The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, October 15, 1999, Image 1

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VOL. 99 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 40
SPORTS
Fire When Ready
With the help of freshman Nicole Allaire, the
Comhusker rifle team will open its season this
weekend on the East Coast. PAGE 9
kit
Five to Tango
Through the Dance Liberation Front, five 9-to-5
working women pursue their passion for dance.
PAGE 12
FRIDAY
October 15,j 1999
Breaking Awa|
Partly cloudy, high 72. Clq^»^might, low 40.
Program speeds up teacher certification
By Kimberly Sweet
Senior staff writer
Last spring, the University of Nebraska
Lincoln Teachers College decided it was time to
do its part in easing the impending teacher short
age affecting the state of Nebraska.
Now, just months after the charge was handed
down, the college is preparing to accept its first
participants in the Accelerated Post
Baccalaureate Certification Program.
The program, which has been in development
for the last four months, will certify people to
teach grades 7-12 who already have a degree in
| English, mathematics, a science or a foreign lan
j guage. -•
\ Instead of taking the time to go the traditional
| Teachers College route, the new program allows
those who want to teach to be certified in as little
as 11 months.
The difference?
“It’s a whole lot quicker,” said Dave Wilson,
associate professor for curriculum and instruc
tion.
The program incorporates the same methods,
curriculum and other teaching classes that are
required of current Teachers College students.
Two semesters of field work will also be required
for the degree.
Wilson said those; admitted into the program
tend to be successful, despite the accelerated pace.
“Rather than being geared at 18- to 21-year
olds, this is aimed at people who are a little older
and who have made a different kind of life deci
sion,” Wilson said.
“This moves them through more quickly
while still giving them lots of time in the field,” he
66
Anything done to increase the quality of the teachers
moving into schools is going to be seen as positive
Dave Wilson
associate professor for curriculum and instruction
said.
Right now, teachers who enter the program
can be certified only for grades 7-12 in four main
subject areas. In the future, the Teachers College
hopes to expand the certification to lower grades
and more subjects.
The program began advertising this fall, said
Jim Cotter, director of student services and advis
ing specialist. The news has spread across the
nation. Cotter has received inquiries from places
like Puerto Rico and Massachusetts.
“The phone’s been ringing off the hook,”
Cotter said.
While other schools offer post-baccalaureate
certification, UNL’s program is unique, Wilson
said.
Instead of requiring specific courses in each
major in order to be eligible to enter the program,
Please see TEACHERS on 3
y •' JoshWolfe/DN
CHRIS 0BERME1ER, a junior business major, waits for a Burlington Horthern-Santa Fe train to pass near the crossing at 14th and Holdrege streets Monday.
■ \ • '
Court upholds ruling
against ordinance
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
An appeals court voted
Thursday to uphold a previous rul
ing that a Lincoln city ordinance
bailing protesters from being out
side churches before and after ser
vices was unconstitutional.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals voted 2-1 to uphold the
U.S. District Court judge ruling,
saying the ordinance was broader
than necessary “to protect the psy
chological interest of young chil
even.
Judge Richard Arnold, who
wrote the. opinion for the court, said
the ordinance made carrying signs
by the church unlawful, no matter
what the signs say or depict.
The city ordinance was created
in response to anti-abortion protest
ers picketing, which included show
ing graphic pictures of aborted
fetuses, outside the Westminster
Presbyterian Church in Lincoln.
An elder of the church, Dr.
Winston Crabb, performed abor
Please see COURT on 8
Train path troubles students
■ Railway traffic
increases frequency during
the week, creating student
delays.
By Eric Rineer
Staffwriter
Some University of Nebraska
Lincoln students say they are tired of
being held up by slow-moving train
cars that travel frequently across the
City Campus during the week.
“There is definitely a problem
here,” said Abby-Miller, a sophomore
performing arts major, in reference to
trains crossing near 14th and New
Hampshire streets.
The tracks, owned and operated
by the Burlington Northern and Santa
Fe Railway, are used by engineers to
ship goods to the east.
The train corridor acts mainly as a
coal route, on which frequent stops
are made in cities such as Omaha and
Chicago.
Students interviewed by the Daily
Nebraskan said their main problem
with the railway was that the train traf
fic throughout the week, especially
during the fall, was much higher than
on weekends.
The students said they were curi
ous why die crossing had a decreased
amount of traffic on Saturday after
noons.
“That’s crap,” Miller said.
A Burlington Northern-Santa Fe
spokesman said Thursday that the
company decreased its traffic during
football games because of Lincoln’s
increased population on those days.
“It’s not that we run less trains; we
intentionally re-route some of the traf
fic,” the official said.
UNL students said they were puz
zled as to why traffic couldn’t be re
routed during the week.
“It’s really sad, and I think it’s
rather strange that students are stuck
behind trains just during the week,”
Miller said.
Heath Uhrenholdt, a junior inter
national studies and agribusiness
major, said the tracks were in a bad
Please see TRAIN on 8
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