpatrick said.
A 3 percent increase in printing
costs, which carries a $5,750 price
tag, is the reason for the request,
Fitzpatrick said. He said the increase
would give the Daily Nebraskan an
additional $5,000 to cover those costs.
“We’d prefer to ask for none,”
Fitzpatrick said. “We don’t expect to
ask for (a fee increase) next year.”
The semester cost, Fitzpatrick said,
would be 11 cents per student.
ASUN President Keith Benes said
his group had requested a 3.32 percent
increase to cover employees cost-of
1 iving adjustments (COLA) and health
benefit increases.
Offering health care benefits com
parable to tnose of university officials
was ASUN’s goal for its employees,
Benes said.
“One reason we decided to im
prove the benefits is that we do have
good people working here, Bencs
said.
UPC is requesting a 5.29 percent
increase in student fees, President Lia
Jensen said. The fund increase would
not be much different, she said, but
where the money went would.
Jensen said the homecoming bud
get would increase by 75 percent be
cause of a street party. She said using
the Lincoln Police Department for
security would be expensive.
The increase may appear high, ■
Jensen said, but the money for the
homecomingevents would come from
events classified in more than one
area.
