Peru State’s future still under consideration
*&*ar-y* • v .... • :'r
PERU from page 1
would go to UNL,” he said.
David Powers of the Coordinating
Commission, said closing Peru would
send the message to rural high school
graduates that they should go to Lincoln
or Omaha for school.
“Many students down there do not
have a viable alternative (to Peru),”
Powers said.
Students left displaced by Peru’s
closing may be forced to leave Nebraska
to get their education, Vrtiska said. And
with the current teacher shortage in
Nebraska, he said, Peru’s teachers col
lege is a valuable asset.
Vrtiska said enrollment at the col
lege has increased, but recruiting is dif
ficult amid recent discussion of closure.
Another part of the commission’s
report was a requirement for Peru to
meet benchmarks set by its faculty such
as increased retention and recruitment.
Vrtiska said that is also hard to do when
Peru’s future is constantly questioned.
Vrtiska has the backing of 24 sena
tors who co-signed onto LB650, which
would pump $7 million into Peru for
renovations.
“There are 24 senators who believe
the richness and furtherance of Peru
State College is important,” Ik said.
“There is an extensive desire in south
east Nebraska for this college to
remain.”
The future of the college has been
the subject of debate despite a $3.5 mil
lion state appropriation passed last ses
sion for Pern renovations and Gov. Mike
Johanns’ recent pledge to support the
college with money in his budget.
Two weeks ago Speaker Doug
Kristensen of Minden proposed turn
ing Peru into a community college.
The committee took no action on
LB714.
Three other higher education bills,
sponsored by Hastings Sen. Ardyce
Bohlke, were also heard Monday by
the Education Committee, which took
no action on the bills:
■ LB814 would create a planning
team to study the future higher educa
tion needs of the state.
■ LB815 would require the
Coordinating Commission for
Postsecondary Education to conduct
regional studies of all the higher edu
cation institutions in Nebraska. The
study would look at die role and mis
sion of those institutions.
■ LB816 would redefine the
duties of the Coordinating
Commission for Postsecondary
Education relative to its original con
stitutional intent.
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Minorities gaining ground in UNL faculty
FACULTY from page 1
a tenure-track employee to teach
Lakota and other Sioux languages.
He said the committee sent infor
mation to 220 programs, departments
or centers across the country; adver
tised in higher education and American
Indian publications; and used personal
contacts to encourage people to apply.
But asking for a candidate who has
a doctorate and speaks Lakota fluently,
he said, would limit the applicant pool,
so the committee is looking for some
one whose strength is teaching.
“A really important aspect of this
position would be pedagogical dimen
sion,” he said. “We know so many
Indian languages are dying out, and
that’s what we don’t want to have hap
pen.”
But despite changing numbers,
Susan Miller, an assistant professor of
history and ethnic studies and a mem
ber of the Seminole Nation of
Oklahoma, still sees a prevailing prob
lem on campus.
“It’s an institution that just has a
very old culture in terms of hiring prac
tices,” she said.
Miller is one of five tenure-track
faculty members the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln lists as Native
American in the 1998 data - an
increase of one from 1997.
But Miller said only two of those
five tenure-track faculty members are
tribal members. As allowed under fed
eral law she said, people descended
from American Indians are counted as
American Indians. UNL employed
four tribal members when she joined
the faculty in 1995, she said.
But even counting the other three
current faculty members, she said,
UNL employs very few American
Indians. Meanwhile, she said, several
employees continue making a living
studying American Indian culture.
“I think the university has an oblig
ation to include Native American peo
ple in that discussion,” she said.
Miller said she is not critical of
those faculty members, but native voic
es are not part of the discussion of
native culture.
“These are good people,” she said
of current faculty members. “This is
institutional racism.”
As an example of institutional
racism and profiting from native cul
ture, Miller pointed to UNDs handling
of American Indian remains.
A half turn in her chair on die sixth
floor of Oldfather Hall and the click of
a mouse brought her to a list of
American Indian remains dug up by the
university between 1906 and 1961.
Carranza, who is in his 24* year at
UNL, said just recruiting minority fac
ulty members is not enough. Retention
is also important, he said.
Arguments that UNL can’t find
women and minority candidates are
wrong, he said.
“We can find them,” he said. “The
real question is can we attract them?”
Bringing good candidates to
Nebraska and keeping them there
extends beyond pay and benefits, he
saia. l he climate must improve, and me
university must sell Lincoln. Active
minority communities, good schools
and churches and diverse restaurants
are a few assets UNL can use to attract
minority faculty members, he said.
“We know die faculty don’t just live
in a vacuum,” he said.
Carranza also points to the
“pipeline.” He said too many minority
students have survived tough condi
tions to get to the university.
“Surviving means you are success
ful in spite of the society,” he said.
Working with minority families to
give children successes early in life
would bring more minority students to
campuses, he said. In turn, those stu
dents may go on to graduate school and
eventually become faculty members.
Despite the frustrations of a long
struggle that still produces low number
of non-white tenure-track faculty
members, Carranza said, enough com
munity members have good values to
bring about changes.
“I’m convinced we can make
progress in the area of diversity on this
campus.”
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