l4 Diversity in History
IiEditor’s note: Each day during Black History
Month, the Daily Nebraskan will tell the story of a
minority who made an important contribution in
America’s History.
Because he attended Columbia University in New York
and became the first black American to earn a medical
i doctor of science degree in 1940;
Because he discovered blood plasma while working as
a surgeon at Howard University’s Freedmen’s Hospital
in Washington, D.C.;
: Because he spearheaded efforts to collect and dry
blo°d plasma for thousands of life-saving transfusions
on World War II battlefields in Europe and the Pacific;
:Because he organized, founded and directed the
* nation’s first blood bank, the American Red Cross Blood
< Bank, in 1941, and later was responsible for collecting
blood for the U.S. Army and Navy.
i Dr. Charles Drew is recognized as the black surgeon
i and scientist who saved thousands of lives daily by
3 ^ revolutionizing blood plasma storage and founding the
i model blood-banking system for the world before his
1 kj death in, 1950.
Jennifer Walker/DN
Education-incentive bill
draws support from crowd
By Brian Carlson
Senior Reporter
Supporters of a bill thafwould pro
vide incentives for schools to enhance
student performance flocked to the
Nebraska Legislature’s Education
Committee Monday.
Sen. Ardyce Bohlke of Hastings,
Education Committee chairwoman and
sponsor of LB 1228, said she hadn’t
anticipated so many people would
Several educators and state education
officiais'testifietl'dufiiig die hearing,
which lasted more than two hours.
The bill, known as the Quality
Education Accountability Act, would
provide incentives for qualifying
schools. To be eligible, schools would
have to meet the following criteria:
■ Adopt academic standards as
accepted by the State Board of
Education.
■ Provide alternative educational
opportunities for expelled students.
■ Provide programs for high abili
ty students.
■ Have a graduating senior class in
which at least 60 percent of students
took a standard college admissions test.
The quality education incentive
payments, which would be made from
the Education Innovation Fund, would
provide $50 per student under the
adjusted formula. Schools in sparsely
populated areas would receive $ 100 per
student.
The legislation would require the
State Board of Education to oversee a
statewide academic testing program
designed to evaluate individual stu
dents’ performance and schools’ suc
cess in meeting standards.
LB1228 also would require school
systems to implement and provide to
taxpayers and the State Department of
Education a financial reporting system
accounting for all spending.
Several educators and education
officials testified in support of die bill,
arguing the incentives would push
schools to improve student perfor
mance.
“I think the number of testifiers
indicates die number of areas this bid
touches,” Bohfke said .
One person spoke in opposition to
the bill. Ross Tegeler, chairman of the
Excellence in Education Council,
objected to the source of the funding.
Use of Education Innovation Fund
money for the quality education incen
tives would jeopardize the programs
currently sponsored by the fund he
said.
The Education Innovation Fund
supports programs encouraging local
control of schools, educational innova
tion and the dissemination of educa
tional ideas that have proven success
ful. These programs could be squeezed
if funds were used for quality education
incentives, he said
“I think the impact on the fund’s
existing mission is obvious,” Tegeler
said.
Tegeler estimated the cost of the
incentives could reach $7.5 million.
But Sen. Deb Suttle of Omaha, an
Education Committee member, said
cost estimates for die fiscal year 1998
99 were closer to $2.6 million.
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1998
THE DALY NEBRASKAN
- World --
Spotlight
Saudis weigh U.S. use
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -
Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright said Monday that Saudi
Arabia sees “eye to eye” with the U.S.
position on inspecting Iraq’s weapon
sites, but apparently hasn’t agreed to
allow American warplanes to use
Saudi air bases if US. military action
is taken.
Reiterating Clinton administra
tion demands that Iraq rid itself of
chemical and biological weapons,
Albright said Saudi Arabia and other
countries in the region are in danger
of attacks from Iraq.
But after talks with Saudi offi
cials in a desert retreat, she side
stepped whether the Saudis had
approved use of air bases here for
American warplanes.
“If we had gotten a yes, she would
have said so,” said a senior U.S. offi
cial, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
Saudi leaders will weigh the issue
of U.S. use of air bases here while
Albright is in Bahrain Monday night
before going to Egypt then home on
Tuesday.
In Moscow, a Russian news
agency reported today that Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein is ready to
receive the chief U.N. weapons
inspector and name up to eight presi
dential sites for inspection. A
spokesman for President Boris
Yeltsin said Russian Foreign Minister
Yevgeny Primakov called Yeltsin to
tell him of Saddam’s offer, ITAR
Tass reported.
But hours later, Iraq denied there
was any agreement.
Albright said Primakov discussed
a similar proposal with her in Madrid
when they met last week, but she was
skeptical of the offer, and it fell far
short of U.S. demand for uncondition
al inspections, said the U.S. official.
Twice declaring herself still
“skeptical” of Saddam’s intentions,
Albright said Monday that it was up
to Richard Butler, chairman of the
U.N. commission on inspections, to
decide “whether he sees any reason”
to go to Baghdad.
President Clinton, meanwhile,
called Yeltsin to discuss “the serious
situation concerning Iraq’s noncom
pliance” with U.N. mandates, a White
House official said.
Veterans worry Osborne field
will take emphasis from them
VETigKANS from page 1
cussing tile issue as early as Dec. 28
last year, and the board meeting
when the issue was passed hap
pened nearly 20 days later.
Allen went on to say the deci
sion to name the field “was made in
an open, public session at which
interested citizens would have been
welcome to voice an opinion.”
DeCamp yelled during a phone
interview that for the regents to con
sider the meetings open when they
were hardly publicized was “bull
shit.”
“There was no reasonable time
frame for oiganized veterans groups
to meet, develop a position or relay
the position, or participate’ln the
renaming process,” he saicl.
In his statement he called
Allen’s claim that the veterans
should have acted more quickly
“true ignorance.”
Regent Nancy O’Brien of
Waterloo disagreed and said
DeCamp’s allegations were
- unfounded.
“He accuses the regents of not
having public hearings and some
how sneaking this through,”
O’Brien said. “It was on our public
agenda that we intended to take
action on this matter.”
No veterans spoke against the
naming at any of the discussions the
regents had, O’Brien said, but many
people attended in support of the
Held’s naming.
Osborne himself was originally
opposed to naming the field but
eventually agreed when regents and
UNL administration insisted.
John Leabsack, service officer
for the Douglas County Veterans,
said people would refer to the stadi
um as Osborne Field, effectively
forgetting its dedication to veterans.
“In common usage,” Leabsack
said. “It will just become Tom
Osborne field.”
The University of Missouri
Columbia’s Memorial Stadium,
Leabsack said, was simply referred
to as (Don) Farout Field among fans
and the press.
“We feel that we’re losing some
thing as veterans,” he said.
NU Athletic Director Bill Byrne
disagreed on whether people would
begin referring to the stadium as
Tom Osborne Field.
Byrne said part of the stadium’s
renovation includes placing the
name. Memorial Stadium in huge
letters on its west side.
“We intend to continue calling it
Memorial Stadium,” he said.
“That’s our address.”
Byrne said he has not been con
tacted by DeCamp or the Veterans
Council and would not reply to the
statement until he is.
“Frankly, I haven’t paid much
attention to (DeCamp),” Byrne said.
“And until we hear something offi
cially from him, we don’t plan to
respond”
O'Brien said although naming a
football field was not unprecedent
ed in the Big 12 Conference, she
and each of the regents had received
a letter from the Veterans Council
condemning the field’s naming.
O’Brien said she had a hard time
seeing how the naming of the field
denigrated any Nebraska veterans.
“My feeling is that the regents
are comfortable in their action,”
O’Brien said, “and we have received
other feedback, or at least I have
received feedback, from several vet
erans that in fact supported naming
the field after Tom Osborne.”
Leabsack said he and other vet
erans have “all the respect in the
wdHd” for Osborne, but he thought
there were more appropriate ways to
honor the retired coach - such as
naming a football award after him.
O’Brien said she would be sur
prised if the regents decided not to
name the field for Osborne.
But if the regents do not reverse
their decision, DeCamp said, other
action may be taken.
“We never quit,” DeCamp said.
“Leave Memorial Stadium dedi
cated totally, completely and only to
the dead veterans,” he said in the
statement j.
“It is their one, their only public
monument where all Nebraskans
gather to enjoy life fully and to
honor totally those who made that
life possible.”
I
Bill would create jobs, proponents say
CENTER from page 1
approved facility before being
released on the market, he said.
None of the states in the
Midwest now have testing centers,
Hullet said, so a Lincoln location
would not only keep money in
Nebraska, but would attract rev
enue from other nearby states.
Lincoln Sen. Carol Hudkins,
who has made LB 1173 her priority
bill, said the new center would cre
ate 12 to 15 new jobs, as well as
attract new high-tech businesses
and stimulate growth in existing
businesses.
Creating the center is a cooper
ative effort of the state, private
industry and higher education to
support and promote Nebraska’s
electronics industry, which is con
sidered a desirable industry,
Raikessaid.
In addition to creating a certi
fied testing center for electronic
products, the center would expand
access to new technology in
Nebraska and provide training for
students and employees in the
electronics industry, Hullet said.
“Nebraska, like other states, is
in a situation where there are not
enough qualified workers,” he
said. “This is an effort to provide
the industry with the tools it needs
to expand.”
The $5 million would be appro
priated to Southeast Community
College to build the center and buy
equipment.
SCC would then lease the
building to the Nebraska Center
for Excellence in Electronics, a
nonprofit corporation comprising
several area businesses.
Marshall Borchert, owner of
Riser Bond Instruments and presi
dent of the NCEE board, said
NCEE would staff the center and
pay for its maintenance.
In addition, 12 companies in
Lincoln have signed an agreement
to use the testing facility, Hullet
said.
“They realize that on their own
they couldn’t do something like
this,” he said.
SCC was interested in the pro
ject, Hullet said, because its role
and mission includes developing
applied technology.
SCC would use the center to
train students and employees in
using new technology.
Raikes said UNL’s role in the
center has not yet been specifically
defined.
However, he said, the universi
ty will have an active part since the
center is located in the Tech Park,
which is owned by the University
of Nebraska Foundation.
He said he envisioned universi
ty personnel working with the cen- * I
ter to develop and expand it.
“We’re hoping this can serve as j
a model for other industries that
have a need for a cooperative effort
to expand,” Raikes said.
Hudkins said the proposed cen
ter would benefit all Nebraskans,
not just larger communities, by
bringing in more small businesses.
“If we can catch up with other
states, it might mean more than
6,000 new jobs for the state,” she
said.
i ne Appropriations committee
has scheduled a public hearing for
LB 1173 on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. . j
in room 1003 in the State CapitoL
