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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1976)
ri thursday, february 12. 197R daily nebraskan ) , ((( ' Cards 5 Great Selection u pc" ' - I Come See Them. W j " ....... & .. n,,.. m --n i if -r-irMri-iKiiir n imi rt t mum w irwn 1 iiiiiriHaameMwaWJuifl J : W PLANTS tt 'ToTTSyM " "M JOHN Y. McCOLUSTER Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate Meet the man who will be Nebraska's next U.S. Senator. Con gressman John Y. McCollister will be at a public reception Friday afternoon, Feb. 13, In the Lincoln Room at the Cornhusker Hotel from 3 to 6 . Come any time. Talk with John McCollister . . . give him your ideas... get his thoughts on the issues. He wants to meet you, talk with you. And if you're inclined to be active in politics, the campaign welcomes you as a volunteer. Meet John McCollister Friday afternoon at the Cornhusker. Paid tor by McCollictar tor Senate Commit). Paul Aman, Chairman; John Oalartanl Traaaurar. nonn M4 MUP Among many faculty members salary overrides all other issues in the collective bargaining dispute. Salary levels at UN-L are well below those at most similarly situated universities, not only in distant cor ners of the country but among our nearest neighbor institutions. Salary issues will be among the most dif fksult to solve when and if enlUctiwA h.rj.jr.i- ccrrtcs to pass. But, if the quality of UN-L is to be strength ened, or even maintained, these problems must be addressed and dealt with successfully. UN-L has a re cent history of hiring few new faculty members with extensive experience or proven academic records, ex cept for administrative positions. Nevertheless, new comers are often hired at salaries in excess of those paid to present faculty members of proven merit. This morale destroying procedure, necessitated by In sufficient funding for the recognition of merit, per petuates itself like some pernicious infection by caus ing the departure of still other faculty whose merit has gone unrecognized. Thus, the University is forced back into the market again only to find the proven scholars even further beyond its grasp than before. Few among us cannot recount two or three or more recent repetitions of this wretched scenario within the circle of our academic acquaintances. It has been proposed that salary increases averag ing 12.32 for the coming fiscal year would handlo the current rate of inflatipn and bring UN-L salaries to the average of those enjoyed at the four neighbor ing AAU institutions (Mo., t. St., Kan,, and Colo.) This is c modest goal, and if properly and profession ally administered with due regard to merit it could go far to improve morale and make UN-L competitive in the market place. The table below shows the differ ences between average academic year (or equivalent) salaries at UN-L and those at the above mentioned in- 1975-78 Assoc. . Professor Prof. Agriculture $1,887 $ 963 Arts & Sciences 2,165 976 Business Adm. 1,710 1,629 Architecture 1,371 1,058 Engineering 3,168 1,960 stitutions, by college and rank, for the five colleges where our competitive disadvantage is most acute. The figures are estimates developed by the UN-L Ad ministration for use In supporting salary budget re quests. Differences of Average Salaries by Coileoa . Big 8 AAU (without UN-L) minus UN-L Assist Prof. $ 290 380 (95) 1,522 1.445 It should be noted that even In areas where UN-L has traditionally enjoyed a slight competitive advantage (Law, Teachers, Home Ec), that advantage has eroded substantially or completely disappeared during the past year. But, if the- administration recognizes this problem as does AAUP, what more can we ask? Implimenta tion of a solution! The problem has been recognized in previous years but the gap has widened instead of narrowed. The correction of this problem simply must be made the primary financial goal, not only of " UN-L but of the entire System. The State has every right to point out that, in the past two years in par ticular, UN-L has won a substantial increase in Stete funding. But, these increments have not been used to solve our problem. The graph shows the changes since 1983-69 in faculty salaries and three fiscal indices which relate to the economic heal of the State and the University All are calculated using constant (urv inflated) dollars. Note that faculty salaries are down so i i i - C i f Mis General a. f . Neenfc Capita U 20 . .. INCOME i te be 1 -jyGort- FuttJ si HO I . Ci i entire rAMAiuffol ""-r i i i tt-i (-7 CAU RARXf C0HMSO) I I I 71-72 -H-71 7J-T W-7T 70-71 Fiscal VtAM 7f-7 PH0JECTWM while the other factors all show substantial Increases. Any new money which can be brought into the UN-L budget must be used for salary improvements or for the improvement of essential supports of existing academic programs. The allegation that no class on universities or major land-grant institutions have embraced collect ive bargaining is simply not true. The record shows that the Universities of Deloware, Cincinnati. HMr!i, Rhode Island. Rutgers (St. U. of N.J.), and Wayne St. U. (Detroit), are among 30 Institutions represented by AAUP. Other agents represent CUNY (12 campus es) and SUNY (20 campuses) to name just two. None of these institutions can be considered anything but first rank. All have salary scales substantially higher than that at UN-L. Of course we cannot guarantee that all inequities will be corrected in one full swoop or that collective bargaining will cure til of UN-L't financial and academic aches and pains. To do so would be naive nd foolish. But our experience with the alternative is extensive. It simply has not wvnrlrl I Paid for hv fhs. AAUP Collective Bargairs,n Committee 11 ZJ