VOL. 99 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 4
SMUTS
Slice of leadership
Nebraska senior golfer Elizabeth Bahensky is
ready to step up and lead the Huskers into action
this fall. PAGE 9
A&E
Sex and the City
A group of local theater regulars ditch the safety
nets of established theater and put up their own
dough for an independent production. PAGE 11
WEDNESDAY
August 25, 1999
Rocket to
Mostly sunny, high 88. Partly
UNL’s college rank rises
By Kimberly Sweet
Senior staff writer
Thanks to increased rates of
retention and graduation, those
perusing the latest edition of U.S.
News and World Report will find
UNL listed as a second-tier school in
the magazine’s college rankings.
The listing in this week’s edition
of the magazine means the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ranks between 51 and 120 out of 228
universities nationwide.
In 1998, the rankings listed UNL
as a third-tier school, dropping it
down from die second-tier position it
held the year before.
UNL also was designated as one
of the Great Schools at Great Prices
meaning it is one of die top 48 uni
versities based on quality and price.
Reporting the results during his
annual State of the University
address Friday, Chancellor James
Moeser said rising rates of freshman
retention and graduation helped the
university’s standing in the ratings.
“They are two factors that are
considered by US. News and World
Report when it publishes its annual
rankings of national universities,”
Moeser said.
Retention rates in this year’s edi
tion were reported at 76 parent Last
year’s data showed UNLs freshman
retention rate at 75 percent.
Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs James Griesen said the reten
tion rate printed in the magazine is
wrong - it should be 79 percent.
UNL had a graduation rate of 47
percent in this year’s ratings com
pared with 46 percent die year before.
Griesen said he was not surprised
at the university’s ascent from the
third tier, given the weight the rank
ing system puts on the entering fresh
man class.
The magazine puts weight on cat
egories such as SAT and ACT scores,
the percentage of entering freshmen
in the top 10 percent of their class, die
university’s acceptance rate and the
retention rate, Griesen said.
Thus, it was not surprising that as
die higher, more selective admission
standards adopted a couple of years
ago began to take effect, UNL moved
up in the rankings, he said.
“All of those things are related to
how selective you are at die time of
admission,” Griesen said.
While Griesen said he was happy
to see UNL in the second tier, the
rankings did not always correlate
with academic reputation and quality
- something he said hasn’t changed,
even when UNL was in the third tier.
“Our academic reputation was
just as strong when we were in cate
6i
Our academic
reputation was just as
strong when we were
in category three ”
James Griesen
vice chancellor for student affairs
gory three,” he said
While UNL has moved up and
down between the second and third
tiers in the last few years, Griesen
said he hopes the university stays in
the second tier as better-prepared
freshmen move through the system.
* “With a little bumping of those
Please see RANK on 6
-.1
■A
Turkish student awaits
word on family members
By Kelli Lacey
StaffWriter
In less than a minute, thousands of lives were lost when
an earthquake shook Turkey on Aug. 17.
A native of the country, Ali Sezer, a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln student, awaits information about some
of his close relatives and friends who may be among the
lives that were lost.
“A lot of my relatives live in Izmit (the center of where
the earthquake hit), and we haven’t heard from them yet,”
Sezer said. “I don’t know what happened to them. If they
are dead, we probably wouldn’t know for months. We have
no idea.”
After living through the earthquake, which measured a
magnitude of 7.4, many Turkish UNL students are urging
others to find some way of helping their country recover
frolnthe disaster.
Sezer, who is working toward his master’s degree in
chemical engineering, was in Turkey visiting his family
when the earthquake hit early last week.
The day before, Sezer said, was a very unusual day.
“There were weird things happening, but we never
thought to connect it to an earthquake,” he said. “The cats
and the birds were going crazy all day.”
The cats were running around scratching and jumping
on people, Sezer said, while the birds were chirping so
loudly that the cages had to be covered with blankets to
make it appear to be nighttime.
Sezer said his family assumed the recent eclipse,
which had just occurred in Turkey three days before the
earthquake, was the reason for the animals* strange behav
ior.
“It was unbelievably hot, which is very unusual for
Istanbul because it is right on the (Aegean) sea, and we
usually have an afternoon breeze,” he said.
Because of the high levels of humidity, the animals
were uneasy for several days, Sezer said
The evening of die quake, Sezer was at his sister’s
house for a family gathering and decided to stay the night
instead of going back to his mother’s house.
Please see TURKEY on 3
-^~ :—:-.. „ —;-=
Colleagues
remember
professor’s
contribution
By Veronica Daehn
Staffwriter
While the late Nicholas Babchuk was
known around the world for his extensive
research, his family and friends said he was
much more than a research agent.
Babchuk, a professor emeritus in the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s sociology
department, died Aug. 18 from prostate can
cer.
Babchuk began teaching classes at UNL
in 1959 and after retirement remained with
the university to conduct research.
He published more than 60 sociology
related articles and was a reviewer for more
than 15 research journals.
Robert Benford, UNL associate professor
of sociology, said Babchuk influenced many
students.
“A lot of students will be sad when they
hear the news,” Benford said. “He was a very
sweet man.”
Wayne Babchuk, Nicholas’ son, said
helping graduate students with their careers
was important to his father.
“He was a force here and a class act,”
Wayne Babchuk said. “He was influential in
the sociology department and helped all his
students.”
Babchuk wanted to help the university, his
son said, and was very unselfish.
“There are very few people like him in the
world,” Wayne Babchuk said.
Besides the research, Benford said,
Babchuk volunteered for several service
organizations.
ms ciaim 10 rame was voluntary associ
ations,” Benford said. “He was an expert”
He was an active member of the Kiwanis
Club, the Masons and the Knights of
Columbus, Benford said, and he was involved
and well-known.
Wayne Babchuk agreed his father was
involved not only with his weak; but also with
his family.
“It’s amazing that someone who accom
plished so much in his career would have so
much time to spend with his family,” his son
said. “He always spent so much time with
me.”
Babchuks son said he would always go to
his dad for advice, and they were best friends.
“At every stage in my life, he was there for
me,” Wayne Babchuk said.
Babchuk lived in Lincoln but died while
visiting a relative in Los Angeles.
As soon as Wayne Babchuk found out his
father was close to death, he boarded a plane
to California.
Bianca Babchuk, Babchuk’s widow, said
she sat with her husband and encouraged him
to stay with her until foe rest of their children
arrived.
Wayne Babchuk, his brother and two sis
ters made it to Los Angeles in time to say
goodbye.
“I feel like a different person,” Wayne
Please see BABCHUK on 7