NUB
oard of Regents
f
M it
i ' t
NU President D.B. Varner
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aaiiu:ffiii
monday, September 8, 1 975 volume 99 number 9 lincoln, nebraska
B reels e n rs d ge ta kes o ve r ;
said 'overwh
Ginning
choic
" Adam Breckcnridge was named by NU
President D.B. Varner Saturday as acting
chancellor of UNL starting Oct. 1. :
Varner called Breckenridge the over
whelming choice of several university
vice chancellors, deans and academic
leaders. '
Breckenridge, currently vice chancel
lor for Academic Affairs, will temporarily
replace Chancellor James Zumberge, who
submitted his resignation at the NU Beard
of Regents meeting. Zumberge was
confirmed Saturday by the Southern
Methodist University board of trustees as
president of that Texas school.
Though Breckenridge was appointed
vice chancellor only last month, Varner
said the need for continuity in administra
tion would best be served by moving him
to the chancellor' post. , r
Breckenridge accepted the position, but
has told Varner that he would not be a
candidate for permanent chancellor, nor
would he serve if named chancellor.
The regents authorized Varner to
designate a search committee to decide
nominees for the chancellorship.
Varner said the 12-member search
committee will comprise faculty members,
students, administrators and public repre
sentatives. Selection of the search com
mittee will begin Tuesday, Varner said.
Varner said he will ask the committee
to present their nominations to the board
by Dec. 1 so a new chancellor can be
named by the start of the second semester.
Ned Hedges, assistant vice chancellor
for Academic Affairs, said the question of
whether to name an acting Academic
Affairs vice chancellor has not been
discussed.
Varner said he may ask Breckenridge to
"wear both hats" until a new chancellor is
named.
The president called Zumberge's resigna
tion a substantial loss and repeated what he
said when the chancellor came to the uni
versity nearly four years ago: "I knew we
wouldn't keep him long."
Some student dissatisfaction
approverecor
dbudget
By Theresa Foreman
The NU Board of Regents voted Satuii
day to ask the Nebraska Legislature for
30.7 per cent more tax dollars for the uni
versity than last year and approved a
record $224,290,960 budget.
The board unanimously adopted NU
President D.B. Varner's budget request at
its monthly meeting, at Regents-Hall, 3835
HoldregeSt.
The 1976-77 budget calls for $100.6
million from the state's general fund. The
university received $77 million state tax
dollars this year. The regents will ask for
the money in a lump-sum appropriation
to be distributed by the regents.
Varner said the additional $23.6 million
was ' needed to meet demands caused
mainly by inflation, agricultural research
needs and lost federal financing.
Salary increase
Varner said that because of inflation,
the university must ask for a 6 per cent
salary increase for all its employes to main
tain this year's actual pay levels.
The 1976-77 budget plan also calls for
an additional 6.32 per cent pay increase
for UNL and UNO faculty members, giving
faculty a proposed total raise of 12.32 per
cent. Varner said this hike will bring NU's
faculty salaries up to the average of those
paid by four other Big 8 schools: Iowa
State, Missouri, Colorado and Kansas State.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center
needs a slightly lower pay hike to bring
salaries up to the average mark, Varner
said.
Calculating next year's expenses, budget
makers added a six per cent inflation factor
to most items included in this year's
operating expenses, Varner said, though
he said some costs will jump even higher.
Postage will cost 30 per cent more next
year, paper costs will be 20 per cent higher,
and the university will be paying 15 per
cent more for health insurance and library
- books next year, Vamer said.
Lose funds
The Medical Center will lose $2.8
million in federal funds next year, Varner
said. Most of these funds were used for
basic education rather than extra programs
which could be discontinued and will have
to come out of the university general fund
next year, he said.
Varner said agricultural leaders in the
state met with NU's budget planners and
decided that $2.3 million will be needed
next year for agricultural research.
"It seems unfortunate that we must
label these costs as part of the cost of
operating the university when they are
actually to serve the agriculture industry,"
Varner said. He added that the university
has a unique responsibility by tradition and
legislation to serve Nebraska's agriculture
industry.
Varner said that none of the $23 million
increase is. marked for new or expanded
programs, but is needed to "keep the uni
versity operating at its present level."
Nebraska bar examination criticize
By Teni Willson
The Nebraska bar examination has Come
under fire in recent months because it is
"becoming increasingly difficult to pass,"
according to Eugene Crump, president of
the Student Bar Association.
Student dissatisfaction has caused the
exam to be topic at the annual Nebraska
State Bar Association meeting, Oct. 1
through 3 at the Lincoln Hilton Hotel,
according to Henry Grether. UNL College
of Law dean.
Added areas of study
The biannual exam, most recently
issued in June, added two or three r?as
of study, Crump said. Although he has not
taken the exam, Crump said UNL' Law
College has no bar exam review coarse.
Either such a course or some "remedial
type of mechanism" should be available
to aid in preparation, he said. Some
students axe exploring these avenues now,
because they think both questions and
grading of the-exam are unfair, Crump
added.
According to Bar Commission mcmbe!
Lewis Ricketts of Lincoln, tests ar
identified by number only. Sex, race, col
lege grades and school are unknown tc
graders.
George Turner, Nebraska Supreme
Court Clerk and Secretary of the Bar Com
mission, said of the 194 UNL, Creighton
University and out-of-state law graduates
who took the exam, 27 failed. Of the 27r
11 were UfIL graduates. Nine of the 27
who failed had their cases reviewed by the
Bar Commission. Of the nine, seven ap
pealed, and one of the seven graduates has
since teen admitted to the bar.
Exam may be repeated
Law practice in Nebraska is not allowed
without passing the exam, according to
Crump. Graduates who fail may do legal
research until retaking the exam. Crump
added that he knew of no one repeating
the exam more titan two or three times.
Burton Berger, executive director of the
Nebraska Bar Association, said passirig the
exam is mandatory for admittance to the
bar. . ' '
Lincoln attorney John Robinson said he
thinks a "two-day bar exam" is not true
test of ability, compared to "feres years .of
course work." He added that "graduating
from an accredited school should be cre
dentials enough" to practice law.
Exam format tanfatr
Indicating grading of the bar exam is the
problem rather than quality of the
questions, Robinson said there is no uni
form method of grading the subjective bar
exam. For this reason he cited the
combination multiple-choice, essay exam
as being "inherently unfair."
Approximately 33 states are included in
a multi-state bar exam which uses a general
exam set by the Second Court of Appeals
in New York and parts of their own state
exam. Nebraska does not participate in this
because of the long waiting period for
graded exams, Grtther said.
Roger Prokes, second semester Law Col
lege senior, said State Senator Ernie Cham
bers tried to excuse Nebraska graduates
from the state bar exam. He said students
graduated by South Dakota's law school
aren't required to take a state bar exam to
ptactice law there.
Tom Kellcy, director of Continuing
Continued on p.S .
Though Varner said he is "uncomfortable"
with the budget total, he said the request
reflects "minimum legitimate needs,
without being unrealistic."
: No new programs -
Regent Robert Simmons of Scotts
bluff expressed concern that the budget
lacked money for new programs.
"Any institution which can go for two
years without something new is sterile," he
said. Simmons suggested that there must be
some new programs which could improve
upon existing ones. He said that though the
entire state is inclined to "keep something
merely because it's here," the university
' should not. .
Varner explained that existing programs
are building new emphasis from within.
In other action Saturday, six regents
voted to accept the 1976-77 capital
construction budget, although Omahans
Kermit Hansen and Robert Moylan were
opposed to the order of priority of next
year's construction projects.
Budget planners have earmarked the
first $400,000 of the $12.1 million capital
construction request for correction of fire
safety hazards on the campuses. Other
high-priority projects include construction
of a physical education building and down
town educational center at UNO and a
plant sciences building at UNL. The capital
construction budget includes over
$800,000 for outstate agricultural research
construction.
Legislative approval
Varner said all 13 items on next year's
construction budget request have received
prior legislative approval or funds.
fhe university had a commitment to
cut down on consturction requests in light
of expected enrollment decreases in the
next five or six years, he said.
However, the current 22,225 enrollment
figure is a record for UNL, he said.
Ken Bader, UNL vice chancellor for
student affairs, told the board that the resi
dence halls have a 99 per cent occupancy
rate. In addition to increased enrollment,
Bader cited high off-campus rent, physical
improvements in the residence halls and
differentiated housing as reasons for the
high occupancy rate.
With differentiated housing, living
arrangements vary according to the
residence hall the student selects.
Campus requests from all funds, includ
ing operations such as residence halls and
student unions include:
UNL, $121,459,056; an increase of
13.5 percent. i
-UNO, $28,643,823; an increase of
11.7 percent.
University of Nebraska Medical
Center, $68,464,130; an increase of 12.7
percent.
-NU system, $5,723,951; a rise of 20
per cent, mostly because of increased
expenses of the computer center operation
housed there.
The next board meeting is scheduled for
October 11.
inside k
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Weather
Monday: Partly cloudy with s!i?it
chance of thundershowers. Highs should be
near 80.
Monday night: Mostly cloudy with a 20
per cent chance of thunder showors. Low
should be near 55.
Tuesday: Again mostly cloudy with
chance of thunder showers and 30 per cent
precipitation probabilities. High should be
about SO. .