n r
friday, february 16, 1979
lincoln, nebraska vol. 102 no. 80
UNL police officials deny promotion fixing charges
By Val Swinton
UNL police administrators denied char
ges that the appointment process for lieu
tenant is rigged against lower ranking
officers.
Sources within the department said
some patrolmen are unhappy because they
feel that Director of UNL Police Gale Gade
may be maneuvering to insure that ser
geants will be appointed to the three po
sitions, rather than patrolmen, regardless of
who is better qualified.
Gade emphatically denied the charges.
"There's no story here," he said, adding
there are a few officers on the force who
insist on going to the press with their
complaints rather than bringing them to
him.
Business manager Ray Coffey said he
had investigated charges that the selec
tion process may be rigged.
"I did that because when the word was
first put out, I was getting some rumors
back."
"The word" that Coffey was referring
to was an announcement last fall that the
department would be making the three ap
pointments, and all officers could apply.
Coffey said he had heard that "it was
already determined who the three would
be."
Rumors questioned
He said he interviewed 12 officers be
fore Christmas, including several of the ap
plicants for the job.
"I concluded from having talked to a
number of people, six or eight of them
were applicants, that maybe the rumors
existed, but they really weren't convinced
of it's validity."
The 12 officers who applied for the job,
four patrolmen, one corporal and seven
sergeants, took an aptitude
test in early January. Then, on Feb. 2,
Gade sent a letter to the applicants which
reportedly angered some of them.
In the letter, Gade said the selection
committee, which consists of three persons
not in the department, would be given ac
cess to only selected portions of the appli
cants personnel file instead of the entire
packet. He said the two captains on the
force would evaluate each applicant, and
without allowing Gade to see the
comments, turn their remarks over to the
committee. The third point in Gade's letter
was that the selection committee would
not have to interview all candidates.
Suspicions
Some officers expressed reservations
that because they were not told 'of the
three points in Gade's letter until after the
aptitude test had been taken, it may be an
attempt to insure that certain applicants
will look good in front of the committee.
"I think it would have looked a lot
better had they told everybody up front
what the proceedings were going to be,"
one applicant said. "It leads one to believe
that only B-Line positions will get the
job."
B-Line positions is a term that classifies
the captains and sergeants on the police
force. Patrolmen are classified as C-Line
positions.
According to Coffey, the rank of lieu
tenant also falls under the B-Linc classi
fication, and when the three new lieuten
ants are appointed, three sargeants
positions will be eliminated.
It has not been determined what will
happen to sergeants currently on the force
if the committee decides to recommend
three patrolmen.
"If all of those promoted come from
existing sergeants, then that takes care of
it," Coffey said. "If they're not. then this
creates a problem."
Appointment shuffle
Coffey said although there are no lieu
tenants on the force at the present time,
there is one B-Line position vacant due to
the retirement of an officer last summer.
So, he added, one C-Line officer could be
appointed without causing a problem.
"How it works out," he said, "will have
to wait until we see exactly who the three
1 !)
are.
Continued on Page 7
Daily Nebraskan photo
Gail Gade, director of University Police
Opposition stalls university collective bargaining bill
By Connie Casari
A bill to revise provisions relating to col
lective bargaining units for post-secondary
educational institutions stalled Thursday in
the Legislature.
Introduced by the Business and Labor
Committee, LB108 directly affects the
three campuses in the NU system, all state
colleges and technical community colleges.
The intent of the bill states that collect
ive bargaining units at post-secondary ed
ucational institutions be systemwide in
scope and co extensive with the jurisdic
tions of the governing body.
If this bill passes as is, all three campus
es in the NU system would bargain togeth
er for wishes of their respective campuses.
The NU Board of Regents would deal with
one group, and not three separate bargain
ing units.
The bill states faculty and non-faculty
employees shall not be included within the
same bargaining unit. It also says that per
sons holding the position of department
chairperson or program director shall not
be included within the bargaining unit
composed of other faculty employees.
No advancement
Neither proponents nor opponents had
enough votes to advance the bill. Senators
made repeated motions to kill, amend and
advance the bill. The last vote to advance
failed by one vote, 24-13, leaving the bill
on general file.
Lincoln Sens. Dave Landis and Steve
Fowler both voted against the bill. Landis
said he objects to the bill because the Leg
islature would be interfering with the
courts.
The bill interferes with a decision on
bargaining units at state colleges which is
being studied by the state Supreme Court,
Landis said. That matter arose from a
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Photo by Td Kw
Nebraska's seasons wfll be interpreted in dance this weekend at Kimball Recital Hall. More pictures and story on page 8.
Court of Industrial Relations decision on
the inclusion of Chadron State College in a
bargaining unit with the other three state
colleges at Kearney, Peru and Wayne, he
said.
Chadron had sought exclusion based on
geographic isolation.
Bill interferes
"This bill is harmful because it unjustly
interferes with the collective bargaining
process," Landis said. "There is already a
process to resolve labor-management issues.
This (bill ) signals a party going outside th
the process and coming to the Legislature
for complete vindication."
Fowler voted against the bill because he
was concerned about its impact on the
University of Nebraska, he said. The three
campuses, the Medical Center, UNO and
UNL, all have substantial differences and
should be different bargaining units,
Fowler said .
Taking the opposite view, saying that all
three campuses are like units and they
should bargain collectively, was Neligh Sen.
John DeCamp.
"The state created the system of
collective bargaining," DeCamp said. "I
think this is a legitimate method of refin
ing it."
DeCamp said he already had offered in
committee an amendment to exempt the
university from the bill, but the amend
ment was not adopted. A similar amend
ment failed on the floor.
He said he might bring up the amend
ment again, saying he thought that could
be the way to get the bill passed.
The regents are in favor of the bill in its
original form, said William Swanson, vice
president for government relations.
"The regents feel the mission of the uni
versity is the same," Swanson said. "Over
all it is one university even though there
are three campuses."
msM friday
Black women's perspective: Panel explores
the role and problems of the black women
in society page 10
Poetry in motion: Photographer and writ
er attend rehearsal of the UNL Dance En
semble .page 12
Win still needed: Husker team still looks
for a comeback page 14