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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1971)
liegents up tuition for summer session ...MiiMlpy MjUqiH" """" 1 r r 4v J Nl. A..,.. 1 Important business at Saturday's Board of Regents meetings G. Robert Ross, The Regents corporation secretary, studies the Rocket Grease and Freedom Party's platform for Wednesday's ASUN elections. For more on the elections see pages 5-S. Clrt'iiinl MONDAY, APRILS, 1971 CSX to rule on eligibility The Council on Student Life is -expected to rule Monday morning on the appeal of John K, Hansen, the NU sophomore who was notified Sunday night he is ineligible to serve on the Search Committee for a new campus President. The CSL's unusual 7:30 a.m. Monday meeting was called by CSL Chairman John "W. Robinson in order to settle the Hansen issue before the Search Committee's first scheduled meeting Monday afternoon. 'Administrative fat' prompts investigation Gov. J, J. Exon, in his efforts to hold down state spending this ysar, has constantly complained of ".administrative fat" and inefficiency at the University of Nebraska. So Saturday the Board of Regents agreed to hire "the most distinguished management firm we can identify in the nation" to study the administrative structure of the entire University. Chancellor D. B. Vainer said the study would be financed by the University of Nebraska Foundation and askrd that the study be completed by June 1 . He said one of the primary responsiblities of the Board was to examine the administrative structure of the University to be certain that we are operating with maximum effectiveness and economy." Varner said this was "particularly true in this year of increasing budgetary pressures." University officiate maintain that they will be forced to cut back operations if Ex OS's budget recommendations are approved M isssss LINCOLN, NEBRASKA Hansen asked the CSL's Standing Committee on Student Organizations Sunday afternoon to overturn a Friday ruling by the Office of Student Affairs that he is ineligible because he's a part-time student. In a letter to ASUN president Steve Tiwald, Ron Gierhan of the Student Affairs Office said an eligibility check showed Hansen ""does not meet the eligibility requirements for participation in extracurricular activities." The Student Affairs by the Legislature. The Chancellor said there was a particular need to improve the coordination and integration of the entire University system "with the goal of making every dollar provide a wise investment for the taxpayers of the state and to be sure we are achieving the maximum possible output for each dollar of input. He said the Regents were "faced with a unique situation and perhaps a particularly good opportunity to re-examine the organizational structure at this moment." Joseph Soshnik has resigned the presidency of the Lincoln campuses effective this summer and President Cecil Wittson of the Omaha Medical Center will reach the administrative retirement age in July, 1972. The management study should not delay the work ol a search committee looking for a successor to Soshnik, according to Varner. The Regents also agreed to appoint a "broadly representative advisory committee" to assist the management firm. VOL 94 NO, 96 office designated the Search Committee as an extracurricular activity, The Standing Committee voted 4-2 against Hansen's request to overturn the Gierhan ruling. Hansen had announced early he would definitely appeal to CSL if his request was denied. The Standing Committee upheld the classification of the SeaTch Committee as an ""extra curricular activity," said Meg Hall, chairman. Although search committees aren't listed in the Campus Handbook under extra curricular activities, the Standing Committee felt that the Campus ..Handbook list is meant to be "illustrative and not definitive," she said. The Handbook states that participants in extracurricular activities must carry at least 1 2 hours. Hansen is registered for 30 this semester, although he said he's also working on several incompletes from previous semesters. The committee felt that Hansen couldn't be classified as a full-time student "in spirit" because he "was not making satisfactory progress toward a degree," said Hall. In his appeal, Hansen contended that "at no time was 1 asked about either my current academic standing in regard to grades or how many hours I am currently taking". Bill Behmer, ASUN senator speaking for Hansen, said it "might have been an oversight" on someone's part that elibibility requirements weren't spelled out, but nevertheless, this question never came up before ASUN. The Standing Committee decided that an exception to the rules shouldn't be made in Hansen's case since "it wasnt a clear case of misinformation but of oversight," said Hall. Students attending summer school this year on the Lincoln campuses will have to pay about $3" more per credit hour. The new rate, as approved by the Board of Regents Saturday, will be $18 per credit hour. In addition, President Joseph Soshnik said reductions in the scope of the two summer sessions were toeing considered because of current budget difficulties. The Regents in December approved a $1.6 million budget to accornmodate a record projected enrollment of 13,500 students for the two summer school sessions. However, Soshnik said cutbacks currently being considered would reduce the budget by about $100,000. He said the exact amount to be cut back would depend upon enrollments because courses which donl attract enough students will be canceled. SOSHNIK SAID the "sharpest cts" will be made during the second session because it will operate entirely Tinder appropriations made by the current Legislature for the 1971-72 fiscal year. It was also announced at Saturday's meeting that a California professor who planned to join the University this summer as a department chairman has changed his mind because of Gov. J. J. Exon's budget recommendations. Edwin B, Stear had been named chairman of the NU electrical engineering department but has instead decided to stay in his present post as associate professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara. IN A LETTER resigning his appointment, Stear said Exon's budget proposals indicate the University will be unable to develop and improve its engineering program, Soshnik reported. In other action Saturday, the Regents were presented with favorable reports on two experimental programs at the University. Ely Meyerson, housing director, told the Board that Schramm Hall, an experimental co-educational residence hall with alternate floors for men and women, has a "more relaxed, casual and friendlier Regents grant tenure over Prokop s protests The Board of Regents granted tenure to 114 faculty members at NU's three campuses Saturday despite objections of Regent Robert Prokop of Papillion who called the tenure system "a failure in that it -protects incompetency." Noting that he was objecting not to individuals, but to the concept of tenure, Prokop abstained from voting on a series of motions granting tenure. Although there were no other abstentions or opposing votes, Regei't James Moylan suggested the entire tenure program be reviewed during the year. Prokop called tenure "the only manner where a man is guaranteed a life-time job no matter what his outputs and performance is" and said a "faculty member outside of the classroom neither requires nor deserves protections above and beyond those guaranteed atmosphere than other hills on campus. He said preliminary surveys indicate the general behavior of Schramm students was not "significantly different" from residents of other living units. However, he said Schramm residents tended to have more "friendship type" relationships with the opposite sex and less formal dating. MYERSON SAID there is more of an emphasis on out-of -classroom educational experiences at Schramm with more of the residents involved in the hall's educational and social activities. In a presentation on the Centennial Education Program (known as Centennial College ), Dean of Faculties C Peter Magrath said if he had to grade the program's first year be would give it "an A-plus for effort, a strong B for performance and an A for potential." Cutting across traditional academic lines, the two-year old program seeks a residential learning situation where students can live and study together. Magrath said most of Centennial's problems during the first year stemmed from a lack of structure in the independent study oriented program. He added that the program's first year problems have been corrected. TENTATIVE conclusions are that the program provides accelerated intellectual growth, employs methods enjoyed by students and offers a chance to pioneer in methods that can be used elsewhere in the University, according to Magrath. There are about 230 students involved in the program this year. Regent Kermit Hansen of Omaha said the Board discussed in executive session Saturday his proposal to create a regular discussion period which would permit anyone to address the Board. However, he said the Regents decided to include the proposal in its consideration of the Faculty Senate's recommendation to hold a constitutional convention tbi, summer to draft a basic document on tie governance of the University. any other citizen under the LIS. Constitution." A recent federally initiated task force on higher education called for a revision of standard tenure policies and recommended short-term contracts for at least some categories of faculty positions, according to Prokop. '"'Tenure protects faculty members who want to avoid teaching undergraduates " said Prokop, a pathology resident at the Omaha Medical Center. "Tenure is a shield for the indifference of some faculty members and neglect of scholarly duties," The University tenure system survived an attack in the Legislature earlier this year when Sen. Terry Carpenter of Scottsbluff introduced a bill that would have required legislative approval of the tenure system. However, the tenure bill was killed in committee and Carpenter's attempt to revive the bill on the floor also failed.