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Number three
University of Nebrosko-Llncoln
June 19, 180
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ByKimWUt
While University of Nebraska-Lincoln
English department chairman John
Robinson is saying that students will be
turned away in the fall, administration
figures show that the department's en
rollment is dropping, the Summer Ne
braskan has learned.
Robinson has communicated to Ned
Hedges, vice chancellor for academic af
fairs, that about 150 students will not get
the English classes for which they have
registered, and that 33 class sections in
the department are unstaffed.
However, a university employee, who
asked not to be identified, said the uni
versity is projecting that every student
who wants an English class will get one.
Robinson could not be reached for
comment.
The source said the English depart
ment has experienced a 27 percent drop
in enrollment in the past six years, which
accounts for all of an enrollment decrease
of about 2 percent in the College of Aits
and Sciences.
Also, student credit hours in the Eng
lish department over that time have
dropped 25 percent, according to the
source.
Hedges confirms drop
Hedges confirmed that student credit
hours have dropped more than 20 percent
from the 1973-74 school year to the 1979
80 school year.
"Certainly any data we have affects
decisions we make about budgets,' he
said.
He also said the decline in the English
department is the largest within the Col
lege of Arts and Sciences.
"There has not been a general decline
in student credit hour production in the
university," he said. "It concerns me that
there is that kind of decline, but it may
be explainable on a rational basis." .
More composition classes
For example, he said, students are tak
ing more composition classes, rather than
larger classes, such as literature.
Robinson has sent him information on
enrollment and the decline in student
credit hour production, but he has not
read it yet, he said.
Hedges will meet with Max Larsen,
dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
today to discuss the issue.
The Summer Nebraskan has learned
that Robinson has told Hedges that stu
dent credit hours have gone down, as has
full-time faculty equivalency (FTE), an
estimation of the number of instructors
teaching classes.
However, it was learned that he has
said student credit hours have dropped
more than FTE. In other words, the
number of students per class has dropped
in recent years.
Robinson has told Hedges that this is
because one-third of English classes are
composition courses, which are tradition
ally small.
Betty Levitov, English instructor, said
the department was responding to the
current demand for "back to basics"
teaching by emphasizing composition
classes. Large classes would make these
courses difficult to teach, she said.
Robinson told Hedges that the total
number of English sections scheduled to
be taught next fall (268) is the same as
the number taught last fall, but 33 of
those sections are unstaffed because of a
lack of funds to pay teachers, the Sum
mer Nebraskan has learned. In addition,
he said, an extra 25 sections will be
needed to boost the number of sections
currently scheduled to be taught up to
the number offered in the fall of 1978.
Although class size is smaller, he said
money is short because, "E" money
(money taken from the salaries of ten
ured professors on leave and used to pay
visiting instructors) will not be available.
The money was cut by Max Larsen,
dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,
in response to a request from Hedges that
some college deans make cuts in their
budgets.
Robinson told Hedges that the Eng
lish department cannot manage without
"E" money ,the Summer Nebraskan has
learned, and will need extra assistance.
Meanwhile, Joan Griffin, chairperson
of the English department junior staff
steering committee, said the committee is
investigating whether the administration
violated university by-laws by excluding
the academic planning committee from
its decision to request budget cuts from
the College of Arts and Sciences.
"There's a question of the reallocation
of funds procedures, and whether the ad
ministration has followed those proce
dures," she said.
The academic planning commitee is a
university-wide group, made up mostly
of faculty members, which, according to
the regents' by-laws must be included in
budget decisions.
Norma Sue Griffin, chairperson of the
academic planning committee, said the
committee normally is not consulted on
fund reallocations within colleges.
The first time she heard of the English
department budget cuts was at the re
gents' meeting Saturday, she said.
She said she is uncertain whether re
viewing the Arts and Sciences budget
cuts is part of the committee's responsi
bility. "We have a set of guidelines relating
to when the committee gets involved,"
she said. "Only when major program ele
ments are being eliminated would we
come in."
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. . . Staff Photo By Janet Hammer
Rady A. Johnson.
Rules affect
U.S. economy
oil executive
By J eanne Mohatt
The business community has neg
lected its responsibility of ensuring our
society of a clean environment and safe
production and products, and has turned
the job over to federal government regu
lations, according to a top executive in a
major oil company.
Rady A. Johnson, vice president for
government affairs of Standard Oil of In
diana, spoke Tuesday about "The Impact
of Political Regulations on Business and
Industry" at a lecture sponsored by the
Robert A. Taft Institute .
j Business did not accept responsibility
for clean air and water and less haz
'axdous production and products because
l"it would cost us (businesses) more'.
Johnson said. Not all businesses neg
lected this responsibility, he said, because
it makes sense to provide safe work areas
tq increase production.
"But the business community did not
ilo the job it should have " he said.
SPEECH continued on page six
FallM larger
By Jeanne Mohatt
Money shortages are nothing new at
UNL, but the campus-wide problem has
intensified, according to two UNL math
professors.
"Every year it gets tighter and tight
er," said professor Jerald Dauer. "It's
been an oncoming thing."
Like many UNL departments, the
mathematics and statistics department is
preparing for larger classes and fewer in
structors for the fall semester, vice-chairman
James Lewis said.
"We're making classes larger than we
would like," he said. "We don't want to
turn away students.
"Ideally, we would like to see 25 kids
in a class, but in reality it appears the
average will be at least 40 this fall."
The department has cancelled at least
eight classes for the fall semester, he said,
and more classes may have to be cut
later.
Those courses probably would have
been cancelled even without budget re
ductions in the College of Arts and
Sciences, Lewis said.
Dean Max Larsen said that the Col
lege of Arts and Sciences must cut
$475,000 in its 1980-81 budget. The Legis
lature allocated a 10.32 percent increase
over last year's UNL budget, while uni
versity officials had requested a 15 per
cent increase.
More pressure
"Each year there is more pressure,"
Lewis said. This year's problems cannot
be directly pinpointed to this year's
budget cut, he said.
MATH continued on page seven
Students had time to protest plan advisers
By Jeanne Mohatt
Student government officials had
ample opportunity to express their
dissatisfaction with the affirmative
action plan before the NU Board of
Regents approved it Saturday, two
members of a special advisory com
mittee said Tuesday.
"We really gave the opportunity
to get as broad a representation (of
viewpoints) as possible," said Wilma
Crumley, associate dean of the
School of Journalism. On the com
mittee she represented the Chancel
lor's Commission on the Status of
Women.
Meetings held
Larry Andrews, assistant vice
chancellor for academic affairs, ren-
resented the Chancellor's office on
the committee. He said three, two
hour hearings were held during April
and May, A number of ctouds were
represented at the hearings, includ
ing the Chicano Student Organiza
tion, he said.
"I don't recall that anvone signed
in to speak for ASUN (Associated
stuaents of the university of Ne
braska)," he said.
Renee Wessels. ASUN resident.
told the regents Saturday that the
affirmative action plan is not a "pro
gram of action,' and barely meets
the federal guidelines.
She said the plan deals exclusively
with hiring and does not address the
training of women and minorities in
managerial positions. She also said
the cost of the plan is not mentioned.
ASUN won't endorse
She said ASUN will not endorse
the plan as it is written now.
"We sent draft copies to a number
of offices," Andrews said. "We sent
copies to all the deans, to a number
of constituency groups and to the
ASUN office."
"I was kind of surprised to hear
that there was a concern about stu
dent input," Crumley said. "We did
make a sincere attempt to get
input."
Finals week
Glenn Poppert, ASUN second vice
president, said that the first affirma
tive action hearing he knew about
was scheduled on the Thursday
night of finals week in May.
"It's obvious why I couldn't go,"
he said.
"I talked to a couple other people
involved, and they had heard of the
meetings either on the day of or the
day after they were held. It was like
they (the advisory committee) didn't
want anyone there."
All of the hearings were held after
the ASUN elections, he said. "It was
a real bad time for us a change in
administration."
Andrews said that the affirmative
action plan is "workable."
"It's not a perfect affirmative ac
tion plan, by any means," rn said.
"That's why we've built in an annual
review arid revision cycle. The plan is
focused primarily on objectives that
can be assessed on a quarterly or an
nual basis."
"Basically, it's a good document
to start from," Crumley said.
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Staff Photo By Jant Hommtr
Wilma Crumley, journalism professor.
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