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Budget pressure
is taking its ioli
By Dick Hencl
The strain of this legislative session is
beginning to show. Or rather, the strain of
being involved in this state's most political
and least understood issue, the NU budget,
is taking its tofl on the principals.
Last week this column criticized Utica
Sen. Douglas Bereuter for equivocating on
an amendment to the university budget;.
lis deserves an apology. When he hacked
away from that amendment, raising cash
fund ceilings at all three campuses, he did
so because those who asked him to add the
amendment had decided neither to object
nor support the senator on that particular
issue. Meanwhile, the govenor was blasting
away at Bereuter through the press.
University administrators apparency
took the attitude that they could support
the flexibility of a higher cash fund ceiling
if enrollment swelled beyond their expec
tations. But if the higher cash fund ceiling
is interpreted as approval for a $4 a credit
hour tuition increase, they'd rather sit on
their hands.
That left Bereuter alone carrying an
amendment the administrators asked him
to insert.
Bereuter on limb
Their request for the amendment itself
seems to have been the result of some mis
understanding among themselves. Thus
they were reluctant to join Bereuter out on
his limb.
' The governor and the senator seem to
have come to terms. They agree to disagree.
; Hopefully, Bereuter, a consistent and
hardworking legislator, will also" make
peace, with the university administrators
whose credibility he had begun to doubt.
Again, the strain is evident and floor de
bate on the higher education budget begins
this week. .
Exon, for his part, is often quick to
comment on university matters. He calls
himself the greatest governor in Nebraska
history in his support for higher education.
. If that means he has been . governor
while the state' spent more and more
money on Mgher education, he is rrJrX.
Monday, March 7, the Daily Nebraskan
.published an interview with Exon. He
denied "penalizing" the university in his
budget recommendations because it es
caped the three per cent decrease in general
fund appropriations many other state agen
cies suffered during last year's special legis
lative session.
Moot poet
That is not entirely correct. The Appro
priations Committee killed the governor's
budget plans a month ago; so the point is
somewhat moot.
But the fact that there was a three per
cent "reallocation" of general funds in the
NU continuation budget is not just corn
, cidentaL
' There was an effective reduction in reve
nues and expenditures although it was
couched in terms of discontinuance of pro
grams and made up with proposed
improvements.
What does it all mean? It means the
governor and his budget officers hadn't
talked about it for some time.
The one really noticeable part of the
continuing university budget issue is a real
lack of communication. It exists among ad
ministrators, between them and state sena
tors, between senators and the governor,
and also between the university and the
governor.
Warm greeting
The nature of the university tends to
obscure an issue in terms most politically
advantageous to whomever happens to' be
bending a reporter's ear at the time. The re
sulting media exchanges usually sound lie
people comparing apples and oranges.
Budgeting is an example. The university,
Legislature and executive all prepare bud
gets differently. The result is always a cer
. tain amount of misunderstanding coupled
with some genteel backbiting. -
It was. pleasant, however, to see Presi
dent D.B. Varner and Exon greeting one
another so warmly prior to the statehouse
meeting last week on the proposed multi
state veterinary schooL "
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4 vw.O Jwi"3 Oo4ULli
rursuent to cerrpus concerns on tha Uzta of check ccshinj
service sndor benkinj services continuing on tho U'lL
cempus, end in response to concerns the tldbrzzka
Union Advisory Bocrd seeks your reenso to tho survey
questions below, indicating ccropus community wiinsrscss or
uaarC&isnsss to uso U?FF funds or Union specs for theso
fuctions.
t)ls there a need for a check ceehkij service cn the UJL
ccmpus? fa '0
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2 fs there a need for a bcr&sna service on the UTIL campus?
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3)shou!d student fees (estimated cost of C25,CC3) bo used to
g fincr.es a check ceshing service? 0
4) If you voted YES to questions 1 sndor 2 do you went the
eency pieced in the Uzbrszlia Union? 3 .
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