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daily nebraskan
Wednesday, december 10, 1980
UNL budget plan calls for salary increases
By Steve Miller
NU's Five-Year Plan made the major
assumption that "Nebraskans will continue
to support a high-quality university and
will be committed to its improvement
through adequate operational appropriat
ions." But because appropriations in the past
fell behind the inflation rate, some senators
and university officials believe an 18 per
cent increase is justified. Two other recom
mendations were made in the plan to bet
ter use money and to solicit more contrib
utions for the NU Foundation.
According to Edward Hirsch, vice pres
ident of the foundation, the foundation
did proceed with the recommendation,
and improvements have been made.
Hirsch said a $25-million campaign was
launched after the plan was made and a
total-of $43 million was collected this year.
When the plan was written, total gifts
to the foundation each year totaled $2.2
million. At the close of the 1979-80 year,
total gifts amounted to $13.5 million,
Hirsch said.
"We've improved greatly and we're
doing much more for the university,"
Hirsch said.
Develop programs
The Five-Year Plan went on to say that
"the university aspires to the development
of certain selected programs to the rank
of national prominence."
"This can only be carried out if there
are special increases in funding for faculty
and facilities in order to raise the level of
support for these selected programs to a
level commensurate with that at the
country's leading universities."
Steve Sample, NU vice president of aca
demic affairs, said appropriations had some
catching up to do because of the rapid
rate of inflation.
Sample listed areas of special concern
like faculty salaries, stipends for graduate
students, library spending, maintenance
and scientific equipment.
I kl itivp uooronmtinns commit too
members Shirley Marsh, Lincoln; Donald
Dworak, Columbus, and educat
ion committee member Gerald Koch,
Ralston, responded to the question of
whether appropriations and faculty salar
ies had kept up with inflation.
"We have not been generous with the
university," Marsh said. "We should think
of the university as an investment in the
future.
"It pays us dividends by educating
persons of Nebraska who remain as human
resources."
Marsh said she would support an 18
percent increase in appropriations to the
university.
Low salaries
"It hurts to make the statement, but the
university probably is not as competitive
as it was in 1975," Marsh said.
"We've lost a lot of good people because
of low salaries. We can't expect them to
stay on for good will."
Dworak said he questions the credibility
of some of the reports he has heard and
seen about the competitiveness of univers
ity faculty salaries.
"Whn we isolate salaries, we don't
talk about anything else," Dworak said.
"But then they run around buying land
and making all sorts of plans."
Dworak said he was concerned about
the quality of the university and he thinks
there are problems.
He said he was hindered as an appropri
ations commmittce member because he
could not vote on how much money to
give the university, but not on how it
would be used.
Koch said he hopes the Legislature will
decide lo improve faculty and staff, and
continue areas of excellance for another
live years.
Koch said exceptional faculty members
need to be rewarded and that salaries have
fallen behind.
"Professional staff deserves more now
than they've gotten in past years." Koch
said.
"We lose good members to other
schools. Because they aren't paid well
enough, they start to look around for
something better and I certainly don't
blame them for it."
Officials call for specific student involvement
By Patti Gallagher
Among the recommendations in the 1975-80 outline
for university growth was the statement that "the policy
of involving students in academic review and decision
making should be continued and strengthened as a stimu
lus to achieve higher levels of academic excellence."
According to two student leaders and two administra
tors, student involvement in decision-making has increased
in recent years. Whether or not the increase is due to the
Five-Year Plan, however, is not evident, they said.
Within the plan, entitled "Toward Excellence,"
approximately one-half page was devoted to increasing
student participation. It said, in part, that because stu
dents are involved at levels of the university from academ
ic departments to the Board of Regents, they should be
involved in shaping academic policy.
According to David DeCoster. dean of students, more
specifics should have been included within the plan to
insure that students were involved. He said "global terms"
such as "involving in decision-making" do not provide
the "exact tasks which should be fulfilled" to meet those
terms.
DeCoster said, however, that the primary use of a plan
such as 'Toward Excellence" is to serve as "an endorse
ment of plans on lower levels."
But, he said, "specifics should be included to judge
whether progress is being made."
A great deal of impact
DeCoster said that he did not know if students were
involved in the planning stage of the 1975-80 plan be
cause he took his position in 1978. However, in the plan
being drawn up for the coming five years, students have
had a great deai of impact, he said.
In a recent meeting of members of the Student Life
department, three ways of increasing student input in the
composition of the new plan were determined, DeCoster
said.
They included conducting a survey of students, faculty
and administrators, by departments, to have them priori
tize the goals for student affairs, contacting student
groups appropriate to each division within student affairs
to develop objectives lor the plan, and having interested
student groups assist DeCoster in finalizing those objec
tives. Although these three points will guide DeCoster in his
recommendations on the plan, he said he is lighting
against time to get student input. The recommendations
are due to the regents in February, he said.
According to the assistant vice chancellor for student
affairs. Suzanne Brown, student input has increased in
recent years. But Brown said that she did not know
whether the Five-Year plan was the impetus for the in
creased participation.
One program that increased student input in academic
decisions was. however, instituted at about the same time
as the plan was drawn up. she said. At that time an aca
demic decision was. however, instituted at about the sain,
time as the plan was drawn up, she said. At that time an
academic review process began in which students were
involved. The process, in which academic programs are
evaluated on a rotating year basis, is still in effect. Brown
said.
Budget task force
Additional channels of student impact in the last year
have been through a budget task force, and the ASUN
Academic Planning Committee, Brown said. Another
means of student input has been through frequent meet
ings between Interim Chancellor Robert Rutford and stu
dent leaders.
Although Brown said she thinks student input has been
increasing, she said there is a problem in the low number
of students who are involved. She said it is important to
include as many students as possible in decision-making,
but said the "students who tend to be interested are per
haps too small in number."
ASUN President Renee Wesscls agreed that the ASUN
committee has been instrumental in getting student opin
ion to the administration. The committee has been in
volved in drawing up the guidelines and assumptions in
the plan and has brought their recommendations before
the ASUN Senate, Wessels said.
One recommendation of the committee was that the
plan be approved on the academic department level, she
said. She said that previously the plan was only required
to be approved by college deans, but going down to the
department level would allow more student involvement,
she said.
Although Wessels said she thinks that students have
become increasingly involved on the academic level, she
said they are excluded in the university budget process.
"The budget-making process is unexcusable on this
campus." she said. Although money is overall well
spent. Wessels said, the process for allocating monev and
lequesting increases "desparateh needs improvement."
Consumers of education
"Students are very much the consumers of education,"
Wessels said, because they contribute one third of the
total dollars to the budget. "But the decisions of how
that money is spent has been irresponsible."
Wessels said the 175-80 plan should have included
specifics of student participation. Because it does not
spell out how students should be involved in decision
making, "it makes it that much easier to exclude them,"
she said.
According to Bud Cuca, who served as ASUN presi
dent in 1978-79, student input in the Five-Year Plan
was obtained indirectly through his role as a student
regent.
He said, however, that it would have been an excel
lent idea to bring the plan before the student senate for
its opinions. As it was, Cuca said he did not even see
the plan until about four months into his term as presi
dent. Cuca also said that the plan should have been more
specific. Cuca called the portion of the plan devoted to
student participation rhetorical feed," and said that
to have any real input students must have representation
on the committees that make decisions.
During his term in ASUN, Cuca said the senate pro
posed that the members of all decision-making commit
tees be at least half students and faculty. The proposal
didn t take too kindly" and wa3 never initiated, he said.
