Candidates for regent stress agriculture, budget
By Jim Faddis
Editor's note: We regret that a photo of
6th District candidate James Zimmerman
was not available.
How Nil serves the agriculture com
munity of Nebraska is the main concern
for candidates running for the 6th and 7th
District seats on the NU Board of Regents.
In the 6th District, which includes most
of western Nebraska incumbent Robert
Simmons is being challenged by James
Zimmerman. Both arc Scottsbluff
attorneys.
Agriculture is the backbone of the
economy in Nebraska and the Institute of
Agriculture and Natural Resources is the
most important part of the university to
people in the 6th District, Zimmerman
said.
"The whole reason for the existence of
the university is the agricultural college,"
Zimmerman said.
Simmons also said that the Institute of
Agriculture and Natural Resources is the
most important part of the university and
that he would like to see it strengthened.
Simmons and Zimmerman also sing the
same song when it comes to the NU
budget.
NU'S REQUEST for an 18 percent in
crease in state support for the 1981-82
academic year is "very unrealistic" and "a
disillusionment in thinking we will get it,"
Simmons said.
He said the university should have a 7
percent budget increase that it can plan
with instead of asking for an amount it
won't get and being forced to cut salaries.
Zimmerman said the 18 percent request
is "ludicrous" and that "the university has
an obligation to taxpayers to come in with
a budget as near to the 7 percent lid as
possible."
Zimmerman said he would like to see
some cuts in the university's administra
tion. "There is too much money going into
running the university and not enough
going into educating students. Instead of
paying money for administration, it should
go to research, education and increasing
faculty salaries," he said.
The university needs to be run like a
business and it is not being run like one
now, he said.
"When the university is run on a blank
check, there is no reason to economize,"
Zimmerman said.
SIMMONS ALSO said there is too much
NU administration. He said there should be
just one administration running the entire
university and not a chancellor's office at
each campus.
Small classes should be eliminated and
the number of faculty membcrs'reduced so
that the faculty that remains can be paid
more, Simmons said.
Simmons, 62 and a graduate of the NU
Law College, has been a regent for six
years. He said tuition costs will have to
keep increasing as long as NU's operating
expenses do, and that he is against a vot
ing student regent, positions with which
Zimmerman agreed.
Zimmerman, 33, graduated from the
NU Law College in 1972.
IN THE 7th District, which comprises
parts of central Nebraska, Don Blank, a
McCook dentist who is presently mayor of
McCook, is running against Kearney
furniture businessman John Payne for the
seat being vacated by Robert Raun of
Minden.
Serving the agriculture community
should be the university's highest priority,
Payne said.
He said the university's request for an
18 percent increase in state support is
"quite adequate," but he declined to say
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where it was too much or too little.
If budget cuts needs to be made,
remedial courses that are taught for no
credit should be dropped, he said.
Blank said that NU should continue to
excel in areas that pay direct benefits to
the state, such as agriculture.
But NU's 18 percent budget increase re
quest is too high, he said.
Blank said that if NU's financial condi
tion gets worse, cuts should be made in
programs that are the least beneficial to the
state.
HE FAVORS making cuts in certain
programs instead of making cuts in all pro
grams that would give the university
"mediocracity across the board," Blank
said.
NU's faculty should be paid what they
are worth, Payne said, with worth being
measured by how many hours are spent in
the classroom.
Payne, 40, graduated from Kearney
State College in 1962. He said 'that he
would strive "to keep the university at a
level where all Nebraskans can be proud of
it."
The next 10 years are going to be try
ing times for education, Payne said, adding
that he thinks his business background will
be helpful in setting good policies.
Blank, 44, graduated from th NU Dental
College in 1960. He is a member of the
Dean's Advisory Council at the Dental
College.
Blank said he wants a quality university
in the fields that serve the state. He said
that he would like to see the elimination of
some of the duplication of services
between NU and other colleges in the state
"so that tax dollars can be spent more
wisely."
Both Blank and Payne said they were
against allowing student regents to vote
and that tuition costs would have to con
tinue to increase as long as inflation did.
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perspectives
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