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Grade reports to add minuses
■UNL's Academic Senate approves
the new grading system, which it
says will be implemented soon.
BY LINDSEY BAKER
Academic Senate members
approved the controversial plus
minus grading system 38 to 13 at
Tuesday's Academic Senate meeting
in the Nebraska East Union.
The system, proposed by
Associate English Professor Jim Ford
in December and sent to the Grading
and Evaluations Committee for
review in January, calls for the addi
tion of minus grades to the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
grading system.
The Grading and Evaluations
Committee returned its study con
clusions Tuesday with a recommen
dation for further discussion. The
committee’s report detailed pros and
cons of perceived benefits, and con
cluded that UNL should consider
faculty and student opinions.
The chairman of the committee,
associate agronomy Professor Don
Lee, said the three main reasons UNL
faculty members want to move to a
plus-minus grading system include
achieving a more standardized grad
ing system, more grading options for
professors and less opportunity for
grade inflation.
He said the proposed cost to
implement the grading system eight
years ago was $3,000 to $4,000; the
committee did not discuss costs for
this implementation.
Grades transferred throughout
the University of Nebraska system
were also an issue; With the adoption
ofUNLs plus-minus grading system,
problems could occur transferring
credits to or from the Universities of
Nebraska at Omaha and Kearney.
The committee suggested UNL’s
Academic Senate propose the addi
tion of minus grades to the other NU
campuses.
After the senate discussed the
motion, it moved to question and
then approved the motion.
“I was very grateful for the com
mittee’s report even though I didn’t
agree with the conclusions,” Ford
said.
He said the committee’s data was
outdated and that the administra
tors he talked to at UNO and UNK
said grade transfers would be no
trouble.
Ford said he was pleased that the
motion, put before the senate and
voted down eight years ago, passed
this time around.
“I’m just happy that the senate
agreed that this is a good idea,” he
said. “It’s happening all over the
country.”
Senate President-elect Miles
Bryant said the motion will now go to
the Records and Registration office
Please see PLUS on 7
RIGHT: The ASUN
presidential and
vice presidential
candidates
assembled for
the first of three
planned
debates.
BELOW: Melanie
Miczei, nrsi vice
presidential
candidate for
The One party,
standstospeak
at the first stu
dent govern
ment debate.
The event was
held Tuesday
evening m the
Nebraska Union.
Platforms set in first debate
BY SHARON KOiBET
If spectators came looking
for mudslinging, they went
home disappointed.
Tuesday’s hour-long and
predominantly diplomatic
debate gave UNL students their
first chance to see all five
Association of Students at the
University of Nebraska presi
dential candidates and four
first vice-presidential candi
dates gathered in the Nebraska
Union.
The event was moderated
by Daily Nebraskan Editor
Sarah Baker and Managing
Editor Bradley Davis.
During the debate, the pres
idential candidates spoke
about their platforms and
addressed the question of what
they felt was the university’s
most glaring weakness.
John Matzen, an independ
ent presidential candidate, was
the first to speak. He reiterated
his desire to have a Chik-fil-A
restaurant in lincoln, but said
his campaign was about more
than just "the chicken plat
form.”
"I am caring for the stu
dents of UNL,” Matzen said.
Andy Mixon, presidential
candidate for the No Bull party,
said he was running for ASUN
president because his party’s
policies would benefit stu
dents. Mixon outlined his plat
form and emphasized his com
VNL is not seen as an
attractive place for
faculty to come to."
Angela Clements
NUForce candidate
mitment to changing Dead
Week policies.
The One Party’s presidential
candidate, Jaron Luttich, said
he wanted to help students be
more informed. He said he
wanted to change class
descriptions to ensure they
Please see DEBATE on 3
Sharon Kolbet/DN
Cheerleader
funds axed
by Athletics
BY CHARLIE KAUFFMAN
The faces of the Nebraska Spirit Squad will be
different next year.
Members of both the Comhusker cheerleading
Squad and the Scarlets were forced off their teams
- and for some, out of the University of Nebraska
Lincoln - after the Athletic Marketing Department
cut all out-of-state tuition waivers Monday after
noon.
Shawn Perry, a senior cheerleader who was
planning to return to UNL next semester, said
close to 95 percent of the squad will be gone next
year because of the cuts, and the quality of the
team will suffer as a result.
“Personally, the talent level is definitely going
to drop dramatically,” Perry said. “(The fans) are
not going to be able to see what they’ve seen in the
past.”
But an Athletic Department spokesman said it
was left with no other choice when facing a budget
crisis.
Barry Swanson, assistant director of marketing
for the Athletic Department, said cutting the spirit
squad’s tuition waivers was the department’s "only
option” to counteract a shortage of funds.
Swanson said the team will have to rely more
on products of Nebraska high schools.
"I think we can find qualified candidates,”
Swanson said. “Just because we don’t have that
many (out-of-state members) doesn't mean they
won’t do as good a job.”
Swanson said the cuts were based on “strictly
budgetary issues" and that no other sports were
affected.
Perry said he didn’t think the teams deserved
such a drastic cut.
This year’s cheerleading squad had one of its
best showings at the national competition, com
ing in sixth place. The Scarlets finished second in
the nation at its last competition.
Scarlets Captain Charisse Deuel, a UNL senior,
said the quality of next year's Scarlets will also be
affected.
“I don't think the team will ever be at the same
level of talent,” Deuel said. “It’s going to be very,
very, very difficult to find 12 girls who are as talent
ed in the state of Nebraska.”
Deuel said all seven of the 12 Scarlets who are
from out of state will be leaving UNL after this
semester.
One such Scarlet is sophomore Julia Pagano,
who said she will be forced to return to her home
town of Lawrence, Kan., after this semester and
transfer to the University of Kansas.
"Nebraska doesn’t raise dancers like some
states do,” Pagano said. “Now they’re going to be
drawing from a state that doesn’t have a nationally
recognized dance program.”
Nebraska forbids its high school cheerleaders
to perform any kind of aerial stunts, so incoming
squad members from Nebraska would have to
Please see CHEER on 3
Senators boil down
teacher pay solutions
BY GEORGE GREEN
The Education Committee has left no
stone unturned.
For the last month, committee mem
bers have heard countless hours of con
flicting testimony focusing on Nebraska’s
lagging teacher salaries.
Some testifiers, following the lead of
Gov. Mike Johanns, warned senators to
leave taxes alone.
Others predicted an educational dis
aster if teacher salaries don’t change
soon.
And still others offered a parade of
compromises on the issue.
Weighed down with this testimony,
committee members will begin this week
to hash out a plan to help teachers, but no
one is laying down a firm deadline for fin
ishing the proposal.
When they do complete the plan, the
committee will introduce the proposal as
a bill and drop it into the general legisla
tive pool for debate by the whole body.
Senators moved a step closer to craft
ing the bill when they heard one of the
last rounds of testimony dealing with
teacher pay Tuesday.
Most of the bills revolved around the
Tax Equity and Educational
Opportunities Support Act, the act that
funnels dollars into the state aid formula
“People know we graduate
good teachers and they’re
willing to pay for them.”
Bob Wickersham
senator
for schools.
Sen. Ron Raikes of Lincoln, chairman
of the Education Committee, introduced
two bills, LB521 and LB522, on the sub
ject.
Both bills would let some districts
increase levies on property taxes to earn
additional revenue and allow school dis
tricts to increase their budgets beyond
current levels.
Raikes said Education Committee
members need to start reflecting on bills
like LB521 and LB522 and then begin iso
lating priorities.
“The next step is to try to flesh out a
proposal with a cost," he said.
Thus far, the committee has picked
out about half a dozen general ideas they
would like to see in the bill.
But the senators, like the conflicting
testifiers, also disagree on how to handle
Please see EDUCATION on 3
Party faces penalty
■The Electoral Commission
decides to penalize the
NUForce candidate.
BY MARGARET BEHM
Two decisions that affect
the student government elec
tion were made Tuesday by the
Electoral Commission.
The NUForce party got
some bittersweet news when
the commission ruled that
Rowena Pacquette, second
vice-presidential candidate,
could still run, but she would
be penalized.
Pacquette’s candidacy was
questioned after she failed to
turn in on time 200 signatures
and a filing form.
John D. Conley, electoral
commission chairman, said
the commission is letting her
run because students should
have the chance to decide who
the second vice-president is.
“We felt it was more of a
disservice to students to not let
her run,’’ he said.
Angela Clements, presiden
tial candidate for NUForce,
said she was satisfied with the
commission’s decision.
“We’re just happy that
Rowena can run,” she said.
The commission ruled that
NUForce would be fined $30,
and Pacquette can’t participate
in the next student govern
ment debate, to be held
February 15.
Conley said the penalties
serve as a reminder that candi
dates should obey election
rules.
"We had to be able to send
the message that you have to
meet deadlines,” he said.
Clements said the commis
sion didn’t silence Pacquette
when it banned her from the
debate.
“It’s unfortunate that
Rowena can’t be in the second
debate,” she said. “But there's a
lot of other ways that Rowena
can get her message out.”
Clements said she will rep
resent Pacquette during the
debate when she speaks.
Pacquette could not be
reached for comment.
In other news, the commis
sion also put its foot down and
temporarily suspended the
group No Mo Ho’s campaign
activities, said Conley.
The ASUN Special Topics
Committee will take up the
investigation next to deter
mine further action.
Please see ELECTORAL on 7
Ex-band director
guilty in sex case
BY JILL CONNER
The former band director for the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln pled guilty in a District
County Court on Tuesday to a charge of attempt
ing to have sex with what he imagined to be a 14
year-old girl.
John “Jay” Kloecker, 42, admitted he wrote
sexually explicit e-mails to someone he thought
was a teen-age girl and then set up a meeting in
Omaha to have sex with her.
But the girl he thought he was talking to for
five months was actually a state patrol Internet
Crimes Against Children’s Unit.
Although Kloecker was suspended from the
university in June, he resigned in December.
In exchange for the guilty plea, the original
charge of conspiracy to commit first degree sex
ual assault on a child was reduced.
With the new agreement, Kloecker faces a
maximum of 20 years in prison, instead of 50
years.
Another part of Kloecker’s plea agreement is
that he must register as a sex offender with the
Nebraska State Patrol, a stipulation he would
not have to do under the former charge.
Kloecker’s sentencing date was set for April
20.
Kloecker could not be reached on Tuesday
when contacted by the Daily Nebraskan.
Kloecker, an associate professor of music,
was UNL’s band director since August 1987.
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.