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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1976)
. . -. ooinion Resignations not to be taken as omen You've rend about the countdown. Ths num ber varies depending upon whom yea Est 23 zn administrator, but about 14 persons in ths u cchslcnj of ths university hierarchy have in the past year resigned or stated their intentions to resign. Some are speculating the exodus is a sign the university is in trouble-big trouble. The rumor mill has it the university is in danger of losing its accredited status-that the shrewd and able are getting out while the getting is good. But there is no evidence to support the fears of those moping around with eyes downcast, shaking their heads and muttering about diplomas which may not be worth a fraction of the dollars spent on them. The university does have its problems most of which are all too obvious. As for suspicions of some ruinous revelation lurking in the next semester for two unfounded and a little too dramatic in light of the facts. University administrators (and NU is no exception) seldom spend their careers in one position or even in one institution. There always have been administrators willing to move on to better jobs. An unusually large number of administrators are moving on this year. Some of the recent re signations probably were triggered by President Varner's intentions to move. Persons who have been turning down outside offers for years perhaps decided if they were ever going to leave, this would be a good time. The reasons for leaving probably are as. numerous as the resignations. AH are leaving for a salary increase and profes sbnal advancement. The salary increases have always been out there. One high-level administrator who is staying on suggested it is not so much the low salaries which frustrate UNL administrators as the low budgets which keep administrators from doing as effective a job as they could. A few of the moves may have been triggered by personal clashes, conflicts among the central administration and the campuses and a lack of salary and spending money. But these problems are not new and do not suggest the university will come crashing down around those of us too short sighted to leave. One thing we can count on though the per sonality of the university is in for an overhaul. The character of a job changes wich each new administrator in proportion to the number of persons and programs affected by that job. Two new chancellors and a new president are bound to change things at the University of Nebraska for better or worse remains to be seen. lt3Tgv- 1 did-J lHGCTC2urrr?j ' i3g&iitZ J rmKix:ral V Furfcyf I-"". f" " ' v ljer2ySr. lis I us oof f if re i r seirueoi vot mmvmumz By Nicholas Von Hoffman Corporations, or fictional people as they are known to the law, have been complaining as loudly as real people that the government is as the novelist Franz Kafka des cribed it. The difference is that while practically every body will lend credence to any tale of official abuse directed toward an individual, many of us are skeptical when corporations complain that they are sometimes no better treated, nor any less arbitrarily, than a black wel fare mother. North American Van Lines would probably disagree, and a recent decision by a three-judge federal court in Fort Wayne, IncL, makes it look as though this big truck ing company gets about the same treatment from the In terstate Commerce Commission as the weutc mot .is from a hostile social worker. Srxe September, 1972, action by the commission has made it impossible for North American to expand its business. For almost four years the company has been forced by the government to stagnate, to use the verb the court employed. North American's trouble began in 1970, when the commission promulgated new and higher standards of performance tot movers of household furnishings. Noth ing necessarily objectionable about that. For years people bad been complaining that moving companies messed up their lives by not coming on the day they promised, breaking the crockery in transit, ddiverrig late and wildly exceeding their estimated costs. Since it also bad become a piece of settbd folk wisdom that an icjnxed customer has little chance of collecting damages from a moving company, the Interstate Commerce Ccnrmissxm was underpressure to do something. . Hence the new, toucher regulations. The courmisson, which had ignored small customer ccnhints for years, seems to rave decided to rectify one set cf errors by committing another. It dernrr?M ttzX the moving com panies sign a consent decree promri 1C3 per cent compliance with new regulations. After several threaten ing asdits were ttegsa agslsst them, Aero4yfIni&-er and Allied Vans signed. North American didn't, axg'.nng that the nature of the business is such that 1C3 per cent compliance is physxalJy cpcssSle. The stratforwsrd and fair actfen for the conrnrnbn to tike at thit point would have been to collect informa tion and held ktsrfcgs cn the bone of ccntsnt&a fccisresa it tzi North American. Thit way the direement rnt have been settled on its merits. Instead the commission decided to attack North American on the non-home furnishings part of its freight hauling business, the part of the business that had nothing to do with the new regula tions. ' Law and commission regulations require that every time any trucker accepts an order to cany any new sort of merchandise it must get a "certificate of conveskno. i necessity which specifies' what merchandise is to be carried and between what points. Small wonder that some people in the industry feel a trifle overregulated. The commission retaliated against the company by withholding from it permission to carry such diverse and unrelated cargoes as lawn mowers, Rq-Pong tables and musks! organs. In characteristic Kafkaesque fashion, per- l was never denied, it was just never granted, thus prompting the federal court to say "the continued with holding of decision in North America's application pro ceeding has been arbitrary, without reason, without factual or legal support, in excess of authority, beyond the limits of justifiable discretion and tinged at times with bad faith." Elsewhere in the same decision the court accused the commission of "punishing North American v for "rocking the boat in resisting pressurS to sn the ICO per cent compliance decree, something the company was well within its rights to do. . The hallmark of this kind of administration is that there is never any way of determining what's relevant . . . They use vague expressions like "not appropriate or "un suitable until one gets the ilea there really are no procedures, no judicatory mechanisms. The victim is supposed to go through the hoops and monkeyshines, carefully adhering to every rule, filling out every form, so that when ue finds out it was a meaningless bit of bureau cratic acrobatics, the spirit will break and he wi3 learn that there is only one lesson to learn and that is to guess the pleasure of one's official master and comply with it. In this case the federal court did its best to make u tp to North American Van Lines, but, as the judges them selves said, it has no way of compenssiirg ths company for the business it lost nor the money it spent in led fees fighting this kind of thing for $0 long. The rest cf Bsmt ask how costly is this kind of regslatisa that tTTords co one any protection. V.'e still want to protect fsnnes when they have to move, but obviously we caveat yet ksreed ho to do it. Incidentally, in care you are wondering what it takes to be a university president and how a uni versity fjoes about finding one, the qualifications are lted below in this clipping from the "help wanted" section of the Chronicle cf IT!:er Eda- UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA The Unnrersity of Nebraska PresiJentid Search Com mittee, through authority vested by the University of Nebraska Coord of Regents, invites applications and nom for the position of President. The University of Nebraska is a state land grant, imtlti campes institution with a total annual budget of $200 million. A member of the pretigious American Association of Universities, the University offers a wide variety of liberal arts, pre-professional and professional degree-granting programs. Its three campuses the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center-have a combined enrollment of 39,000 graduate and undergraduate stu dents and a community of scholars which numbers over lCO tenured or tenure-track faculty rrembers. The President serves as the chief executive officer of a system governed by an eleven-member Board, works close ly with the chancellors of the three campuses, and pro vides leadership to the entire system. A candidate must have a proven record of intellectual distinction and major administrative experience in higher education; a personal commitment to the philosophy of public higher educa--tion; and the ability to interpret ihe university's mission to its various publics. An earned doctorate and university level teaching experience are desirable. Applications and nominations may be sent until Aug ust 9, 1976, to: Presidential Search Committee co Corporation Secretary Board of Regents 3835 Holdrege Street Lincoln, NE 68583 . An Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer letters Warning prospective teachers Regarding "Teaching Endorsement Shortage Prompts Transfers' story in the Sept. 9 issue of the Daily Ncbr eskan. . v-.'" - WARNING To those tempted to transfer to Teachers College: - - s DONT EXPECT to get fair treatment h on campus or in the public schools. DONT EXPECT to be sent out" to NUSTEP or to stu dent teach in your major, minor, or any subject you've ever had. ..' . v, DONT EXPECT to be taught any "methods before or after you're sent out. DONT EXPECT to be treated like a human being by your (un) "cooperating teacher. DONT EXPECT any backing from Teachers College in your never-ending struggles in the public schools. DONT EXPECT to be allowed to stay in any class to get your "competencies done." DONT EXPECT to graduate with an endorsement and a teaching certificate. I could go on forever. These things may come to pass for you. They didn't for me, and I meet other T.C refugees' wherever I go. Waste your time and money if you wish (it may be three or four years before you learn the bitter truth) but ask around first. I've been there, Accredibt'cn .expsctsd? liam does the UNL Health Center expect to get accreditation when they refuse emergency treatment to those who are not card-carrying university students? Druce Mcldorris Tfcs Bc2y Nebrasksn welcomes tetters to the editor and f-;est epinsoas. Choices of material p-tllitd wCl . be fcss4 cn timelines and crr!Ity. Letters cnt be ssccs-snd by the writ :e, t-t cry be PsiSfca ender a cea rzr? if r? Cess opinions shoeH be typed, trfpb-sxd, ca csnsisshls pper. They shosU be scccn-by tie nis cms, chsx jtsading and rnr jsr, cr occepstfaa. A3 tretstfal crfaited to the psss is ssijset to edit ccintn, and csnnct hs ntesd tn t!