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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1995)
WEDNESDAY •«<e:»»M«cc3»>K<«e3>»i««e3»>M4«c3»»M<«e:»>N4«::»>M«<e:»»i WEATHER: Today - Sunny and warm. Near record high. South wind 5 to 15 mph. Tonight - Partly cloudy. Low in the lower 50s. _October 11, 1995_ Jay Calderon/DN Duane Acker, former vice chancellor for Agriculture and Natural Resources, speaks Tuesday during the dedication of the new agricultural research and education facility near Ithaca. Agriculture building dedicated By Ted Taylor Staff Reporter ITHACA—The University of Nebraska officially dedicated its newest agricultural research and education facility Tuesday just outside Ithaca. The 23,000-square-foot, $2.3 million building is located in the southwest comer of the Agricultural Research and Development Center. It houses 90 faculty members and 150 graduate students, with room for more. Interim Chancellor Joan Leitzel called the building yet another milestone in the university’s agricultural research program. “This will be the hub for activities per formed both here and at the research and development center,” she said. Leitzel said there were more than 100 projects already under way at the building, and students would use the building for re search to benefit Nebraskans. “Projects addressed here will meet Nebraska’s critical needs,” she said. NU President L. Dennis Smith called the day, “truly exciting,” and agreed with Leitzel. But Smith said the benefits would spread further. “The success of Nebraska agriculture is fundamentally important to not only the slate,” he said, “but to the nation and the world, as well.” Smith spoke briefly about the environ mental aspects of the new structure. Built into the side of a hill, its solar technology makes use of the sun and earth for heating and cooling aids, he said. State Sen. Carol Hudkins of Malcolm addressed the cost issue to more than 100 people in attendance. “There are people in legislature who think the university gets tot) much money,” she said. “But we have to look at what we and the state get for that money.” MosLof the money needed for the build ing was garnered from a cigarette tax, while the remaining $300,000 came from private funds. Several members of the community were on hand to lend their support for the new building. Don Furasek, chairman of the Saunders County Cooperative Extension Board, said the community had been using the facility since it opened in April. “More than 9,000 people have attended meetings and events here in the first seven months it’s been open,” he said. See ITHACA on 3 Residency requirement stricter By Beth Narans Staff Reporter Out-of-state students wanting to attend UNL will face a new policy this year. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s for merly lenient residency policy has become more strict, said Lisa Schmidt, director of admis sions. To attain residency status, the new policy states, students must have graduated from a Nebraska high school or have lived in Nebraska for 12 consecutive months before their applica tion. According to the residency application, some one who moves to Nebraska solely to enroll in -a post-secondary institution is not considered a resident for the duration of his or her atten dance. “Most students would not be able to count time in school toward the 12-month require ment,” Schmidt said. The NU Board of Regents, which made the policy change, looked at the investment UNL was making in out-of-state students and at the policies of other universities, she said. Tire policy is now similar toother colleges in the Big Eight, she said. The regents were concerned whether the change would affect enrollment, Schmidt said. Many out-of-state students chose UNL partly because it was simple to obtain residency, she said. To counteract a possible enrollment drop, regents also passed a scholarship policy that awards more money to out-of-state students, she said. The Scholarship for New Nebraskans has helped attract excellent students from outside of Nebraska, Schmidt said. “We’re very excited about the results,” she said. “We had slightly more students from out of state this year than last year.” Mardi Schmeichel, assistant director for honor student recruitment, said she also was happy with the results of the scholarship. “It has helped us to attract very high-quality students from out of state,” Schmeichel said. Almost 300 scholarships were awarded this year. “The real disadvantage is the student who is not really scholarship-caliber,” Schmidt said. “We’ve had these easy requirements for so long that a lot of students were really counting on it.” Scholarships are awarded on three levels for high school class rank and ACT scores. See RESIDENCY on 3 ASUN senate focuses on student loan cuts By Kasey Kgtger Staff Reporter Protesting possible cuts by Con gress in student loan funding again will be the focus of tonight’s ASUN meeting. Also on the agenda are checks of individual senators’ progress on as signed tasks and making students more aware of Domestic Abuse Month. Congress was originally slated to vote bn the cuts this week, but the vote was delayed until Oct. 27. Association of Students of the Uni versity of Nebraska President Shawntell Hurtgen said the delay gave senators more time to continue mea sures started at last week’s meeting. Those measures include contacting legislators through telephone calls and e-mail. “There are400 legislators that have e-mail addresses,” Hurtgen said. “To save time, we’ve created one letter and are sending copies of it to each of them.” Additional time at the meeting will be devoted to checking senators’ progress on goals they were assigned to meet at the Sept. 27th meeting. The list of goals, which was cre ated by Hurtgen, deals with the con cerns of students and campus organi zations. ASUN also will plan how to make students more aware that October is Domestic Abuse Month. “Last year we handed out ribbons to bring about awareness from the student body,” Hurtgen said. “Unless individual senators suggest other ideas, that’s probably what we will do again this year.” UNO engineering gets a boost oy rauia uavigne Senior Reporter The Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education will approve a minor but important step today to ward improving the UNO engineering program. The 10-member commission will meet at Wayne State College in Wayne. The University of Nebraska at Omaha will use $400,000 to remodel 8,100 square feet of the Engineering Building’s classroom, laboratory and office space. It also will add a 750-square-foot class laboratory to an existing struc ture. Mike Wemhoff, construction co ordinator, examined the buildings. “It’s not a very large project at all,” he said. “It’s not a total renovation.” Wemhoff said the project was the first in a series of renovations that might lead to the approval of con “It'S not a very large project at all. IPs not a total renovation. ” MIKE WEMHOFF Construction coordinator structing a new engineering building next year. The commission must approve any capital construction project that uses state funds after the project is ap proved by the NU Board of Regents. The commission also will take ac tion on the following University of Nebraska items: • Approval of the purchase of 10 tracts of land on the western portion of City Campus for about $651,553. • Acceptance of the military phy sician assistant program by the Uni versity of Nebraska Medical Center at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. • Acceptance of biological sci ences programs through the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln in agricul tural engineering, biological systems engineering, mechanized systems management, water science, agricul tural and biological systems engi neering, forestry, fisheries and wild life. • Acceptance of UNL business administration/accounting and UNO business administration/professional accounting programs. • Hear a deferred-action accep tance on the UNO special education/ hearing-impaired programs.