page 12
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, march 29, 1978
Some say promotion based on publish or perish' theory
According to associate professor of life
sciences, Richard Boohar, a teacher can be
faculty promotion and tenure decisions.
An instructor must earn tenure within
seven years to be retained, Dittmer said.
Often instructors do not write because
they have something to say but they write
to keep their jobs, he said.
"Publish or perish" became a catch
phrase for this situation about ten years
ago, said G.G. Meisels, chemistry depart
ment chairman.
However, it applies only when the
emphasis is out of balance, which is not the
case at UNL, he said.
Meisels pointed out that publication
indicating research is only one of the three
criterion used to evaluate a teacher's per
formance. Teaching, service and publication are
By Cindy Coglianese
Faculty members have said they support
the proposed 9 percent salary increase that
the Nebraska Legislature will consider this
month.
James Lake, president of the Faculty
Senate, said the faculty would support an
even larger salary increase if the NU Board
of Regents would have requested one.
"Originally, the chancellor's salary
study committee proposed a 1 7 percent in
crease to bring UNL salaries up to the aver
age salary of other Association of Ameri
can Universities (AAU) land grant colleg
es," he said. Nine AAU land grant colleges,
of similar size to UNL, are used for salary
comparisons.
The regents brought that figure down to
a 9 percent increase, and a tentative vote
by the Legislature's Appropriations Com
mittee has brought that down to 6.5 per
cent. "The faculty believes in the figures that
support a much larger increase," Lake said.
"But if you can't have your heart's desire,
you settle for half of your heart's desire."
Lake said UNL gradually has slipped be
hind faculty salaries of other AAU-land
grant colleges for two reasons.
First, there is not enough money for
other university priorities and still raise
salaries, Lake said. Second, the university
is taking care of the "baby boom."
"We're at our highest peak now for the
next 20 years," Lake said. "When the
classes get larger, salaries are cut to hire
more teachers."
Lake said one solution may be to re
strict enrollment of undergraduate colleges.
"Personally, I regret the necessity of re
striction on enrollment," he said. "There
are a lot of problems with this, but if you
don't get enough money to teach people
well, then you teach half of the people
well."
Lake said he also foresees a problem
attracting outstanding professors at the
university with the expected low salary in
crease. "It will prevent us from hiring the one
(professor) that we want," he said. "It's
too bad that money is the livelihood of an
institution."
Lake said UNL is losing professors to
other universities which pay higher salaries.
Ned Hedges, vice chancellor for academ
ic affairs, said, "Generally, the faculty is
concerned with keeping pace with the rate
of inflation and the cost of living. For the
most part, this concern has been experienc
ed by other people in society."
Hedges said any type of comparison
would tend to indicate that UNL's salary
level is fairly low.
In December, the chancellor's salary
study committee compared UNL salaries to
those at other AAl' land grant colleges.
considered job requirements and the re
sponsibilities of any university, he said.
Journalism Professor Jim Patten ack
nowledged the need for productivity, but
said he objected to the interpretation of
productivity as publication only.
He said there should be a place in the
promotion system for those who want to
emphasize teaching.
"Someone needs to take care of the
24,000 some students on campus, and we
can't do that if we're all in our offices
trying to invent flubber," Patten said.
Journalism and Secondary Education
Professor Gene Harding also stressed the
need for diversity.
"Most of us are not proficient in all
three areas (teaching, service and publica
tion)," Harding said. "If you have a real in
terest in one area, you should be free to do
The committee reported that UNL salaries
were well below those at comparitive
colleges, and the larger increases in some
areas were needed for individual colleges to
achieve parity with the other colleges.
Lake said UNL faculty members are not
"going to be happy with a nine percent in
crease, but it's better than a two percent
increase.
"They (faculty members) have lived
through rougher times than this. They
aren't going to strike or commit suicide.
We have a very loyal faculty that has stuck
with the university through thick and thin
-more often thin," Lake said.
"For the money spent, we have a good
teaching core here at UNL, he said.
The Faculty Senate is not lobbying as a
group for the increase, Lake said, but indi
viduals may lobby on their own.
By Georgene Cetak
Most UNL professors agree that salar
ies are grim, but compared with their
counterparts at the University of Nebraska
at Omaha, the picture is bright.
The UNO faculty salary breakdown can
be compared with UNL salaries in only
three colleges. The pay discrepancy is
greatest for full professors.
The three comparable colleges are arts
and sciences, business and education.
Last year, arts and sciences faculty
members averaged $1,098 more at UNL
than at UNO. For business college profes
sors, UNL averaged $1 ,743 more. In edu
cation, UNL averaged $2,231 more a
professor.
UNL associate professors in arts and sci
ences received $555 more and $1 ,466 more
in education. However, associate business
professors received slightly more at UNO.
UNL assistant professors in arts and sci
iences received slightly more than UNO
professors. Assistant business professors
averaged $1,964 more at UNL. But assist
ant professors in education averaged $483
more at UNO.
it. One pays for the other."
According to associate professor of Life
Sciences, Richard Boohar, a teacher can be
great, nice and loved, but without research
they are cheating their students of current
information.
"If a teacher never deals with anything
but students, he becomes an expert mani
pulator of old ideas," Boohar said.
Research and publication do not
necessarily reduce time in the classroom,
since most teachers use nights and week
ends to get it done, Boohar said.
Harding said he disagreed with the no
research, no new ideas argument for re
search. He said any good teacher reads all the
time and should not have to spend ten
years finding something new to teach when
they can read to get new information.
Baohar mentioned the Nebraska Legisla
ture's excellence program stressing high
quality research and one reason for the
publish or perish push.
However, such emphasis can lead to
sheer number of publications as a goal, or
Larry Andrews, UNL acting assistant
vice chancellor for academic affairs, said
UNL faculty salaries generally are higher,
particularly in the full professor category,
because there are more full professors at
UNL who have been there longer.
Although UNL and UNO administrators
agreed that regents' guidelines are followed
in allocating merit raises, each university
also makes individual allocations.
A parity-merit category is unique to
UNL in comparison with UNO. Money in
the parity-merit classification is allocated
to each UNL college in an attempt to bring
UNL salaries, which have been below the
average of AAU land grant colleges, to an
equal level.
Maynard said UNO has no panty-mcrit
system by college but has a minimum
dollar amount for full professors, assistant
professors and associate professors.
"Both campuses get at the same thing in
a different way," Maynard said. The mini
mum dollar amount for a full professor at
UNO is $1Q,700. he said. Other money is
allocated at UNO by college and depart
ment, Maynard said, but there is no dollar
breakdown.
research only in areas that can be complet
ed quickly.
Harding said the increasingly tight job
market breeds these publish or perish side
effects.
According to Dittmer, more teachers are
being denied tenure and released now than
during the past five to ten years.
But UNL faculty has not perished yet,
and the symptoms of the nation-wide
publication mania are slighter here than at
many U.S. universities.
According to Harding, some schools
specify which professional journals they
will accept publication in.
He said he has heard of one institution
requiring a minimum of eight articles for a
teaching position.
Another school withholds promotion to
associate professor until the applicant
publishes a book, he said.
Nebraska has no such uniform rule on
mandatory publication or amounts of
research, but some faculty members teel
the unwritten publish or perish law is being
pushed almost to death.
ASUN agrees
with proposed
pay increases
By Deb Shan ah an
UNL's student government traditionally
has supported increases in faculty salaries,
and this year is no different.
ASUN President Greg Johnson said a
faculty salary increase is necessary be
cause the university has lost good profes
sors and administrators to other schools
that pay more.
"It's an economic law that, everything
else being the same, they'll go where they
can get the most money," said Johnson.
Mike Herman, an ASUN senator from
the business college who also serves as
chairman of the Government liaison Com
mittee, agreed that faculty salaries are a
student concern.
"We're the ones receiving the education,
so it's important that our university is
attractive to good professors," he said.
The Government Liaison Committee re
cently conducted a study on faculty
salaries which showed UNL ranking near
the bottom of Big 8 schools in faculty
salaries.
The Government Liaison Committee is a
standing ASUN committee that includes 1 8
students not otherwise connected with
ASUN.
Herman described the committee's work
as spending time at the unicameral, talking
with state senators, and testifying when
student issues are debated.
"1 testified in front of the appropria
tions committee in favor of faculty salary
increases and against a tuition increase," he
said, adding that he was the only student
to do so.
Herman said the faculty salary issue is a
continuing concern, but this year faculty
salaries are a main concern in NU President
Ronald Roskens' budget request.
In support of a salary increase, Herman
said, "I think you can have both a faculty
salary increase and keep the same amount
of programs without a tuition increase.'"
Faculty members support
proposed salary increase
WT iff
Professor James Lake
points out that UNL is los
ing professors to other uni
versities and he foresees
problems ahead in attract
ing quality professors here
in light of the expected
low salary increases.
Photo by Lisa Paulson
UNL-UNO pay difference
worst for full professors