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Photo by Td Kirk
James H. Moylan of Omaha is die newly-elected chairman of the NU Board of Regents.
daily
monday, january 12, 1976 volume 100 number 1
Regents to appeal bargaining verdict
Bruce Wright, NU Board of Regents lawyer, will appear
Tuesday before the State Court of Indust rial Relations to
argue for an appeal of that court's ruling which called for
separate bargaining units for UNL faculty.
" William Erskine, NU executive vice president for
administration, said the regents axe disputing the decision
that would make the American Association of University
Professors (AAUP) an appropriate bargaining unit for
UNL faculty members.
AAUP would be chosen if it receives enough votes in a
scheduled Feb. 16 faculty member vote on unionization.
Erskine said the regents think a bargaining unit should
be university -wide and not restricted to one campus. The
board approved the appeal at its Dec. 13 meeting.
The regents requested the appeal because they believe
the court's decision was wrong, Erskine said, They also
think it is inconsistent with an earlier decision between
the university and the International Brotherhood of Elects
rical Workers.
In that case, he said, the university thought the bar
gaining unit should be university-wide and the court sided
with the university. In the case of the faculty unit, he
said, the case did not side with the university.
If an appeal is granted, an appeal date will be set after
Wright meets with the state court judges.
Regents are requesting that the case be presented be
fore all of the court's judges, Erskine said. Because of a
heavy workload, one judge made the original decision, he
said.
Legislators plunge into session
By Dick Piersol
The second session of the 84th NebrasRa Legislature
began last Wednesday, and state senators plunged into
work on 169 bills left from the first sesssion and intro
duced more than 100 new bills in the first three days of
the scheduled 60-day session.
Heading the list of unresolved issues are bills dealing
with the proposed coal slurry pipeline, a higher education
coordinating conuniwiuu And chsagftg the state's primary
election laws.
inside tos'ai1
Fremont Fire: One victim
is a UNL student ...... p. 10
Alcohol and ASUN: Alcohol on campus has
60 per cent chance of passing
in the Legislature P-7
Registration Ruts: Plights of
students going through
general registration , . p.9
Also Find: -
D.N. Soapbox .
D.N. Soapbox M
Arts and Entertainment. P-15
Srorts P. 18
Crossword P-20 I
Short Stuff P- I
f
Weather .
Monday: Mostly sunny and warm with temperatures
in the mid to upper 40s. . .
Tuesd.iv: Cnnsl.ierabla cloudiness and cooler tern-
perttures. Highs in the upper 30s. fj
LB 147, sponsored by South Sioux City Sen. John
Murphy, would grant powers of eminent domain to
Energy Transportation Systems, Inc., to build a pipeline
across Nebraska and use Wyoming water to carry pul
verized coal from Campbell County, Wyoming, to White
Bluffs, Ark.
LB 120, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Koch of Ralston,
would move Nebraska's state primary election from May
to September.
Sen. Frank Lewis of beiievue wiii attempt to move an
Education Committee bill, LB 579, establishing a statu
tory commission coordinating higher education.
State appropriations generally are expected to provide
some fireworks along with several new bills reflecting
some old issues.
The Judiciary Committee is sponsoring a major revision
of the state criminal code, LB 623, Including: Raising the
dollar value required for felony violations, mandatory
sentences without probation for some offenses and
separate penalties for crimes committed with a weapon.
Part of that recodification is contained in Omaha Sen.
Ernest Chambers LB 702, which proposes abolishing the
death penalty by law in Nebraska.
Sen. Koch's LB 631 would increase state aid to schools
by $15 million annually until the state provides 40 per
cent.
Omaha Sen. Warren Swigart is sponsoring a constitu
tional amendment providing travel expenses for state
senators. Currently, they ate paid expenses for one round
trip to Lincoln and $4,800 per year.
Two bills, LBs 680 and 703, sponsored by Sens.
Robert Clark of Sidney and Loran Schmit of Bellwood,
respectively, deal with medical malpractice. LB 680 would
prohibit malpractice claims except in Jase of "gross
negligence" and LB 703 would limit malpractice claims to
$500,000.
LB 719, proposed by Swigart, would allow Omaha to
register automobiles used in the city by non-residents.
ud get proposal
COTi
Idcutfaculty
By Ann Owens '
Some 130 faculty positions might be eliminated next
year if the Nebraska Legislature passes its Appropriations
Committee's proposed 1976-77 NU budget, Chancellor
Adam Breckenridge told the NU Board of Regents at its
Saturday meeting.
One of the bill's effects would dismiss 100 faculty
members and leave 30 vacant positions unfilled, Brecken
ridge said.
"This is the most drastic presentation that I have
witnessed in 30 years," he said.
NU President D.B. Varner said the Appropriations
Committee is proposing that student-faculty ratios
determine the amount of faculty financing. .
- Research hit
This would hit research departments especially hard,
reducing the chemistry faculty from 30 to 16 and the
physics faculty from 29 to 17, Breckenridge said.
University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Chancellor
Ronald Roskens said the bill also would apply to UNO
and cuts would be proportional to those at UNL.
Varner expressed concern over two other appropria
tions bill provisions-the committee's pay raise recom
mendation of four per cent plus one per cent for merit
raises and the lack of budget flexibility given to the
regents.
The 12.32 per cent pay raise requested by the regents
is needed to bring UNL faculty salaries up to the average
of the other four Big 8 Conference schools that are in the
American Association of Universities, Varner said.
Bottom of bottom
He cited figures from a University of Kansas English
Dept. survey, of 59 English departments with graduate
English programs that are ranked by the American
Council on Education. The survey showed that UNL ranks
at what Varner called "the bottom of the bottom."
A UNL full professor's average salary ranked 57th of
the 59 listed and an associate professor's average salary
ranked 53rd out of 56.
He "also cited figures from a 1974 Legislative Fiscal
Office comparative analysis of state general fund support
rn student. Of 12 state schools, UNL ranked eighth with
1,348. UNO ranked 12th with $960.
The board voted to ask the Legislature for a special
$200,000 appropriation to help UNO achieve a p i
student financing level comparable to UNL's.
Regent Robert Simmons of Scottsbluff said he thinks
the university should not be treated as separate campuses
when requesting appropriations.
Looking at hills
Regent Edward Schwartzkopf of Lincoln said UNL
also needs money and asking for funds for only UNO was
like "looking at the hills when we ought to be looking at
mountains."
Schwartzkopf asked Omaha Sen. Glenn Goodrich,
Appropriations Committee member, who was at the
meeting, how the Legislature reacts to salary studies and
what the regents can do to present the university's case.
Goodrich told the regents that they make a mistake
in assuming that the fiscal staff gives information to the
budget committee as soon as they receive it from the
university.
Goodrich advised the regents to send information to in
dividual senators and motivate senators to take what he
called positive action.
1 .
Aft V. .JMW
I
The second scmon of the Nebraska Legislature
opened with the Ekentcnnhl spirit, as James
Dickenson of Millard and five other senators
arrived Tuesday moralsg dressed fsw ths occasion.
.it'-