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Klaustanding teacher awards
Columnist thanks instructors for challenging classroom experience
KLAUS MARRE is a
senior broadcasting
major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
Administrators have been harp
ing all semester that the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln needs to become a
better university, that standards need
to be raised and that the “brain drain”
has to be stopped.
UNL wants to attract the best and
brightest from around the world.
I think it will take a long time to
achieve these goals.
Still, they got me here, so let me
tell you why I came here and maybe
somebody will 'see how more stu
dents can be lined to Nebraska.
I visited UNL three years ago,
and the reason I chose Nebraska over
other places with much better acade
mic reputations was the people in my
college.
After talking to broadcasting
instructor Rick Alloway in 1995, my
mind was pretty much made up that I
was going to study here. To me, it
does not matter under what condi
tions I have to work as long as I am
comfortable with whom I work.
The only way to attract the best
students to Nebraska is to get the best
instructors. I went to “better” schools
with superior equipment, but none of
them had the kind of people UNL
did.
I talked to snotty professors who
thought the name of their school
would weigh more heavily on my
decision than the impression they
made on me.
They were wrong, because none
of these schools had the kind of peo
ple who welcomed me in Nebraska.
I am writing this column for all
the good professors at this university.
It is for all those who still have the
drive to teach, the desire to share then
knowledge and the compassion to
care for their students.
It is a tribute to the professors
who have made a difference in my
academic career with the way they
taught and how they wanted me to
learn from them.
In my first semester here, one of
those professors was philosophy
teacher Harry Ide. He is an instructor
who cares for his subject and his stu
dents.
Associate Professor Ide always
took time for his students, to answer
questions about course material or
simply to listen to everyday prob
lems. I had the privilege to be in his
Philosophy 101 class, although he
ruined my 4.0 GPA.
It was a class with more than 100
students, and I feel bad for any
instructor who has to teach in front of
so many students because many of
them just don’t care.
This holds especially true for
David Sharp, who teaches History of
Jazz. Every semester, his classes are
filled with students who need to ful
fill a requirement and heard “Jazz for
Jocks” is an easy course to take.
Professor Sharp teaches in an
auditorium that seats a couple hun
dred students, and I am sure he knows
many of them don’t care about what
he says.
Some read the paper, and others
fall asleep. If they would pay atten
tion, they could see one of the
instructors who is.truly passionate
about what he teaches.
Professor Sharp celebrates music
in his classes, and it is a shame so few
students seem to care. I hope he never
loses his compassion, although I am
afraid one day he will get sick of
walking in a room of apathetic stu
dents who will never care as much
about music as he would want them
to.
Protecting , educators like
Professor Sharp from burning out
should be a priority of the administra
tion. These professors make our uni
versity special with the way they
teach, and no modern building or
fancy equipment can ever replace
what these people bring to UNL.
Another one of these individuals
is Michael Combs, who teaches polit
ical science. In his class I did not
merely learn about “Blacks in
Politics,” I learned about life. His
classes make students think instead
of simply feeding them pages of
notes.
Political Science 238 is a forum
for discussion, and Professor Combs
awaits every “scholar” with open
arms,
He not only wants to teach but
also is willing to listen to students
and to learn from them. Professor
Combs expects his students to think
for themselves rather than repeat
what they have heard from others. In
my opinion, this is what an institution
of higher learning should be about.
Another instructor who goes
beyond teaching the material on the
syllabus is Judy Slater in the English
department. In her courses, I never
felt as. if I was going to class.
Learning was fun and never work in
her writing classes. She always had
time to listen to her students and was
genuinely interested in the work they
did. __
Slater helped me understand writ
ing as much as her class helped me to
understand myself. Her outstanding
quality is that she cares. English 252
and 352 were more like family
reunions than lectures, and students
excelled in this atmosphere of mutual
respect.
I believe the only way to make
UNL a more respected university is vi
to find professors; like the ones men
tioned above. Administrafotsbaverfer^:
stop whining about brain draamand
how to make Lincoln more attractive:
to students. ,
Instead, they should make a con
certed effort to go out ahd hire the
best professors in the country, and
students will come to UlflL.
Lollipops licked
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' Campaign defeat, ‘Dukes ofHazzard. highlight two seme^ie^^i,,
TODD MUNSON is a junior
broadcasting major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
Hi diddly ho readerinos. Please excuse the
Ned Flanders speak, but spring fever has me as
giddy as a Catholic school girl on a religious
holiday. |- .
The 1997-98 school year has just flown
right by. Looking down the barrel of finals
week, it’s nearly impossible to remember what
happened yesterday much less during the
course of the entire school year.
And, after that last C has been penciled in,
most of us will cash in our books for beer
money and in a matter of hours, will have killed
enough brain cells to completely forget every
thing that happened this past year.
That’s where this handy clip ’n’ save year
m-review comes in. After reading this, cut it out
and laminate it for posterity. Just keep in mind
that this year in review is coming from my per
spective and it may not exactly match yours.
Also, if you don’t feel like preserving this
column, take it to the Brass Rail and redeem it
for a free beer. If they give you the guff, tell
them if they’re really “Playboy’s top college
bar,” they should give something back to the
students that made it possible.
August: School starts off on the hip-hop tip
courtesy of Run DMC’s concert during Big Red
Welcome. Their free show in the middle of R
Street was probably the coolest thing ever
arranged by the University Program Council
and proved to the 5,000 people in attendance
that UNL isn’t always a boring place.
September: Coming Out Week comes to
UNL, and the homophobes come out. After the
urging of a German jackass and his cohorts on a
KRNU-FM (90.3) talk show, chalk messages
bashing homosexuality appear all over campus.
The result was a heated uproar between the gay
community and the homophobes of campus.
After much deliberation, the German was
allowed to stay in America.
October: The rift between City and East
campuses is ripped even more when some irre
sponsible jackass from the Daily Nebraskan
pokes fun at the “Dukes of Hazzard” and is sub
ject to much torment from the residents of Bun
Hall. Before the jackass writer was hogtied and
left for dead, the Blizzard of ’97 struck Lincoln.
The damage was terrible. Thousands of trees
were killed, and people were left without power,
heat and cable for days.
November: A new chapter in Husker foot
ball lore is written when NU took on Missouri.
Scott Frost proved he was the real deal and
could lead the Huskers to victory. With only
five seconds on the clock Scooter Frost
marched the Huskers 180 yards down the field.
On the final play of regulation, freshman
Matt Davison pulled more luck out of his ass
than humanly possible when he came out of
nowhere and made a diving touchdown catch
that was dubbed “The Miracle in Missouri.”
December: J.C. Penney had a white sale,
and the moon and the stars were in perfect
alignment for the first time in 10,000 years. The
stage was now set for Dr. Tom Osborne to drop
a 50 megaton bomb on the state of Nebraska.
After 25 years of service, Tom decided it Was
time to have a day or two, or few years, off, as he
announced his retirement. The university was in
a state of mourning, and Dr. Tom’s wife was
ecstatic because she could now actually have
dinner with her husband.
January: T.O. did it again for the third time
in four years as the Huskers rolled past the
Tennessee Volunteers 183-4 in the Orange
Bowl. Back in Lincoln, thousands of fans filled
O Street and proved to the world that
Nebraskans are mild mannered even when cele
brating.
There were no car fires, looting or riots, just
a bunch on drunks in red trying to sing the inane
alma mater. When it was announced thaf the
Huskers earned a share of the national title,
Osborne truly went out a champion and was
then free to do some fishing.
February: UNL proves again that it is a
school of racial ignorance as an eccentric
English professor accidentally sent out a racist
e-mail, with many references to the n-word, to a
few hundred people. The prof made no apolo
gies and said it was his First Amendment right
to send the messages. In the end, he threatened
to sue the university, and Chancellor Moeser
gave him a semi-permanent, yet paid, vacation.
March: The month certainly came in like a
lion with the Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska elections. The monoto
ny of the election was broken up by a jackass
writer from the Daily Nebraskan who tried to
pull a Ross Perot and run for president with the
promise of “Sun-shiny days and lollipops.”
He failed miserably and was sentenced to
hard ’abor over at East Campus, where he now
spends his afternoons shoveling manure. Sadly,
though, the month didn’t go out like a lamb as
student Laura Cockson was tragically killed at
the hands of a drunken driver. Although I never
knew Laura, her death was quite sad because it
just as easily could have happened to one of my
friends. i
April: April? What, the hell happened to
April??
May: (Please note that I’m looking into my
Magic 8 Ball for this one). Students survive
finals week and trade in their books for beer
money. All signs point to yes when I asked if
many students would graduate and possibly get
real jobs.
In the immortal words of that crappy pop
band Blur: Whoo hoo!. It’s been quite a, year. To
those graduating, good luck and have, hint in the
real world, suckers. To the rest of y’all I hope
you don’t get too drunk one night and run off
with the circus. Trust me, college is where it’s
at.
RobbBlum/DN
