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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 1998)
Union entrance opens after delay UNION from page 1 up front when students are selling books, she said. “The store has not had a face lift since 1985,” she said. “(Renovations) will make a very big difference in the way the store looks and the way the I store shops.” The copy center, now located in the bookstore, will move up to first floor. By Jan. 11, a new convenience store with frozen food, a microwave, expand ed snack choices and T-shirts will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Schroeder said. acnroeder said employees ol the ; convenience store will be able to get I items from the bookstore for students I after it has closed. Swanson said that before Jan. 11, the west half of the basement will have a television lounge, billiard room and arcade game room. Before Christmas break, weather permitting, the east half of Memorial Plaza should be open, he said. Students who use the west entrance, covered by red awnings, to access the s- uniontwill have to wait until early next f semester to use a ne\y west entrance, which will be about 25'feet south of the existing entrance. A new glass tower, similar to the glass-enclosed stairway in the Stadium Drive Parking Garage, will be con structed about 25 feet from the existing west entrance. After a wheelchair ramp is built, the existing west-entrances will be demol ished and two laige windows placed in their place, he said Early second semester will bring the opening of the new 24-hour computer lab, with 28 computers. Swanson said the opening of the second-floor area with meeting rooms and a 250-seat auditorium is contingent upon adequate operation of the fire alarm system and completion of the rotunda. But the new second-floor Student Involvement center, with its storefront entrance, opened last week, Swanson said. The office can be accessed through the south stairs and elevator. Swanson said the end of construc tion is getting very close after numerous scheduling delays, asbestos removal and bad weather. Although excited, Swanson said he had one regret. “I just regret that we don’t have it open serving the community like we'*-, planned.” UCLA tries to avert strikes ■ Graduate teaching assistants demand recognition as employees for collective bargaining. Daily Bruin University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles (U-Wire) - Upcoming student-employee strikes throughout the University of California system may affect undergraduate stud ies, causing discussion sections, grades and finals to be altered or canceled because of lack of teaching assistants and readers. The unions have announced that until the University of California rec ognizes them and is willing to bargain with them, they are prepared to strike. “We are not trying to strike our undergraduates’ education,” said Connie Razza, an organizer for the Student Association of Graduate Employees/United Auto Workers, the graduate student union at UCLA. “We are striking only our labor.” Sources at various campuses have hinted that the strike could begin the week following Thanksgiving. The university has stated that it will do everything within its power to ensure that undergraduate studies do not suffer. “Every attempt will be made to preserve the instructional goals and not to have this impact on undergraduate students,” said Jim Turner, assistant vice-chancellor of the graduate divi sion. In order to deal with less help from their teaching assistants, professors may have to reconsider how they will give exams. “One possibility, for example, would be instead of the essay-type examinations ... to switch back to a multiple-choice exam that can.be machine-graded,” said Robin Fisher, associate dean of the graduate divisioa However, some professors have said that in social sciences or humani ties courses, multiple-choice examina tions cannot replace essay examina tions. “The final exam is an important component of the course grade, and I couldn’t imagine doing multiple choice,” said Professor Robert Gurval, who teaches a class of more than 200 students. “The faculty member will have to take over the responsibility of grading the examinations.” The university has also considered the possibility of hiring replacement workers. “We still have to do our utmost to meet what our commitments basically are. If that involved replacement work ers, that would be one possibility,” Fisher said. The unions are demanding that the university recognize them as valid rep resentatives of academic student employees in collective bargaining. “We’ve given the administration five months to sit down and talk with us about recognition... and the adminis tration not only hasn’t recognized the union but has refused to even talk to the union,” Razza said. » The university argues that the union shouldn’t be recognized because teaching assistants are primarily stu dents, not employees. “Teaching assistants occupy a unique role and... collective bargaining would be harmful to the quality of graduate education,” Turner said Others argue that regardless of what the circumstances are, any group of employees should have the right to organize. “I think that if theTAs want aunion they should have it,” said Katherine King, a professor of classics. This strike will be different from previous strikes - the most recent being in fall 1996-because it will be funded by the larger United Auto Workers union, which is associated with the UC student employee unions. Unlike prior strikes, participants will now be com pensated up to $ 150 a week from UAW strike funds, Razza said. “We’ve planned it to be more dis ruptive because the less disruptive strikes didn’t work,” Razza said. “The duration of the strike will certainly be longer than the strikes that we’ve tried before.” \ ^■NH| | ALL Expenses Paid INCLUDING . ^ PERSONAL BII^L ! ^ I Must ptgssess Stmm * ;f ]l v $ensfe&f^um$ '^ : Call toll free 1-888-874-6101 VPlease leave area code and number. y % " — Senator to head marketing committee By Veronica Daehn Staff writer An RHA senator was elected Sunday to head the Advertising and Marketing Committee, though the committee’s responsibilities have yet to be deter and executive board members have yet to determine the committee’s exact focus. RHA executive board members said they think it should coordinate public relations and advertising among the halls. “I’m really interested in doing this committee, and I think it needs to start now,” Dorn said. Senator Dave Bums said Dom did well during the Review and Recommendations Committee interview. “We drilled her” Bums said, “and I thinkshe’ll do 'a great job.” ... In other RHA news: ■ The Social Committee was given permission to spend more than 40 percent of its budget on Casino Night, Dec. 3. Senator Shauna Morris said Casino Night will be open to all residence halls and will be the largest Social Committee eveht of the semester. The event will be held Dec. 3 from 8 p.m. to mid night in the Abel Residence Hall-ballroom. “Last year Casino Night went really well,” said Josh Cowan, RHA senator. “It was probably one of the best things RHA did, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to use their own money.” The senate had to vote on whether die committee <c$uki use mpre than 40 percent*^ its tnoney because of bylaw restrictions that do n6f afttoitf^&mmittees to use more than that percentage without a vote. ■ Senator Jennifer Conklin said several changes are being made within the Campus Escort Committee. “I’m rearranging schedules and redecorating the office,” she said. Campus Escort also will have new embroidered coats by next semester to wear while on duty. (7)rmames_ F •~cm change your life in an S instant, Perhaps yen weald ooo^idsF tlui of creating an adoption plan for year child. Oar com worker* can answer your questions confidentially, ff yon would like to visit with 0% please cell today. Graduate Students] ♦* The Ottce (£6adMliektudiM in ntfemg tJWy* semester. for one of tfie following courses \6 mBaniiw your (f * educational experience. •901. Professional Ethics (1 cr) Dr. Helen Moore, instructor Thursday, 4 p.m. - 4:50 p.m., CBA 20, Call Number 8629 •902. Grant Writing and Grant Managamant (X cr) Dr. David Stanley, instructor Wednesday, 6 p.m. - 6:50 p.m., 214 Plant Industry, Call Number 8630 •90S. Professional Development Seminar (1 cr) Dr. Suzanne Ortega, instructor Tuesday, 3:30 pjn. - 4:20 p.m., CBA 362, Call Number 8631 For nwre information, contact the Office of Graduate Studies at (402) 472-2875. City envisions downtown revival on one-way ^Street DOWNTOWN from page 1 Development. Eight of those strategies, adopted by the City Council in 1996, dealt with the creation of a marketplace area on P Street. The marketplace steering com mittee identified three key compo nents for success of the plan: two way traffic, pedestrian improve ments and private investment. But the decision to reconfigure P Street for two-way traffic has been the most controversial element of the plan, prompting protests and a peti tion drive that garnered some 5,000 signatures. I m ISO percent for the market place, but two-way traffic just does MMin' ““J Jon Camp, r ^WfWHWgrwPwrmanaging partner *and<e&&*e&tiie <Mginal developers of the area. The main objection to two-way traffic centered on issues of traffic flow. On Nov. 16, the City Council responded to that public pressure by deciding to switch die street back to one-way, just three weeks after the conversion to two-way had been completed. Some officials felt that two-way traffic did not have a chance to suc ceed. “Politically we gave up before it was tested,” said Cecil Steward, mar ketplace steering committee member and dean of UNL’s College of Architecture. Those involved in the decision to change P Street to two-way traffic said they learned some valuable lessons but remained committed to the concept. “We’re willing to admit there probably wasn’t enough public infor mation put out there when the deci sion was made,’’ Steward said. “But two-way is still important.” Following P Street’s reversion to one-way, expected to be completed this week, there has been some back lash from investors. John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc., the Embassy Suites builder, told city officials last week that it may have to halt construction to reevaluate the project, feUIlKril^ag tried to find a solutionagreeable to bothsides. Hammons designed his hotel to' take advantage of the city’s plans for two-way traffic. The city (dans to have one block of westbound traffic on P Street so hotel customers can get from the front entrance to the parking garage. “A lot of people are disappointed with one-way, both businesses on the street and residents in the area,” Steward said. City planners now must incorpo rate one-way traffic into the market place plan. “Two-way traffic is important to the concept, but we’ll make it work the best we can,” McGee said. « A lot of people are disappointed with one-way, both businesses on the street and residents in the area.” Cecil Steward UNL architecture college dean City planners want to complete a comprehensive downtown traffic J$tjidy,shcftviftgthe effects ofpll t^ie developments planned for down town, including the Antelope Valley development project The city did not perform a com prehensive traffic study before deciding to change to two-way. Despite the traffic flow conflicts, the city remains committed to devel oping the marketplace on P Street. “There is a whole series of inter esting developments under way,” McMullen said. Over the next few years, planners hope to change the face of down town, Steward said. “Our desire is to improve the whole downtown area.” f