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Faculty key to academic excellence
Earlier this semester, during a discussion be
tween a group of UNL administrators and stu
dents, one studentvoiced his concern that per
haps the University of Nebraska was slipping in
quality because about 1 0 administrators have
resigned during the past year.
The administrator told the student he need
not worry about the exodus because "it's the
faculty members who make or break the aca
demic quality of a school.
The answer should be comforting, but isn't.
It would seem that satisfied faculty members
would make the best professors. Too many fac
ulty members at this university don't believe
the budget makers at the university or state level
are looking out for the academic interests at
UNL.
It is only natural for administrators to view
their work as important but no more so than the
needs of students for good instruction, which
means fair salaries for the faculty, adequate
equipment and a workable class size.
Salary levels for university faculty members is
only one area of dispute which is part of what '
appears to be a widening gap between teachers
and administrators here. The feeling of helpless
ness over working conditions made an organized
faculty union a possibility last year. Faculty
members were mildly appeased at least for a
time. But several faculty leaders have made it
clear they will push for the union if the attitude
that their interests are being slighted continues.'
- Too often faculty members opinions and re
commendations concerning academic matters
are not given the weight they deserve.
A comment made recently be a veteran faculty
member sums up the all-too-prevalent attitude:
"After everyone else, the faculty comes fst."
The teaching profession should be one of the
most venerated. Truly excellent teachers are
priceless (not an exaggeration to those who have .
beenjauht by one.)
Any of dozens of local and national studies can
be cited to show that salaries for faculty members
at the University of Nebraska are lower than
those at most other Big 8 and land grant univer
sities. Beginning on page 7, the Daily Nebraskan to
day is publishing lists UNL faculty salaries. Some
may not surprise you, others probably will. To
the extent that faculty members determine the
academic quality of the university, we all have a
stake in putting their salaries at a fair level.
The Bereuter teachers are a step toward quality
academics at the university and last year's salary
increases are welcome, but nominal in many
cases.
The editor who wrote in this space about the
same topic last fall admonished that "you get
what you pay for." Sound advice. Fortunately,
we can find at least a little comfort in the fact
that this is not true for some UNL teachers.
Making sure our faculty members are paid for
the amount and quality of work we expect from
them would be a great step forward on the road y
to academic excellence. ,
Little
diiriice
candidates
highlights ioslgoif
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By Nicholas Von Hoffman
"Almost entirely fluff complains Howard K. Smith on
the television; ". . . tiresome, little men clawing for Lin
coln's chair," declares George F. Will in the newspapers.
At no time in this century have both candidates been
regarded with such contempt andor disinterest as Ford
and Carter
- John W. Davis and Calvin Collidge may strike us as the
dwarfish equals of Carter and Ford, but at least their
partisans in 1924 regarded them with some seriousness.
In this campaign the most that people can say for the top
sidewise
of their ticket is, "Well, your candidate is even worse than
my candidate."
The two of them together are such a bad odor in the
nostrils of the electorate that many people are starting
to get mad at them. Their mediocrity is beginnins to be
regarded as a moral defect, a sign of sin rather than the
badge of a modest genetic patrimony. "
Yet these aren't the first two dullards, the first two
decidedly non-great men to vie for the presidency. Good
government and scfiind policy can't wait on the arrival of
great men because such people are by definition rare
occurrences, i
Shortcorgs more obvious .
Rather we should be asking ourselves why Ford's and
Carter's shortcomings are so irritably obvious to us when
those of Alton B. Parker were invisible to his followers in
the 1904 campaign against Teddy Roosevelt. Why are
Democrats ashamed of Carter and Republicans ashamed
of Ford, or why do they each perceive the limitations of
their own candidates with such unusual non-partisan
clarity?
One of the answers to this question goes to the nature
of modern election campaigns in a moment when there
is no significant division between the two men. If one
were for war and one were for peace, we wouldn't let the
Litis slips and soppinesses of the mouth bother us. We'd
overlook them.
Indeed we have the modern television campaign which
would strip a Jefferson or Gladstone of their dignity and
Icsy tisa looking like gasping, repetitious fools.
Ide!y, a president should make perhaps six or eight
full speeches or statements on what he thinks are the most
i-rportsst questions of the day and what he would pro
pose to do about them and how. That used to be more or
bss how men ran for office.
For a long tine they did the Jerry Ford equivalent of
sitting in the Rose Garden and issuing a few statements.
The party managers would take their words and, with the
party platforms, mobilize the troops to go out and, using
music, handbills, speeches, free lunches, gratis whiskey
and serious debate, attempt to convince the voters and
then get them to the polls to cast their ballots.
; No campaign
Today there are no troops. One reason there is so little
difference between political parties is because7 neither
party really exists. There are no campaign activities,
there are no campaign workers, there is no political cam
paign. Here and there youll find a few figures like Mayor
Daley who still have a political organization that involves
people doing things. But for most of America; there are
no parades, no meetings, no activity whatsoever except
what we see on TV and the rehash of the same the next
day in our newspapers.
Elections are closed affairs conducted by candidates,
technicians and journalists. The journalists, although they
think they sit to one side and observe, are in fact what
constitutes political activity in our democracy. 'In the
great permanent silence of our dvic life, what is a cam
paign except media activity?
Where does this leave a presidential candidate? He goes
about the country preceded by advance men who bribe
school children and the inmates of old. folks homes to
turn up at the airport to give the impression the politics
of the past still exists.
-Pictures, please
From airport terminals to shopping center lots our
candidates move, seeking to provide the media with pic-
ture opportunities, as they say in the trade. They must be
short and they must be repetitive in what they say be
cause they only appear to the supine, televoter in two-
minute bursts.
When there were political organizations, the members
tried to carry the meaning of speeches to those who
weren't in the hall. The political party was a major means
of communicating with an electorate. The parties have
vanished; you cant fill a hall, and the only way you can
get'a large audience to listen to a speech is to put in on
all three networks simultaneously. The Ford-Carter
debates had to blank out the competition because we
have nothing in our public mythology to explain only 18
per cent of the viewing audience caring to watch.
Under these circumstances, how can the candidates
possibly come out looking like anything but tiresome im
beciles? Granted this is a flat period in which even the
third party candidates are either dilettantes or fruitcakes,
but even so how is a candidate to look good under such
ground rules? There are ways. A handsome, overpower
mgly sexy spellbinder, the nightmare media-disc-jockey-ceieb-power-eater
who lives in the collective social ima
gination; he could come, and we idiots who're no bright
er than our candidates will be misled into thinking we are
in the presence of greatness. -
Copyright. 1S76.by King Futures Syndicate
LTS3
could-bs wo
By Don Wesky
"So what," my friend signed, "I'd do more good
spending the day studying."
"But voting Tuesday won't take more than a couple
of minutes."
"Yea, but what difference wO one vote make?"
"The difference is that minions of other people are
asking that same question and won't vote because they
can't answer it. Only 52 of the eligible electorate voted
in 1972. Uncast ballots have a multiplier affect. Because
only one-half of the eligible voters will actually vote, each
ballot cast is twice as important.'
"Sure, but there's no real difference in the candidates.''
"Ah, but you're wrong. There is a difference. Let me
give some examples."
As I see the Carter-Ford campaign it seems to me what
Americans will be deciding is whether or not they want
change, with its potential benefits and dangers, or whether
they think it best to stay where they are.
Carter is saying things could be much better in Amer
ica while Ford is saying things are good in America but
could gradually improve a little. I see a need for bold
action, innovative programs and new directions. Such a
watch
u mean
w
"t J
hope is highly unlikely to be fulfilled with Ford as Pre
sident. The past impasse between Ford and the congress
resulted in impotent legislation unable to resolve our
nation's critical problems.
Our nation has too many needs that go wanting and
too many problems that keep nagging, to afford me the
option of supporting Ford for President.
Tittle difference
In Nebraska's Senate race there might seem little to
choose from between Democrat Ed Zorinsky and Repub
lican John Y. McCollister. Both have taken nearly identi
cal positions op the issues. The Senate seat they seek is
held by the champion of mediocrity, Roman Hruska. I'd
rather not see McCollister ascend to such depths.
In The Almanac of American Politics, 1976, the entry
for McCollister reads: "There is little to report about
McCoIlister's record in the House, except that he has been
about as sympathetic to business on the floor and as a
member of the Commerce Committee as one would ex
pect from a Conservative Nebraska Republican ... It is
entirely possible, however, that this not terribly important
' congressman could become a United States senator by
1976."
McCollister is an ideologue unreceptive and uncom
fortable with ideas and programs stained, to any degree,
by the touch of liberal thought. Zorinsky, on the other
hand, is less adamant and rigid about his position on the
issues. I believe both McCollister and Zorinsky take the
wrong position on most of the issues, but I think Zorin
sky, through factual reasoning can be persuaded to soften
or shift his position. There is no such possibility with
McCollister, so Zorinsky s the one.
And there .are other candidates who deserve special
recognition. Steve Fowler, who is running for reelection
to the Legislature, possesses an intelligence and political
acumen practically unique to the Unicameral. Jan Gauger
is a dedicated , open-minded .effective county commission
er. Lancaster County residents are fortunate to be served
by . her. Joyce Durand, who is nmning for the Public
Service Commission, would be one of the most -vocal
consumer advocates Nebraskans would ever hear.
. ItotxSobsdsspca&ai v
"Yea, alright, but I still dont think either Ford or
Carter deserve to be President,' my friend continued, un
- daunted. "When Ford became President after you-know-who
resigned, I was in Europe with some Irish friends. I
told them all 1 knew about Ford, since they had never
heard of him before. When 1 finished one of my Irish
friends sighed, looked at me and said, lie sounds a bit
like a potato, dont you think. I agreed and have ever
since. Ford, as Mr. Potato, is no less zpetmng than
Jimmy Carter as Mr. Peanut."
You may believe that, but I do not. It seems to me that
voters demand a great deal of their candidates and little
from themselves. You may wish for candidates, profound
program proposals from political parties, and star-lit
statesmen but such a wish w21 come true only T,"hen
wishing is having and having is etvin . . " e.e. cunsn
mgs. ... o- -o
are wiping to give of themselves most
political candidates wCl continue to be udnsiring. Hare
lLt?T daysrbefore one of the closest, most irpor
v ii IC, ? f, recent and you dont even think
youll vote. Aren't you ashamed?
"How's that COUU wcrse" fnd droned.
"I could be apathetic." -