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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1975)
cbifu friday, apri! 18, 1975 lincoln, r.ebraska vol. GS no. 114 c ommiTTee a ByRonWylie University ' improvement budget recommendations of $1.9 million passed the Unicameral's Appropriations Committee Thursday, bringing the total NU budget to $73.8 million. . . ' A $2.5 million improvement appropriation, sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Shirley Marsh, failed after a 4-4 vote Monday, but abstaining Sen. Harold Simpson of Lincoln added a motion to consider financing at a lower level. Legislative staff analysts were asked to work on a revised program between $1 million to $1.5 million. The total recommendation, $73.8 million, is $2.2 million dds $1 minion to more than Gov. J. James . Exon's "lump sum" university budget. Exon has threatened to veto any appropriation which exceeds his recommendations. Complicating Thursday's deliberations, budget committee members passed an additional $867,000 for University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) operations, leaving $900,000 for other university improvement programs. Judith Corliss of the fiscal analysts staff told committee members the medical center addition was necessary because of justified equipment, renovation expenses and readjustments in the Medicare program. Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Marvel of Hastings said, "This committee is going to have to determine how much information a legislator needs to have in order to make a decision on budgeting." At a time when the medical center was a low budgetary item, the legislature could afford to rely on staff recommendations, Marvel said. But with million-dollar items becoming commonplace, he said, "we need to figure out how much a legislature deserves to know about an operation." Marvel said Medical Center Chancellor Robert Sparks was Food Day panel meets Food, nutrition discussed By Joyce Vasquez Undernourished countries, world food shortages, high prices and conglomerates were among topics discussed at Thursday's Food Day. The events began with a panel discussion concerning food and nutrition. Ruth Eshleman, UNL associate professor of food and nutrition, said nutritionists are given in developing countries where the diet consists of a "handful of beans or rice." She was critical of spending money for the surveys rather than for feeding the people. "Before diagnosing whether a country is undernoruished or not," she .said, "you must know the norm of the people and their culture or you may do more harm than aid." Lenore McEndree, a Union College nutritionist, said a few countries are not doing well because of the improper combination of protein and other food. Not enough food "Too many people and not enough food to go around," she said, is another cause of the food problem. See related story, p, 13 Eshleman said not enough has been published recently concerning the current food situation. He said we need to be aware of other people. "Communication plays a real role," he said. "When I was younger, I never saw a starving child." James Kindrick, a UNL agricultural economics professor, said a cheap food policy would help solve the food shortage. If cities subsidized consumption, production prices might be kept down, he said. Eshleman said Americans are very food conscious. She cited holidays and billboard advertising as examples. The panelists agreed that the educational system should be more aware of nutrition and what it can and can't achieve. Not everyone has the same nutritional balance; "the western diet is not that great," Eshleman- said. Bert Evans, UNL associate professor of economics; Frances Ohmstede, Nebraska's Democratic national committeewoman; Floyd Herman, representing farm organizations; and Albert Evers, former head of the Nebraska Grange spoke during the afternoon. Pleasures don't exist Evers said there is a difference in today's farm life compared to that of 40 years ago. "Today's farmers are less independent," he said, and farm-life pleasures no longer exist. Herman added, "We don't really know what a food crisis is." The biggest problem is that the United States has no stable food policy, Herman said. He said there are an estimated 200 billion people for every 100 million farmers, which means one farmer feeds 200 people, not including food exports. Ohmstede said, "The consumer pays for the food, the farmer also pays and the conglomerates are the ones who profit." All this new wealth is manipulated, she said. She said control over the food industry is mostly by large corporations. Evers said, "Those who contribute the most and work the hardest are always the ones who have the lowest income." Herman added that schools should "educate the educated." What is really needed, he said, is a "new social change," because people no longer are as open with one another. v; , v f X -JO . .'. , . , , " -' ; V r ' i I V ..mTVii,,, , ... ; kmx - ... .' Photo by Tad Kirk Bert Evans, UNL associate professor of economics (left); Frances Ohmstede, Nebraska Democratic national committeewoman; and Floyd Herman and Albert Evers, representing Nebraska farmers, at a Food Day panel discussion Thursday. a competent administrator, bi't that the Appropriations Committee would be foolish to accept his word on budget specifications. Omaha Sen. John Savage reminded committee members of what he called UNMC's growth in the last decade, and asked them to help keep up the center's professional standards. "It's good to see that the chairman is concerned about the state's taxpayers," Savage said, "but we also need to be concerned about the direction ' of the medical center. We have ,a first class system there now, and we don't want to destroy it by taking responsibilities away from its qualified' administrators." In earlier committee hearing on the NU budget, Savage and Omaha Sen. Glenn Goodrich pushed for programs for the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) with such fervor that Sidney Sen. Robert Clark . told Savage, "Well, John you've had us do something for midtown Omaha, and we've just added something for North Omaha, but you've forgotten all about South Omaha." After Thursday's, vote on the medical center improvement recommendation, committee members considered a 64-item priorities list on university programs, headed by an Areas of Excellence journalism program and including improvements in agriculture, criminal justice and women's athletics. Amounts for the 64 items totaled almost $2.5 million, but committee members decided they only could spend an additional $900,000. A motion by Simpson to finance the first 24 items wrs debated, with Simpson claiming, "The first 24 items are things the university can easily justify. The other 40 I'm not so sure of." Simpson said he stopped his list at 24, the $874,000 point, because "that's the point to which I think the legislature will go." But Fremont Sen. E. Thome Johnson said, "I think the Simpson motion is a crude way to settle a budget dispute, just to chop it off at a particular place." Johnson noted the amount left to the committee was roughly one-third of what the 64 items totaled and asked that the money be pro-rated and distributed, at least partially, to other programs. On a motion by Sen. Leslie Stull of Alliance, the recommendation was increased to $1,041,000 to include item 25, a $166,000 appropriation for the Agriculture Experiment Station. Stull said he hated to see agricultural programs cut out of budget consideration. The million dollar improvement figure passed with only Marvel dissenting. "$874,000 is about as high as I want to go," Marvel said, adding, "I think the whole thing will be vetoed anyway." Included in the improvement budget are amounts for programs in animal science, business administration, . actuarial science, special education, and music and music theater. Programs axed by the committee vote include those in off-campus counseling, systems management in farming, food science, women's athletics (at UNO) and the Center for Urban Education. At $73.8 million, the 1975-76 NU budget is about $9 million over the 1974-75 appropriation and represents a 14 per cent increase. Earlier this year NU President D.B. Varner asked for a 25 per cent raise, or $86 million for the fiscal year. Senator criticizes UNL construction UNL appears unnecessarily willing to tear down buildings with some life left in them and replace them with new structures, according to Utica Sen. Douglas Bereuter. Bereuter, who made the remark before the Legislature's Budget Committee Tuesday, said Wednesday that this seems to have been the case at UNL for the last 10 to 15 years. A UNL graduate and former teacher at UNL, he said he is critical of the way the university has torn down buildings in the past. He said when a building has outlived the purpose for which it was built, the university tears it down rather than modify it for another use. "It seems to me, as someone who has been involved with the university," he said, "that while a building has outlived its usefulness for one function, it has not outlived it for all other functions. There were many potential uses for some of the structures that have been torn down." Bereuter said the university also tears down some buildings "just to make way for new ones." He said Stout Hall, which was torn down last fall, is an example. A new life sciences building will be built where Stout Hal! was located. He said he would be careful in considering a proposal that would provide for tearing down the Men's Physhal Education Building. "It may be appropriate; it may not," he said. "I haven't been in there for years. But, based on past experience, I would be careful about approving demolition of the building until it has outlived its purpose." Bereuter also said he has heard that the university is considering tearing down Richards Hall. He said he is well acquainted with the building because he taught in it, and that the building has not outlived its usefulness. "If there is any consideration within the next decade to tear down Richards Hall," he said, "then I am right in criticizing UNL." Bereuter said he has been at other universities where some buildings built in the 17th century still are being used.