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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 77 - —
_December 11, 1995
z' ^ ---—
Regents debate new UNO engineering plan
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter
A proposal for an information sci
ence and technology college at UNO
is a weak substitute for an engineering
-:- college on ‘the
mud * Omaha campus,
NU liegeMS two regents said
Saturday.
The NU Board
of Regents re
viewed a draft pro
posal for the
Omaha Institute of
Information Sci
ence, which would
be part of a Col
lege of Information Science and Tech
nology at the University of Nebraska
at Omaha.
The debate Saturday came one year
after the board voted 5-3 against cre
ating a separate engineering college in
Omaha. Engineering programs in
Omaha are offered through the engi
neering college at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln.
Regents Chairwoman Nancy
O’Brien of Waterloo and NU Presi
dent Dennis Smith were in favor of the
proposal, but two Omaha-area regents
rejected the idea.
“This is not the solution to an engi
neering college in Omaha,” Regent
Rosemary SkrupaofOmaha said.“It’s
a bureaucratic nightmare.”
Regent Drew Miller of Papillion
agreed.
“It’s another layer of bureaucracy,”
he said. “This is not addressing issues
of engineering at UNO.
“UNO is totally control-bound by
UNL,” he said. “Engineeringprograms
at UNO will always take second place
to UNL.”
The UNO College of Information
Science and Technology would group
existing programs and could offer
degrees in information technology.
There are no plans for new programs.
The new college has to be approved
by the board of regents and by the
Coordinating Commission for
Postsecondary Education.
“It?s almost laughable to call this a
solution,” Miller said.
Without a stronger engineering
presence at UNO, he said, the Omaha
campus was facing a threat from
Omaha’s Creighton University, which
has plans to enhance its engineering
program.
Miller said the best solution to the
problem would be to move the depart
ment of electronics engineering tech
nology and computer engineering pro
grams to UNO. He said then add the
computer engineering classes to an
information science and technology
college under control of a UNO dean.
Regent Charles Wilson of Lincoln
said other cross-campus programs
worked well under one-campus con
trol and so should engineering.
The engineering debate was “ego
oriented” and a result of anger con
cerning “Lincoln pride,” he said.
Miller said a UNO engineering
See ENGINEERING on 8
Board approves elimination
of 7 Teachers College programs
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
The elimination of seven degree
majors in the UNL Teachers Col
lege was unanimously approved by
the NU Board of Regents Saturday.
Harvey Perlman, interim vice
chancellor for academic affairs at
the University ofNebraska-Lincoln,
said the cuts would not greatly af
fect students because the majors
were largely unused.
“There has been little, if any,
enrollment in these areas for the
past several years,” Perlman said.
And, he said, some of the pro
grams were duplicated in other ar
eas.
The degree majors eliminated
are:
• Art education as a bachelor’s
of fine arts education.
• Theatre arts education as a
bachelor’s of fine arts education.
• Athletic training as a
bachelor’s of science education.
• Recreation as a bachelor’s of
science education.
• Elementary education as a
bachelor’s of arts education.
• Administrative office manage
ment as a bachelor’s of science
education.
• Health occupations as a
bachelor’s of science education.
Courses of study in these areas
See TEACHERS on 6
Scott Bruhn/DN
Speaking before lighting the 25-foot-tall, 10-year-old state Christmas Tree, Gov. Ben Nelson Sunday encouraged
Nebraskans to think about those less fortunate than themselves during the holidays.
O Tannenbaum
Nelson lights tree, encourages giving
By Tonya Cross
Staff Reporter
Camcorder lights blinked and camera
lights flashed Sunday afternoon, as an eager
crowd waited in the Capitol rotunda for Gov.
Ben Nelson to light the 25-foot-tall state
Christmas tree, decorated with ornaments
. from different counties.
But first there was music to be played at
the 48th annual Nebraska State Christmas
Tree Lighting and Carol Sing. A brass quin
tet alternated pieces with the Holy Trinity
adult hand-bell choir.
The Rev. Lee B. Spitzer, pastor of the
First Baptist Church, prayed for families and
“As you brighten their lives,
your life will be brightened,
too.”
BEN NELSON
Governor
friends inflicted with hardships during the
Christmas season. He dedicated the tree to
those suffering in Bosnia and wished a time
of joy for children everywhere. ~
Nelson said the holidays were the time of
year for giving, and all those who helped
with the ceremony gave of themselves to
make it special for everyone.
Nebraskans need to make a difference, he
said, and give to those less fortunate.
“As you brighten their lives, your life will
be brightened, too,” Nelson said.
Finally, the anticipated moment arrived.
Nelson and the crowd began counting down
from five.
As everyone said “one” Jn unison and
Nelson pu^ied the button, the tree was aglow.
Children beamed; and adults cheered and
again joined in chorus.
Spiitzer closed the ceremony in another
payer: “May the blessing of God almighty
be with each and every one of you as you.
return to your homes.”
Commercial
provider to
handle dial-up
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
Ever connected to the UNL modem pool on
the first try on a weekday evening?
You will — but not without a price.
Because an increasing
number of off-campus com
puter users accessing the
campus modem pool has
saturated the system, UNL
Information Services plans
to hand over dial-up
HUSKERnet access to a pri
mary service provider, pos
sibly by the end of this week.
Kent Hendrickson, asso
ciate vice chancellor for In
formation Services, said he was 80 percent sure
a commercial provider .would be selected.
“We hoped we could do it before the univer
sity closed down,” he said. “But there is no
guarantee of that.”
Hendrickson said the number of users ac
cessing the network from off-campus increases
almost every day, and keeping ups with the
demand has become difficult. )
“We don’t have the funds to consistently add
to the modem pool,” he said. “It’s becoming
over-burdened again. People are having trouble
getting on to the pool, and response time is
slow.”
Bids from Internet Nebraska, Lincoln Tele
| phone and MCI all met the university’s require
j ments, Hendrickson said.
Students and faculty wishing to access the ■ *
j system from off-campus computers will be asked
| to pay about $ 10 a month for 40 hours of on-line
I service.
Hendrickson said complaints had increased
as the user list gets larger and larger.
“You are going to get better access and better
service,” Hendrickson said. “If we don’t do this,
service is likely to deteriorate more.than it is
now. We might have to introduce levels of
service, and I don’t want to do that.”
The Computational Services and Facilities
Committee reported to the Academic Senate on
Dec. 5 that 10 more phone lines would likely
solve the immediate problem.
The current pool contains 112 modems, all
of which are generally in use during peak evening
hours.
“The idea is to provide a service where
people won’t be getting busy signals,” said
See DIAL-UP on 6