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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2000)
TT'v • "| Strange Cinema ■ *1 I T “Julien Donkey-Boy” breaks ground B J f^k I I ^ in film technique and subject. *y T ^ A&E, PAGE 9 "l* Cl C 1^" Nearly Invincible JL NU pitcher Jenny Voss keeps going, _ , . a s\f\s\ , breaking records and throwing Tuesday, April 4,2000 dailyneb.com Vol 99, shutouts, sports, page 16 JSSUf ,'J Efforts up to get minority professors By Kimberly Sweet Staff writer State legislators have spent part of this year’s session expressing their concern about the University of Nebraska’s efforts to recruit women and minorities to the state. But some at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln say the campus’ efforts in bringing women and minorities to UNL are beginning to pay off. The discussion in the Legislature began after senators questioned the university’s ability to meet a goal set in a legislative bill in 1997 that says NU must be in the top half of its peer institutions in the employment of women and minorities. The concern came after NU fell one short of its annual benchmark of hiring 12 minorities. If the university doesn’t meet the goal by 2002,1 percent of its funding will be at risk. But all the colleges and depart ments at the University of Nebraska Lincoln are stepping up their search es to find talented minority faculty members, said Evelyn Jacobson, associate vice chancellor for aca demic affairs at UNL. Jacobson said UNL has had a good year for recruiting faculty. Twenty-four faculty - 13 of whom were women and 11 of whom were minorities - have accepted offers for the upcoming year. “We’ve been actively seeking to diversify the faculty,” Jacobson said. “All colleges are making an effort.” One college that has been partic ularly successful in recruiting women and minorities during the last three years has been the College of ” We ve been actively seeking to diversify the faculty.” Evelyn Jacobson associate vice chancellor for academic affairs Fine and Performing Arts. In the last two and a half years, the college has hired nine minorities, said Dick Durst, dean of the college. Relative to its size, Jacobson said the college has been more successful than any other in recruiting minority faculty. To be successful in bringing minorities to the college, department heads have made an effort to identify talented candidates before they are even engaged in a job search. “We’ve made a lot of attempts to search for people who might bring expertise to Nebraska,” Durst said. “They might not even be looking for a job yet.” The school of music hired its ffrst minority faculty member - Darryl White - four years ago after a profes sor retired, said Larry Mallet, direc tor of the school of music. Since then, the school has been able to hire another minority faculty member through the Target of Opportunity program. The program, administered through academic affairs, gives Please see MINORITY on 3 Heather Glenboski/DN FORMER ASUN PRESIDENT Andy Schuerman said he believes the past year has been successful, even with a few unexpected issues. Schuerman said he feels he accomplished many of the goals he set out in his campaign plat form last February. Controversy surrounded term ■ Andy Schuerman’s time as ASUN president includ ed efforts to support gay rights, fetal cell research. By Sara Salkeld Staff writer During his stint as ASUN presi dent, Andy Schuerman wasn’t afraid to face controversy. Despite sometimes strong oppo sition, Schuerman was able to per suade ASUN to support his beliefs concerning gay rights and fetal tissue research. The senate passed bills support ing domestic partner benefits and s making the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska office a safe place for all students, regardless of sexual orientation. The senate also passed a bill directing the Government Liaison Committee to lobby against a state Legislative bill. The bill would have potentially banned research on abort ed fetal tissue at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Schuerman said the issues were difficult to deal with. “A lot of us were challenged ethi cally, morally and personally,” Schuerman said. “There were a lot of very personal and emotional feelings involved. I personally knew what was right, and I still had people disagree with me.” Urrvano Gamer, arts and sci ences senator, said the controversial issues defined the 1999-2000 senate year. “This senate did a lot of things that would be considered risky, espe cially since Nebraska is a pretty con servative state,” Gamez said. “Everything we did was challenging as far as personal issues.” Jason Mashek, arts and sciences senator, agreed. “As a senate, we tackled some very difficult issues, and we did a great job of sticking together and tackling those issues,” Mashek said. Gamez said that while some issues were challenging, they still Please see CONTROVERSY on 8 Law dean to leave Nebraska ■ Dean becomes fifth dean to leave or retire this year at the university. By George Green Staff writer NU’s law dean created plans for enhancing the image of the NU College of Law, but she will be hand ing them off to the next dean when she leaves in August. Nancy Rapoport, dean of the law college, is leaving her position to become the dean of the University of Houston Law Center. The University of Houston con tacted Rapoport in December, inter viewed her in January, and she signed a contract Wednesday to become the school’s dean. Rapoport will begin her term with the University of Houston on Aug. 1. Rapoport said Houston attracted her because her parents live there, and she felt that it was important to spend time with them. “It was not an easy decision,” Rapoport said. Rapoport is the fifth dean to leave or retire this year. A search is currently underway for a dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. Deans for the College of Architecture, the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences and the College of Fine and Performing Arts were cho sen recently. Rapoport came to Nebraska two years ago from Ohio State University, where she was a profes sor of law and an associate dean of the law college. Rapoport said her goals when she arrived included bringing more attention nationwide to the law col lege. She had said Nebraskans were modest, and she wanted to change that. One way she did that was to get the law faculty more involved in national committees and confer ences. “Some of what I’ve accom plished is more visible than other things,” Rapoport said. Anna Shavers, associate law pro fessor at UNL, said Rapoport was energetic and had a positive attitude. “She was creating a reward sys tem to recognize the faculty’s vari ous strengths,” Shavers said. Rapoport said she also was try ing to create a new database to deal with the enormous amount of data collected by the college each year. Evelyn Jacobson, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the law college will hire an interim dean while it begins a search for the permanent dean. Jacobson said Rapoport will be missed. “She went out and established contact with alumni and was a very active dean.” Staff writer Jill Zeman con tributed to this report. -LEGISLATURE Senators fail to override vetoes that hurt UNL By Veronica Daehn Staff writer Gov. Mike Johanns won a small victory, and the University of Nebraska suffered a defeat Monday, thanks to members of the Legislature. Senators voted against a package of bills that would have overridden vetoes Johanns issued Thursday. Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery would have received $987,000 this year for a new ventilation system if the bill’s sponsor, Lincoln Sen. LaVon Crosby, could have garnered 30 votes in favor of the package. Thirty votes would have overrid den the governor’s line-item vetoes and passed the bills. “I was very disappointed and hurt when the governor stabbed me with the red pen,” Crosby said. Johanns said Thursday he was concerned the state was spending too much. Despite assigning $55 million for property tax relief, Johanns said he was determined to balance the budget. The University of Nebraska also lost out on money that would have helped its employees pay for health care. The package of amendments pre pared by the Appropriations Committee would have given the uni versity $1.25 million for health care costs. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said he had “a bone to pick with the university.” Chambers questioned why the Legislature should give money to Please see VETOES on 3
