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 ..
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_\
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.”
