. . -. 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.
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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!
