Teachers vie for regents’ seats By Angie Brunkow Senior Reporter Two Nebraska educators are among candidates hoping to help govern higher education to better serve the entire state. Marlene Blakeman of Norfolk recently announced she would com pete for the NU Board of Regents District 3 seat. Two other candi dates are vying for this seat, which will be vacated by Margaret Robinson. Steve Brennan of Omaha will compete against incumbent Rose mary Skrupa for the District 8 seat. Both candidates said they had education experience inside and outside the University of Nebraska system. Brennan, who has a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, has taught in Omaha, Ralston and Valley high schools during the past 12 years. Blakeman did post-graduate work at both UNL and the Univer sity of Nebraska at Omaha and has 27 years of teaching experience as an elementary school teacher. “I have a history of commitment to the field of education, and my aim is to assist in ensuring that the Nebraska university system contin ues to offer the best possible educa tion for our youth and adults,” she said in a press release. Brennan said he would energize the NU system to best serve the state. In the past, closed doors, hidden agendas and mismanaged presiden tial searches have embarrassed the state, he said. “That has been the norm for the regents,” he said. Politics on the board has cost the state money and national stature, he said. Because of problems inprevious NU presidential searches, the sys tem didn’t attract the top candi dates in the recent presidential search, Brennan said. With four seats in contention in this election, however, the leader ship for higher education could change dramatically, he said. “It’s time for the new blood,” Brennan said. He said regents should elimi nate politics on the board and be tween Lincoln and Omaha cam puses and instead work for the good of the state. “There’s so much more the Uni versity ofNebraska can be doing for the state and the student,” he said. One thing the regents should do is to establish an engineering col lege at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, he said. “If that’s what it takes to bring business into Nebraska and into Omaha,” he said, “so be it.” Mercedes-Benz and BMW both considered locating plants in Oma ha, but decided against it partly because of the lack of educational support in the city, he said. “The education, the technology, the engineering classes, staff, pro grams and curriculum all have to be in place as an incentive,” he said. Omaha would be only one of the beneficiaries from such a change, he said. “If Omaha needs an engineering college to bring in more business, that is going to help the entire state.” Emergency phones serve purpose False activation is big problem, vandalism is not By Melanie Brandert Staff Reporter _ Despite a few snags, UNL Code blue emergency phones have been serv ing their purpose. In cases of robberies, stolen vehi cles, assaults, suspicious people and even a needed jump start, UNL police have been able to respond to and aid students who use the emergency phones. UNL Police Sgt. Bill Manning said the phones had helped to give students a sense of security. “It’s the perception ofUNL being a safe campus,” Manning said. “If stu dents feel safe, that helps.” Manning said parents of new stu dents often asked about the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s safety mea sures. The blue phones enable parents to see that measures are be ing taken to ensure students’ safety. “If there is anything we can do to ensure the safety of our students and faculty, we will do everything we pos sibly can,” he said. UNL has been very fortunate in that there have been few tamperings with the code-blue phones since their September 1992 installation. Man ning said. Though one unit was spray-paint ed last semester, few of the new phones have fallen victim to vandalism be cause they are vandal-resistant, he said. The new phones’ self-contained designs make it difficult to remove their parts, uni ike the emergency units previously used on campus. The old phones were sometimes unusable in an emergency because the cords were often cut. Manning said. He said the biggest problem with the emergency phones had been the number of false alarms, at least 95 percent. The high percentage has remained constant since the phones were in stalled, even though the number of calls has decreased from 200 during the first two months of operation to 19 calls last month. Manning said it was difficult to prevent false alarms. Anyone could activate the speaker and walk away before police could arrive. However, he said, authorities are educating students and other poten tial users by explaining the impor tance of using the code-blue phones correctly, he said. “People are getting used to them, and as they see the benefits of the public foremergencies, you won’t have as many activations,” he said. Bruce Bemt, manager of operator services, said students were taking the phones more seriously. “At first it was a novelty item to try out, but now students realize it’s there for a reason,” he said. 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