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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 1998)
SPORTS Avery rare thing Eric Johnson overcame his mother’s death, acad emic hardship and loneliness to become a stand out for the Nebraska football team PAGE 7 A&E The last rock show Bob Mould plays Omaha tonight during his self proclaimed last electric rock tour in support of “The Last Dog and Pony Show” release.PAGE 9 Reallocation hurts writing center Lowered funds force center to cut hours, staff ByEricRineer Staff writer Though UNL’s Writing Assistance Center is still up and run ning, a universitywide reallocation of funds has caused significant reductions to operating hours and staff this semester, members of the English department said. Coordinators of the program said the changes leave the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with one of the smallest writing assistance centers among Big 12 schools. juy iuiuiic, dssutiaic piuicssui of English and faculty coordinator of the Writing Assistance Center, said it has had to make considerable changes because of funds lost during reallocation. Among these changes, Ritchie said, was a cut in the number of hours the center is open and four fewer teaching assistants working in the center this semester. Liz Ahl, associate coordinator for the center, on the first floor of Andrews Hall, said students will have fewer hours to seek writing help. “It’s frustrating because we have to turn students away,” she said. “And it’s frustrating to know that students wander up and find a closed door.” She said the writing center’s door should be open more often than not to accommodate students’ sched ules. “If they can’t make an appoint ment when they want to,” Ahl said, “then what’s the point of being open?” The center is open 15 Vi hours per week, compared with 23 hours last semester. The reductions in operating hours and staff were necessary, cen ter coordinators said, because of money lost during the reallocation process. UNL Chancellor James Moeser ordered the reallocation two years ago. It was designed to move money into different areas of the university to improve UNL’s academics. Under that initiative, every UNL department had to designate 4 per cent of its budget to be handed over. The English Department partial ly covered the cut by eliminating two “ teaching assistant positions, which paid $10,900 each during the acade mic year, said Linda Pratt, chair woman of the English department. Those instructors spent about half of their 20-hour work week in the writing center and the rest teach ing classes, Pratt said. _ ^ When those teaching assistants were lost from the classroom, two more had to leave the writing center to cover the two vacant teaching spots. That leaves three teaching assis tants in the center to help students. “We want to be able to run the writing center,” Pratt said, “but we can’t keep it open at the expense of not teaching students.” Reallocation had cut another position last year, she said. Ritchie said the center is doing its best to cope with less money. For example, die writing center is running some workshops so students can get help on particular topics such as research projects, she said. “We haven’t given up,” Ritchie said. Ahl said she was disappointed that the writing center can no longer offer a workshop in Smith Hall. Last year, students could set appoint ments once per week at Smith to get help with papers. “We need to find ways to stabi lize the funding for this place and to Please see WRITING on 6 Faculty senate opposes tax lid By Jessica Fargen Staff writer i The Academic Senate unani mously passed a resolution Tuesday opposing the proposed state spend ing lid, saying the lid would decrease the affordability of UNL. The resolution states that Initiative 413 would force a UNL budget cut of $20 million, a 22 per cent hike in tuition, elimination of - areas of study and academic program _ cuts. Executive Committee member John Bender, a news-editorial pro fessor, said the resolution was draft ed in response to discussion in Academic Senate committees, the media and public comments by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor James Moeser’s about the effects of the lid. Academic Senate President Patricia Kennedy said the senate rec ognized that the lid could severely affect UNL. “It had come to the conclusion that it was going to be harmful to the university if passed,” she said. The passage of the proposed con stitutional amendment would limit the amount of money the state is allowed to take in through taxes. Because of state law, Academic Senate members cannot do more than Please see SENATE on 6 X fJ ' MattMillee/DN SENIOR ENGLISH MAJOR EMILY ELOWSKY gets help from Liz Ahl, associate coordinator of the UNL Writing Assistance Center, on Tuesday afternoon in Andrews Hail. The center is open 15% hours a week this year, compared with 23 hours last semester. Gubernatorial candidates submit spending records By Todd Anderson Senior staff writer Republican Mike Johanns has outspent his Democratic opponent Bill Hoppner by two times since January in this year’s race for governor. Both campaign teams submitted reports to the state office of accountancy and disclosure Monday, totaling all campaign donations and expenditures since the middle of June and for the entire campaign year. Since the beginning of the 1998 election year, Hoppner has raised slightly more than $1.02 mil lion, compared with Johanns’ $2.04 million year to-date total. From January to the middle of June, the Johanns campaign raised more than $1.08 million in donations, compared with $435,000 for Hoppner. Even though Johanns spent more during the primary election campaign, he started off the latest reporting period that began June 17 with more money than Hoppner. Since then, Johanns’ campaign has raised more than $3 for every $2 raised by Hoppner. The Hoppner campaign has raised more than $590,000 and the Johanns campaign reported receipts near ing $966,000. The reports, which are required by state law, show the amount donated to the campaign by indi viduals, as well as the money donated by business es and organizations. For Johanns, the breakdown of donations by groups as opposed to individuals was split almost equally, with 49 percent coming from single donors and 51 percent coming from businesses and groups. The Hoppner campaign showed near ly 55 percent of donations coming from political groups and businesses, includ ing a $50,000 donation by U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey’s political action committee. Forty-five percent of donations to the Hoppner campaign came from individu als, including a $15,000 loan in Hoppner’s name. Other sizable donations included $125,000 from the Nebraska State Education Association and $10,000 from United Steelworkers. The largest donation to the Johanns campaign came from the Republican National State Election Committee, which donated $100,000 to the GOP candidate. Johanns also received $26,000 from Omaha based Hawkins Construction and $20,000 each from Commonwealth Ejectfic and First Commercial Bancshares Inc., the parent company wvii i ivmuv L/xi of the National Bank of Commerce. As of Sept. 29, Johanns finished with more cash on-hand than Hoppner - more than $176,000 for Johanns, compared with $20,000 for Hoppner. a .nr/FWT Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http:// www.unl.edu/DailyNeb