Tht foHoering it a Rat of goto ASUN has eat, and the progress ft Use msds.
1. Tb create succeeaM programming for Marti Luther King, Jr Day on Jrtl
19 aa wal aa create a Martin Luther tong, Jr. Diy coordinating conaateBion
for 199&
ri!!?.t!?^ape^rf^a8^^W8V8»ASUNwasaponsotoBflVBnlBtDrM(#dyaaBmoon
ntw Nebraska UriontW would include stodent groups such as teMadcan American Stodsnt
Associate^ AHcan People* tteion and tie Woman* States Aseodalon. Hoang said ASUN ataowR
to aporaortng aoorinuai ahoMtngoftiel Hbm Qeanf speech by tw UNuara^ Rogram Oouid in
tw 04x Thw year, ASUN Reddent Curt Rjwe said, tiara hae been a lot of confusion aboutwho was
doing WW tor twhoUayRjwa said nad yea he wanted one commis6ton,poeaUyconeiafcig of faoAy;
atteifctatera,siudtaoqgarBafonlaadereaW ASUN menteretocoordbWedi events for twhofcfey.
znaaarach and wwiktowiBro the Implementation of mkttann and atondard
academic evaluations in addRton to the exisfog departmental evaluations.
—Rave said ASLtf started woric last sonestor on new evatoeffans and several Academic Senate
members have beenVey receptor to tie idea and areoorttodng to woritfor A Rjwb sebUMy goal
totohaM an anuatB comparison acraes departments an tie efiBcMneas of hBtuoioa'he said.
1 Cortinueto work tovord Implementation of a parking education class.
-Rave 8aid9enelorawoddcorinuetoworicwth lad McOowaidkactor of Paridng Services, poestoly
to grrasfcjderfeadwnrotodecreaeetwtnanciai burden of paridngtckste fay taktogaparitegeducaion
cIbb Rjwb said tie dess wl educate students who Vt drtrt toiow twy couidnl peri( taWt*
4 Work toward Internet registration for dataae.
-The increased use cftwhtenWhae created aneedforregtetationofdassesonordne.Rjwasaid,
Wfch twUtoreiyrfNetxaskadamalwabBttV has. Restoring fvcaisaesontoBaTxJtenfcJy
cheaper raaouce,1'Rare said, by aMxfng long dstance phone chagas.
5. Lobby for aludent support for a Jury deferment ML
—A^aydetomwtbl tat woddeMamptskJdsrb ton jufydutyfcatedtodutydutog tie semester
Wwntwyareaaencftigctaseescid not pass last yea in tw Nebraska LegfcietJB,Rjwe said. This yea
ASUN W^ pushing tor twbl agate. The blwodd let stodente defer tWrjufydJtyunRtwsumma
aaineWientiey ware not taking daseea. As »is, Rjwb said, a student calad far jjydutodibwtrWs
week may hewe to go to juy duly and mtea a InaL
6. Work toward toeping the Student bnpact Teem and Government Uason
CommittM busy through working toward campus bewtiMatiton projects.
-TheStudenthpactTeamandGbwmmentUasonCommllwhawttogoelafgatetegmoneyto
purchase tees on Ciy and East campuses to replaoetw ones tw ware desboyeddumg 1997% winter
StofTTL
" 7. Recoretruct the Outstandtog educator Award.
—Rmw said twaMwrd was set ipuiabty so tWtoachere of smala desses dd not hewe ttw same
chance a winnteg te award as teednre in Wga, 10CHevei ctaaaes. to tw two yeas tW tw award has
eodsted, Pad Keter, associate prefassa of chorteby has won tw awod, Rjwb said.
PSAT scores show
smaller gender gap
WASHINGTON (AP) - The gap
between, boys and girls on a qualify
ing test for national scholarships has
narrowed with the addition of a writ
ing segment on which girls did bet
ter.
Changes in results on the
Preliminary SAT, released
Wednesday, mean more girls will
have a shot at more than $25 million
in National Merit Scholarships when
the girls graduate from high school
next year. However, critics say the
test is still biased and a reliance on it
continues to exclude too many girls
who outperform boys in school.
The College Board added the
writing skills section to the October
1997 PS AT, taken by 1.2 million
high schoolers, mostly juniors. The
addition followed a gender bias
complaint to the Department of
Education by the National Center for
Fair & Open Testing, a Cambridge,
Mass., group that opposes reliance
on standardized tests to determine
scholarships and admissions.
“Test scores simply do not mea
sure merit,” said Bob Schaeffer,
director of the group known as
FairTest.
The group says the PSAT, with
its reliance on multiple-choice ques
tions, favors a test-taking style in
which boys do better because they
^re more apt to risk a guess after nar
rowing down the possible answers.
The test, also used for guidance
and to prepare for the SAT, still mea
sures math and verbal reasoning.
Girls did better than in previous
years on the verbal part of the PSAT
but dropped slightly in the math por
tion. TTiey lagged behind boys in
both sections, but not as much as in
the past. Girls outdid boys in the
writing part, which tests grammar,
usage, sentence and paragraph
structure and the ability to revise.
The College Board and National
Merit Scholarship Corp. says the
bias lies not in the tests but in exter
nals such as the pool of test-takers,
course selection and disparate treat
ment of boys and girls in the same
classroom. With more girls taking
challenging courses, especially in
math and science, the gap is bound
to narrow, the College Board and
National Merit Scholarship Corp.
said.
Fifty-six percent of the National
Merit Scholars last year were boys,
compared with an average of 61 per
cent in the late 1980s and early
1990s, according to figures in a
recent annual report. For four years
this decade, the Evanston, 111.,-based
organization declined to release
numbers on the ground that they
were not relevant, said spokes
woman Elaine Detweiler.
“The gap is smaller, and we think
that it coincides with the better acad
emic preparation of girls,” she said.
Some 15,000 of the October
1997 test takers will become semifi
nalists, due to their PS AT scores.
One-half of those will get scholar
ships as seniors based on a range of
criteria, with scholarship amounts
ranging from $1,000 to $40,000.
Schaeffer, the FairTest director,
said the new test and revised weight
ing formula mean the score gap was
narrowed in just one year by 40 per
cent.
However, it will be later this year
before anyone knows how many
more girls will become scholarship
semifinalists based on test scores.
The semifinalists will be chosen
from among the top scores in each
state.
The scores, on a scale of 20 to
80:
■ The national average score on
the PSAT was 48.7 in verbal, 49 in
math and 49.4 in writing skills.
Verbal was up 0.5 points and math
down 0.2.
■ Boys averaged 48.9 in verbal,
up 0.3. They scored 50.9 in math,
unchanged, and 49 in writing.
■ Girls averaged 48.7 in verbal,
up 0.8, but their score of 47.6 in
math was down 0.2. Their written
score was 49.8.
In the late 1980s and early
1990s, boys scored about a point
higher in verbal and three to four
points higher in math
-'>1
0
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Republican lawmakers pressed
President Clinton Wednesday to join
them in changing income tax rules
that they say penalize people for being
married.
In a letter signed by 123 House
members, including Speaker Newt
Gingrich, lawmakers asked Clinton to
use his State of the Union address
later this month to endorse their pro
posal to eliminate the so-called mar
riage tax penalty.
“It’s immoral that our tax code
punishes our most basic institution,”
said Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Ill., chief
sponsor of the legislation along with
Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind.
Weller and McIntosh said 42 per
cent of all Americans, 21 million mar
ried couples, pay higher taxes than if
they were single because filing joint
returns pushes them into a higher tax
bracket.
For example, a couple jointly
making $60,000 a year, putting them
in the 28 percent tax bracket, would
have to pay nearly $1,400 more in
taxes than if they were single and each
paid taxes on incomes of $30,000,
which is in the 15 percent bracket.
The two lawmakers, who intro
duced their legislation last
September, said they now have 232
co-sponsors, including about a dozen
Democrats.
They said their bill, which would
give married couples the option of fil
ing separately if that meant a smaller
tax burden, would cost the govern
ment $18 billion in revenues a year,
and could be paid for with the budget
surpluses expected in the coming
years.
Similar legislation has also been
offered in the Senate, including a pro
posal by Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo.,
that would allow married couples to
split their tax burden.
Clinton last month said he was
opposed in principle to the “marriage
penalty,” but added that there are “a
lot of tax cuts that might be desirable,
but how would you pay for them?”
Christensen
makes tax
hill priority
■ The Nebraska
representative joins his
peers in aiming to
remove the penalty.
OMAHA (AP)-Rep. Jon
Christensen, R-Neb., is mak
ing the elimination of the so
called marriage tax penalty a
priority for this session of
Congress.
Could that have anything
to do with the fact that
Christensen plans to marry
former Miss America Tara
Dawn Holland in late
November or early
December of this year?
No, according to his
administrative assistant,
Lori Wall, who said
Christensen has been inter
ested in the issue for almost
two years.
In a letter signed by 123
Republican House members,
including Christensen and
Speaker Newt Gingrich, law
makers on Tuesday asked
President Clinton to use his
State of the Union address
later this month to endorse
their proposal to eliminate
the penalty.
Christensen, 34, divorced
his first wife in 1996. Ms.
Holland, 24, is the former
Miss Kansas and has been
regularly with him on the
gubernatorial candidate’s
campaign stops in Nebraska.
Clinton
prepares for
deposition
WASHINGTON (AP)-Loath to
see Paula Jones tread on White House
grounds, President Clinton’s legal team
has moved his weekend deposition
even as the president says it is “proba
bly” inevitable that he will stand trial on
a sexual harassment accusation.
Clinton is expected to give a sworn
deposition in the civil suit on Saturday
at the downtown Washington firm of
his attorney, Robert Bennett. Mike
McCurry, White House press secretary,
said Wednesday that Clinton had a mid
morning appointment on Saturday and
all but confirmed that he will be at the
law offices near the White House.
The president’s testimony was orig
inally expected toJbe taken at the execu
tive mansion.
After the date was disclosed last
week - and a spokeswoman announced
that Jones would exercise her right to
attend - the Clinton camp moved to
change the venue to deny news cameras
the chance to photograph Jones at the
White House, two sources confirmed
Tuesday.
Given a court-ordered ban on any
discussion of depositions given in the
case, sources spoke only on condition
of anonymity.
Clinton, meanwhile, made rare
comments on the case in an Oval Office
interview Tuesday. He was asked by
U.S. News & World Report whether it
seemed inevitable that the lawsuit
would go to trial on May 27, when jury
selection is set to begin.
"Probably,” Clinton replied with
what reporters described as a resigned
smile and slow shake of his head. “You
know, I let my other people talk for me
on that because I just try to put it over in
a little box and go on and do my work.”
Clinton rarely speaks publicly of
the case and has been known to snSp at
reporters who question him about it.
With Jones’ settlement demands reach
ing as high as $3 million, negotiations
for an out-of-court resolution have
stalemated. The evidence-gathering
portion of the case is to end by Jan. 30.
■
