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.
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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
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