M SPORTS
Silent Sticks
The Nebraska baseball
team will try to break
out of its hitting slump
during this week's series
with Oklahoma State.
Page 5
Wednesday
47/28
Today, partly sunny
and warmer.
March 30, 1994
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 93 No. 130
New task force
on engineering
in the making
By Brian Sharp
Staff Reporter
task force formed tolook intoengineer
up of people from the Lincoln and
Omaha areas and should be formed in a few
weeks, NU spokesman Joe Rowson said.
The task force, to be appointed by University
of Nebraska President Dennis Smith, could
keep open the debate about establ ish ing a sepa
rate college of engineering at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha for another six months.
For Stan Liberty, dean of the engineering
college at the University ofNcbraska-Lincoln,
a decision can’t be reached soon enough.
“There is a sense of anxiety that is continu
ing to build,” he said.
And with another task force having to ad
dress questions left unanswered by the first
group of consultants, anxiety may reach new
heights.
The original consultants were asked “to
identify critical factors, to assess needs, and to
assess how best to match the university’s and
the state’s resources to these needs.”
The conclusion made by the team was that an
independent college of engineering should be
established in Omaha.
“Time and effort, along with some money,
were in part wasted (with the first group),”
Liberty said, “and now we have the thing prob
ably for another six months.
“I would say that the UNL faculty has shown
tremendous resilience.”
Rowson said he was confident the new task
force would meet their charge within the six
month time limit.
Although the first group took four months,
he said, a lot of time was lost just getting
everyone together. Members of the first group
were from states as distant as Maryland and
New Mexico.
Rowson said the new task force would be
challenged with developing specific plans for
how to implement the consultants’ recommen
dations, including a strategic plan for state,
t Omaha and Lincoln campuses and the possibil
ity of a new college.
i ng educat ion in Nebraska wil 1 be made
“I’m hoping this will be the way to get to the
problem,” Rowson said.
Fred Choobinch, president-elect of the UNL
Academic Senate, said recent action, including
Smith’s request to allocate $200,000 to the
Omaha campus for immediate demands, had
calmed the debate for now.
“1 think this (the allocation) was done to
quiet folks until we have enough data to make
a long-term decision,” Choobinch said.
But in making that decision, the current
needsofUNL’scollege must not beoverlooked,
he said.
“We have to be conscious of the fact that
UNL has a number of unmet needs,” he said.
Choobinch cited issues such as instructor
recruitment and technology in the classroom.
Choobinch also said he didn’t believe there
was enough demand to support two engineer
ing colleges in the state, considering the college
at UNL already had a lack of funds.
“We have to attend to those (areas) first
before we persist in duplicating campuses.”
Construction complete
iravis i-ieying/utN
Ironically, one of the first vehicles to come over the newly completed 10th Street viaduct Tuesday morning was
one used to build it. The barricades that averted traffic in the opposite direction for more than a year were
removed at 10 a.m., and the bridge was opened to traffic.
ASUN worth sacrifices, Benes says
Outgoing president
proud of achievements
By Heather Lampe
Staff Reporter
An extra year of school and little study
time during the past year are small
sacrifices for the experience of being
student body president, outgoing ASUN Presi
dent Keith Bencs said Tuesday.
Wednesday night will sig
nal the end of the presi
dency for Benes, who plans
to broaden his horizons at
a law school somewhere
other than Nebraska.
A communications stud
ies major, Benes said he
gained invaluable experi
ciha; a> ui mi
Benes Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska that he wouldn’t
have learned anywhere else.
He said he hoped people would remember
him as someone who worked well with the NU
Board of Regents and the Nebraska Legislature
to get across student views.
“I feel I’ve learned more than I could even
describe,” Benes said. “If I gave back to the
university at least as much as I got back, then
I’m confident that I served well.”
Bcncs said he made his duties as student
body president his top priority.
“I figured that in my classes, my responsibil
ity was just to myself, but as student body
president and student regent, my responsibility
was to all the students.”
In making the ASUN presidency his greatest
commitment, Benes said he was able to accom
plish a lot in one year.
He is most proud of ASUN’s extensive lob
bying efforts.
The student senate lobbied the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Academic Senate to prevent
the adoption of a 40-point grading scale. Stu
dent senators also did a lot of work on the anti
hazing bill, LB1129, which will receive final
reading today.
“It wasn’t specifically me, but I was proud of
it. I’m glad I got toplay a part in the anti-hazing
bill,” Benes said. “I got to think of the wording
of the bill, so that there was a student’s point of
view.”
ASUN also worked with the parking com
mittee during the past year to support some
changes, including a proposed parking garage,
a restructuring in parking fees and changes in
the shuttle service.
Benes also is proud of bringing the green
space issue to students’ attention.
-44
If I gave back to the
university at least as much
as I got back, then I’m
confident that I served well.
— Benes
outgoing ASUN president
yy
“People say that since (administrators) didn’t
agree with us, they didn’t listen. But they did
listen, and in the future they will be more tuned
to our opinions,” Bcncs said.
Bencs said he hoped to be involved in stu
dent government in some form next year, but
only if he could continue to contribute.
“There’s a fine line between hanging on and
giving back,” he said.
Benes said he could keep involved possibly
by helping organize another conference of Big
Eight student governments, which UNL hosted
this year.
Bencs said he would like to help make the
conference more formal.
“It has the possibility of growing into an
affiliation of student governments that might
give us more of a voice. The more people, the
more effective you can be.”
Proposed smoking ban gets local support
By Matthew Waite
S0nk>r Rtporfr____
Few smokers at the University of Nc
braska-Lincoln arc fuming about pro
posed federal legislation to ban smoking
in all indoor public places.
A HouseofRcprescntativcs subcommittee is
debating legislation that would ban smoking in
all places except outdoors and private homes.
Smokers would no longer be able to light up at
work, in bars or in restaurants.
UNL has already adopted its own smoking
ban. Students, faculty and staff arc prohibited
from smoking in any university building. The
only exception is that students living in resi
dence halls can smoke in their rooms.
Should that ban be expanded by the federal
government? Many UNL smokers said they
wouldn’t mind.
Allison Schluchtcr, a sophomore general
studies major, said she supported the proposal.
“I pretty much smoke outside and in my
house anyway,” she said. “I think people have
a right to not breathe my smoke.”
Schluchter said there had been a flood of
legislation toenforce policies of the anti-smok
ing movement, but it was only temporary.
“(The anti-smoking movement) is going to
go to a certain point and stop,” she said.
Schluchtcr said the smoking legislation would
stop with the current proposal.
Sean Peters, a sophomore business major,
said even though he was a smoker, he did not
have any problems with the proposed ban.
“I don't like smoking. I want to quit,” he
said.
Peters said he had roommates who didn’t
smoke, so he usually smoked outside.
It gets a little cold in the winter, out tnai s
no problem,” he said.
Smoking probably will not be banned alto
gether, because the tobacco lobby in Washing
ton is too strong, Peters said. He said banning
smoking wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen
topcoplc.
“Everyone would be better oil if they quit,”
Peters said
Bill Udell, a freshman biology major and a
nonsmokcr, said he supported the smoking ban,
but he saw both sides of the issue.
“1 think as far as the hazards of secondhand
smoke goes, I think smok ing should be banned,”
he said. “In terms of personal liberties, I think
(the proposed ban) is leaning on infringement,
but the benefits far outweigh the i nfringements. ”
Tina Ksia/ek, a freshman business finance
major and a nonsmoker, agreed. She said the
neann concerns ouiweigneu me personal in
fringements.
“If people really want to smoke that bad,
they’ll go anywhere,” she said.
History professor Edward Hom/.c, who
smokes a pipe, said he supported the smoking
ban proposal. He said smoking should not be
considered a constitutional right.
“It’s a bad, nasty habit—that’s all,” Homze
said.
The anti-smoking movement may be just a
fad, Homze said. In turn, he said, smoking itself
may be a fad.
However, Homze said, there is a definite
movement in the United States that discourages
smoking.
“We’ve moved away from everybody smok
ing to where it’s less socially acceptable,” he
said. “We’ve learned more about it.”
