iNenrasKan
COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 94 NO. 140
inside
T
1 hursday
Sports
Bohl glad to be back at
Nebraska, page 7
Arts & Entertainment
Liam Neeson brings Rob Roy
to the big screen, page 9
April 13, 1995
High-tech
tour looks
at future
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter
Members of the Nebraska Coordinating
Commission for Post-Secondary Education
experimented with advanced educational
technology Wednesday on a tour of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
They spent much of the day looking at
high-tech computer applications, interac
tive classrooms and multimedia projects.
But when it came to the simple task of
pulling out of a parking lot, they ran over a
pole with their van.
Driver Alvah Kilgore, associate vice
chancellor for academic affairs, managed
to free the vehicle, and the group was on its
way.
The new media lab in Mabel Lee Hall
gave the members a chance to work hands
on with multimedia technology.
They watched several demonstrations,
including an interactive resume and a video
oriented sign language program.
The commission’s executive director,
David Powers, said he was impressed with
the technology and asked if it was business
oriented and cost effective.
The goal of the commission, he said, was
to serve the interests of post-secondary edu
cation throughout Nebraska, not just UNL.
“We have to find out how to reach the
rest of higher education,” he said. “We need
to find out how does one promote it? How
can it be transferred?”
The group saw a long-distance learning
demonstration in the College of Business
Administration, where video cameras were
sending a live broadcast of a human-com
puter interaction class to downlink sites
across the state.
Satellite links and other distance-learn
ing capabilities would allow institutions to
reduce the 85 percent of their budgets they
spend on staff salaries, Powers said, and
give students more “bang for their buck.”
In the Neihardt Residence Center cafete
ria, Powers and the other commission mem
bers mingled with a group of honors stu
dents and Patrice Berger, honors program
director.
Mike Wemhoff, facilities coordinator,
said he wanted to test out the food before his
son, Adam Hoffman, a senior at Lincoln
JonWaller/DN
Joyce Yen, a senior mathematics major and a member of the UNL Honors
Program, speaks with John Ingran of the Nebraska Coordinating
Commission for Post-Secondary Education Wednesday afternoon. Yen
and six other Honor Program students ate lunch with commissioners.
East, came to UNL next year.
At East Campus, the group toured inter
active classrooms, some of which were so
new that the chairs were still wrapped in
plastic and wires covered the floors.
Donald Edwards, dean of the College of
Agricultural Sciences and Natural Re
sources, challenged the group by asking,
“Is this facility a fad, or is it the way of the
future?”
Lawmakers
postpone vote
on welfare bill
By John Fulwider
Staff Reporter
Nebraska’s welfare program destroys self
respect, the sponsor of the welfare reform bill
told lawmakers Wednesday.
Sen. Ardyce Boh Ike of
Hastings said her bill “dis
mantles a system that de
stroys self-respect, destroys
family units, and doesnoth
ing to preserve work ethics
and responsibility.”
After nearly two hours of
discussion, legislators did
LEGISLATURE
not vote on advancing the
bill to the second round of
debate.
The bill would end cash benefits to able
bodied welfare recipients after two years. It
would still provide food stamps, child care and
medical assistance for another two years.
Child care is a major feature of the reform
plan. It would provide free child care for two
years after a woman receiving Aid to Families
with Dependent Children benefits returns to
work. The present system provides only one
year of child care.
The bill also would:
— Allow recipients to own one car and still
receive benefits. Under the current system, a
car is counted as a resource, rendering many
car owners ineligible for benefits.
— Remove the requirement that one parent
be absent, incapacitated or unemployed to
receive benefits. Bohlke said the requirement
often forced the father to live separate from the
mother, weakening the family structure.
— Require welfare recipients to meet the
terms of a self-sufficiency agreement to re
ceive benefits.
The agreement requires welfare recipients
to take job training or college courses to help
them find jobs.
The agreement also prohibits additional
cash payments for additional children. Bohlke
said responsible decision making included fam
ily planning.
Sen. LaVon Crosby of Lincoln was a vocal
opponent of the bill.
She said the two-year cutoff could be unre
alistic in some cases. For example, she said, a
mother enrolled in a 4-year college would
eventually be able to support herself — but two
years of cash benefits may not be enough to
support her through college.
Homeless
man jailed
for assault
From Staff Reports
A Lincoln man remained in jail
Wednesday after police arrested him
on a charge of assaulting a UNL
student.
David Garnett, 23, is charged with
misdemeanor assault in connection
with an incident that occurred early
Sunday. He is being held on a $5,000
percentage bond. Garnett, who UNL
Police Sgt. Bill Manning said was
homeless, was arrested at the Peoples
City Mission, 110 Q St.
A sophomore student gave the fol
lowing account to police:
Shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday, the
woman was returning to her room in
Pound Hall. She got out of her car and
walked westbound in the gravel park
ing lot near the northeast comer of
See ARREST on 6
Spanier’s influence to last at UNL
By J. Christopher Hain
Senior Reporter '
Chancellor Graham Spanier will
leave UNL at the end of the summer,
but his influence will live on through
the campus programs he helped cre
ate.
While at the University of Ne
braska-Lincolnr Spanier created sev
eral successful programs, such as the
chancellor’s leadership class, the Dual
Career program and the faculty asso
ciate program.
Spanier, who has been chancellor
since 1991, will leave Aug. 15 to
assume the presidency of Penn State
University.
Alexia Scott, who participated in
the first chancellor’s leadership class
in the 1993-94 school year, said
Spanier’s involvement in the class
was excellent.
Spanier speaks to the class often.
He had the students to his house for
dinner and participated in a fireside
chat with them.
Spanier’s departure will create a
chance to work with someone new,
Scott said, and the class will continue
to move forward without Spanier.
The Dual Career program is an
idea Spanier brought with him from
Oregon State University, where he
served as provost and vice president
for academic affairs. The program
helps find employment for partners
of new faculty and staff moving to
Lincoln.
Spanier provided initial guidance
in developing the program, said Eliza
beth Grobsmith, associate vice chan
cellor for academic affairs. But since
that time, others Have taken over and
moved on with the program, she said.
Such a program is important for
recruiting faculty, she said, so the
program won’t be flying away with
Spanier.
Spanier started the faculty associ
ate program three years ago, allow
ing women and minority faculty mem
bers considering careers in adminis
tration to work on a half-time basis in
“He’s really gotten to
know some of the
students. ”
■
BRIAN BUESCHER
Faculty Fellows participant
the chancellor’s office.
Ann Mari May, the faculty associ
ate this year, said the program had
allowed her to get a broad view of the
university.
May, an associate professor of
economics, said whether the program
continued probably would depend on
the personality of the new chancel
lor.
“(Spanier) has tried to provide
avenues to people,” May said. “But
the program wouldn’t be a good idea
if you had a chancellor who didn’t
have a commitment toward it.”
Spanier also has been actively in
volved in Faculty Fellows, a program
pairing faculty members with stu
dent affairs administrators and match
ing them with one of 13 residence
hall floors.
Spanier personally has been in
volved with the honors floors at
Neihardt Hall.
Brian Buescher, an honors student
in the Faculty Fellows program, said
Spanier had taken a sincere interest
in the program.
Buescher and several other honors
students spent Jan. 1 watching the
Orange Bowl and eating pizza at
Spanier’s house as part of Faculty
Fellows.
Spanier has done a number of other
things with the honors students,
Buescher said.
“He’s really gotten to know some
of the students,” he said.
Buescher said there had even been
talk on the honors floors of throwing
Spanier a going-away party.
