7 oBsWaiiffl
friday, may 2, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 104, no. 75
Plan proposes program! redra
CtlOBS
By Val Swinton
A five-year projection into NU's future,
detailing what programs may be cut, what
ones might be strengthened and those to be
maintained at their current levels, was
made public Thursday by a regents' sub
committee. The plan would move the undergrad
uate program at the Teachers College from
Lincoln to Omaha, eliminate or reduce the
Centennial College at UlL, and projects
a possible deficit of $39 million by 1985.
Regent Kermit B. Hansen of Omaha,
who chaired the Regents Planning Sub
committee which drew up the report, said
the plan was designed to increase the salar
ies of teachers and administrators in certain
departments while increasing the quality of
education in those areas.
"We're going to" make .reductions in
some areas in order to reallocate resources
to other areas that are going to be
strengthened," he said.
Programs that would receive increased
support over the next five years at UNL in
clude the College of Engineering, School of
Life Sciences, College of Business Admini
stration and the library.
Minimum class sizes
The plan also said savings could be made
by setting minimum class sizes, increasing
fees for selected student services and levy
ing laboratory fees. The plan also calls for
eliminating certain administrative services
and not filling some vacancies.
Hansen conceded though, that the plan
is based on assumptions, and said the plan
would be reviewed on a semi-annual basis.
The projected $39 million deficit, which
the committee said would occur by 1985
Publications Board fires
Strirnk for plagiarism
By Kathy Stokebrand
As a result of a second act of plagiarism
in one semester, Daily Nebraskan Editor in
Chief Harry Allen (Rocky) Strunk was dis
missed from that position by the UNL
Publications Board Thursday. His pay for
the month of April will be withheld.
Strunk appeared before the board last
night to submit his resignation: The board,
however, did not accept his resignation and
voted 7-0 to dismiss Strunk before a pack
ed room in the Union.
The controversy began with a letter sub
mitted by two UNL students accusing
Strunk ot plagiarism in his April 30
editorial supporting Ronald Reagan. In
their letter seniors Jim Schonewise and Jon
Hedges said Strunk's editorial was "written
in part by George F. Will, nationally
known syndicated columnist." They
referred to "a column written by Mr. Will
published in the March 31, 1980 edition of
Newsweek."
In submitting his resignation Strunk said
he had problems dealing with his actions
and recognized they were unethical. His
actions, he added, reflected upon him
personally and he submitted his resignation
"with whatever actions the board takes."
Strunk was first accused of plagiarizing
a Feb. 25 editorial and was formally repri
manded by the board for a "serious breach
of journalistic ethics." The letter of repri
mand then sent to Strunk said, "Any
furthei.serio.iis. breach, of ethics will consti
tute grounds for immediate dismissal."
Jim Patten, a board member and UNL
journalism professor, said the board was
bound by the letter it sent to Strunk after
his first act of plagiarism to dismiss him for
a second such act.
Asking if accepting Strunk's resignation
was a large enough deterrent to other
journalists to not commit the same act,
board member Bud Cuca first moved that
the board accept Strunk's resignation and
withhold his pay for April.
During' discussion on the motion, Daily
Nebraskan Sports Editor Shelley Smith,
noting that Strunk will be graduating, this
summer, asked "what has he learned in
school?"
Hubert Brown, also a board member,
said "The pressures of most jobs on
campus are not such that would lead to
such things." The board hoped to set
things on the right foot by just reprimand
Continued on Page 2
"if the annual rate of inflation were 12 per
cent and if state general fund increases just
equalled the rate of inflation. . . is equal
to about 1,500 full time staff positions,
according to the report.
However, not everyone agreed with that
kind of a projected deficit.
"There's no $39 million deficit at the
university and I don't think there's likely
to be," said Ned "Hedges, vice chancellor
for academic affairs at UNL.
Maintain recognition
Besides eliminating or reducing some
programs and increasing support to others,
the plan also calls for maintaining the level
of support to certain programs which have
"already achieved regional or national re
cognition." Those programs include chemistry,
physics, history, English, law and journal
ism. Although Teachers College Dean Robert
Egbert pledged that his department "would
not stand still , . ." for the plan, not
all reaction was negative.
James Raglin, director of public affairs,
said NU is not the only school making
difficult financial decisions.
"Education in general is facing a serious
fiscal situation," he commented, adding
that the university, like others in the
nation, is having to "combine a champagne
appetite with a beer diet."
Renee Wessels, ASUN president and stu
dent regent, said she was glad to see the re
gents finally taking some definitive action.
"I'm very pleased the board is exercising
some farsightedness, I think it's long over
due," she said. "We can't keep doing what
we're doing with decreased state dollars."
However, .Wessels stopped short of en
dorsing the plan itself.
"I think there's been virtually no
student input and that I think is wrong,"
she said. "I would be reluctant to see the
board adopt this as a plan."
Timing off
Wessels said she was critical of the
timing of the plan, which was kept secret
until the end of the semester. She said the
timing may be designed to prohibit student
input at the May 17 regents meeting, when
the plan is scheduled to come up for con
sideration. "I have nothing to substantiate it with,"
Wessels said of her suspicion. "But I find it
questionable."
Raglin dismissed the timing of the re
lease as a coincidence.
The plan actually was not to be released
until today, but was leaked to an Omaha
newspaper Thursday morning, and given to
other members of the news media later in
the day.
The plan encompasses the entire univer
sity, not just the UNL city campus.
The plan would increase support for six
programs at the Institute of Agriculture
and Natural Resources, including food
science and technology, veterinary science
and the field laboratory at Mead , but
would also reduce personnel at the insti
tute "significantly" by not filling vacan
cies. Travel would also be reduced, by in
creasing the use of telecommunications.
The regents, however, would stand by
their current policy supporting a college of
veterinary medicine. Raglin explained the
policy supports creation of the college only
if NU receives substantial federal grants
and commitments from two of four sur
rounding states to contribute financially,
making it a regional school.
So tar, Raglin said, NU has received
neither the grants or the commitments.
Minimum class sizes would also be
established at UNL, while graduate studies
in teacher education, arts and sciences and
urban studies would be reduced or elimi
nated. Programs receiving increased support
include special education, business admini
stration, public administration, music and
library at UNO.
Baccalaureate and Associate Degree pro
grams in nursing in Lincoln would be re
duced or eliminated, and all departments
within the College of Medicine would be
combined.
Tuition rates in pharmacy, medicine and
dentistry would be increased more rapidly
than the university as a whole.
Teachers College faculty opposes 5-year-plan
By Mary Kay Wayman
"We will not accept this as a fait accompli," Teachers
College Dean Robert Egbert said Thursday at an emergen
cy faculty meeting. "We can fight and we will fight."
Egbert broke the news of the Regents Planning Sub
committee's report on long-range plans for the University
of Nebraska to Teachers College faculty at the meeting.
Faculty tenure would not be protected under the plan
proposing elimination" of undergraduate teaching majors at
UNL, Egbert said.
The undergraduate major program in Teachers College
was targeted as one of the three UNL -"programs identi
fied for reduction or elimination."
"Our preliminary recommendation is to close out all
undergraduate majors in Teachers College aUJNL, and to
close all graduate programs in the College of Education at
UNO," the report stated.
It is obvious that the plan is an attempt to move the
undergraduate teaching majors program to the Omaha
campus, Egbert said. The graduate program would be
moved to the Lincoln campus. The report proposed that
both campus departments might be consolidated under
one chancellor.
The report proposed that a study be made of teacher
education in Nebraska. Egbert objected to the fact that
the report asked for a study only after giving a
recommendation for final action.
Egbert said he had interpreted previous conversations
with NU President Roskens to say that he would be con
sulted prior to the plan's completion. But the only
involvement he had was in the preparation of working
papers last fall, he said .
"I was in the same state of shock that I suspect you
are," he said to the restrained group of faculty. He said
he first learned of the plan Monday night.
Hie report stated that it was the result of "extensive
discussions with deans, departmental chairmen and
faculty leaders held during February 1980." This was re
futed by Egbert and faculty members.
Dr. James O'Hanlon said that the Faculty Senate
Executive Committee was not involved in the plan's pre
paration. Dr. Norma Griffin said that while a represenative of the
Academic Planning Committee was present at planning
subcommittee meetings on the plan, they did not have
any direct input.
The regents could say that discussion did occur, Egbert
said because Teachers College faculty attended an open
discussion of issues from 10:30 ajn. to noon one day in
February. But, Egbert said, there was no focus at that
time on the issue of closing the undergraduate major
program.
Egbert said that his concern is not only for the .
Teachers College, but also for the state and the univer
sity. The impact of such an elimination on the rest of the
university should be considered, he said.
The number of credit hours taken by undergraduate
teachers majors is equal to those of majors in business
administration or engineering, he said. "But our graduate
program is much larger than those two, he said.
Last year the Teachers College graduated 250 elemen
tary education majors, and 500 secondary education
majors, he said.
Teachers College undergraduates take 80 percent of
their course work in the College of Arts and Sciences, he
said. In a section that Egbert said he proposes be
eliminated, the plan said undergraduates could still earn
teaching licenses in arts and sciences, home economics
and agriculture even if the undergraduate teaching major
program were ehminat d.
Egbert said he didn't think that was possible.
Egbert called a 'myth" a statement that "Nebraska
maintains six public schools of education, five of which
offer graduate work, at a time when the demand for
teachers is continuing to decrease."
Instead, a shortage of teachers currently exists, Egbert
said, adding that because the birth rate has increased over
the past three years, there will soon be a growing demand
for teachers.
At a recent Teachers College interview fair 180 super
intendents and school officials voiced one complaint,
Egbert said-there weren't enough students to interview.
The faculty passed a motion directing Egbert to
present faculty views at the May 19 regents meeting when
the plan will be discussed and probably passed.
Egbert said that the Teachers College would continue
to consider changes in reducing costs to the university by
considering the needs of the state, the college and its
individual faculty members.
"We will not stand still, but we will not stand still for
others telling us what to do either,' Egbert said.
