WEDNESDAY
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Today - Sunny and warm.
Near record high.
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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.
