Forum to address diversity |
■ Two-hour event gives
students, staff and faculty
chance to give opinions.
By Kimberly Sweet
Staff writer
A UNL commission’s members
hope to air their concerns to university
officials Thursday about a shortage of
diversity on campus.
• And they’re giving faculty, staff and
students the chance to chime in.
The university community will
have the opportunity to get answers
from the chancellor and others about
diversity issues at a two-hour forum
Thursday.
The forum is sponsored by the
Chancellor’s Commission on die Status
of People of Color.
In past years, controversial events
have drawn people to die forums, said
Michael Knisely, chairman of the com
mission.
With no such events during the past
couple of years, attendance has been
sparse, Knisely said.
But he said there are many reasons
^students should attend Thursday’s
forum.
With much student discussion
about the deterioration of the Culture
Center, Knisely said, it’s obvious stu
dents are concerned about its status.
Knisely said it’s time for students to
get answers from administrators con
K I don’t think it’s getting high
priority in administrators’concerns.”
Michael Knlsely
chairman of the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of People of Color
ceming the rapidly aging building.
“I don’t think it’s getting high prior
ity in administrators’ concerns,” he
said. “We want to hear from people
regarding the needs for resolving the
Culture Centra issue.”
Last September, the commission
came up with a list of initiatives to
improve diversity on campus.
The group also hopes to talk about
the initiatives and get responses from
administrators about what efforts will
be taken to accomplish them.
The initiatives aim to improve
recruitment and retention, change the
environment to one that fosters diversi
ty and sustain successful diversity pro
grams already in place.
Some of the commission’s sugges
tions include the following:
■ Create a recruitment and reten
tion task force that will work with the
director of admissions to recruit more
students from underrepresented groups
on campus.
■ Change the general education
requirements to include more classes
that examine “the spectrum of
American cultures.”
■ Make more scholarships avail
able to high-achieving, economically
disadvantaged minority students.
■ Establish a diversity resource
center where people can obtain infor
mation and diversity training.
Gloria Gonzalez-Kruger, a com
mission member and professor of fam
ily and consumer sciences, sdid now
that the initiatives are established, she
hopes the whole campus will try to
implement them.
“Our intention was to provide
information to chancellors and others
across the university and that eafch per
son would begin to think how they
could be a part of the implementation,”
she said.
The forum, which will be held from
10 a.m. to noon on Thursday, is one of
the ways to do this, Knisely said.
Both Chancellor James Moeser
and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
James Griesen will be on the paiiel for
the forum.
Chuck van Rossum, the assistant
director of the minority assistance pro
gram, also will be on hand along, with
Andy Schuerman and Joel Schafer, the
past and present student senate presi
dents.
The forum will be held in the
Nebraska Union.
fH
Rustad quits GOP race
RUSTAD from 1
“I want to thank Dr. Rustad for
running a positive campaign on the
issues,” he said. “I very much appreci
ate his decision to withdraw in the
interest of party unity.”
Moore, Hergert a!nd DeCamfc)
could not be reached for comment
Nebraska Republican Party
Chairman Chuck Sigerson said Rustad
made a principled decision based on
party unity.
i “Elliott is a man of character and a
man of conviction,” he said. “He saw
that he was doing well, but he figured
if he had to do something negative to
win, he wasn’t willing to do that.
“It is a mark of good character that
be would say, ‘Is it worth it to try to
destroy an opponent just to win?”’
' Sigerson refused to speculate on
what strategy Rustad may have
believed was necessary to win. He also
would not speculate on why Rustad
dropped out, rather than staying in the
race and simply shunning a negative
campaign strategy.
1 “At the present time, I take Elliott
at his word that he did not want to run a
campaign that in the long run he would
not have been proud of” he said.
Sigerson said he could not recall
another instance in which two viable
candidates dropped out of a major
political race so close to the election.
Robert Sittig, a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln political science
professor, said Rustad’s decision was a
surprise.
“You’ve gov to be kidding me,” he
said when informed of Rustad’s with
drawal. “This campaign has gone from
being strange to bizarre. I can’t explain
it”
Sittig said political scientists are
divided on whether a hotly contested
primary unites the party or cripples it
for the general election.
Unlike Grogan and Rustad, he said,
candidates often endorse another can
didate upon withdrawing from the
race.
The effect of Grogan and Rustad’s
withdrawals on the GOP Senate race is
difficult to predict, Sittig said, espe
cially because both of their names still
will appear on the primary ballots.
OPEN' FORUM
Improving the Campus Environment
t Sponsored by
The Chancellor's Commission on the Status of People of Color
When : Thursday, April 20*, from 10 a.m. till noon
Where: Nebraska Union Auditorium, City Campus
Panelists: James Moeser, Chancellor
James Griesen, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Joel Schafer, President, ASUN (current)
Andy Schuermann, ASUN President (1999-2000)
Chuck van Rossum, Asst Director, Minority Assistance
Discussants: representatives from the Student Union, Culture Center,
Academic Senate, Inter-fratemity Council/PawhHtenir,
Daily Nebraskan, Student Involvement, Housing
Proposed Topics of Discussion:
Any issues relating to the Campus Environment,
2jhe Culture enter, Diversity Summit Initiatives
The Document of die Diversity Summit Initiatives is available at the Chancellor's
office, upon request, or available an die CCSPC web-site: www.uol.edu/ccspc
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