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Research role
Apparently, there's a lot more to
education than teaching. Take, for instance,
tne many and varied types of research now in
progress at UNL. Research may not have
much to do with the direct teaching process,
but it has a lot to do with quality of
education.
In an interview Wednesday, Research
Administrator Francis Schmehl said that this
ear over $17 million will be spent on
research in the NU system, most of which is
paid for by grants from the federal
government. And that's a lot of research.
But what exactly is this research? And
what does it entail? Webster defines research
as systematic, patient study and
investigation in some field of knowledge,
undertaken to establish facts or principles."
The definition certainly applies here. On the
UNL campus, nearly every department has
members researching some educational
concern of the University system.
According to Schmehl. the University
allows all faculty members to allot 10 to 15
per cent of their time to research. In addition,
the University has a number of faculty
members who do not teach at all. but Drovide
the manpower for research projects paid for
by federal grants. This usually is handled
either through leaves of absence or summer
work. Those who do not take the leaves of
absence do research in spare time, often as an
overload on top of coursework.
The areas in which research is conducted
are as varied as the researchers. While more
research' h conducted in the physical science
departments, work is underway in virtually
every area imaginable, including the
humanities. About half the reasearch
conducted at NU is basic, having to do with
.theoretical, general concerns rather than
specific interests. This wide base speaks well
for the NU program, for in a University with
the scope of Nebraska, it would be disastrous
to dwell on one area of research.
t ... r
In some specific cases, research undertaken
by the University has directly benefited
students in a classroom situation. One
example of this is found in the chemistry
department, where, after completing a
research stint, Dr. Charles Wilkins helped
introduce the use of computers to improve
the graduate and undergraduate chemistry
programs.
Most often, however, the benefits to
students are less tangible. While not always
visible, it is fairly certain that research aids
teachers in keeping up with advances in their
field. This automatically makes them more
able to effectively communicate new
developments in their fields. If this research
were to be discontinued, many members of
the faculty would find it difficult indeed to
absorb the quantity of new information
which accumulates weekly in any specific
field.
Currently, NU is at neither a high nor a
low spot in its total amount of grants
awarded. The University's $17 million figure
is astonishingly low compared to
Maarhn?ptts institute of Technology's $99
million, top figure in the United States. On
the other hand, it ranks in the middle of the
Big Eight in total receipts. Compared witn
other area schools of comparable size, the
University stacks up like this:
University
Colorado
M isso u rl
K a ntas
N ebraska
C olorado St.
K ant at S t.
Total grants
in $millions
$3 2 million
22
1 7
16
1 5
1 0
Rank in
U.S. colleges
21 ft
39
54
62
64
96
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Of this grant money, only 58.3 per cent
goes to salaries, however. Over 31.1 per cent
must go to operating expenses, (including
animals, food chemicals, glassware and so
forth) while another 2.8 per cent goes to travel
and 7.8 per cent to equipment each year. As
such, the research program has strict limits.
As worthwhile as research is, it would be
extremely difficult to expand the programs.
Since most of the financing for research
comes from federal coffers and nearly all the
rest is made up by private foundations, to
increase programs an institution would have
to receive an increase in federal or private
funding. Since most grants are received
because of requests from the faculty, to
expand the program would require increased
faculty requests. And this is unlikely. Due to
the present understaffed, overworked state of
the UNL faculty, it is doubtful that research
will expand extensively in the next few years.
It appears NU may stay at the medium
level in research a while longer.
Jim Gray
Christmas comes but once a day in 198
V
America's chronic economic ills were solved at last
with the election in 1984 of President Jeremiah
Jingles. Jingles ran on the Merry Christmas Ticket.
His platform consisted of but a single pledge: "If I
am elected, we will celebrate Christmas every day!"
This platform was not only politically appealing
(for most voters liked Christmas, all in all), but it was
economically astute.
As Jingles noted in his campaign speeches, for
generations Christmas spending had stimulated
increased employment, soaring retail sales and the use
of vacant lots for peddling Christmas trees.
"But as it is now," he would say frowning, "Santa
Claus doesn't descent from his helicopter until the
week before Halloween. Why should we reap the
arthur
hoppe
benefits of Christmas solely during the last fiscal
quarter? Let's spread yuletide joy throughout the
year."
Idealists flocked to his banner. "What a wonderful
world this will be," said one, "if the spirit of peace
and good will prevails year 'round." And clerics
joined his cause in droves.
"I can think of nothing more Christian, sir," a
deacon in Schenectady told him, "than to celebrate
daily the birth of Our Blessed Savior."
"Who?" said Jingles. "Oh, yes Him, too."
So Jingles was elected in a landslide. Who will ever
forget his inaugural address that snowy January
page 4
afternoon? "Ho, ho, hoi May I wish you a Merry
Christmas today," he said, "and tomorrow and
Wednesday and Thursday and ..."
What happy days those were! Strangers smiled
warmly at each other on the streets and exchanged
the universal greeting: "Merry Christmas!"
The economy boomed. New stores blossomed
everywhere. Factories hummed around the clock.
Hallmark stock hit 873 78 on the Big Board. The
production of tea cozies, black negligees and stuffed
pandas quadrupled
By March, full employment was not only a reality,
but there was a labor shortage.
True, there were minor problems. In April
Congress was forced to pass a law banning the sale of
anything but plastic Christmas trees as the demand
for gift wrappings was denuding the forests. And
during a June heat wave there were numerous
brown-outs csuscd by the strain imposed by both air
conditioners and Christmas lights.
But the first real crack in the cherry facade didn't
occur until the ' Fourth of July, that was when a
husband in Scranton hung himself with one of his
432 neckties. The note he left behind said simply:
"There wasn't one I liked."
The following week, a housewife in Elmira ran
amuck and killed two neighbors with a cleaver,
shouting she had mistakenly sent them two Christmas
cards that day only to discover they hadn't sent her
one for a week. (She was later proved mistaken.)
By last November, the nation was nervous and
jittery. Riots broke out in department stores
whenever Bing Crosby's "White Christmci" was
played. And all a warm greeting of "Merry
Christmas" was likely to get you was a punch in the
nose.
So it was that Congress met on Dec. 25, a day like
any other, and amid cries of "Bah, humbug!" voted
to impeach President Jingles.
At the same time, they passed a law decreeing that
any person caught wearing a red suit and white beard
in public on or before Dec. 15 would be shot on
sight.
. And America has lived sanely, if not happily, ever
after.
Copyriqht.ChronlcIa Publishing Cp. 1972
daily nebraskan
l
friday, december 1, 1972