UNK issues to consider

In my search to find 3 topics of discussion on state issues, I ran into two for UNK. I know it's a way off, but I'm holding onto these for reference.

The first is eliminating trays from the cafeteria. This was on the Omaha World Herald.

I found it kind-of funny, though with this quote:

"Just the other day, Zatechka saw a student pile his plate high with chicken nuggets. When the student finished his meal, Zatechka followed him to the tray-return area and saw eight untouched nuggets on his plate. 'We aren't going to permit that kind of food waste," Zatechka said. "We can't.'"

*Gasp* OMG, like, 8 chicken nuggets left over after an entire plate full...maybe it's good that he didn't eat all of them.

But, I did like this information:

Gauging waste
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Last fall, the University of Kansas looked at whether trays made a difference in how much food students threw out. KU found students dumped more food with trays than without them.

Food waste: Decreased from an average of 1,063 pounds per meal to 657 pounds when the trays were taken away.

Beverage waste: Decreased from 105 gallons per meal to 48 gallons without the trays.


The next article I found in the Lincoln Journal Star and it was about budget cuts on the UNK campus in order to keep jobs.

The proposed pay cuts would range from 10 percent for those making more than $150,00 a year to 1 percent for those making more than $30,000. Those making less than $30,000 a year would see pay cuts of less than 1 percent.

I like this idea better than eliminating jobs completely. First, if we eliminate professors then there will be less classes available, less classes available means not many students can take the class-so why not consider another major or another school that is adaquetly staffed. And let's not forget the Kearney community, UNK is a primary employer in this town.

The last one I found was in the Journal Star.

According to the article, a high school coach and 3rd grad teacher was placed on paid leave for giving a 17-year-old Sidney girl alcohol. Shane Nordby, 36, is charged in Buffalo County Court with two misdemeanor counts: procuring alcohol for minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Court records say the incident occurred Dec. 23 at Nordby’s home.