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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 131 the lower 3O'S
■ 1 March 28. 1996
---I
Leitzel expected to take N.H. job
By Julie Sobczyk
© 1996 Daily Nebraskan
UNL senior vice chancellor for academic
affairs Joan Leitzcl will be named the next presi
dent ot the University of
New Hampshire in Durham
today.
James Gricscn, vice chan
cellor for student affairs,
said Leitzel told him
Wednesday that she would
accept the presidency posi
tion.
“It’s supposed to be an
. nouncca at i o clock that
Leitzel she has accepted the posi
tion,” Gricsen said.
Phone calls to Leitzel were not returned
Wednesday night.
A member of the presidential search com
mittee confirmed Wednesday night that Leitzel
would be asked to be the next UNH president.
Tiffany Houston, a student member of the
committee, said the university would announce
Leitzel as its choice this morning.
“We had a unanimous vote on her becoming
our next president,” Houston said Wednesday
night. “Going into the 21st century, she is go
ing to lead the way.”
Leitzel visited the campus in February, Hous
ton said, and again last week on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
The committee really warmed up to Leitzel
during the visits, she said.
“She was totally engaging,” Houston said.
“Everyone from the committee came away just
amazed. Everyone felt good that we had a strong
candidate.”
Houston said she talked one-on-one with
Leitzel last week.
“I got to talk to her on a personal level,” she
said. “She had good ideas about the campus for
athletics, fund raising and internationalizing.”
Steve Hardy, a University of New Hampshire
faculty member of the search committee, said
he was impressed by Leitzel.
“I think Dr. Leitzel has been outstanding,”
Hardy said. “She has a wonderful record at
Nebraska.”
Leitzel, who served as UNL’s interim chan
cellor from July 1995 until Feb. 5, came to Ne
braska in 1992 from Ohio State University. She
is the highest-ranking female administrator in
UNL’s history.
Earlier this month, Leitzel told the Daily
Nebraskan she was happy at UNL and did not
want to leave the university.
In last Friday’s edition of The New Hamp
shire, the student newspaper at the University
of New Hampshire, Leitzel said that while she
didn’t want to leave Nebraska, she saw a prom
ising opportunity at UNH.
“I have to ask the question — can I accom
plish more here? This university needs some
one who is strong, and we need to look at
whether my talents match those needed by the
university,*’ Leitzel told The New Hampshire.
If Leitzel’s selection is an indication, UNH
officials must feel she is a match. The univer
sity had more than 100 applicants for the presi
dent position and narrowed the search to four
candidates late last month.
Once the search committee recommends
Leitzel for president, the recommendation must
be approved by Chancellor William Farrell,
Houston said.
From there, the chancellor must make his
recommendation to the university’s Board of
Trustees. The board gives final approval of the
recommendation.
In Leitzcl’s three years at UNL, Gricscn said,
she has made a strong impact.
I can’t imagine anyone making an impact
in such a short time,” he said. “She had made a
remarkable impact in comprehensive education,
information technology and she handled the
engineering issue in Omaha very effectively.”
Griesen said although Leitzel was high on
the list for candidates during UNL’s recent chan
cellor search, she was disappointed about not
being among three finalists.
Leitzel was chosen as UNH president over
Myron Henry, provost and professor of math
ematics at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.
Although the new position is a good oppor
tunity for Leitzel, Griesen said, UNL will miss
her.
“She has shown at Nebraska that she is an
executive officer,” he said. “She has endeared
herself to a lot of Nebraskans. Everyone has
enjoyed working with her.”
Lawmakers advance
speed limit measure
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter ~
The Nebraska Legislature ad
vanced Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers’
speed limit bill to the final stage of
legislation Wednes
day, but not before
narrowly thwarting
another effort to
keep speeds down
to 70 mph.
Senators were
split 21-21 on an
amendment that
would have raised
the speed limit to
70 mph on the 100
easternmost miles of Nebraska inter
state.
The remaining 350 miles of inter
state, Sen. Elaine Stuhr of Bradshaw
said, would increase to 75 mph.
Stuhr said she introduced the
amendment as a compromise to
LB901 — the bill that would increase
the state’s interstate speed limit to 75
mph.
“This focuses on the most heavily
traveled miles of the interstate,” she
said. “Safety, in my view, is the most
important factor.”
Ewing Sen. Cap Dierks supported
the amendment and agreed that safety
was the main concern.
“I think everyone accepts that an
increased speed is going to kill more
people,” he said. “We need to be real
istic and provide some levity to the
bill.”
Chambers proposed the amend
ment, saying it was the same thing
senators voted against when the Leg
islature debated the bill in general file.
Many amendments that would have
lowered the proposed speed limit were
voted down.
The bill could face additional de
bate during final reading — the last
step a bill faces before becoming law.
Hagel stresses listenins
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter "
Nebraskans need to take control of
their government again — and U.S.
Senate Republican candidate Chuck
Hagel wants to lead the movement, he
told a University of Nebraska-Lincoln
political science class Wednesday.
Hagel, a Columbus native, spoke to
students in Terry Feinberg’s American
Government course about his plans if
elected to the U.S. Senate.
To be an effective senator one must
be an effective listener, he said.
Hagel said he had campaigned
across the state and listened closejy to
Nebraskans’ concerns.
“You know what the problems are
here better than people in Washington,”
Hagel said.
Nebraska should have control of its
education and welfare programs, he
said.
Hagel, addressing a question on
nationally mandated education stan
dards, said the federal government
should stay out of states’ business.
“I think it will end up a mess just
like everything it touches ends up a
mess. It’s just too big.”
Hagel said school boards, parents
and teachers should decide policy for
school districts because they arc di
rectly involved with education.
Nebraskans need to take responsi
bility for a cultural renewal that brings
back wholesome American values —
dignity, responsibility and hard work,
he said.
“We have a society that’s full of
excuses,” he said.
Religious values are a private and
separate matter, Hagel said. The
United States should focus on improv
ing values that benefit the society.
That kind of renewal would help
cure social ills more than an inflated
welfare program, he said.
“There’s no connecting a welfare
check with values.”
The state should take care of those
who can’t take care of themselves,
Hagel said, but those who are capable
should be productive to society.
Other institutions outside of gov
ernment — business, volunteer groups
or the church — should get involved
to make those people productive, he
said.
People have lost respect and trust
for government because it has tried to
See HAGEL on 3
f
Travis Heying/DN
night*President Eric Marintzerawaits his inauguration at the Wick Alumni Center Wednesday
Out with the old ...
Hurtgen urges officers to ‘start now’
By Kasey Kerber
Staff Reporter
Chancellor James Moeser
opened Wednesday night’s inaugu
ration of ASUN senators and offic
ers with words of encouragement.
“1 feel that student government
is essential to
what we as a uni
versity want to
obtain,” Moeser
said, “and hope
that this govern
ment will work
hard for the stu
dent body which
has elected
them.”
The next generation of the As
sociation of Students of the Univer
sity of Nebraska was sworn into
office at a ceremony in the Wick
Alumni Center after the final meet
ing of the 1995-96 senate.
Almost 30 new senators were in
troduced by their predecessors. Af
ter being introduced, each senator
elect traded seats with the previous
senator.
President Eric Marintzer, First
Vice President Jason Bynum and
Second Vice President Kara
Marshall were sworn into office by
their predecessors: Shawntell
Hurtgen, Steve Korell and Brent
Goertzcn.
“Do everything you can,”
Hurtgen said. “My greatest chal
lenge to you is to start now. Do not
wait until next fall. You can begin
making progress now.”
Marintzer emphasized what he
hoped ASUN would achieve.
“One thing we will strive for is
to increase the recognition of
ASUN on this campus,” he said. “It
is amazing what student govern
ment can do for students, and I want
everyone to be aware of it.”
Marintzer also stressed keeping
the price of education from rising
and helping student groups and in
dividuals instead of trying to “un
realistically try to appease all
20,000 students at once.”
James Gricsen, vice chancellor
for student affairs, swore in
Marintzer as a student regent for the
University of Nebraska and spoke
of past perceptions of student gov
ernment and what he hoped it might
one day aspire to.
“Shortly after the election there
was a large focus on the low stu
dent turnout at the election,”
Griesen said. “Yes it’s low, and af
ter working with this student gov
ernment, I find it a shame that the
student body is not more willing to
support the government which
works hard for it.”
At the meeting, Paul Kelter, a
visiting associate professor of
chemistry, was named “outstanding
educator.” Students voted on their
choice for outstanding educator in
the recent ASUN election.
Malcolm Kass, chairman of the
Committee for Fees Allocation, was
named “outstanding senator,” voted
on by the senate.
“The other candidates were just
as deserving if not more so,” Kass
said. “I really appreciate it.”
