Diversity-plan drafters release second trv
I
By Lindsay Young
Assignment Reporter
Drafters of UNL’s diversity plan
have engineered a second, more
detailed and inclusive blueprint of the
university’s diversity initiatives.
The second draft, which is two
pages longer than the first, was
released for discussion March 18 and
can be found on the World Wide Web at
http://www. uni. edu/svcaa/Activities/D
iversity2.html.
The architects of the plan used
feedback from forums and people
within the university to redesign the
plan after many, including the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
committee on
Gay/Lesb ian/B isexual/Transgender
Concerns, said it was not inclusive of
groups such as disabled individuals
and homosexuals.
Pat Tetreault, sexuality education
' coordinator at the University Health
Center, said the second draft was more
» inclusive. She felt this was due, in part,
to the feedback her committee was able
to give on the plan.
“They are utilizing the nondiscrim
/ X
ination statement as a guiding factor,”
she said. “I was pleased to see that
because that basically incorporates all
of the protected groups - all of the
groups that have been not necessarily
treated equitably.”
The name changed from “Diversity
Plan and Implementation Initiatives”
to “A Plan for Increasing Diversity
within the Faculty.”
It’s a set of goals administrators
will follow when hiring to diversify the
faculty, and the goals outline ways to
retain a diverse faculty.
Evelyn Jacobson, one of the plan’s
drafters, said the committee wanted to
accomplish three things in the second
draft:
■ To rename the draft to clarify the
focus of the original document.
■ To specify that normal search
processes and recruitment processes
would be the primary vehicle for
change.
■ To stress that retention was an
important part of creating a more
diverse faculty.
Jacobson, associate vice chancellor
for Academic Affairs, said the second
draft focuses primarily on faculty
members. A broader plan will cover
The Edge signs off
j By Lindsay Young
Assignment Reporter
Nebraska’s favorite sources of
commercial alternative rock was
yanked from the airwaves Friday
at 3 p.m. to make way for classic
rock, which started today on the
station formerly known as The
Edge.
Scott and Pat, The Edge’s
disc-jockey duo, ended the reign
of KDGE-FM (101.9 The Edge)
with their song, “Dick,” a parody
of Meredith Brooks’ song,
“Bitch.” Then the station played
REM’s “It’s the End of the World
as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
repeatedly for hours.
As the two signed off The
Edge for good, they told listeners
“This isn’t a joke.” Not long
after, the Edge family left the
station, and Pat Safford, one-half
of Scott and Pat, was one of the
few crew members left hanging
around.
“It’s like part of me is dying,”
Safford said in a telephone inter
view Friday.
Mitchell Broadcasting Inc.
owns the station, along with at
least six others, including
Omaha’s KQKQ-FM (98.5,
Sweet 98). Country music was
played on 101.9 before The Edge
took over in February 1995.
Marty Riemenschneider,
Mitchell Broadcasting Inc.
owner, did not return calls to the
Daily Nebraskan throughout the
weekend.
And reasons for the format
switch aren’t yet known.
Concerts such as Rockfest
and Edgefest may still be held,
Safford said, but would be spon
sored by other companies.
Listeners weren’t happy,
Safford said.
“We’ve had people crying
over the phones,” Safford said.
“The people that love this format
are very passionate about it, and
it becomes part of them.”
Dana Patton, a freshman
undeclared major, said he was
disappointed because The Edge
was the only commercial station
that played the newer, less-heard
alternative music.
He said there were already too
many classic rock stations in
Nebraska.
But Matt Connolly, a UNL
senior, disagreed.
“There’s never enough (clas
sic rock stations),” he said.
Listeners weren t the only
people surprised by the change.
Safford said he found out about
the change Thursday at 3 p.m. -
24 hours before the end of The
Edge.
“Talk about a devastating 24
hours,” he said.
Safford, who has been at the
station for most of its three
years, started as an intern in May
1995 and worked his way up.
Safford said he plans to leave but
does not know where he will find
a new job. As far as he knows, he
said, there will be a new team of
DJs for the station.
“They have been really fair to
us,” Safford said. “They have
offered us other positions in the
company. It’s very commend
able.”
Safford said if another alter
native rock station wants to jump
into the radio pool in Nebraska,
it would have no problem gaining
an audience.
“There’s not another station
like it in Nebraska and the
Midwest.”
I-1
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recruitment and retention of faculty
members, staff members and students;
die enriching of curriculum; and cam
pus climate.
According to UNL’s Fact Book on
the university’s Web page, in fall 1997,
469 professors were male and 52 were
female. Of associate professors, 303
were male and 116 were female.
Faculty members included both
full-time and part-time faculty mem
bers and chairmen employed by UNL
as of the fall census date and did not
include the Nebraska College of
Technical Agriculture.
The fact book is compiled by
UNL’s Institutional Research and
Planning department every September
based on the personnel payroll from
human resources.
The fact book also showed 9.2 per
cent of the faculty members in fall
1997 were minorities. Minorities
included in the statistics are blacks,
American Indians, Asians and
Hispanics.
The first draft of the plan did not
include ways to retain minority and
women faculty members, said Chuck
van Rossum, assistant director of the
Minority Assistance Program in the
u
Retention was a big addition because you re
not only looking at the front end.”
Chuck van Rossum
assistant director of the Minority Assistant Program
office of Multicultural Affairs.
Rossum said he was glad to see the
second draft dedicated a section to
retention.
“Retention was a big addition
because you’re not only looking at the
front end,” he said. “You’re looking at
the back end - you’re retaining.”
But, Rossum said, after the nondis
crimination policy of the university
was placed under the subhead,
“Fostering Understanding of
Diversity,” those issues aren’t looked at
again.
“But then we go to spell out the
goals,” he said. “Did we include all of
those groups we say in that first sen
tence?”
There were a lot of positive changes
to the plan, though^ Rossum said.
Under the subhead “Recruitment,”
the plan states it will focus outreach
and recruiting efforts “on what in affir
mative-action language are termed
‘underutilized groups’” such as black,
American Indian and Latino faculty
members and “in some disciplines
Asian Americans.”
The addition of the phrase, “in
some disciplines,” although small, is
important, Rossum said.
“To me it’s very small, but it’s very
significant because it’s a different way
of looking at the hiring,” Rossum said.
He said some minority groups are
congregated in one discipline and not
spread out to others.
Tetreault said student, faculty
member and university-group input
will continue to be the key to whether
the university will achieve the goals
outlined in the diversity plan.
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