March 21, 1997



Exhibit Highlights Pacific Culture

"Farmers, Fishers and Warriors: Peoples of the Pacific," the newest exhibit at the University of Nebraska State Museum, features artifacts from the Philippines, New Guinea, Polynesia and Micronesia. The exhibit includes bronze cannons, 6-foot spears and suits of armor used by the Moro warriors of the southern Philippines that were originally donated to the museum in 1922 by Gen. John J. Pershing. Also featured are head axes, swords armed with shark teeth, a large mask representing a sea spirit and a dance costume made of bark cloth.

The exhibit will be on display in the museum's Cooper Gallery on the third floor of Morrill Hall. (Photo by Richard Wright)

Substantial Improvement in Student Computing Goal of Technology Fee Structure

When focus groups of University of Nebraska-Lincoln students were asked earlier this spring to rank their top three priorities for computing, they easily came up with a list. Updated computer labs, consistency of software in labs across campus and increased hours of lab operation with full staffing were the top choices.

UNL officials agreed and a plan was developed to address these needs as soon as possible. Many of these concerns can be addressed beginning next fall by implementing a technology fee structure based on student credit hours.

The $2 per credit hour fee would generate funds for colleges, the libraries and Information Services to pay for additional computers, upgraded software and technical support for students.The fee would begin with the fall 1997 term. The proposal calls for the fee to increase to $4 per credit hour in academic year 1998-99 and to cap at $5 per credit hour in 1999-2000.

Eric Marintzer, UNL student president, said he supports the fee, largely because it will be phased in incrementally and because the benefits are overwhelmingly positive.

"I hear big complaints that the labs have old slow computers and old software, that they are never open and there's never anyone to help," he said. "I am encouraged that this fee will solve these types of problems fairly quickly."

Marintzer said students he has talked to have at first reacted negatively, but, "once they hear the benefits, they realize the benefits really far outweigh the costs. I have yet to talk to a student who is dead-set against this once he or she hears what it's going to buy."

Marintzer said the fees are needed to ensure UNL students remain competitive in the job market and for UNL to remain competitive in attracting new students.

Kent Hendrickson, associate vice chancellor for information services, agrees.

"We simply fail to serve our students if they do not have access to information technologies," Hendrickson said. "Faculty expect and demand that students use computers and other services. More and more courses are being designed to use computers. Employers expect graduates to be fluent in information skills.

"We understand the hardship this could place on some students," Hendrickson said "Without this fee and the resulting access it will provide to technology and information, we are concerned that our graduates will not be competitive in the job market."

Because of rapid changes in the computing industry, it is difficult for students to keep abreast of the latest models of computers or the latest software versions. The university, Hendrickson said, should provide those resources if it expects students to use them.

The plan, Hendrickson said, would fund the resources students "consume" during their time as students. These would include software and hardware upgrades with a short-term life expectancy and technical support to help students use computers and software. The fee would not fund expenses for long-term development and maintenance of wiring or hardware with an extended life. The fee will not support administrative computing.

Hendrickson said that about 80 percent of students who attended informal focus groups supported the proposed fees.

"Students said their top priorities were to keep the computers in the labs current, to have some consistency in software across the labs on campus and to have the labs open more hours with more staff support."

Those priorities, he said, will be addressed immediately. The second goal, he said, is to provide more technology and access to information in the libraries.

"Students are really frustrated because they know information is available, but they cannot get to it," he said.

Marintzer said he is organizing a technology advisory group of students to help make decisions about how the funds will be expended.

"I think students need a very large say in where this money will go," he said.

Technology fees are becoming more common at universities. For example, eight universities in the Big 12 charge technology fees. The University of Kansas and UNL are the only Research I institutions in the Big 12 that do not charge fees but KU is considering implementing a fee.

Marintzer said that he's learned from other student leaders around the Big 12 that while technology fees were inititally unpopular, students are now much happier with campus computing facilities. He expects the same to be true at Nebraska.

Hendrickson said UNL's tuition and fees would still rank fourth lowest among peers identified by the NU Regents, even when the full $5 fee is implemented.

Had the $2 fees been in place during academic year 1995-96, they would have generated $1.14 million. A similar figure is projected should the fees be implemented next term.

Officials suggest allocating 28 percent to eight undergraduate colleges and the libraries. This would support general purpose computing labs, technical assistance and student access. Because each college has different general technology requirements, it is preferable to allow the colleges to address their priorities individually, Hendrickson said.

The remaining allocation would be used centrally to support hardware and software acquisition, a student help-desk, scholar workstations and training facilities.

Students enrolled in NU's professional colleges of law and architecture would be exempt from the fees because these students have little academic interaction with the rest of the university. Neither college would receive funds via the allocation described earlier. First- and second-year architecture students, who have not yet been admitted to the professional division of the college, will pay the fee because typically more than half their credit hours are generated outside of the college.

Survey Research in Democracies Subject of Gallup Symposium

A symposium sponsored by the Gallup Research Center at UNL in conjunction with the World Association for Public Opinion Research will be April 24-26 in Lincoln.

Major researchers from the Americas, Europe and Asia will discuss the role of survey research in emerging and mature democracies. Speakers include: Seymour Martin Lipset (USA), Norman Nie (USA),Erwin Scheuch (Germany), Peter Ph. Mohler (Germany), Marta Lagos (Chile), Miguel Basanez (Mexico), Harold Clarke (Canada), Allan Kornberg (USA and Canada), Marc Swyngedouw (Belgium), Petr Mateju (Czech Republic), Bogdan Cichomski (Poland), Elena Bashkirova (Russia), Robert Manchin (Hungary and Bosnia) and C. K. Sharma (India).

Registration deadline is March 23. For more information, contact: Allan L. McCutcheon, director, Gallup Research Center, UNL, 200 North 11th St., Lincoln NE 68588-0241.

Or send email to: amccutch@unlinfo.unl.edu. See the Gallup Research Center's web page for details: http://www.unl.edu/unl-grc/.

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