lincoln, nebraska vol. 105, no. 60
friday, november 14, 1980
Official alarmed by low minority employment
By Laure Perlinger
Brad Munn's job at UNL might best be exemplified by
the plaque on his desk which reads, "The best man for
the job may be a woman."
As UNL affirmative action officer, Munn sees that the
university conforms to federal laws concerning employ
ment, and also guarantees that minorities and women are
not excluded from employment because of race or sex.
Affirmative action exists under a federal executive
order requiring all federal contractors of a specific size
to have a set of goals and a timetable for hiring of under
utilized protective class members, Munn said.
But Munn calls the employment hiring data of minori
ties at UNL "alarming" for the past quarter.
During July, August and September, 3,009 people
applied for nonbreaching, non-administrative and non
student employment positions. While 281 people were
hired, only six of them were minorities.
The non-minorities hired (275) represent 98 percent
of the new hirings, while the six minorities hired account
for just 2 percent of those hired.
"If we continue at this rate, we would be hiring 24
minorities per year, while our projection for '80-'81 is
64. We're 40 people off. That's not very good progress,"
Munn said.
"Probably not all that applied were qualified," Munn
said, "but because the university added only six minori
ties to its staff this quarter, I am alarmed. I think we have
to do a better job."
UNL's current affirmative action plan has a goal of
hiring 64 racial minorities in managerial-professional
positions during the July 1980 to June 1981 fiscal year.
During that first quarter employment period, Cauca
sians were hired at the rate of 9.5 percent, meaning that
almost 10 out of 100 non minorities were hired. The
hiring rate for racial minorities was 5.3 percent.
Twenty minorities applied for managerial-professional
positions with only one hired, while women represent 48
percent of those new hirings in that same category.
"It's not far off target to say that 3 percent of the
population in Lincoln is minority," Munn said, adding
that about 3 percent of UNL's non-administrative, non
teaching and non-student employment should also be
minorities.
"I don't know why we aren't attracting more minori
ties," Munn said, but he thought that salary, insurance
benefits, parking policies and transportation costs may be
leading factors.
Munn said the university has lost a number of people,
many of them racial minorities, to private businesses,
because they pay higher wages.
"With an annual seven or eight percent salary increase
and a 13 percent inflation rate, wage earners look at
salaries, and fringe benefits," he said.
For UNL to reach its goal, an average of six minorities
per month will have to be hired during the next three
quarters.
"The university must hire the best qualified people,
but if they've never hired a black before, and the black
can do the job, then give them the opportunity," Munn
said.
'But not if they don't have the qualifications-that's
wrong.
Continued on Page 14
Seven-month negotiations
UNO faculty wants voice in curricula, tenure
By Steve Miller
Contract negotiations continue slowly between UNO
faculty representatives and the NU Board of Regents
according to L. Bruce Wright, representing the Regents'
negotiators.
Wright, a Lincoln lawyer, said substantial differences
exist between the parties. The contract has been under
negotiation for about seven months.
"We are not in agreement on several items," Wright
said. "But the main reason it has become such a drawn
out affair is because of the wide scope of items under
negotiation."
Wright said he thought the two parties differ most on
shared governance. Faculty negotiators are asking for a
say on curricula, tenure and working conditions.
"The main difference is that they (faculty) would like
to include shared governance in the contract," Wright
said. "While we feel it is important we don't think it is
proper to include it in the contract."
Wright also said there were some problems with salary
increases the faculty are asking for.
"We rely on state funding and have been budgeted for
an 8!4 percent increase for salaries," Wright said. "We
have offered them that amount, all we can possible offer,
but they demand a total that would come to 25 percent."
The 25 percent increase includes salaries and benefits.
There is still a lot to negotiate and no deadline has been
set at this time, Wright said.
Bernard Kolasa, political science professor and presi
dent of the American Association of University Profes
sors at UNO, said he also thinks that shared governance
is a problem.
"Shared governance is a big problem, probably the
non-economic problem that we are farthest apart on,"
Kolasa said.
He said he didn't understand why the Regents' repre
sentatives don't want governance in the contract.
"All we want is to reaffirm what is essentially in the
Regents' bylaws," Kolasa said. "It should be a binding
agreement.
Kolasa said that the governance item includes nothing
that isn't standard already.
"The only thing is that bylaws aren't legal documents,"
he said. "They can be changed or ignored by a whim of
the board."
Kolasa said that there are currently 199 dues-paying
members in UNO's AAUP and that it legally represents
the whole UNO faculty in the negotiations.
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Photo by Mark BHIirtgsley
A cluster of dew-misted choke cherries photographed with infrared film seem
to glow in the murky grayness of a rainy Thursday afternoon light. The berries
record themselves on the infrared film according to their health. Old or dying
berries photograph black, while berries in the peak of their existence photo
graph white.
Hansen claims he receives
no money from trust fund
By Jim Faddis
NU Regent Kermit Hansen of Omaha
has answered an inquiry by the Nebraska
Accountability and Disclosure Commis
sion into a trust fund he has by saying that
he cannot get any financial gain from the
fund.
But Hansen's response has not answered
all of the commission's questions, said
Thomas Burke, executive director of the
commission.
The commission had sent Hansen a
letter asking for an explanation of the
fund. The law requires an elected official
to identify businesses they have financial
interests in, Burke said.
In his statement of financial interests,
Hansen did not specify what stocks and
bonds he has in the trust fund, prompting
the inquiry, Burke said. But he did not
have to if the fund was not of a direct
advantage to him, Burke added.
In a letter to the commission this week,
Hansen said the fund is a grantor trust
that is of no benefit to him.
But Burke said Thursday that he has
sent Hansen another letter asking what he
means by a grantor trust. Burke said he
considers a grantor trust one that the
grantor, in this case Hansen, has control
over and can revoke. If that is the case,
Hansen must still report what property
is in the fund, Burke said.
"If he has any power or control of the
fund, it should be reported," Burke said.
Bu-ke said it could just be a misundet
standing between Hansen and himself on
what a grantor trust is.
Hansen said Thursday that it was his
understanding that the fund was of no
benefit to him, but he would not say what
he understands a grantor trust to be.
Paul Kadavy, executive vice president
of the First Northwestern Trust Company
where Hansen's trust is, said the kind of
trust fund Hansen has is a standard one
used to provide security for one's family
after death.
But, Kadavy said, a grantor trust is one
that the grantor controls and that Hansen
can revoke the trust anytime.
friday
Things to Come: Three UNL economic
professors said they think President
elect Ronald Reagan's economic pol
icies will hurt the VS. economy. Page 9
No Sweat: Columnist says the Huskers
will have no trouble letting the air out
of the Cyclones Page 10
Fats Waller in Outer Space: Voyager
I's "Sounds of Earth" package could
produce a few cofused aliens . . Page 12
