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monday, december 11, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 55
fRegents to ask Legislature for $440,000
by Sara Schwieder
The Board of Regents unanimously
approved a resolution Saturday to
request $440,000 from the Legislature
to help the University (UNL and the
University of Nebraska at Omaha)
liquidate its $1.4 million budget
deficit.
"It is not inapproprate to ask the
Legislature to help us with the impact
of LB 408," President D. B. Varner
told the board at its monthly meeting,
held for the first time in the new
Systems Building across from East
Campus.
LB 408 was passed by the
Legislature last session. It allows
non-resident students to claim
Nebraska residency if certain
qualifications are met. Nearly 200
nonresident students with more
expected changed to resident status,
depriving UNL of $248,000 of the
$440,000 lost in tuition.
Regent Robert Prokop of Papillion
asked what would happen if the
Legislature refused the University's
request. Varner said the administration
would "take whatever painful steps
they have to," in that case. Among the
"painful steps" are expenditure
reductions meaning cut-backs of
programs, use of excess grant funds or
excess financial aid money. A special
student assessment is unlikely. Varner
announced at last month's meeting
that hiring new faculty would be
suspended because of the deficit.
In other action, the board okayed
further investigation of University use
of the former Hiram Scott College
campus in Scottsbluff. A rural Health
Education Center which would focus
on rural community health care was
suggested as a possible use for the
campus. A second suggestion was that
the campus be used for educational
programs related to agriculture and
rural Nebraska.
The project could eventually
become a regional one, with states
surrounding the area contributing
students and helping to finance it,
according to UNO Chancellor Robert
Sparks of the Medical Center. A
meeting is scheduled in early January
between Gov. J. J. Exon and Gov.
Stan Hathaway of Wyo. to discuss the
proposal, Vice Chancellor Howard
Neville told the board.
Following the report on the Hiram
Scott campus, the Board briskly
moved on to adopt University Bylaws
campus a
represent
regulations
in their final form. Only minor
changes were made in the version
published and distributed to the
month ago. The bylaws
the chief governing
of the University system,
and will go into effect on January 2,
1973. There was no discussion on the
Bylaws Saturday before the board
voted unanimously to adopt them. It
has been 214 years since the By-laws
overhaul was begun by the Governance
Commission.
After the vote on the Bylaws, Vice
Chancellor Howard Neville gave the
board a complicated financial report
on "student support on the
campuses," which compared UNL and
UNO financial status.
Neville said there was "a
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The new Systems Building . . . housed its first Regents meeting Saturday.
photo by BUI Ganzel
Board continues
rural health study
by Sara Schwieder
The Board of Regents Saturday okayed further
study of a proposal for a Rural Health Education
Center at the Former Hiram Scott College campus in
Scottsbluff. The campus was offered to the
University for its use by the Citizens Committee for
the University of Nebraska at Scottsbluff, which
bought the land and has offered it at no cost.
In a report to the board, administrators suggested
that the site may lend itself to the development of a
rural health center of regional scope. Gov. J. J. Exon
was termed "enthusistic" and willing to work with
the University on the project. Vice President Howard
Neville said Exon had made an appointment to see
Gov. Stan Hathaway of Wyoming about inter-state
cooperation on the project. Wyoming doesn't have a
medical school.
"There are no existing health programs in Western
Nebraska. "Medical Center Chancellor Robert Sparks
told the board during its informal session Saturday
morning. "Most programs are based in hospitals. We
could be involved in bring them together in a higher
education project,' -
Administrators stipulated that (1) the educational
program must be.. Within the competence of the
University, (2) that it not compete directly with
other programs in the western part of the state and
(3) that the prime emphasis be toward new directions
for the University andor the region,' according to a
memo from Neville to the board.
The memo also states that emphases should
"include the development of educational programs
for minorities in the region in cooperation with other
institutions of higher education."
Programs in radiology, medical technology,
nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy and
hospital and nursing home administration were
suggested.
The memo suggests that a second use for the
facility could be graduate or summer school work in
agriculture.
The center would be primarily oriented toward
health care in rural areas because of continuing
problems in recruiting physicians for the small
communities, Neville's memo said.
"It would be our expectation that the program
might develop into a 'model' regional rural health
education program," the memo states. "Existing
affiliation agreements between the University Medical
Center and area hospitals could serve as the base for
an enlarged training program for family
practitioners."
University President D. B. Varner said he's talked
to the National Institute of Health, Gov. J. J. Exon,
State Sen. Terry Carpenter, officials of Nebraska
Western College in Scottsbluff and officials at
Chadron State College, and that everyone had
expressed approval and had promised cooperation.
"We must be certain that there's adequate funding
and no competition with other colleges," Sparks told
the Regents during Saturday's open meeting. "It
underscores cooperation with health people in the
area."
Administrators said that the Legislature would not
be asked for money for the project. The cost of
renovating the facility would be between $250,000
and $350,000, Neville said. Annual operating expense
for the education program for the first year would be
$650,000. Operating cost might double or triple
depending on the number of students and programs.
Neville estimated that a first year appropriation of
$840,000 should allow for renovation, operating
costs, planning and perhaps beginning some of the
educational programs.
Administrators said no "new money" should be
involved in the project, that it should come out of the
regular University appropriation and that it should
not be at the expense of current educational
programs at the University.
"I want to re-emphasize that we're just exploring
possibilities, not making formal recommendations on
what might be done with the facilities, Sparks
concluded.
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