Elevators to get an overhaul
By Brian Carlson
StaffReporter
Oldfather Hall’s elevators are
getting a lift.
As part of a $320,000 project,
the Facilities Management Depart
ment will spend the rest of the aca
demic year renovating the 12-story
building’s three elevators.
Installed when Oldfather was
built in 1970, the elevators are in
need of repair. Delays, doors clos
ing too quickly on passengers, and
elevator flows arriving uneven with
building flows are among the com
plaints the maintenance department
has received.
Richard Hoback, maintenance
division manager, said the extensive
use by students and faculty made the
elevators wear down faster than
other lifts.
“They’re not the oldest elevators
on campus, by any means,” he said,
“but Oldfather is very dependent on
elevators because it’s 12 stories
high, and there’s virtually nothing
on the ground floor.”
Currently, the maintenance de
partment is working on the north
elevator. Hoback said it would take
about two months to complete work
on each elevator, and the project
should be completed by May 1.
John Kastning, sophomore
chemical engineering major, uses
the elevators twice a week.
“Last year they broke down
quite often,” he said. “When they
have one that’s out, the others are
really crammed.”
Crowded elevators and outdated
technology can delay passengers,
including Marzia Caporale.
Caporale, an Italian-language lec
turer, said she has to allow five ex
tra minutes to arrive to class on time.
“They’re just slow,” she said.
“Also, they close right away so
people get squished in.”
Hoback said part of the renova
tion would include updating the el
evator system’s technology to make
it more efficient.
_ Currently, if someone waiting
for an elevator on an upper floor
pushes a button, all three elevators
. receive the signal and “race” each
other to that floor, Hoback said.
Under the proposed system, only
one elevator would receive the sig
nal, allowing the others to reach
other destinations more quickly.
* * ,4 + '
Hoback said that when the
project is completed next spring, the
elevators also would be more handi
capped-accessible.
Championship game tickets
still available to students
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
Something unthinkable is happen
ing at the Athletic Department ticket
office for the second time this year:
There are way too many tickets.
John Anderson, ticket manager,
said 2,000 more tickets were provided
by the University of Texas for
Saturday’s Big 12 Playoff football
game in St. Louis.
The 1,200 tickets provided by other
North Division schools were sold out
this morning when the University ol
Nebraska-Lincoln got word that tick
ets weren’t selling out in Texas. Now
UNL has about 1,700 extra tickets on
hand.
“We have as many as people can
buy,” Anderson said. “Isn’t that a great
thing to hear?”
The distance from Austin to St.
Louis and competition from the hard
to-beat Huskers may contribute to slow
sales in the Lone Star State, Anderson
said.
Husker fans who buy the Texas
tickets may have to sit next to their ri
vals, though. The extra tickets will be
in the Texas side — the south side —
of the stadium.
“But they gave us a block, so if we
can fill it full of Nebraskans, we should
be OK,” Anderson said.
Both $40 and $60 tickets are avail
able, but Big 12 rules say that all tick
ets unsold by about 3 p.m. today have
to be shipped to the St. Louis ticket
office.
Anyone who can’t get to the ticket
office by that deadline can call 1-800
246-7267 and order tickets with a
credit card.
Survey: Professors favor racial ban
- A A
The Daily Texan
(U. of Texas)
(U-WIRE) AUSTIN, Texas —
Nearly two-thirds of university profes
sors in the nation would support a ban
on racial preferences in student admis
sions and faculty hiring policies, a re
cent survey by a national research cen
ter shows.
The survey, conducted by the Roper
Center for Public Opinion Research,
comes in the wake of California’s
Proposition 209 referendum, which
abolished affirmative action policies at
California universities and state agen
cies.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap
peals in March stopped universities in
Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana from
considering race when determining
admissions and financial aid decisions.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to
hear the state’s appeal in the case.
Samuel Issacharoff, a professor of
law who served as counsel for the UT
System on the Hopwood case, said fac
ulty opinions are probably divided
given die size of the university.
UT Provost Mark Yudof said he is
a strong supporter of affirmative action
policies at the university.
“I think it has more support at UT
than what the survey says,” Yudof said.
“There are lots of professors who don’t
speak up, but I think a majority of the
I"" ' — ■ ■ -
There are lots of professors who don't
speak up, but I think a majority of the
professors do favor affirmative action."
Mark Yudof
UT Provost
professors do favor affirmative action.”
Forty professors from different uni
versities were chosen randomly to take
part in the survey.
The University of Texas-Arlington
was one of the universities included.
Results of the study indicated that
most universities have formal or infor
mal policies that give preferences
based on sex and race.
But it showed that 60 percent of
faculty members said universities
should not grant preferences based on
race, sex or ethnicity. Twenty-nine per
cent said they supported affirmative
action policies.
Other key findings of the survey
showed 62 percent of the nation’s pro
fessors believed the academic quality
of their school has not changed since
affirmative action policies have been
implemented.
It also found that 56 percent of the
professors surveyed felt their univer
sities “should not grant preference to
one applicant over another for admis
sion on the basis of race, sex or
ethnicity;” 32 percent supported the
preferences.
Sixty-one percent of faculty said
they would approve of a policy which
stated that their universities “shall not
discriminate against, or grant prefer
ential treatment to, applicants for ad
missions on the basis of their race, sex
or ethnicity.”
Fred Valdez, professor of anthro
pology, said he was not against affir
mative action in theory, but what it has
become.
“I’m against affirmative action if it
is looked upon to determine quotas,”
Valdez said. “Then you have people
coming in under a cloud as if they’re
not qualified. The basic issue is the
great misunderstanding of what affir
mative action actually is and what it
intended to do.”
Two changes for ASUN
elections to be proposed
By Tasha E. Kelter
StaffReporter
ASUN candidates will not be
allowed to plaster residence hall
walls with election posters if pro
posed campaign policy changes are
approved by the student senate to
night.
The Electoral Commission,
which oversees ASUN and Interna
tional Student Organization’s elec
tions, reviews the Association of the
Students of the University of
Nebraska’s bylaws each semester.
The commission then makes
changes, which must be approved
by the student senate.
The commission will bring two
proposed changes to tonight’s meet
ing. They are:
—Allowing only one campaign
poster per student election group or
independent candidate on each resi
dence hall floor. Posters would have
to be on or near the stairwell doors
or elevator lobby. No posters would
be permitted in the bathrooms or in
elevators under the change. Resi
dents would still be allowed to dis
play posters on their doors without
penalty.
— Requiring campaign posters
to be stamped by the Residential
Education Office prior to placing
them in the residence halls.
Students were previously al
lowed to put up as many campaign
posters on a residence hall floor as
they wanted.
In other ASUN news, President
Eric Marintzer and Senator Sara
Russell hope to develop a formal
snow-day policy.
Marintzer said UNL needs a
more effective policy that shows
concern for students’ safety^
“I don’t want it to be something
where school is called off every time
it snows,” he said. But, he added,
15,000 off-campus students have to
drive to campus, often on icy, snow
covered roads.
“You’re just afraid to drive,” he
said. “A lot of them skip class any
way.”
Also at the ASUN meeting,
senators will vote on a resolution to
support Rape Awareness Week.
University of Minnesota
creates e-mail guidelines
(U-WIRE) MINNEAPOLIS —
The University of Minnesota plans
to formalize its Internet use guide
lines soon, despite the fact that uni
versity students behave relatively
well on-line.
“The students from the Univer
sity of Minnesota should be
complimented for their behavior.
We have had very few cases of
abuse,” said Frank Grewe, manager
of Internet Services for Academic
Computing and Information Tech
nologies at the university.
“The use of e-mail at the univer
sity is very heavy, in the range of
millions of pieces a day,” said
Yvonne Carlton, chairwoman of the
Acceptable Use Policy Committee
and manager of data security at cen
tral computing.
Carlton’s committee is currently
working to formalize the
University’s rules on e-mail use. A
draft of the new rules was made
available for public comment on
Nov. 14. The comment period will
run until Dec. 18.
“Up until now we haven’t really
had a good formal policy and it has,
for the most part, been based on
complaints in which there is really
gross evidence that an account has
been abused,” Grewe said.
E-mail abuse encompasses vio
lations of federal law such as forg
ing posts and soliciting for pyramid
schemes, as well as less clearly de
fined offenses such as harassment
and off-topic posting.
“Harassment-type complaints
are referred to the University Po
lice for investigation,” Grewe said.
The university currently has a
“three strikes, you’re out” system in
place to deal with repeat offenders,
as well, Grewe said.
“What people (who have had
their accounts suspended) generally
say is that someone must have
hacked into their account and done
it. In that situation we tell them that,
of course, it is their responsibility
to keep their account password se
cure.”
To reopen an account after a first
offense, the student or staff mem
ber must contact the systems staff
to hear the reason the account was
suspended. To reopen an account
that has been closed a second time,
the offender must sign an agreement
promising not to repeat the offense.
After a third offense, the Judi
cial Affairs Department takes action
against the student or staff member.
Hospital helps women end addictions
ADDICTION from page 1
Women usually serve as primary
caretakers of their family and have no
one to help them with child care dur
ing treatment, Schrepf said. Women
also are less likely than men to have
health insurance that covers the cost
of treatment.
St. Monica’s program provides
both child care and a sliding fee based
on how much a patient can afford to
pay, she said.
This women-only treatment and
family support works, Schrepf said.
After one year, about 80 percent of
women who graduated from programs
at St. Monica’s report they are still so
ber, she said. The average is about 40
percent for treatment programs nation
ally, she said.
The new program’s steps to sobri
ety differ from those in traditional,
male-oriented treatment programs, she
said.
For example, the first step in one
traditional program is to admit that you
are powerless against the drug addic
tion. Although this is a positive step
for most men who have difficulty ac
cepting they are not in control, it could
be harmful to women.
“It’s not useful for women to feel
more powerless than they already do,”
Schrepf said.
The program re frames steps for
women with the understanding women
and men are socialized differently, she
said.
Women must understand that they
cannot cope with their addiction alone,
she said. Many learn to find support
from faith in God and from other
women involved with the program.
But support has also come from
local businesses, foundations and in
dividuals, including the Cooper Foun
dation, First Bank, and James and Ann
Rawley of Lincoln.
Art Thompson, president of the
Cooper Foundation, a charitable pri
vate foundation that funds education
and human services, said he was happy
to hear St. Monica’s program was suc
cessful in its first month of operation.
The foundation gave $5,000 to the
program for start-up costs, he said.
“The program made all kinds of
sense,” Thompson said. “We have faith
in that organization and its mission and
ability to accomplish it.” '
Academic Senate approves stance on faculty tenure
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
Members of UNL’s Academic Sen
ate voted unanimously Tuesday to ap
prove a stance on period review of
fully-tenured faculty.
The senate’s recommended stance
will be passed along to the NU Board
of Regents. “The Academic Context
for Periodic Review of Tenured Fac
ulty at UNL” expresses support for ten
ure in general.
It says any changes to the tenure
review process should focus on posi
tives, such as meritorious performance,
as well as negatives, such as lack of
productivity.
The statement draws five conclu
sions:
• Discussion of tenure changes must
be in an environment where tenure is
valued.
• University bylaws and guidelines
must be followed rigorously if any
change takes place.
• The only change to be considered
should be review of fully-tenured fac
ulty, as the rest of UNL’s faculty re
ceives not cmly annual reviews but also
-third-year peer reviews.
• Changes should have a positive
focus.
• Consideration should be given to
extra time and effort by faculty, which -
will have to be use4 in order to make
post-tenure review feasible.