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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1998)
Opening of union computer lab delayed Students planning to use the Nebraska Union’s larger computer lab originally scheduled to open next week will have to walk a block north if they want to word process, use e-mail and surf the World Wide Web. Linda Roos, manager of User Education for University of Nebraska-Lincoln Technology Support, said because Nebraska Union construction is delayed, the new 24-hour student computer lab will not be completed until next year. Nebraska Union Director Daryl Swanson said the union computer lab had been scheduled to be com pleted Sunday. “I would like to have it onen for dead week and finals week,” Swanson said. “But I don’t think it will be possible.” To compensate for the loss of computers and services to students, Roos said the computer lab in Selleck Residence Hall is now open 24 hours to all students. After construction ends and the union computer lab opens, the Selleck lab will remain open 24 hours, but only lor Selleck residents from 1 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., she said. March opposing 413 rescheduled for today Wednesday’s student march on the Capitol to oppose Initiative 413 was canceled because of rain. It has been rescheduled for today. Those wishing to attend should meet on the South Steps of the Nebraska Union at 12:30 pm. * ■ ■ ' ■ V "■ 's V* * . National, local groups say campaigns are too costly orimu irom page i < Though die Democratic Party tends not to attract the financial support ofbig business, the support of individuals who are not represented by groups is more important and central to the success of any campaign, she said. One local group would like to see die amount of money raised and spent in political, elections reduced and has worked with Congress and the state Legislature to enact campaign finance reform laws. Carl Eskridge, a board member for the Nebraska chapter of Common Cause - a nationwide nonprofit group supporting campaign finance reform - said not only is spending for elections out of control, but the influence the donations have over candidates also causes serious concern. In 1992, the Unicameral passed die Campaign Finance Limitation Act, ___:_____i.—. __ ... .. * , I.,, i .. \ _\ which placed a cap on the amount leg islative candidates can spend on their campaigns. After voluntarily declaring they will not exceed the spending limit, candi dates can apply for funds from the state if their opponent goes over the limit Eskridge said the law has worked because it is politically unpopular for a candidate to spend more than the total permitted by the law. Public Campaign - a national non profit group that lobbies for finance reform - supports placing a cap both on the amount of money that can be spent and on the amount of money that can be donated by special interest groups. Jodie Silverman, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based group, said the organization works at the state level to change the system so that money no longer affects the way the political process is carried out _ She said campaign contributions loll immense cicvicu icoucis auu cveu lead to corruption. But Sigerson said candidates accept donations from corporations and spe- ' cial interest groups because both parties have already identified they share a common philosophical outlook on gov ernment “It’s a cynic the person who says a person will look at his campaign finance list before he casts a vote,” Sigerson said. He said the Nebraska Republican party is opposed to government funding of election campaigns, because of the potential for government to dictate how the campaign should be conducted. Boyle said television stations should provide time for full coverage of issues during elections, instead of forc ing candidates to raise large amounts of money to purchase 30-second sound ones. But Sigerson said the Republican Party is against requiring media to pro vide campaign information to foe pub lic, because he said k would be a viola tion of freedom of speech Both party leaders agreed the amount of money a candidate receives makes a potential impact on the out come of foe campaign. But Sigerson said having a lot of money does not guarantee an election day win. “Candidates still have to package their message, and they still have to be in tune with the voters,” he said. Beyle said candidates often spend too much money in a campaign with the assumption that throwing more money at the campaign will buy a win. “It’s important to be adequately funded, but I think weean see examples today of overkill,” Boyle said. “The most important thing is to set a budget and try to hit it so you can reach an adequate number of pesoj5le**‘; ' Task force will focus on UNUs future TASK FORCE from page 1 Task force member Lynn White said she thought Moeser wanted to get faculty members more involved in planning for UNUs future. White said the faculty members “in the trenches” don’t usually have the opportunity to research these problems. White is a sociology professor and the chairwoman of the sociology graduate committee. The task forte expects to release its findings in about two years, and it will focus on moving UNL forward in research and graduate studies in the next five years. “I expect that it’s going to be a lot of work,” White said. “It should be interesting.” Program will measure graduates’ performance TttAUiiflKS from page 1 of curriculum and instruction at UNL, said the program would help the Teachers College identify its strong and weak areas. “The real measure of our success is the success of our students’ stu dents,” said Wilson, who is chairman of the program’s implementation committee. v Compact With Nebraska, which was announced as the Teachers College celebrates its 90th anniver sary, will attempt to evaluate itself with six points. ■ Use a standardized test to see how well seniors know the subject area they are student teaching. ■ Hire professors outside of UNL to visit schools and evaluate its stu dent teachers. UNL professors cur rently perform these evaluations. ■ Request that school districts share the test scores of students being taught by Teachers College two-year graduates. ■ Conduct a parent survey on how well parents think their children are learning. ■ Talk to the principals of Teachers College graduates about their effectiveness as teachers. ■ Ask graduates to evaluate how well Teachers College prepared them. The individual evaluations of teachers will not be made public, but the collective results will be, Weissinger said. “I think the really crucial point of this is we will make this data public,” Weissinger said. “We’re not trying to hide anything. “We’re trying to learn.”
