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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 94 NO. 74
liberty: ‘I didn’t have any choice’
Dismissal linked
to engineering
debate, dean says
By MT Zglgny
Editor
Stan Liberty said the debate over creating a
separate engineering college in Omaha was the
key to his removal as dean of the College of
Engineering and Technology.
Liberty said his high profile in the engi
i
ncering debate was the main reason he was
forced to step down by UNL Senior Vice Chan
cellor for Academic Affairs Joan Leitzel.
“She felt that I had been wounded in my
future effectiveness because of that,” Liberty
told the Daily Nebraskan Wednesday night.
“She said it was a perception shared between
herself and others. Personally, I don’t see any
indication.
“We have been involved in this for 16
months and the college has not fallen back. In
fact, we have hit some of our high points.”
Leitzel has maintained that Liberty’s dis
missal as dean was not linked to the engineer
ing college debate. She said her decision was
based upon the findings from Liberty’s five
year personnel review.
“I cannot explain the negatives of the per
sonnel review,” she said Wednesday. “We can
not disclose the ingredients.”
Liberty told engineering faculty and staff
Tuesday that he would step down, effective Jan.
1. Liberty said that decision came from a Nov.
15 meeting with Leitzel.
He said he had not debated the decision with
Leitzel or University 6f Nebraska-Lincoln
Chancellor Graham Spanier.
“Administrators serve at the pleasure of
those above them. If the pleasure runs out, it’s
all over,” Liberty said. “I didn’t have any
choice.”
Liberty said his removal had not soured him.
He said he intended to focus on his new posi
tion of developing the UNL Technology Park
and working with the.NU Foundation.
“Now, I have to focus on my next task,”
Liberty said. “Then I will focus on what I would
like to do cither here or at other institutions.”
Liberty said he hadn’t had time to think
about specific long-term plans. He remains a
tenured professor in the College of Engineer
ing and Technology.
The timing of Tuesday’s announcement has
puzzled many.
See LIBERTY on 6
__ . . _ ... Garik Parmala/DN
. ,iln L5[n<i^ pr®I**sor °* biological sciences at the University of Nebraska-Uncoln, holds an Beuthorodactylus
rulzl frog In Ms office on Tuesday afternoon. Lynch describes himself as an evolutionist who Is enthusiastic
about frogs and has traveled to Colombia every year for the past 17 years to study them.
frogs stand in professor’s debt
Amphibians owe names,
discovery to frequent hops
around South America
By Julia Sabczyk
Staff Reporter
Eveiy year John Lynch spends his sum
mer in South America doing what some
people might consider
FACULTY strange.
* ”^01 1 1 “I go down there to
prollle work on frogs,” Lynch,
J, a professor of biology at
A the University of Nc
braska-Lincoln, said.
Most of his time in
South America is spent
% in Bogota, Colombia,
and other areas of the
country catching frogs,
working in museums and interacting with
friends in the area.
Lynch said he used the frogs for studies
on evolution.
“I study frogs because I would like them
to be used in evaluating theories about evo
lution,” he said.
The first step in studying frogs involves
taking pictures and catching them to iden
tify different species.
“I’m trying to find out what kinds of
frogs occur in particular places,” Lynch
said. “I document who was living in the
places I caught them at.”
Lynch has been traveling to South
America since 1967. For the last 17 years.
Lynch has been identifying frogs in Colom
bia. Through his studies, Lynch has found
species of frogs that had never been identi
fied before.
“There are a great many species that
aren’t identified,” he said. “I end up hav
ing to name a lot of them.”
As a result, Lynch has six different types
of frogs and one type of lizard named after
him. He identified the most recent frog, the
Hyla lynchi, last year.
Before becoming interested in frogs,
Lynch said he studied snakes while attend
ing the University of Illinois.
He later turned to studying frogs because
of the encouragement he received from a
professor.
Although identifying frogs can be com
plicated, Lynch said, he still enjoys it.
“One reason I enjoy it is I’m quite good
at it,” Lynch said. “I get pleasure out of dis
covering. I don’t worry about if what I find
will help humankind. If I can help people
appreciate it, that will mean it’s worth
while.”
Lynch uses information gained in South
America in the classes he teaches at UNL.
“I like to give general biology students a
sense of what the tropics are like,” he said.
Lynch said he liked to excite his students
about research and discovery.
“The more you know, the more you can
find out,” he said. “Discovery is something
everyone needs to experience.”
Lynch said he planned to continue his
study of frogs.
“Having invested 30 years in the study
of frogs, I’m not about to abandon it for
anything else.”
Reggie Baul
is found guilty
in wallet theft
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
UNL football player Reggie Baul was found
guilty of theft on Wednesday after pleading no
contest to the charge.
Lancaster County Judge Donald Grant or
dered Baul to pay $ 124 in fines and court costs.
Baul, a junior split end, was released after re
questing time to pay the fine.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said after
practice on Wednesday that he was aware of
the charge but hadn’t heard the court decision.
Baul was convicted for taking a University
of Nebraska-Lincoln student’s wallet from a
Village Inn Restaurant, 2949 N. 27th St., on
Nov. 20. Several items from the wallet never
were recovered.
“If somebody is guilty of something, we’re
going to have to do something,” Osborne told
the Daily Nebraskan. >
Osborne called Baul over to talk to him as
players were leaving after practice on Wednes
day. Osborne was visibly upset while confront
ing Baul, repeatedly shaking his head and
shrugging.
Police reports gave the following account
of the Nov. 20 incident:
A female student from Pleasant Dale was
at the restaurant that evening with friends.
See ARRAIGNMENT on 6
Neither dean
up for review
will return
By D*Dra Janssen
Senior Reporter
Two UNL deans were up for review this
year, and neither will return to his post in Janu
ary.
Gary Schwendiman announced on Nov. 21
that he would step down as dean of the Col
lege of Business Administration on Jan. 1.
Schwendiman, who has been dean for 17 years,
said he was resigning to take on new chal
lenges.
Stan Liberty, dean of the College of Engi
neering and Technology, announced Tuesday
that he also would step down as dean at the
first of the year. University of Nebraska-Lin
coln administrators decided not to reappoint
Liberty, who has been dean for 13 years.
Joan Leitzel, senior vice chancellor for aca
demic affairs at UNL, is in charge of college
deans. Leitzel said both deans were evaluated
as part of a new five-year review plan.
The five-year reviews began at UNL last
See DEANS on 3
