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thursday, february 8, 1979
lincoln, nebraska vol. 102 no. 75
ASUN disputes NU budget priorities
By Randy Essex
NU budget requests for money to increase the number
of faculty members in the College of Agriculture caused
VM V
Photo by Ted Kirk
NU President Ronald Roskens presents university
budget requests for fiscal year 1979-80 to the Legis
lature's Appropriations Committee Wednesday
afternoon.
ASUN and College of Engineering and Technology repre
sentatives to ask the Legislature's Appropriations Com
mittee Wednesday to reallocate money to meet their
priorities.
Roger Brodman, engineering college senior, told the
committee faculty members also are needed in his college.
He said the college faces a severe budgetary crisis, and
urged the senators to provide money to pay professors
more and to increase thenumber of professors.
He asked for "increased financing or political pressure
on the members of the Board of Regents and administra
tion to upgrade programs."
Robert Gleason, chairman of ASUN's Government
Liaison Committee, charged that decisions and evalua
tions in budget formulation are "not made on the basis of
maximizing educational quality at the university."
"The budget allocation process is highly political, and
deeply inter-personal," Gleason said.
He told the senators engineering, architecture, busi
ness administration, arts and sciences, dentistry and
agriculture-in that order-are areas of need. He proposed
three new faculty positions for the ag college, compared
to eight in the NU budget request.
He proposed that two teaching positions be created in
engineering and business, respectively.
NU President Ronald Roskens told the committee
earlier that business and engineering are areas of need, but
economic conditions and limited money led to the
agriculture request.
Roskens said the budget request is so limited that he
could not highlight any of the requests within the overall
budget.
"We could not ask the Legislature for all we found that
is almost necessary," Roskens said. He said the regents
and the administration settled on an 8 percent inflation
figure in computing the request.
NU is asking the Legislature for $124,092,069 for
operations from state tax revenues, compared to the
$108,132,673 it got for this fiscal year. Gov. Charles
Thone recommended $115,485,694 for the university
system.
Among the itemized requests in the budget are
$270,000 for the agriculture college.
Also requested is $215,750 for women's athletics, in
order to bring the university into compliance with federal
rulings.
Gleason took issue with that request, saying the
athletic department should pay the fee, rather than the
taxpayer.
"If the Athletic Department can afford to pledge a sub
stantial portion of their football game receipts, which are
operating funds, to a major capital construction project:
The 9,000 seat stadium expansion, then the operating
funds exist to support the women's program."
UNL Chancellor Roy Young said he thought improve
ments in the women's programs should be made out of
moral obligation, regardless of federal requirements.
He said this year's request to the Legislature represents
about 20 percent of all that will be needed to satisfy the
federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
"We have been told that we will be one of the early
test cases (under the requirements)," Young said. He
agreed that some of the money should come from the ath
letic department, but he said he thinks the state is
obligated to help.
Roskens urged the lawmakers to provide the university
with its budget in a lump sum rather than earmarking
specific amounts for specific projects. NU's official
position is that the money should be allocated in a lump
sum.
Last year the Legislature provided the budget in lump
sums to each of the campuses, which Roskens said was
quite workable, but did not provide NU with the ease of
allocating funds where they are needed on a different
campus than they were allocated for.
He said lump-sum budgeting would provide the system
with the greatest possible flexibility.
He said opponents of that method of budgeting argue
that they will be "treated better" by the Legislature than
by NU officials.
George David, representing the Ag 40 group, expressed
exactly that view in his support of the $270,000 request
for ag faculty members.
David said lump sums would cause the agriculture col
lege to fall even farther behind the rest of the university in
its programs.
"It's kind of like the rest of the university has been
given a new car when (ag) is getting a new pair of shoes,"
he said.
Continued on Page 6
Richard: Nations thinking of problems as global
By Kevin Field
Ivor Richard, Ambassador to the United
Nations from Great Britain, said Wednes
day that countries are beginning to think
more about world problems than national
problems.
"Nations are beginning to think less in
national terms, and haltingly, beginning
to think of their national interests in global
ways," Richard said in a keynote address
to begin the Nebraska Model United Na
tions. A pattern of global cooperation is
presently emerging said Richard, and for at
least the next 10 to 20 years economic is
sues will dominate the scene.
He added that no nation is big enough
or powerful enough to insulate itself from
world problems. The world is getting
smaller, he said, and isolation is not a fea
sible policy, as is evident with China.
He said third world countries are de
manding a new international order and are
entitled to a fair share of the world's col
lective wealth.
Mmste thursday
Changing times: A husband and wife
who have reversed traditional oc
cupational roles appeared at
WomenSpeak yesterday . .page 1 1
Versatility: Dan Aykroyd and John
Belushi move from Saturday Sight
Live to the top of the album
charts with Briefcase Full of
Blues Page 12
Ice is nice: Lincoln hockey club's
goal is indoor practice
rink Page 14
One of the United Nations' major
achievements in its 33 years has been in de
colonization, Richard said.
Thirty-five independent countries were
once colonies of Great Britain, 36 if you
include the United States, he said.
Rhodesia is the last of the British
colonies and negotiations are presently
under way to bring about its independence,
he said.
Richard added that this decolonization
has been achieved without much unrest
and that they "at least had the common
sense to realize that Britain and its imperial
realm had come to part."
Another major area of achievement for
the UN has been to strive for international
peace and security, Richard said.
He quoted from Winston Churchill,
"the object of the UN was not to bring
peace to the world, but to stop it from
blowing itself up."
The problems of the world have indeed
been fought by rhetoric and not by
weapons, Richard said. The Security Coun
cil, although limited, is extremely worth
while, he said.
Sometimes winter seems to stretch on forever.
Photo by Jorry McBridt
