University of Nebraska Omaha - Tomahawk / Gateway Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

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Freedom to succeed or fail in their own way — that's the Declaration of INDEPENDENTS THE FASHIONABLY dressed stu- dent, a year or two either side of 20, who wears a gold pin over his heart, is a Greek. A bootstrapper is a 35-year-old man with close- cropped hair, who carries a black or brown briefcase in his left hand. These two categories account for approximately 1,500 of the UNO student body and for lack of a more descriptive term, anyone who doesn't fit one of these two molds is called an Independent. There are few generalizations that can be made about the 10,500 students who are lumped into the all-encompassing title of independent. Their name suggests they owe their allegiance to no special organi- zation and are without identifiable characteristics. Their age is hard to pin- point. Their dress is as varied as their hair length. But there must be something that can be said about this largest group of UNO students. There must be some vague, hazy way of describing this campus majority. They usually hail from Nebraska or Iowa, particularly the Omaha-Council Bluffs area. More often than not, they live at home either with parents or spouse. Their main concern is getting a sheepskin, and more than likely they are paying their own way through school by working part-time. Beyond this skeletal outline, few other generalizations are possib le. Anything else to be said about the independent must be said about an individual, not the group. Jon Kilpatrick exemplifies the non- involved independent. The Omaha senior admits he is going to college just to get a degree. It will enable me to get more money for basically the same work I'm doing now, he explains. Kilpatrick is enrolled in the College of Continuing Studies and will earn a Bachelor of General Studies with a political science major. He blames his lack of campus involvement on the fact that he is married and must spend his free time at work or with his wife, rather than at school. I don't have time to join organizations and go to ball games. Despite his own lack of involvement, Kilpatrick has some very definite ideas about student activism. He feels student demonstrations, marches and the like are both valid and justified. According to Kilpatrick, Protest is probably the most valid thing in this country. Another typically un-involved student is Mrs. Stella Huggins. She was involved in dorm government when she was single and attending the university in Lincoln, but marriage ended her participation in extra-curricular activities. She admits she is not ambitious enough to stay on campus when she knows she can get home quickly and blames much of the UNO student non- involvement on the commuter campus atmosphere, if I were living on a campus that had student housing, I would probably be involved in something im- mediate to me, such as improving housing for married students, Mrs. Huggins says. If Kilpatrick and Mrs. Huggins at- tribute their non-involement to the home responsibilities that go with being married, Mrs. John L. Mitchell has an even better reason, five children. Mrs. Mitchell, who is working toward a masters degree in social work, has been going to school off and on for four years. She has been limiting her credit load to three to six hours a semester, but plans to carry more hours when the children get into school. She doesn't let school inter- fere with her family activities, but says, I don't plan anything with the family around exam time. All of this concern with academiaand home life might seem a little dishearten- ing to some. It is a question of higher priorities rather than apathy that keeps the Kilpatricks, Huggins and Mitchells away from campus involvement, but there are many independents who do have the time and who do participate. Wellington Batth is a junior, majoring in sociology. He first attended the uni- versity in 1963, then returned after a two year stint in the service. Batth's extra- curricular energies are directed to the black student organization. He points out that in 1963, the black pride movement was just starting at OU, and there was no organization. He says things have definite- ly changed over the past seven years. Black people are getting themselves to- gether, and in the past two years we've formed an organization for blacks. 24

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Over the years the expansion of the bootstrap program has paralleled and contributed to the growth of the Omaha campus. The early 1950s were growing years for the University of Omaha, yet they were also years of a financial squeeze. An increased expansion program had just seen the completion of the campus' second building, a $750,000 fieldhouse. This structure netted the uni- versity a long-sought detachment of the Air Force ROTC program. The financial situation did not im- prove as was expected, and with a new library and two wings of the Applied Arts building on the planning table, the uni- versity was still within the grips of a financial plague. Being a municipal institution, the uni- versity could not borrow or, for that matter, go into debt. Although under- graduate enrollment was surging, many upper division classes were being held for just a handful of juniors and seniors, and the university realized it was not breaking even on such neglected course offerings. The 1952-53 school year saw the beginning of a new program which would bring money into the university and the Omaha community as well. Five special students came to Omaha to attend OU that year. They were on assignment from the military. Omaha was their post. They brought the first of thousands of dollars of federal money into Omaha and the university. They also brought diversi- fied military and travel experiences to the sheltered campus atop the Dodge Street hill. They filled the cold, vacant seats in many of the classrooms . This handful of special students de- veloped into a clan of significant number. During the mid-1960s there were over 1,000 of these special students on campus. By 1965 OU had become a melting pot for military men seeking degrees. In the late 1960s Omaha Uni- versity became the University of Nebras- ka at Omaha and was tabbed as housing the largest military degree program in the UNO's intramural bootstrapper soccer team, the Patriots, practice game technique in the pep bowl. nation. Since 1953 over 8,000 boot- strappers have graduated from OU-UNO. The creation and subsequent in- corporation of the Pen and Sword Society helped cement the foundations of the military degree program at OU. Through this organization, educational, social and professional services are of- fered to military students. Similar to the boot program, but not a part of it, are the UNO courses offered for personnel at Offutt Air Force Base southeast of Omaha. The program was initiated in 1950 and serves to eliminate transportation problems for airmen. Classes meet two nights a week on an eight-week basis. About 500 students, both beginning and advanced, who can't become boots because of active duty assignments or because they have too few credit hours, are currently taking courses at Offutt. Instruction is provided by both full and part-time UNO faculty. Due to overload restrictions on UNO faculty members, however, most of the instructors at Offutt during the fall and spring semes- ters are hired on a part-time basis. Some full-time UNO faculty members teach Offutt courses during the summer. Extra faculty are sometimes needed and the hiring is done by CCS, subject to the approval of the appropriate dean. A master's degree requirement is adhered to in hiring faculty, according to Russell. Although most of the Offutt students are considered non-residents by the uni- versity, they do not pay the customary $28 non-resident tuition. They pay what Russell terms a contract price of $24 an hour because university classroom and custodial services are not used. Enroll- ment at Offutt is up 53 per cent since 1966 and up 10 per cent over last year. Russell said he expects the Offutt pro- gram to continue to experience a slow growth, adding, We don't offer courses that will lose money. By RICHARD BROWN 23

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Another exception to the independent non-involvement trend is their increasing prominence in student government. Up until a few years ago, the class officers were almost always Greeks, and the Student Senate was predominantly com- posed of fraternity and sorority members. For the past two years, the student body president has been an independent, and the Senate has maintained an almost equal balance of independents, Greeks and bootstrappers. One of the students who helped lead the way toward independent partici- pation in student government was Mari- lyn Russo. Miss Russo has managed to maintain a high grade point average, pay her way through school with a part-time job and be very involved in both on- and off-campus activities of a wide variety. Her involvement at UNO began in her sophomore year when Miss Russo was active in Angel Flight, Young Democrats and Chi Omega's. In her junior year, she became involved in student government and gradually dropped out of everything else, in order to devote all her spare time to the Student Senate. Miss Russo attended the National Stu- dent Association Congress the past two years. I became very concerned with what was going on in the nation, world and community and decided to get in- volved at the community level because of the congresses, she says. This community involvement caused Miss Russo to give up student govern- ment. She now works with Project Nancy Mitchell (right) studies with fellow student Betsy Rezek before a political science class. With five inquisitive children, Mrs. Mitchell has few uninterrupted daytime study sessions. Off to a late afternoon class, Mrs. Mitchell gets a fond farewell from one of her daughters. 25