regents
SUIT from page 1
granted Schwebach the right to sue in
October.
Schwebach’s lawsuit alleged her
harassment began in the fall semester
of 1994, when male students made
kissing noises and catcalls as she
entered the classroom Students wrote
to department administrators about the
incident in course evaluations,
Schwebach said; however, Forsythe
disregarded the information, she said.
In May 1995, Schwebach alleged
fliers found by a graduate student were
posted throughout the political science
floor, which said “Valerie Schwebach
is a c-nt.”
The postings were brought to the
attention of Forsythe, but no action was
taken, the lawsuit alleged.
During 1995 and 1996, several
political science graduate students
reported harassment in the department.
The lawsuit alleged that a female
graduate student in the spring of 1995
was sexually harassed by Ivan Volgyes,
a then-protessor in the political science
department who has since been award
ed emeritus status.
When the graduate student brought
the harassment to Forsythe’s attention,
the lawsuit alleged, Forsythe said if the
harassment was not sex for money or
for grades, then it was not sexual
harassment.
Other incidents of sexual harass
ment - or the ignorance of them - the
suit alleged occurred:
■ In the spring of 1996, Brian
Humes, an associate professor of polit
ical science, and Evelyn Fink, an assis
tant professor of political science,
reported to Foster their concerns about
harassment in the department, and
Forsythe’s handling of die matter. The
suit alleged that Foster ignored the con
cerns of Humes and Fink, who are
married.
■ In the fall of 1996, one female
undergraduate student was referred to
as “that blond chick with the really big
tits,” by a male teaching assistant, the
suit alleged. Schwebach reported the
incident in 1997 to graduate chair
woman Elizabeth Theiss-Morse and
Jeff Spinner-Halev, associate professor
of political science, the lawsuit stated.
■ In the spring of 1996, the suit
alleged, a female graduate student in
die political science department said
she was sexually harassed by Associate
Professor of Political Science David
Rapkin, for whom she was a teaching
assistant.
The suit alleged that Rapkin’s “sex
ually aggressive” behavior was so
obvious, some undergraduate students
in the course inferred to the teaching
assistant as the “one Rapkin was trying
to get on.”
The graduate student complained
to Forsythe, but did not name Rapkin,
the suit alleged. Forsythe, the suit said,
did not ask for the name of the alleged
ly harassing professor. Instead, he told
the student she was having trouble
adjusting to UNL because she was
from out of state.
Upon hearing of the complaints in
1995, Rapkin said he thought they
were absurd and that the controversy
would pass.
KapKin, wno saia ne naa not neara
of the lawsuit until contacted by the
Daily Nebraskan late Sunday, said he
did not sexually harass the graduate
student.
“I categorically deny it,” he said.
“There is no truth to it. There is no basis
for any of those allegations.”
Because he was on leave in Japan
from 1996 to 1998, Rapkin said he had
been unaware of the details of the
Schwebach allegations.
The suit said the graduate student
Rapkin had allegedly harassed asked
current Political Science Department
Chairman John Comer to remove her
from her teaching assistant position.
She was not, the suit alleged, but was
increasingly berated by Rapkin in front
of the 150-200 students in the class.
Rapkin said he recalled the class,
which he said was a freshman intro
ductory level course. He said student
evaluations did not indicate the class
had an unacceptable environment
Comer did not return calls from the
Daily Nebraskan this weekend.
The lawsuit said Schwebach told
the graduate student to take her com
plaints to the Committee on
Departmental Relations, whose mem
bers included Political Science
- * ** /' -
Professor John Hibbing and Theiss
Morse. The committee told the student
to confront Rapkin, the suit alleged,
and declined to speak with Rapkin
about the incident until the student
confronted him.
Because of the-treatment she
received in the political science depart
ment, the suit alleged, the graduate stu
dent left UNL before finishing her
degree.
She was one of the three graduate
students that, by the spring of 19$5t,
had left the department because of the
“hostile-working environment (and)
sexual harassment,” the lawsuit stated.
Thiess-Morse, a political science
associate professor, said in an inter*
view with the Daily Nebraskan last
May that die department always took a
pro-active position with gender issues.
When contacted Saturday, Thiess
Morse would not comment on the law
suit nor on previous events in the
department.
in July iyy /, scnweoacn tiled a
complaint with the Academic Senate
Rights and Responsibilities
Committee that alleged her complaints
were not properly addressed.
In spring of 1998, the ARRC found
the political science department toler
ated a hostile environment to women.
The committee recommended placing
the department on “receivership,” a
three-year probation-like period.
However, after the ARRC’s report,
UNL Chancellor James Moeser
appointed an ad hoc committee of
three faculty members to look at the
department’s climate. The committee
found no hard evidence to support gen
der inequity in the department
“It became very clear to me at that
time that nothing was going to be done
to solve the problem,” Schwebach said.
“I no longer wanted to be a part of it”
Schwebach alleged that written;
verbal and physical sexual and racial
harassment continued until her resig
nation. Previous sexual harassment,
and the department’s decision not to
improve its climate, forced her to leave,
she said.
“(The department) made my work
environment intolerable,” Schwebach
said. “I had to leave.”
Schwebach said she hoped the law
" . 1 1 ■ -r .■■■»■ —
4 ' I
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We Match
rvn n_t_ no/m/QQ 13th & P 48th & R 56th & Hwy.2
Exp. Date 02/10/99 435-3111 466-1201 421-151T “
^-!————-- —
18 UNI it o non-dacriiainotofy inriiMton.
Talk with us. We can help. J
Eating Issues Support Group
Weekly on Wednesdays, beginning Jan. 20
Women’s Center, Nebraska Union 338
4:00 - 5:00 pm
Call Trida, 472-2597
Accepting Our Bodies. . .
Accepting Ourselves
I. Tuesdays, Teb. 2 - Mar. 9
7:00 - 8:00 p.m., Nebraska Union 213
II. Mar. 23 - Apr. 27
Time and Place TBA
Must register, call Norma, 472-7450
$40 fee
Cal Counsebng & Psychological Services
for more information at 472-7450.
Making Peace with Food ‘
Wednesdays, Feb. 10 - Apr. 7
3:30 -4:45 pm x
University Health Center, Room D J'
Must register, call Sue, 472-7450
or Karen, 472-7478
.
Improving Body Image
Tuesdays, heb. 9 - Apr. o
3:00 - 4:30 pm I
Women’s Center, Nebraska Union 338
Must register, call Sue, 472-7450
Legislators look to slow
1-80 speed limit to 70
SPEED from page 1
Of the 33 fatalities on rural 1-80 in
1998,15 of them occurred between
York and Omaha, said Fred
Zwonechek, administrator for the
Nebraska Office of Highway Safety. In
1987, Vito, the speed limit was lower,
seven of the 15 fatalities on the inter
state occurred in that area.
Raising thespeed limit had a direct
correlation to an increase in accidents,
Zwonechek said
“You don’t need to do a lot of
research to find the examples of that,”
Zwonechek said of the relationship.
‘ ‘Every time we have changed or adjust
ed the speed limit, there have been cor
responding relationships in traffic
fatalities.”
Nebraska Department of Roads
Director John Graig said a correlation
between the speed motorists drive and
the degree of risk could also be drawn.
“The faster you drive, the less reac
tion time you’ve got,” Craig said.
“Clearly, you are safer if you are driving
slower rather than faster.
“You smack into a wall and you
stand a lot better chance of surviving if
you are driving 15 mph instead of 75
mph.”
According to the Highway Safety
Office, the chances of death or serious
injury double for every 10 mph over 50
mph a vehicle travels.
Zwonechek said speeding also
becomes more dangerous as traffic gets
more congested, which occurs heavily
on 1-80 between Lincoln and Omaha,
and when a large disparity exists
between the slow and fast drivers.
Sen. George Coordsen of Hebron
is taking a different approach to slow
ing people by boosting fines for speed
ing cm die interstate but not highways.
The fines would range from $50 for
speeding 1 to 5 mph over the limit to
$300 for speeding 21 mph over the
limit. Current fines range from $10 to
$200.
Although fines and reduced speeds
look good on paper, Craig doubted die
effectiveness of those approaches.
“The fact that you change a sign, in
my mind, is not going to make a differ
ence,” Craig said “It’s just the reality of
our culture.” *
The speeding dilemma is one that
lawmakers need to take a stand on,
Zwonechek said
“It really is a decision that policy
makers are going to have to make
between providing the resources to
enforce the existing limit, or look at
alternatives in the short term,” he said.
When asked what an ideal speed
limit was, Zwonechek said he did not
. have a specific number, just a philoso
phy.
“If everybody was going the same
speed, it would be safe.”
MIS students expected
to find ample job market
MIS from page 1 _
either.
“We have leading-edge courses in
the leading-edge software,” Lee said.
* * A number of companies recruit
students from UNL to take on MIS
positions. Lincoln and Omaha compa
nies such as Sandhill Publishing, the
Gallup Organization, USWest and
Inacom all come back looking for
UNL graduates to staff their offices.
Sandhill Publishing’s manager of
computer systems department Kim
Mehring said his company has hired
several MIS graduates from UNL.
Mehring said that his company
does not always use the graduates in
the same way as other companies do,
and consequently they have to intro
duce them to programming, a skill the
UNL graduates he has hired have not
been fluent in.
“Once they make it through (pro
gramming training), they have a much
better understanding of our company,”
Mehring said.
Lee said companies who have
hired UNL graduates in the past have
been impressed. Cargill, Inc., one of
those companies, uses UNL as their
largest recruiting base.
Lee said the company had been so
impressed with the students that it was
giving money to the department to buy
computers.
The number of people needed for
MIS positions will continue to increase
nationwide and worldwide as informa
tion technology permeates the busi
ness world, Lee said.
“This is an exciting profession,” he
said, “not only for the money, but for
tiie challenging and exciting career.”
Transfusions unaffected
by low blood bank supply
By JoshKnaub
Staff writer
Despite a near-critical blood sup
ply dip in early January, officials at
Lincoln’s Community Blood Bank
are confident that area patients will
not have to wait for a transfusion.
“At this point, the situation is not
critical, but we are concerned,” said
Marj McKinty, director of donor
resources.
McKinty said that both local and
national blood supplies usually expe
rience a drop during the holidays
because of a decrease in donors and
an increase in accidents.
This year’s dip was worsened by
winter storms across the Midwest and
the eastern seaboard, she said.
Melissa M^Millian, associate
director of public relations at
America’s Blood Centers, said short
ages this year have been more severe
than usual.
McMillian said blood banks in,
the Pittsburgh and New York areas
advised hospitals to postpone non
emergency surgeries.
This year was unusual, she said,
because the blood supply appeared to
be in good shape prior to the short
age.
“Blood centers reported that they
were well supplied prior to
Christmas,” McMillian said.
Both local and national officials
cited an increased use of blood prod
ucts in the past year. Locally, the
increase began with a 30 percent
jump in blood use during July 1997.
McKinty speculated the increase
could have been caused by more
surgeries being performed locally
rather than in Omaha, but could not
give a specific reason.
Donors also increased last year,
but at a lower rate than blood usage.
“We had to issue three critical
appeals for blood in 1998,” McKinty
said. “That’s the most ever.”
McKinty encouraged university
students to give blood, and said the
Community Blood Bank uses mobile
locations to arrange convenient times
and locations for students.
Any healthy person who is at least
17 years old and weighs 110 pounds
or more can donate blood every eight
weeks. To make an appointment, stu
dents can call (402) 474-1781.
