Committee to investigate
political science department
By Tim Karstens
Staff Reporter
The fallout from recent sexual
harassment allegations in the politi
cal science department at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln has
prompted one student to take matters
into his own hands.
Robert Herling, a senior criminal
justice student, is forming a commit
tee to educate and assist students
who feel they have been sexually
harassed. Herling said he decided to
form the committee after Valerie
Schwebach, a former political sci
ence professor at UNL, leveled sexu
al harassment charges against the
political science department at UNL.
Schwebach, who-is no longer at
UNL, formally filed sexual harass
ment charges in June 1997. The
charges stemmed from a 1995 inci
dent where a political science gradu
ate student found an offensive flier in
Oldfather Hall. Other faculty mem
bers and some students apparently
left, claiming the department toler
ates harassment towards women.
The goal of die committee, which
will consist of students exclusively,
is to reach all victims of sexual
harassment and to help victims after
thev have heen harassed nr assaulted
Herling said.
“I would like to give them the
chance to alleviate the problem once
they become the victim,” Herling
said.
While not singling out the politi
cal science department at UNL, the
alleged harassment of Schwebach is
symptomatic of a university-wide
problem, Herling said.
“I got the impression that a lot of
students on campus did not know the
options given to them,” Herling said.
“And the political science depart
ment didn’t complete the steps they
had to take, or they didn’t take them.”
Jeff Spinner, an associate profes
sor of political science, said the
accusations made by Schwebach in
May have been investigated by the
department and an outside party and
dismissed.
Even though the department has
found no basis for Schwebach’s com
plaint, Chancellor James Moeser has
appointed a three-member faculty
committee to further investigate the
matter. Spinner said he expects the
findings to support the department’s
previous findings.
“They are just reviewing it and
seeing what the climate is for
women,” Spinner said of the faculty
panel. “I find it to be a good atmos
phere. No committee has found any
problems before.”
Dr. Herbert Howe, an associate
chancellor and professor of psychol
ogy at UNL, said the committee was
formed under the auspices of the
Academic Rights and
Responsibilities Committee, which
oversees matters involving UNL aca
demic departments. The committee,
which must submit its findings by
the end of the summer, is focusing
more on me way me scnweoacn mat
ter was handled currently.
“They weren’t concerned about
the climate in the department,” Howe
said of the committee’s purpose.
“They were concerned about the
process.”
Members of the ARRC panel and
Dr. Howe said the information gath
ered so far was confidential and
refused to comment on the report.
Herling said two prior studies .
done by UNL in 1981 and 1985 on
sexual harassment indicated there
had always been a problem.
Considering recent events, the prob
lem still exists and there is plenty of
blame to go around.
“It just seems to me that some of
the people on campus are compla
cent,” Herling said of the campus
policy towards sexual harassment.
“And if these people are complacent,
they are just as guilty.”
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