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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 1980)
Number 6 University of Nebraska-Lincoln July 10, mo English classes apparently will be financed Hedges f f4 N-"" I By Kim Wilt The UNL English department appar ently will get the $80,000 to $90,000 it needs to finance 30 previously unstaffed classes next fall. Ned Hedges, vice chancellor for aca demic affairs, said the administration has not yet determined where the money will come from. "We're going to try to locate funds to staff the courses," he said. "It may mean we'll have to use more than half of the budget in the first semester. We may not be able to support all the courses for sec ond semester." Instructors hired Some instructors will be hired for a year, and some will only be hired for a semester, Hedges said. The university will decide what classes will be offered in the second semester after fall registration is complete, and the tuition money can be put in the budget. He said administrators will know then how much money they will have available to pay instructors, and what courses might have to be cut. The decision will be made before classes are scheduled, and filled with stu dents, he said. Max Larsen, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, was able to commit some funds from his budget, Hedges said, and the English department has can celled some classes expected to have low enrollments. "We are taking some risks but ever body's made some adjustments." Received memo Joan Griffin, department junior staff steering committee chairwoman, said she and other staff members received memos from department chairman John Robinson Tuesday, stating the depart ment would hire visiting instructors to teach the 30 sections. Earlier plans had called for visiting instructors to be hired to teach through the Division of Contin uing Studies to save money. The differ ence in pay is about 45 percent. Those who applied for the visiting in structor positions had done so in the spring, before they learned they might have to teach through the Division of Continuing Studies. Some had talked of refusing to teach through the division. The steering committee had met with Robinson on several occasions, discussing ways to keep the classes in the depart ment. The department was told earlier this summer by Larsen that visiting instruc tors must teach through the Division of Continuing Studies or the classes would not be taught at all. Planning committee chair... Larsen had been asked by university administrators to cut $475,000 from the Arts and Sciences budget. Hedges said having instructors teach through the Division of Continuing Stud ies would not have given the university any fiscal advantage. "It's best for us to try to offer the courses as originally scheduled," he said. This way, he said, the university will not have used the division for "unusual pur poses." Griffin said 34 course sections were unstaffed. Of the four classes not fi nanced by the budget adjustments two will be taught by an instructor whose other teaching assignments were changed, and two will be taught by a re cently hired teaching assistant. Position offered Phyllis Bemt, a visiting instructor ap plicant, said she received a letter from Robinson Tuesday, offering her a position in the fall. She said Robinson did not say in the letter why the money is now available to hire the teachers. She said she thought it was because applicants refused to teach at the lower pay levels. "They thought we would be willing to teach cheaply, and nobody was," she said. Griffin agreed. "(The administration) knew that we of the junior staff steering committee had over 56 people, prime candidates, ready to say no." Although pay varies according to ex perience and whether the applicant has a doctorate, Bernt said instructors will re ceive about $1,600 or $1,700 per class. Through the Division of Continuing Studies, they would have received be tween $900 and $1,100 per class. Bernt unsure' Bernt said she is unsure whether she will take the position. "I feel this is all totally unnecessary. What happened was incredibly demoral izing. I had to battle for my job and it makes me really sad." Griffin said 15 or 16 instructors will be hired. Full-time instructors teach three classes per semester, she said, but the university doesn't want to hire all full time instructors because of a rule that in structors who have taught at the univer sity for seven years must be offered ten ure. Most of the applicants have taught at the university while doing graduate work, she said, and have accumulated five or six years of experience. Therefore, she said, some instructors will teach only two classes per semester. r - i C : ;s r, 7? Ml 5 Staff Photo by Janet Hammer UNL's Repertory Theater will present 'The Mousetrap' Thursday through Saturday, July 10 through July 12, at 8 p.m; Saturday July 19, and Monday, July 27. Five additional performances are scheduled in Aug ust. Senators could have met UNL's needs Fowler By Lynn Mongar State Sen. Steve Fowler of Lincoln said Tuesday that the Legislature could have met UNL's budget needs as recom mended by the Appropriations Commit tee, without seriously depleting the state treasury's cash reserve. Fowler said that Gov. Charles Thone and the State Tax Commisssion were "overly cautious" in projecting the cash balance in the State General Fund. The state treasury's record-breaking $116.3 million year-end balance was an nounced July 1. The announcement has prompted criticism from several state senators. "It would have been helpful to have had this information when the Legisla ture was still in session," Fowler said. Fowler has requested an independent re view of the precedent-setting balance by the Legislature's Appropriation Commit- Fowler, who is a member of the Ap propriations Committee, said that there were many trends to indicate the surplus in the State General Fund's balance. "It was clear in April that income tax refunds weren't going to be as high as ex pected, and that revenue projections were showing extra money coming in. "I'm not going to say it (the balance) was deliberately withheld, but I think they (the administration) were overly cautious." He said the university's budget and a state employees salary increase would have reduced the reserve from $72 mil lion $67 million. "We still would have had plenty of cushion," he said. The state treasury has a $30 million surplus. The Legislature could appropriate more money to UNL for this academic year by calling a special legislative ses sion, which Fowler said is "out of the picture." Centennial supporters had time to express concern v, v I t i Y.,- - J i, -- , at.-'" Staff Photo bv Janet Hammer ASUN President Rene Weasels By Jeanne Mohatt UNL's student government and peo ple supporting the Centennial Educa tional Program had the opportunity be fore and during the academic planning committee's June 25 meeting to voice their ideas about the proposal to elimi nate the program, said Norma Sue Grif fin, the committee's chairperson., The committee voted to recommend to Chancellor Roy Young the elirnination of the Centennial program. Young will make his recommendation to the Board of Regents at their July 26 meeting. The committee requested input from the Associated Students of the Univer sity of Nebraska and from Centennial College Senior Fellow Robert Fuller, Griffin said. "I talked to Renee (Wessels, ASUN president) several times and invited her . personally to discuss the reallocation decision," Griffin said. But no one repre sented ASUN at the meetings, and no student input was provided, she said. The academic planning committee voted Wednesday afternoon not to reconsider last week's recommenda tion to the regents that Centennial College be eliminated. ASUN President Renee Wessels, who is a committee member, was contacted by the Summer Nebras kan. She said she opposed the com mittee's recommendation. According to Wessels, committee members said the vote was not in tended to reflect on the quality of the Centennial program. In May, she said she sent a letter to Robert Fuller, Centennial College Senior Fellow, inviting him to meet with Young to discuss the Regents' Planning Sub committee recommendation to eliminate the program. Fuller "did not choose" to meet with Young, she said. "He made a direct response to the re gents (at the May 14 meeting) and did not choose to go through the appropriate channels within the university," she said. On May 23, she said, she sent a letter to Fuller and to Lyle Young, acting dean of the College of Engineering and Tech nology, explaining the committee's proto col and hearing procedures. "He (Fuller) did not answer the letter or contact the Academic planning com mittee," she said. Fuller said the letter was sent to Cen tennial College after it had closed for the summer, and he received it after he con continued on page 7
