friday, October 3, 1980
lincoln, nebraska vol. 105, no. 30
Rutford says UNL will survive financial pinch
& $
Photo by Kent Morgan Olsen
Robert Rutford
By Jim Faddis
UNL may be going through difficult financial times,
but it will survive .and continue to be the biggest
and strongest industry in Lincoln, Interim Chancellor
Robert Rutford told the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce
Thursday.
"The university is not going to fall apart," Rutford
said. "We may not be able to have some things that we
would like to have, but we will still be here."
Rutford said the main strengths of the university,
its good faculty and students; wUl pull it through the
difficult financial times, but, he added,, it will be a
challenge for the university to keep high quality faculty
in the next decade.
UNL- attracts good faculty, Rutford said, but has
trouble keeping them because private business and other
universities offer them more money than UNL can.
"The quality of our faculty can be seen in that in the
past three years, we have dropped 75 faculty positions,
while in the same time, enrollment has increased by 1,000
and we are doing 100 percent more research," Rutford
said.
"But we need to start rewarding the faculty financially
or else we'll lose them."
He said the university has started a four-year program
to raise the faculty salary base, but presently it is having
trouble staying competitive with private business and
other universities.
"We are trying to be competitive now on an individual
basis, but this causes morale problems with other faculty
members " Rutford said.
Competition for business professors has made it hard
for UNL to fill some positions in the College of Business
Administration, Rutford said. UNL is looking for an
accounting professor, he said, but there are presently
470 accounting positions open in the country, but
only 70 people available to fill them.
Rutford said enrollment -at the college has been
limited because the university can't- provide
enough faculty to do a good job.
"We don't want to expand the college too much
because students interests fluctuate so much," he
said. "There may be a lot of students wanting into the
business college now, but in a few years there may not
be."
On another subject, Rutford said he supports the
proposed regional veterinary college because in the
long run it will be a benefit to Lincoln and the rest of
the university.
Rutford said he supports the veterinary college, not
because it will give die state more veterinarians, but
because of the research benefits from it.
Legislative candidates debate NU, state issues
By Mary Kempkes
Regent Kermit Hansen's proposal to
move the teacher's college from UNL to
UNO is part of a movement in which
Omaha is "chip, chip, chipping away"
at the Lincoln campus, according to legisla
te candidate Lavon Crosby.
Crosby faced eight-year Sen. Shirley
Marsh Thursday night at a debate in the
Southeast High School auditorium.
Sen. Marsh also attacked Hansen's
plan, which calls for reorganization of
the university system, and said removal
of the nurses' school from UNL would
hurt Lincoln's hospitals.
But the Nebraska Legislature has little
control over UNL, Marsh said. The regents
run NU. she said.
Crosby said UNO should never have
been incorporated into the university
system but should have remained a state
college and now Lincoln must resist every
attempt to reduce the campus.
Marsh also addressed state funding of
NU and said "The university has been
underfunded for a number of years."
1' percent increase
"When fum s are cut from a bare-bones
budget then it s necessary for the regents
to ask for an 18 percent increase next
year."
And although Marsh said she would
support increasing funding for NU, she
can't speak for the other 48 senators and
Crosby agreed.
"I do think we have money problems,"
Crosby said, "but I think you're going to
have a hard time with that 18 percent, get
ting it through."
The two candidates for the 29th district
addressed other concerns of the sponsor
group, the Lancaster County Young Re
publicans. Crosby and Marsh conflicted on the so
called "ban-the-bong" issue. Crosby said
she supported the bill despite its legal prob
lems while Marsh said she had been against
the bill and cited court defeats with a simi
lar Iowa law'as her reason. Marsh said the
bill, designed to outlaw the sale of drug
paraphernalia, was too vague and risked
being ruled unconstitutional as was a simi
lar law last month in a case brought against
the state of Iowa by Ames, Iowa head
shop operators.
"Not completely essential"
The Equal Rights Amendment could
"destroy the traditional family unit" Cros
by said and therefore she would not sup
port it. The ERA is "not completely essen
tial" for women's rights, she said, because
women are making their gains in the mar
ketplace, "little by little."
But Marsh said she supported it and
countered with, "The ERA cannot destroy
families. Only people can destroy families.
The ERA speaks only to equality. It
doesn't speak to families." -
The ERA is one tool but not the only
method that can be used to ensure Nebras
ka women of equality, Marsh said. Marsh
said state statutes were recently updated
in an attempt to delete sex discrimination
from the books. Marsh also said she would
support a state ERA amendment if the
attempt for a national amendment fails.
Both candidates said they opposed the
repeal of state food taxes and Marsh said
Nebraska has had problems in recent years
because college students and parents both
apply for a food refund when only one is
entitled the money. But it costs more to
track cheaters than to refund the tax, she
said, so the state foots the bill.
Speaker says prisons don't rehabilitate inmates
B ' Patti Gallagher
An i mate was q lickly hand-cuffed and led into the
small room. He was tied to a straight back chair and
given a chance to sp ak a final time. After being blind
folded and capped, the switch was hit and electricity shot
through the man's body.
The shock tore open the man's shirt to reveal a large
tatoo painted across his chest. When the body was
removed from the chair, his tatoo could be read: Born to
Lose, it said. And he had.
Calling this true story a "sad commentary' on the
U.S. prison systems, the director of the Arizona Depart
ment of Corrections said the one thing U.S. corrections
experts are experts in is knowing how to kill.
Ellis C. MacDougall, who directed several southern
state prisons, spoke Thursday to about 100 people at the
Citizens Conference on Corrections.
MacDougall criticized the nation's prisons, saying they
do not rehabilitate the inmates.
Webster's dictionary defines rehabilitation as "to
restore dignity," he said. After asking if "they (prisoners)
have much dignity anyway," he suggested the word be
changed to habilitation.
Designed to fail
"I don't think we've tried to rehabilitate." MacDougall
said. "I don't think we've designed the institutions to re
habilitate." They are designed to fail and organized to fail,
he said.
Nicknamed Big Bear, Bullyman, Up-Date Dude, and Pig
Chief Administrator by inmates from prisons across the
country, MacDougall relayed many of his experiences to
exemplify the failure of the prison system.
Part of the problem, MacDougall said, is that prisons
are behind the times. The corrections system has only
showed progress in the last 15 years, he said. By
comparison, prisons are where the mental health pro- ,
fession was 50 years ago, he said.
The first federal grant for prisons, according to Mac
Dougall, came in 1967. A South Carolina prison system
was awarded $225,000 for vocational training.
The public, however, expects prisons to work better
and produce better results, he said.
"They want to jump over history and make it work,"
he said. "We are allowing the public to expect too much
from us."
The atmosphere of the prison breeds men to fail, Mac
Dougall said. He said he encountered an inmate in
' Arizona, who was a past gang member and wanted to
remain in the prison structure because he had no ties to
the world outside.
Inmates are brothers
The man considered the other inmates as his brothers,
MacDougall said. He said "his whole world was the other
inmates in that prison."
When MacDougall began in the Arizona system in
1978, he visited a juvenile rehabilitation center. A center
with a 70 person capacity , it houses 134 juveniles.
The children were kept in cages 24 hours a day, he
said. They ate and slept on the floor and chains were
bolted on the children's ankles.
In 1980, he said, "we're just coming out of the wilder
ness."
Another problem in the current prison system is the
lack of trained personnel. While directing a Georgia in
stitution in 1971 none of the 60 correction officers had
more than a high school diploma, he said. Four Of the
officers were illiterate, he said.
MacDougall said prison systems should be directed by
professionals, trained in money management and human
compassion.
A possible solution for our prison systems might be the
creation of a board of directors in each community. He
said the combination of "some of the best business minds"
and community leaders might increase efficiency of
prisons.
Near the end of his speech, MacDougall paused and
told the audience he was an expert.
"I am an expert on killing people. I have killed six
men in my life," he said.
"The only thing I can guarantee my people, my
governor and my state is that I know how to kill. The
only thing your corrections experts know about is how to
kill."
Investigation Stopped: ASUN kills bill calling for in
vestigation of NU President Ronald Roskens' involve
ment in the Kent State shootings - Page 6
Dynamic Duo: Jimmy and Toby Williams play side by
side on the Husker defense Page 10
Daring To Be Different: Local band shrugs off conven
tion as it awaits release of a new album Page 12
