Ranking doesn’t faze Moeser
RANKING from page 1
tive signs.”
These signs included an improve
ment in total ACT scores. In last year's
rankings, 25 percent of students had a
score below 20, and 25 percent above
26. Those numbers increased this year
to 21 and 27, respectively.
The percentage of entering fresh
men who graduated in the top 10 per
cent of their high school classes also
increased- from 21 percent to 25 per
cent.
The improvements were a result
of increased admissions standards,
which began in the 1997-1998 acade
mic year, Griesen said.
For assured admission, the new
standards require first-time appli
cants to have a composite ACT score
of 20 or higher, or to be ranked in the
top half of their high school classes.
What hurt UNL in the rankings
most was the freshman retention rate
and graduation rate, Moeser said.
In the U.S. News data, the univer
sity showed a 75 percent retention
rate. This figure is taken from the per
centage of first-year students who
returned to UNL the following fall,
and is averaged from the classes
entered between 1993 and 1996.
UNL also showed a 50 percent
predicted graduation rate, with 46
percent actual graduation rate in
1997.
' ■; - --r - -- s
The graduation rate is the percent
age of freshmen who graduated with
in a six-year period, averaged over die
classes entering between 1988 and
1991. Predicted graduation rate is fig
ured by U.S. News.
In his state of the university
address Friday morning, Moeser
focused on increasing efforts in these
two areas.
He set a goal to reduce the fresh
man attrition rate to less than 20 per
cent in five years and increase the
graduation rate to 60 percent.
Ford said it was evident more
focus was needed in these areas.
But, Ford said, “I don’t think that
we are wildly out of range of the aver
age conditions with schools like ours.
“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t
do better.”
Interim Admissions Director
Larry Routh said the rankings should
n’t have much impact on prospective
students’ decisions.
But he said he expects some to ask
about the rankings. “I think we need
to be prepared to talk intelligently
about those rankings,” Routh said.
Ford said he thought the rankings
would affect both prospective faculty
members’ and students’ decisions
when they are wavering between two
schools.
The university doesn’t use the
U.S. News rankings in its promotional
materials, Griesen said.
■ y - SaIha
IIiWi nUnd buimyu
How Sg 12 Conference Schools fared in the latest
U.S. News ranldngs for national universities.
Her 2 (ranted 51 through 117)
Baylor University
Iowa State University
Tans MM University
UntenSy of Colorado at Boulder
Univsrdty of Kansas
University of Mteaouri-Coiumbfe
University of Oklahoma
University of Texas at Austin
T1er3 (rented 111 through 172)
Kansas State Univsrdty
Oklahoma Stale University
university or rseof&SKa- uncom
Tier 4 (ranted 173 through 227)
Texas Tech University
He said some of the figures that
hurt UNL in the rankings could have
been estimates or figures that didn’t
necessarily represent UNL’s actual
intellectual climate.
Primarily all of the raw data U.S.
News uses for the ranking system
comes from UNL’s Institutional
Research and Planning Department,
said Lauren Drees, its assistant direc
tor. The magazine also uses informa
tion from government agencies.
Other Midwestern schools ranked
in the third tier included the
University of Wyoming, Oklahoma
State University, Colorado State
University, Kansas State University
and the University of Missouri
Kansas City.
P Street concerns city I
Football fans may be confused
By Todd Anderson
Senior staff writer
City officials are worried out-of
town drivers will be surprised by the
new two-way traffic on P Street when
entering Lincoln for NU’s first home
football game Saturday.
The Lincoln Police Department
and Lincoln city planners are deciding
how to deal with potential traffic prob
lems along P Street, said Dallas
McGee, an official with Lincoln
Urban Development
Susan Barryman, a Citizen
Information spokeswoman, said
Lincoln drivers have adapted well to
the changes, but out-of-town drivers
will not be aware of the new two-way
lanes when they exit Interstate 180 on
Saturday.
Changing the street back to a one
way street heading east just for one
day is being discussed by LPD and
city planners, she said.
LPD will announce and explain
the traffic plan Thursday morning dur
ing a press conference.
Local business owners say the
changes completed between Ninth
and 12* streets have caused few prob
lems despite some drivers’ confusion.
“I thmk people have a bad tenden
cy ... not to concentrate on where
they’re going,” said Jake Riggins, an
employee at Footloose & Fancy
Birkenstock, 1219 P St
Since Aug. 12, construction work
ers have been converting the one-way
street to two-way as part of the Market
Place project
Every week, crews have changed
the lines separating lanes, added new
lights and converted street signs one
block at a time.
McGee said the conversion pro
ject with a planned cost of $800,000,
should be complete in November,
when all new promotional signs will
be installed.
He said the project was originally
proposed by the Downtown 2001
committee and implemented as a pri
ority project in 1996.
The committee wanted to create a
downtown district that would attract
new businesses to the area while con
necting the Haymarket to die down
town movie theaters, the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln and the entertain
ment district, McGee said.
Part of the plan was to make die
area more “pedestrian-friendly” by
reducing the amount of traffic along P
Street, he said.
To reach 17* Street from Ninth
Street more quickly, city officials have
recommended drivers use M Street as
an alternate route.
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