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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1997)
Senate rejects King holiday Editor’s note: The following story did not appear in its entirety because of a production error in Wednesday’s Daily Nebraskan. By Sarah Baker Assignment Reporter The Academic Senate heard a pre sentation Tuesday about improving conditions at UNL for minorities, and then put itself in the minority by voting down two popular proposals for calen dar changes. The votes were against proposals to observe King’s birthday as a holiday and to institute a mid-semester fall break. The senate also heard a presenta tion from the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of People of Color that stressed the group’s strategy to reduce the loss of minority students. “We are losing minority faculty members as fast as we can get them,” the presentation stated. UNL Chancellor James Moeser said he thought the vote on King’s birthday was an unfortunate action by the senate. “I am sad about the outcome of this vote because it is going to be misinter preted by the community,” Moeser said. “It is going to be seen as a lack of sensitivity to the diversity in Lincoln. Symbols like this are loudly heard.” Amy Rager, Association of the Students of the University of Nebraska first vice president, said UNL students endorsed the changes overwhelmingly. “I just find it really ironic that the senate turned down this proposal after discussing the climate (for minorities) of this university,” Rager said. “This was one big thing the senate could have supported to change that climate, and they turned it down.” ASUN conducted a random survey Editor’s note: 1 be following story did not appear in its entirety in Wednesday’s Daily Nebraskan because of a production error. By Sarah Baker Assignment Reporter Months of discussion and numer ous rewrites preceded the Academic Senate’s approval Tuesday of a new post-tenure review policy. The senate passed the new policy with a vote that was one short of unanimous. The senate first passed a motion to replace the old proposal with the newly amended proposal the senate discussed at its last meeting. The purpose of the post-tenure review policy is to make sure that once professors are tenured they are still maximizing their contributions to the university. The policy also makes sure facul ty members are achieving their pro fessional goals, and lets the public know tenured professors are held accountable for their performances. Chancellor James Moeser in which 92 percent of 439 surveyed University of Nebraska-Lincoln stu dents approved observing King’s birth day as a holiday. Rager said students were con cerned about this issue. “Students thought this was a good idea and wondered why we don’t observe it,” she said. Many faculty senate members expressed support for the proposal before the 32-27 vote took place. “There is a different set of priorities today,” Tom Zorn, a finance professor, said. expressed his appreciation to the fac ulty senate at the meeting. “I appreciate both the quality of the debate on the proposal and the decision the senate made on the vote,” Moeser said. “This shows the finest qualities of our faculty.” Moeser said he thought the pro posal was a good one. “I will continue to vigorously support the document without any changes by the Board of Regents, I promise you that,” Moeser said. “I am deeply appreciative of the result of this process. The senate should be proud of themselves.” The Academic Senate has dis cussed the new policy since early last year. The proposal has been through many different stages after faculty senate members discussed changes they wanted and the post-tenure review committee rewrote portions of the document according to the senate’s discussion. The revised and amended policy is now submitted to the NU Board of Regents for its approval Richard Edwards, senior vice Others also expressed disapproval. “This is a symbolic issue,” Peter Bleed, an anthropology professor, said. ‘We need to think about the degree to which we should be satisfied, and that we should ultimately rise to the lessons of Dr. King.” Moeser also expressed disappoint ment that the fall-break proposal failed. “I was in favor of the fall break,” Moeser said. “This is really unfortu nate, and I was astonished by the sen ate’s actions.” Although the Academic Senate did chancellor for academic affairs, said the final document was the result of hard work. “We have confidence in the pro posal and we think it portrays exactly what the post-tenure process is intended to be,” Edwards said. “We hope both the faculty and administra tion can work together to make the system work effectively.” Rob Shirer, a modem languages and literature professor, thought the education of the public on tenure was another important factor. “The public needs a perception of why we are doing this, and know that tenure is not a free ride,” Shirer said. Senate member Gail Latta, pro fessor of Information Services, said she supported the process as well as the proposal. “We need an ongoing effort to educate the public about this process,” Latta said. “We all bear that responsibility and it can only strengthen the faculty.” not approve the motions, these are uni versitywide proposals and they still have to be approved by the faculty and student governments at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Rager said the support of these pro posals at both UNO and UNK is strong. Moeser said these bills still have a chance to make it to the Calendar Committee and the NU Board of Regents. “This is by no means a dead issue,” he said. Post-tenure policy unanimously OK’d Suspect gives plea: Not guilty From Staff Reports The man accused of killing his housemate in 1995 pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the crime. Lancaster County District Court Judge Paul Merritt continued Timothy Hopkins’ $1 million cash bond and set a Jan. 20 trial date. Hopkins, 19, is charged with first- degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony in the death of Michael Schmader. Schmader’s beaten and stabbed body was found Dec. 23, 1995, near a drainage tunnel at 48th and Normal streets. According to police reports, Hopkins confessed to killing Schmader at Lincoln General Hospital June 7, 1996. He later claimed he was under the influence of alcohol. However, on Sept. 5, investigators interviewed Hopkins and he admitted to the crime again, revealing details “only the party responsible should know,” an affidavit said. Detectives also spoke with Hopkins’ friends and mental health counselors who have talked with him and found Hopkins had told them of the alleged crime. Hopkins faces the death penalty or life in prison for first-degree murder. ASUN prepares to fight for holiday bill By Brad Davis Assignment Reporter Although Government Bill No. 19, a bill that would honor the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., passed unani mously at the ASUN meeting Wednesday night, senators are gearing up for a fight. A similar proposal failed 32-27 in the Academic Senate on Tuesday, at a meeting where one-third of the 92 members of the senate were not in atten dance, First Vice President Amy Rager said at the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska meeting Wednesday. Rager said she was thought it was interesting that the proposal failed after the senate had spent a large portion of the meeting before the vote discussing the improvement of the climate for minorities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She said she also thought it was ironic that a bill that would honor King’s birthday was failed in the Academic Senate two days before King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, comes to speak. Committee for Fees Allocation Chairman Kendall Swenson questioned whether the Academic Senate misinter preted students’ request to honor King’s birthday as an attempt to simply not hold classes. He said because the proposal to name King’s birthday an official univer sity holiday was presented at the same time as a bill introducing a new fall break policy, some members of the Academic Senate could have misinter preted sincere desires to honor King. President Curt Ruwe said the two requests for changes in the university calendar had to be presented to the Academic Senate at the same time because the University Calendar Committee meets Nov. 17. Because the calendar committee will receive a voice of support for the King holiday from ASUN, and a voice of dissent from the Academic Senate, ASUN senators and members of the Student Impact Team are taking steps to insure that students’ voices are heard, said Carrie Pierce, SIT chairwoman. Pierce said SIT already had sur veyed 439 students about the holiday, and would continue surveying. She said SIT would also survey faculty mem bers, write to members of the calendar committee and hold an open forum Nov. 13 at7p.m. in the Nebraska Union for students to voice their opinion about the recognition of King’s birthday. Omar Valentine, a representative from the Afrikan People’s Union, attended the ASUN meeting and told senators he and his organization wanted to work with ASUN to ensure the obser vance of King’s birthday in the future. In other ASUN news: ■ Government Bill No. 20, which proclaimed ASUN’s support for a fall break to appear in academic calendars in the future, passed with one dissent ■ Government Bill No. 21 passed unanimously. The bill commended the Daily Nebraskan for awards it won at the Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers’ National Convention in Chicago last week. ■ Campus Life Committee Chairman Kelly Hoffschneider announced campuswide cleanup efforts on Friday at 1:00 p.m., Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Those interested should meet in the ASUN office in die Nebraska Union. I YOU > <"" wants want this J3 z-vthat ^“contraceptives ^ . >* Ultra-Sensitive, condoms <$■“*"* pws J-safssr’ • Packaged together for Double Protection V selfcare, CarePlus™ gives you 2 simple-to-use methods to help prevent HIV (AIDS), sexually transmitted diseases (STD's), and Pregnancy, when used together, each time you have sex. Now available at leading stores. __For more information: 1 -600-B'fi-SELF
