Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1998)
SPORTS Title hopefuls The Nebraska cross country teams are looking for their first Big 12 championship Saturday at Pioneers Park in Lincoln.PAGE 9 P i v i r $ i 81 s Safely spooked Modern-day haunted houses are going to great lengths to scare - and protect - their customers in Lincoln and Omaha. PAGE 6 FRIDAY October 30, 1998 Partly Scary Partly sunny today, high 60. Cloudy tonight, low 43. Groups say campaigns too costly Task force will focus on UNL’s future By Lindsay Young Senior staff writer Chancellor James Moeser announced Thursday his appointments to a task force he hopes will chart the future of UNL's research and graduate programs. The Future Nebraska Task Force will turn the question of the University of Nebraska Lincoln's future in those programs into a research problem, Moeser said in a statement. He announced the formation of the task force at the State of the University Address in August. “1 truly believe that this is the most critical planning endeavor in recent times at the univer sity." Moeser said. “1 am counting on the task force to prov ide the direction for the future.” Moeser has asked the new committee to "imagine, conceptualize and strategize for the entire university,” but it is not being asked to plan the indiv idual features of each program it By Todd Anderson Senior staff writer As the number of days in the 1998 gubernator ial election ticks down, the number of dollars each candidate is spending on political advertising is going up. Meanwhile, members of several national and local groups would like to see an end to expensive political campaigns. Two fundamental concerns arise for both poli cy-makers and reform groups: How much money is being spent and where is it coming from? At the end of September, the Mike Johanns gubernatorial campaign reported an election year spending total of S1.86 million, and the Bill Hoppner campaign reported spendmg more than SI million. And as Election Day draws near, representa tives from both campaigns have said they hope to spend more money on radio and television adver tising to put out their message. According to figures from the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., most of the largest 50 contributions made to the national Republican party came from corporations and political action committees. The same report also shows more contribu tions from workers' unions and special-interest groups than from corporations given to the nation al Democratic Party. Chuck Sigerson. chairman of the Nebraska Republican Party, said those national trends are also present in Nebraska. He said the corporations that contribute finan cially to political campaigns do so with both the interest of their employees and a philosophical interest in mind. But while money is important, Sigerson said, the support of individuals is central to the success of a political campaign. Anne Boyle, chairwoman for the Nebraska Democratic Party, said the groups that donate to Democratic candidates work for the improvement of society. Please see SPEND on 3 On the dark side IviVIlLli Some questions the committee will answer include: ■ What are the goals of the research and graduate activities? ■ What can UNL learn from the experi ences of other universities? ■ What approaches should the university follow in prioritizing and budgeting for these programs? ■ How can the university ensure its nation al reputation matches these aspirations'7 Those chosen for the task force were nomi nated by faculty members. After they were noti fied of their nomination, applicants were asked to provide a copy of their curriculum vitae and a short statement of why they accepted the nomi nation. The 29 members of the task force include faculty members from different departments throughout the university. Some include Paul Barnes, assistant profes sor in the School of Music; Gail Latta, Academic Senate president-elect; Edna McBreen. assistant v ice chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and Rick Edwards, senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. Edwards will be the task forces chairman. Please see TASK FORCE on 3 Matt Miller/DN NU ASSISTANT SPORTS Information Director Aaron Babcock sits in the sun as he watches indoor track practice at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Wednesday. With the temperatures nearing 70 degrees, a loading door was opened to let in outside air as runners practiced. Program will evaluate students of UNL graduates ■ Teachers College will ask parents, students about UNL alumni’s performance. By Jessica Fargen Staff writer In a move that could set a national standard for assessing teachers col leges, UNL's will soon start grading itself relative to how well the students of its graduates learn. Starting next spring, the program, Compact With Nebraska, will evalu ate the University of Nebraska Lincoln's Teachers College seniors and graduates who have been teaching for two years, said Ellen Weissinger, associate dean of the Teachers College. Organizers said the program is novel. Instead of looking at grade point averages, job placement and test scores, teacher quality is measured by talking to principals, surveying par ents and graduates and looking at the standardized test scores and grades of the students of Teachers College grad uates. “We’re not judging our teachers,” Weissinger said. “We’re judging our selves. “I think in the process what we are going to learn is what we’re doing really well at. What are the character istics that exemplify our graduates?” The program will begin by evalu ating 70 graduates in Lincoln Public Schools and will be expanded across the state in following years. Representatives from UNL’s Teachers College will present the pro gram to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education in Washington, D.C., at its February meeting, said David Imig, the organi zation’s chief executive officer. “This is going to become what is expected everywhere,” Imig said. “It’s a new form of accountability that all education schools and teachers col leges are going to be held to. “It’s not just the success of the graduates, but it’s how well the stu dents perform.” A lack of follow-up programs to measure how well college graduates do their jobs is a failure of most col leges, Weissinger said. “I think universities have always felt that their education quits when students graduate,” said Weissinger, who is also an associate professor of health and human performance at UNL. Imig also recognized the lack of evaluation programs at most universi ties. He said UNL’s program is some thing that could apply to most careers. “It isn’t how well the doctors do,” Imig said. “It’s how well their patients do that becomes the measure for how successful the school is. And that is not done very often in higher educa tion.” David Wilson, associate professor Please see TEACHERS on 3 * Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: II www.unl.edu /DailyNeb