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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1996)
Doilv MOHDAY lOft "iy -r j -i^cvjJLy *i WEATHER. jUti \ pntv3cLr/i‘n ssssl. *fi X yV'L'1 d^l\iCll X T^JlZ1* >Pw W* .1 • 1 *% f\t .m themid30's --April 8, 1996_ —_,_ . . .___ II HBHII Ilf Matt Miller/DN Chemistry professor Paul Keiter gives Kathryn Maney, a freshman biology major, extra help for Chemistry 110. Students voted Keiter “outstanding educator’ in the recent ASUN election. Chemical reaction Professor ranked No. 1 with students By Todd Anderson Staff Reporter Paul Kelter isn’t afraid to take risks. Inside his classrooms at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he refuses to limit him self to one teaching method. And outside the classroom, he develops programs and writes books about his uncon ventional ideas about education. Kelter came to UNL from the University ofWisconsin-Oshkosh in 1993 as a visiting professor in the department of chemistry. Since then, Kelter—who was originally hired with grant money — has focused his e ffort s on bringing the department more grant money, along with writing books and teach ing. And it seems his work is paying off. Keller was recently promoted to associ ate professor of chemistry, a permanent po sition. And last month he was voted outstanding educator by students who voted in the Asso ciation of Students of the University of Ne braska election. Sitting at a table during an afternoon chemistry lab, Keltcr said the award came as a surprise. “There are better teachers on campus than me,” he said, noting that having a 200 student lecture class might have been one reason he was recognized by so many stu dents. Mostly, he said, he probably received the award because of the time he spent withtlii^ students. “Time is precious. Most teachers are pressed for time,” lie said. “1 choose to spend as much time as permissible with students.” “I’m more at ease spending time with students,” he said. “I’m very fond of my students.” And the students in his hands-on chemis try class, which is geared toward education majors, seem fond of him. Shauna Fleming, an elementary educa tion major in the class, said Keltcr had the qualities she wanted to have as a teacher. “He recognizes everyone’s individual contributions,” she said. At the same time, Fleming said, “He sets really high expectations, and lie lets you know that.” •*. Despite the challenges of studying chem ■. *§> See KELTER on 6 % ■ •> . J . _ Harb captures RHA. presidency By Heidi White Staff Reporter Jason Harb, vice president of RHA, says he’s ecstatic about the opportunity to lead the asso ciation when he takes over as president next week. Harb, a sophomore mem ber of the FOCUSED party, will replace junior Eric Vander Woude as president of the Residence Hall Asso ciation next Sunday. Harb and his running mate, junior Alan Niet fcldt, won last week’s election by 250 votes over sophomore Jennifer Griffin and senior Michael Valcricn of the PROGRESS party. “We thought that it would be close, and it was. We really appreciate everyone who voted for us,” Harb said. Nictfeldt, who will replace Harb as vice 7 think we can do a lot of good here if we get going on it and everything goes ivell. ” ALAN NIETFELDT new RHA vice president president, said he had received support from friends and others during his campaign. “By talking with people who we had gone around to and were helping us out, they thought that we’d doagoodjob.I got a lot of confidence from everyone else,” Nietfeldt said. He said one of their first goals was to com plete the approval process for the RHA consti tution, which has been under revision through out the year. “We need to finish up our constitution. If it doesn’t get finished in our next meeting, then we’ll have to wait to finish that up in the fall,” Nietfeldt said. Harb said they also planned to visit all of the local hall governments and receive input from them. He said he also would like to continue to inform residence hall students about RHA. “I think we can do a lot of g(xxl here i f we get going on it and everything goes well,” Nietfeldt said. Others elected to RHA executive board po sitions were Mike Penney of the PROGRESS party as treasurer and Danielle Nantkes of the FOCUSED party as secretary. In Thursday’s election, 27.8 percent of stu dents living in the residence halls voted — almost twice as many as last year’s election, said Amy Bredthaucr, RHA election commis sioner. Rilling lets student live outside halls By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter A freshman at the University of Nebraska at Kearney may live in Christian Student housing instead of the residence halls, a federal court ruled Friday. Douglas Rader, of Trumbull, challenged UNK’s policy requiring freshmen to live in residence halls because he said it violated his right to freely practice his religion. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Piestcr released a 35-page decision saying the policy discrimi nated against students seeking exception on religious grounds, said Jefferson Downing, Rader’s attorney. “Not only were UNK administrators not be ing neutral, they were being hostile towards Doug Rader in particular and people of faith in general,” Downing said. The university had granted exceptions from the policy for health and family reasons, but would not grant Rader an exception based on religion. Students who are older than age 18, married, or live with their parents in Kearney arc automatically exempt from the policy. Rader wanted to live in Christian Student Fellowship housing because the environment in residence halls contradicted his high ethical standards. Rader testified during the trial that he See RADER on 6 UNL recognized as finalist for leadershipprize By Kasey Kerber Staff Reporter The University of Nebraska is among six finalist universities for the Pew Leadership Award for the Renewal of Undergraduate Edu cation. More than 60 universities were nominated for the award, which contributes $250,000 to up to three of the finalists. The award goes toward the enhancement of existing undergraduate pro grams for two years. The award recognizes universities that use innovation in undergraduate programs to pro vide a quality undergraduate education. Representatives of Pew Charitable Trusts said the other five finalists had not yet been made public. “Tliey’re all over the country and all over the map as far as research, nonresearch, public, private, city and rural,” said Ellen West, pro gram officer for Pew Charitable Trusts. West and two other Pew representatives spent Thursday and Friday evaluating the UNL cam pus and meeting with university officials and students. Susan Shaman, a Pew team member from the University of Pennsylvania, said she was im pressed with what she had seen. “I have to say that there’s a lot of excitement here about the new general curriculum pro gram,” Shaman said. “We hope to look back in a few years and see how significant the changes have been for students.” f West emphasized UNL’s dedication to its students. “One of the things I’ve noticed here is a real commitment to students and students’ success,” West said. “Usually we have to ask if a university is student-centered,’ but here it seemed to be the theme of every group we spoke with.” West and Shaman said that a seven-member Pew team would continue to evaluate other finalists. The winners of the Pew Leadership Award will be announced in September.
