mi vigor
Moeser hammers out
objectives for next year
By Sarah Baker
Senior Reporter
From academic rigor to
diversity to questions ol free
; speech, it has been a year filled
j with both controversial and
| important issues at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoin.
Bait through the mass of
debate. Chancellor James
Moeser has pulled out what he
says are numerous ciear-cut
goals, most of which are well on
their way toward fruition.
Moeser, who throughout the
year actively discussed academic
rigor at UNL, said he is still con
r—
cerned with the issue.
“I think the most important
thing is that we now have the
matter on ‘he front burner,”
Moeser said. “1 think it is being
successful It's hard to measure,
but I hear it being discussed."
Moeser said his ultimate goal
concerning ngor encompasses
more than just challenging stu
dents in the classroom.
“1 want an atmosphere of
intellectual curiosity,” he said.
‘"What this campus needs is a
sense of electricity, an atmos
phere of intellectual excitement
that you can feel.
“Our goal should be com
plete fulfillment of everyone’s
academic potential,” he said.
James Ford, Academic Senate
president and English professor,
said he also felt progress had
been made concerning rigor.
“We have plans to implement
a debate series where we bring in
authorities on academic topics,”
Ford said. “We want to involve
people from the community in
the debates.”
Ford said he also plans to
renew academic rigor as one of
the goals of the UNL Academic
Senate.
“It's clear that more people
know about rigor just because
we have talked about it publicly,”
he said. “We are going to have to
use sticks and carrots to achieve
this.
“The carrot is that we will
have more fun if we have a more
academically rigorous campus,
but in order to get there we are
going to have to use sticks to
shame the people letting us
Daniel Luedert/DN
CHANCELLOR JAMES MOESER stands before the uncompleted Nebraska Union renovation, which is expected
to be completed in the fall.
i
!_____
66
What this campus needs is ... an
atmosphere of intellectual excitement.
James Moeser
chancellor
down.”
Ford’s vision of UNL as a
motWIFgoi-ous university was
similar to that of Moeser & ulti
mate goal.
"We need students who can
think and speak critically, who
are aware of what is going on
around them and who have high
standards for themselves," he
said. “But I always think we need
students who enjoy (college) and
realize how much fun this is. It is
a great satisfaction to be able to
do something well.”
Curt Ruwe, former president
of the Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska, said
he thought more evaluation
needed to be done concerning
academic rigor.
“I think it’s an honorable goal
and it’s the right thing to do,” he
said. “But I also think we need to
do some more research before
we dive in.”
Ruwe said he thought the stu
dent body should be evaluated
before any more steps are taken
“The university needs to look
at student evaluations and come
up with an accurate wray to find
out where students are discon
tent instead of just making a
general statement,” he said.
Over the past year, the
national standings of the univer
sity have improved, as has the
newest class of freshmen.
But Moeser said he has no
plans for UNL to become an
“elite university.”
“A lot of people have that
misconception, and 1 don’t think
that at all.” he said. “We still
want to be open and accessible to
anyone in Nebraska who is qual
ified to go after a university edu
cation.’
As much as Moeser would
like to see the university become
more rigorous, he also would
like to see it become more
diverse.
Concerns by UNL minorities
were brought to light after a
recent university audit conduct
ed by the Office for Civil Rights.
“Our students of color have
very different experiences on
this campus than the majority of
students do." he said. “1 heard
the word irate' mentioned in the
c o n v e r s a t i o n ! had with the
team.”
Moeser said the news of the
level of unhappiness of minority
students took him b\ surprise.
“We have a lot of work to do,”
he said “It makes me sad to
think these students see their
time spent here as a struggle,
and that they didn’t feel wel
come."
He said he didn’t think their
unhappiness was the result of
overt racism on campus, but
stemmed from a culture clash.
He also said the team discussed
options to improve conditions
for minorities.
“I think we need to better ori
ent students at the beginning of
school, and educate more about
subtle forms of racial discrimi
nation,” he said.
“I think our minorities expect
us to be better than the commu
nities surrounding us when it
comes to issues like this. After
all, we are an institution of high
er learning.”
Jimmi Smith, multicultural
affairs director, said his main
goal has been to support thvr
drive the university has put forth
concerning diversity.
“I think the university is
approaching diversity by letting
the community know what the
issues are that need enhance
ment,” Smith said. “It's too early \
to say whether we are making j
headway on the objectives, but 1
think it’s a good approach.”
Smith said he thinks the uni
versity recognizes the problems
it has with diversity issues.
“The enrollment of students
of color is not where it should
be, and our numbers of minority
faculty are not where they
should be either,” he said. “We
have a long way to go.”
He said he hoped the new
diversity plan would strive to be
inclusive.
‘1 would call tor this plan to
enable people of color to be able
to move forward and receive
support and resources from aca
demic colleges/’ he said “These i
resources must be shared among j
everyone in order for us to get j
ready for the 2 1st century/’
Ruwe said he felt the commu
nication surrounding diversity
issues had greatly improved, and ;
he targeted the alleged racist e
mail messages sent earlier this
semester by Assistant English ;
Professor David Hibler and the
Sigma Chi cross burning last
year as examples
T think the student body has
really come a long wav," he said j
“If you look at the wav the :
Hibler incident w as h an dled i
compared to how the Sigma Chi
incident was handled, the com
munication was much quicker '
and much more complete.”
Ruwe said he thought both
ASUN and the minority groups
worked together to achieve bet
ter communication.
"1 think the students handled '
Hibler in a very responsible, j
mature manner,” he said "That
didn’t happen a year ago”
Moeser said looking back on the !
racial turmoil surrounding i
Hibler. he would have handled
things the same way.
i woinan i cnange any- ;
thing,’' Moeser said. “We didn't
fall into his trap. It was strictly 1
media manipulation."
Moeser said he has no..eh of
the same things in -.;oi • hoi i
future goais.
“We have had some real sue- j
cesses this year," he said. "I want
to continue to have better con
tentment with student advising,
and I also have some major fund
raising issues as personal goals."
The fund-raising issues con
cern the expansion of the
Sheldon Art Gallery and Love
Library and renovation work on
Burnett and Richards halls.
“1 want to continue on the
goals I’ve already set,” he said.
“I don’t see any change of
course.”
Moeser said he also wanted
to continue good relationships
with the students themselves.
“I like working directly with
students,” he said. “After all,
they are what we’re here for.”
