Hassebrook
Continued from Page 1
“It’s vital now that the Board of Re
gents play an active oversight role in
making sure those policies are en
acted,” he said.
Regents’ role
Hassebrook said the Board of Re
gents' purpose was tomake decisions
on important issues, such as the mis
sion of the university, the accessibil
ity of higher education to all Nebras
kans in terms of cost and the quality of
that education.
“What is the fundamental mission
of the university?” Hassebrook said.
“Where is this institution headed?
Those are the kind of issues the Ne
braska Board of Regents should be
concerned with.”
Though the regents should be able
to make decisions on those issues
independently, Hassebrook said, they
also should cooperate with NU Presi
dent Dennis Smith.
If elected, Hassebrook said, he
looked forwardto working with Smith.
“He’s a very capable man,”
Hassebrook said. “Sometimes I agree
with him, and sometimes I don’t.”
Budget
Hassebrook said he agreed with
Smith’s decision earlier this year to
take more control of the NU budget.
In recent years, the Legislature has
assumed control of NU’s budget,
specifying how state money should
be divided among each individual
campus.
Under that system, representatives
from each campus lobbied the Legis
lature for their campus’ own budget
ary needs.
With Smith's announced change,
the president will deal with the chan
cellors of each campus and then de
cide the budgetary needs of the entire
system, giving the Legislature only
one person to consult.
Hassebrook said he supported that
plan.
“He’s not taking authority away
from the regents,” Hassebrook said.
“ He’s taking authority away from each
individual college.”
Hassebrook said NU campuses
should not compete for state funds by
lobbying the Legislature indepen
dently.
Hassebrook said the Coordination
Commission for Post-Secondary Edu
cation should act to oversee the indi
vidual campuses to make sure they
were not competing with each other.
One university
Hassebrook said the regents should
view the uni versity as a system — not
as four individual campuses.
“We need to think of the university
as a system that provides education to
people across the whole state.”
Hassebrook said he opposed the
creation of a second engineering col
lege at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha.
The university should provide ad
ditional engineering classes and fac
ulty at UNO, but, he said, creating a
second engineering college in Omaha
would only shift the university’s re
sources from education to adminis
trative bureaucracy.
Vrbricky
Continued from Page 1
Vrbicky also said the university
should acknowledge excellence in
teaching by encouraging faculty to
return from the research lab back into
the classroom.
“Students’ learning has to be our
first priority,” he said, “not only in
Nebraska, but across the country.”
All university campuses should
strive forexcellence in higher educa
tion, Vrbicky said. But, he said, in
order to keep education affordable in
Nebraska, the University of Nebraska
Lincoln campus should be the state’s
research campus.
Engineering
Vrbicky said he opposed the cre
ation of a second engineering college
at the University of Nebraska at
Omaha. UNL currently houses the
university’s only engineering college.
“I don’t believe that we can afford
duplication,” he said. However, he
said, the quality of the engineering
program at UNO should be improved.
Vrbicky said the role of the Coor
dinating Committee for Post-Second
ary Education was to prevent the kind
of duplication that would occur with
the creation of a second engineering
college.
He said it was not the coordinating
commission’s role to micromanage
the university.
“For the committee to really be
effective,” he said, “it needs to pre
vent duplication and stimulate the
cooperation between our different
campuses and between our different
entities of higher education, both pri
vate and public, in the state.”
Vrbicky said the Board of Regents
and the coordinating comm ission m ust
have a working relationship in order
to be effective.
Budget
Vrbicky said he believed NU Presi
dent Dennis Smith was committed to
improving the quality of higher edu
cation in Nebraska.
“He’s dedicated to the fact that
quality on our campuses should be
job one,” Vrbicky said.
Vrbicky said he supported Smith’s
plan to place control of NU’s budget
in the hands of the university presi
dent instead of in the hands of the
Legislature.
Under Smith’s plan, the president
will deal with the chancellors of each
campus and then decide the budget
ary needs of the whole system.
Vrbicky said Smith’s plan made
sense because the separate campuses
should not compete with each other
for funds.
“That isn’t the way to do busi
ness,” he said.
In order to ensure that the percent
age of state funds for the university
doesn't continue to decrease as they
have in recent years, Vrbicky said, the
regents must communicate the im
portance of higher education to mem
bers of the Legislature.
“I plan to be very involved in com
municating with our Legislature and
in emphasizing to them how impor
tant higher education is to our stu
dents,” he said.
Bom and raised in Platte Center,
Hassebrook received his bachelor’s
degree in university studies from the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After
graduation, Hassebrook spent 10
months working with the impoverished
as a vista volunteer.
Since 1978, Hassebrook has been
a program leader for stewardship and
technology at the Center for Rural Af
fairs inWalthill.
Hassebrook serves on the board
of directors for Bread for the World, a
national Christian anti-hunger organi
zation. He also serves on the U.S. De
partment of Agriculture’s Agricultural
Science and Technology Review
Board.
In addition, Hassebrook serves on
the UNL leader team for Nebraska Net
work 21, an organization created to re
design UNL’s agriculture and food pro
grams for the 21 st century.
Vrbicky, who was bom in Colum
bus and raised in Clarkson, received a
bachelor’s degree in arts and sciences
from Creighton University in Omaha.
He received a medical degree from the
University of Creighton Medical
School, where he later worked as a
faculty member.
For the past 10 years, Vrbicky has
been with a private medical practice in
Norfolk. He serves on the Norfolk
Catholic School Board and is a mem
ber of St. Mary’s Parish in Norfolk.
Vrbicky also served as chief of
staff at Lutheran Community Hospital
from 1989-91.
The "7 stands for its original "7-ounce bottle and “LJp" refers to its bubbly nature.
Save on the original Un-Cola as well as Diet 7-Up,
Cherry 7-Up and Diet Cherry 7-Up.
. •
m
Jeff Haller/DN
Jeff Bliss, left, of Albany, N.Y., and Will Costln of Aberdeen,
Scotland, hang out and share stories at the hostel In the
basement of Cornerstone In Lincoln Saturday night.
Lincoln’s hostel gives
travelers place to rest
By Jo«l Strauch
Senior Reporter
When most people think of the
low-cost, short-term housing called
hostels, they think of half-starved stu
dents hiking across Europe.
In fact, around 220 hostels exist in
the United States. Lincoln has been
home to the only hostel in Nebraska
for more than 20 years.
Located in the basement of the
United Ministries building, the Cor
nerstone Hostel has been catering to
people from around the world who
have been traveling across America.
Jennifer Frye, one of the house
managers for the hostel, said many
international travelers came to Lin
coln.
“They come from everywhere —
South America, Europe, Asia,” she
said. " We get mostly Europeans. Since1
hostel ing started over there, they know
how to use it more."
“They are really kind; we love to
have the Europeans here,” Frye said.
“Most of the people we get are travel
ers, but we do get some transients
coming through*
Christa Joy, the study abroad coor
dinator for International Affairs and a
member of the board of directors of
Hosteling International, said the hos
tel in Lincoln was remodeled just two
years ago.
“It now has shower and laundry
facilities in addition to the kitchen
facilities, bunk beds and the common
area,” she said. The hostel has eight
beds and can bring out mats to accom
modate others.
Joy said hostels were ideal for
people looking to travel light. The
Cornerstone hostel has that covered.
Patrons can stay for as little as $8. if
they are members of Hosteling Inter
national. Nonmembers pay $ 10.
“Hostels cater to people who travel
under their own steam and the idea is
to keep it as inexpensive as possible,"
Joy said.
Lincoln’s hostel, however, is not
used as much as hostels that offer
more services in larger cities, Frye
said.
“We’re used less frequently be
cause we’re a supplemental hostel as
opposed to a ftill-service hostel," Frye
said. “A full-service hostel is larger
and has more facilities than a supple
mental hostel.”
Joy said the Cornerstone hostel
housed 250 to300 travelers each year.
Most of these patrons come through
during the summer, the high travel
seasons, which Frye said was still
going.
“We’re still pretty busy now," Frye
said. “It'll taper off when the snow
comes and pick back up in March or
April."
Travelers in Europe get around
mostly by train. Travelers in the United
States have a few options for trans
port.
“Most people take Greyhound, and
a few use Amtrak.” Frye said. "There
is also a service that rental-car com
panies offer where travelers can re
turn cars that have gone one way, and
all they have to pay for is the gas.”
Joy said each hostel was unique.
“Each one is different," she said.
“There are free-standing hostels, home
hostels and in California there is even
a hostel in a lighthouse."