Wednesday, October 31, 1 979
paga4
daily nebraskan
Nordem project delays are expensive, but necessary
A report earlier this week that the
decision on whether to construct the
Norden Dam is at least one year
away was welcome news.
According to the Lincoln Star,
environmental concerns over the
protection of the endangered whoop
ing crane have prompted a U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation study which
will take at least one year to
complete.
The proposed project, would place
a dam on Niobrara River near
Norden in north-central Nebraska.
The 180-foot dam would create a
lmile reservoir to provide
irrigation water for the area.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
has indicated that streamflows below
the dam might need to be increased
to protect the habitat for whooping
cranes. In order to increase the
streamflow, with increased releases
from the dam, the dam might have
to be reduced in size -reducing the
amount of land that could be
irrigated from 77,000 to 27,000
acres.
This latest study is just the latest
in a long series of lawsuits, feasibility
reports, and studies that have
delayed construction of the dam for
several years.
And over the years, as a result, the
cost of the proposed project has
increased tremendously-causing
many persons to criticize those law
suits, reports and studies. But the
delays have been well . worth the
costs. Before concern about th
environment was prevalent, dams
were constructed without
consideration of such things as
whooping cranes, plant life and
streamflows. And the results were
disastrous,
Whether in the ,end, the dam
should be built obviously is still up
to debate, but in the meantime
study which will make the final
decision a good one is in the best
interest of all involved.
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Professsor protests university layoff
The decision by the Board of Regents to close down
the university from December 22 to Jan. 6 is yet another
example of the arrogance and exploitation which are the
watch words whereby the administration deals with
employees. For many faculty and graduate students, this
"lock out" will effectively bring research to an abrupt halt
during one of the few periods when many people can
devote full time to research. Of course, the faculty was
not consulted about the plan.
An Oct. 19 memorandum from Ron Wright, UNL vice
chancellor for Business and Finance, says that only "areas
containing essential on going research projects" will be
open. Essential to whom? By what standards? Is the
research of a full professor who will lose expensive equip
ment in cold temperatures more "essential" than the re
search of an assistant professor facing a tenure decision
who will lose his or her job if the working conditions in
the office or lab obstruct research? Will research be a less
important . factor this year-in promotion and tenure
decisions than in other years when the university accorded
adequate working conditions to the faculty during the stu
dent holiday when faculty is expected to do research and
not 'Vacation?"
Classified employees, especially those in B and C line
classifications, will suffer the most direct economic
exploitation as a result of the closing. The university's
original plan was to layoff for four days all but "essential"
employees; those who had vacation days could cover the
loss 01 income by taking vacation days at that time. Those
without accrued vacation time were just out of luck.
Needless to say, the classified staff was not consulted
about the plan, either. Many weje not at all happy about
the layoff or having to chop up their vacation time at the
convenience of the Board of Regents.
There are "at least two lessons to be drawn from this
experience. One is to note again the arbitrary and exploit
ive way in which the administration habitually deals with
staff; the other is the potential effectiveness when staff
members raise their voices to protest such treatment.
The Retail and Professional Workers Union Avhich is
organizing classified staff on the three UN campuses can
hardly believe the managerial stupidity that gave such an
organizing issue as a layoff, Classified staff at the Medical
Center have already completed a card campaign and are
now in the Court of Industrial Relations requesting to be
named the bargaining agent, and the UNO card campaign
is nearing completion. Just a month ago the Retail and
Professional Workers succeeded in winning the election as
bargaining agent for all the classified staff in the four state
colleges. Many UNL staff now see unionization as their
best option.
The business managers who favor this shutdown tell us
it will save $10,000 a day, but they do not say at whose
expense. Under the original plan for a four-day layoff, a
substantial portion of the savings would have come from
the wages of those affected by the layoff. Given a turn
over rate in the upper 40 percent, a significant number of
C line employees are already crippled by a wage structure
so low that many are at or near the minimum allowed by
federal law. The university system rarely has money for
merit pay, and "promotions" most often come through
transferring into other positions. In addition to the taxes
these employees pay as citizens of the state, they are now
being asked to contribute their wages to the university's
fuel bill.
Continued on Page 5
1984 observation
suggests changes
LINCOLN-1984-Anniversaries always serve as times
of reflection. Just this week, the golden anniversary of
Black Tuesday caused public attention to be riveted on
the nation's economy, both past and present. Time Maga
zine printed memories of several life-long Wall Street
financiers-memories of walking down the middle of the
street at the end of a hopeless day on the market, so as
to avoid being hit by any falling bodies of suicides. That
type of memory one hopes never to relive.
PR sGahn
The economy has seen great growth and inflation in
the ensuing half century. The $74 billion lost during the
Crash would total almost $300 billion by today's
standards. Put no one is predicting with certainty a re
peat of the 1929 disaster, mainly because of precautions
taken on Wall Street to insure that fact. v.
So, 55 years after the country's economic bubble
burst, we can look back at 1929 with painful nostalgia,
but not fear of recurrence.
Nonetheless, we were warned that diaster can strike.
But here in Cornhusker country, where we grow our
money," the harsh example of 1929 was not close enough
to home to teach us about money management. It was
not until that golden anniversary had.come and gone that
Nebraska realized the full impact of economic breakdown.
I am speaking, of course, of the faltering and collapse
of the state university, which occurred over Christmas
break in the winter of 1979-80 (when," suspiciously, no
students were on campus to protest the action).
Yes, we all remember the first day of second semester
five years ago, when the by -then-intlated-to -twelve-member
Board of Regents declared that, despite their best
preventative efforts, the University had failed them, and
financial ruin was at hand.
Preventative measures had indeed been taken during
the last half of the '70s.
Faculty salary increases were tabled indefinately.
Dormitories were purposely overbooked each fall to
provide more room and board revenue.
A new Alumni Center, financed by enormous alumni
donations, was planned for the heart of campus, to en
courage alums to give their life savings to UNL, and in
return have a parking stall named after them.
Tuition was raised, then re-raised, then raised again,
until the infamous comparison to Harvard University
became, in one respect at least, quite accurate.
However, all these good intentions were of no avail.
The university spent the spring semester of 1980 searching
for ways to keep the ship from sinking, vowing not to
accept defeat and close down. And, like their grand
parents did In the 1930s, students learned to improvise.
Continued on Page 5
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