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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1995)
UNL grading system challenged By Brian Sharp Senior Reporter The current grading policy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is unhealthy, the faculty senate presi dent said this weekend. And some members of the NU Board of Regents are concerned stu dents may be suffering under a policy mi QEI*Etn£ that devaluates the NU nCUCNIO university diploma. Members of the board’s Academic Affairs Committee discussed the policy Saturday. Fred Choobineh said in a telephone interview Saturday that more than 3 0 percent of the grades. awarded at UNL each year were A’s or A-pluses. The result, he said, is that a 3.5 GPA doesn’t pull the same weight coming from UNL as it does from the University of Purdue or Iowa State University. “Recruiters (for graduate schools) recognize that perhaps our grade point averages are a little bit higher than other institutions,” he said. For example, he said, a UNL grade point average of 3.5 is equivalent to a 3.1 at Iowa State. Choobineh delivered that message to the Academic Affairs Committee Friday. The issue was raised by Re gent Charles Wilson of Lincoln after faculty senates on the Omaha and Kearney campuses voted to add mi nus grades to their current grading policy and UNL rejected the proposal. Those actions resulted in an appar ent fracture of a university-wide grad ing policy. Faculty senate presidents from Omaha and Kearney also spoke at the meeting and maintained their com mitments to minus grades. Regent Chuck Hassebrook of Walthill said Saturday he wasn’t con vinced the current policy needed changing, but added that if GPAs were being inflated, the value of degrees was being deflated. Choobineh said the ills of the cur rent system and inflated GPAs were not a result of the policy. The real problem, he said, is the people using the policy. “It really doesn’t make any differ ence what grading system we use,” Choobineh said. “If we use it appro priately, it’s going to work.” James Ford, an associate profes sor of English, has brought the issue of minus grades before the faculty senate for the past two years. The proposal was rejected both times. But now, he said, increasing atten tion is being paid to the fact that UNL’s policy is unhealthy, as Choobineh described it. Ford said the vice chancellors for academic and student affairs were going over the grading issue and track ing departmental trends. Discussions also have been held about forming a committee to study UNL grading policy, he said. The academic climate at UNL is such that grades arc being awarded on effort rather than achievement, Ford “It really doesn't make any difference what grading system we use. If we use it appropriately, it's going to work." ■ FRED CHOOBINEH Faculty senate president said. Evaluating student work is not taken seriously, he said. Wilsdh said the board’s only role would be to review thccurrent policy and recommend possible action. The board’s main interest is to make sure any policy adopted allows for easy student transfer among campuses and that it satisfies the faculty and stu dents. Choobineh said the faculty presi dents still were negotiating, and UNK and UNO were waiting to see if they can bring UNL back into the fold. That is unlikely, he said. Instead, Choobineh said, they should define the translation of grades into linguistic terms, such as excel lent, good and poor. Over the years, he said, definitions have changed. And now, he said, they’re not only different outside of the university but within the NU sys tem. * Landscape weathers unpredictable spring By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter Although April showers bring May flowers, March snows don’t do them much good. Blooming daffodils, tulips, yel low forsythia and other signs of spring on campus may be put on hold after this week. The National Weather Service predicted rain mixed with flurries and temperatures in the 50s for southeast Nebraska today. But Tuesday through Thursday calls for lows from 10 to 20 and highs from 25 to 35. Above-normal temperatures in February made plants and trees bloom early, more than three months before Nebraska’s last freeze date in the middle of May. But Nebraska’s unpredictable spring weather is a factor that Wilbur Dasenbrock, director of Landscape Services at the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln, has to contend with every year. Dasenbrock said temperatures below 20 could damage or destroy early-season flowers such as daffo dils, lenten roses, tulips, pasque flowers and magnolia, as well as witch hazel, redbud trees and for sythia bushes. “What nature hands you, you have to deal with,” he said. Although the flowers and blos soms would be damaged, he said, the plants would be able to survive. But there are never any guaran tees. “Then there are those surprises when we do get wiped out,” he said. Some trees, such as the magno lia, have one chance to bloom, he said, and if they freeze, it’s “wait until next year.” The university combats late frost by planting a variety of flowers, trees and bushes so there always are backups, Dasenbrock said. He said irises, roses, chrysan themums, late lilacs and other pe rennial flowers that bloom in late spring, summer or fall were safe from frost damage. Dasenbrock said his department didn’t have the manpower or re sources to cover all the plants on campus to protect them from frost damage. “We rely on common sense and planting things that survive the Ne braska climate.” Planting a variety of vegetation helps ward off the effects of dam aging temperatures, drought, hail and wind. “As many things attack plants as people,” he said. “You get colds, pneumonia — you name it. The same thing is true in the plant king dom.” Williams Continued from Page 1 were responsible for their compensa tion, he said. Last week’s stay sent the case back to the county courts for an evidentiary hearing. Federal officials have since expressed reluctance in continuingtopay Williams’ legal fees, i The county has a public? defender for that purpose, but Williams has previously raised a conflict-of-inter est issue in that a former employee from that office was a witness for the prosecution. Lacey, who participated in theorigi nal prosecution of Williams, said no decision had been reached as of late Friday. District Court Judge Donald Endacott will set the hearing date for Williams. Endacott was out of the office Friday, and Lacey said he was not yet prepared to ask Endacott for the hearing. Richard Shugrue, a Creighton Uni versity law professor, said the issue that resulted in the execution stay was “hardly a technicality, at least at this stage of the game.” At 10:01 last Wednesday morning, before a room packed with reporters and photographers, a stay of execu tion was lifted by the Board of Par dons. i uc meeting grew tense alter sec retary of State Scott Moore, the only member arguing for a hearing, charged the governor and attorney general with being involved in “an ongoing battle to see who can be the toughest.” The three-member panel voted unanimously, however, to deny Will iams’ request for a hearing, which had resulted in a stay being issued Tues day evening. A representative from the penitentiary then told the board the execution could be carried out in three hours. Moments later, the Nebraska Su preme Court stayed the execution in definitely. The stay came after the court re ceived a statement from Barbara Boyce, a juror in Williams’ trial. A jury is instructed to avoid the media, to not discuss the case and to not take notes during trial. Boyce stated that she focused on what was said during the trial and made notes, including the specifics of times and places, when she was alone. Boyce stated that she used maps at home to verify “how plausible it would be that a man undo' the influence of drugs and/or alcohol could have ex ecuted the flight path he did.” Williams had left Lincoln after committing the murders and traveled to Cherokee County, Iowa; St. Paul, ; Minn.; and Chicago before returning to Lincoln, where he was arrested. “I felt that I could not accept the plea of guilty by reason of insanity.... I presented this thinking to the other members of the jury ... (and) did ex plain the specifics of how far apart thes&locations were.” No such maps or information were presented in the courtroom by either side. After the verdict, Williams’ law "Had this been known 17years ago, it clearly would have been a legitimate basis for appeal. ” ■ RICHARD 8HUQRUE Creighton University law profes sor yers tried to interview the jurors, Shugrue said, but they refused. “Had this been known 17 years ago, it clearly would have been a le gitimate basis for appeal,” he said. Shugrue said the court would de cide if the information influenced the jurors and if it helped determine their decision. The problem, he said, is that not all the jurors can be located, and there is a question of how reliable their testimony is 17 years later, given the obvious pressure on their answers. In the meantime, he said, Lacey will be under extreme political pres sure to not appear as if he is negotiat ing with the defense. Lacey said he had not talked to Boyce as of Friday but was interview ing the other jurors. “Jury misconduct strikes directly at the integrity of due process,” Shugrue said. “It’s a very interesting legal problem. This whole procedure proves to us once again that no sys tem, including the criminal justice system, is perfect.” No matter what the decision, both sides could appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Shugrue said. If a mistrial is declared, a new trial would most likely result and Williams would remain in prison. If he is acquitted of all charges, he would then be extradited to Iowa for a rape and murder he allegedly commit ted there the day after the Lincoln murders, Powers said. _ Get No Service Charge Checking And A FREE Gift From FirsTier! Get a terrific FREE gift when you open any personal checking account at FirsTier. 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