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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1981)
n friday, november 20, 1981 lincoln, nebraska vol. 107 no. 62 Copyright Daily IMebraskan 1981 O W nVcO wuu , r 9 . iiiiiii .1 , "'" ' ill n 111 1 n- run it m - H .' ... J jt i.. I V L 1 1 ' !? W Tfi s t2 3 irAv'" .9 4 : x .;-ir r' m f i 1" I I I . .V ' .Si'.,1 f ! If f ' if f I ' 111 1 &k 1 1 I' ) ' I' Photo by Jerry McBride Students awoke Thursday morning to Old Man Winter's first surprises. This student though, manages to find his way through the wind, snow and trees on East Campus. English sections lack teachers By Charles Flowerday About 50 sections of English 150 - a freshman com position course at UNL - do not have instructors for next semester because the English Department has not been told how much money will be available to hire the addit ional needed staff . The uncertainty comes in the wake of Gov. Charles Thone's mandate calling for a 3 percent slash in financing for all state agencies. Gerry Brookes, vice chairman of the department, said that the recent change in chancellors also has contributed to the delay in informing his department how much money will be allocated to hire about 13 visiting instruct ors to teach an estimated 1,300 students requesting English 150. Brookes, who is in charge of scheduling, said these figures were based on assessing pre-registration demand at 75 percent of the total anticipated demand. Tony Schkade, assistant director of Registration and Records, said his office recorded 1,170 students signed up for the writing course. There are 900 seats available for sections of English 150, he said. "At an ordinary time, we would be told we have so much money to staff those sections," Brookes said. "I hope we will hear the same thing this year." Because of the timing of the budget announcement, Brookes explained, a 3 percent cut at this point in the year translates into a 6 percent cut for next semester. Although the rollbacks in spending are to come from money allocated for library, research, travel and maint enance funds, this accounts for only 20 percent of the department's budget. Eighty percent goes to staff salaries. Regarding the problem of taking a 6 percent cut in only 20 percent of the budget, Robert Narveson, an English professor and president of the UNL chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said spending also could be reduced by not filling certain vacant positions. Narveson said hiring is done on a semester-by-semester basis. "Positions are vacant in a fictional sense only," Narve son said. "You've got students in classes. Things could be serious indeed if you can't fill those positions." Narveson said he was not being overly critical of the current administration. "If the money's been cut, it's gone. You can hardly criticize the administration for not spending money it hasn't got." Another problem according to Brookes, Narveson and English Professor Paul Olsen, is that the longer the depart ment delays hiring temporary staff, the less the chance it will have of getting highly qualified people. "I don't think it's very easy to hire good people that way," Olsen said of the present procedure of hiring visit ing instructors on a per-semester basis. "It doesn't serve students well to create large lecture classes in composition," Brookes said, regarding one possible solution ihat would place more students in fewer classes. Class size a crucial element in the quality of a composition course - already has increased this year from about 15 students a class to about 20, Brookes said. With larger classes, students are less likely to do the writing they should, he said. "It's obvious that if you start making them much bigger, it is harder and harder to get students to do much writing. Instructors can only correct so many papers," he explained. "There's not much money left in (the College of) Arts and Sciences, Brookes said. "It's hard to see how anybody is going to get 6 percent without cutting back on money for instructors. Continued on Page 2 NETV stashes cash for future By Patty Pryor Even though last week's broadcast of the Nebraska Iowa State football game was an overwhelming success, the Nebraska ETV Network could not secure permission to broadcast this week's Nebraska-Oklahoma showdown, Ron Hull, NETV program manager said Thursday. The Nebraska-Oklahoma game will be shown on KETV, the Omaha-based ABC affiliate, which covers an area within a 70-mile radius, Hull said. In the NCAA-ABC contract governing coverage of college football, there is a provision allowing a game to be broadcast by one station in the visiting team's area if the game is more than 400 miles from its home. This privilege was granted to KETV when ABC de clined it, and therefore cannot be granted to NETV, Hull said- Another provision in the contract allows games to be carried by educational stations when it does not interfere with other stations' exclusive rights. However, a proposal to black out NETV coverage on its two stations in KETV's coverage area was not accept able. , . . .4 "We couldn't get ABC's permission because they said it (NETV coverage) would be unfair to the other ABC affiliates in the state," Hull said. There are five other ABC affiliates in Nebraska, he said, but none of them are carrying the broadcast. 'The rule is that only one market gets the (broadcast) rights," he said. These problems did not apply to last week's no-commentary broadcast, which was carried only by KUON-TV, NETV's Lincoln educational station. In response to his on-the-air request for donations equaling the price of a football ticket during last week's game, the station has received more than $12,500, Hull said. This money will be put into a special fund, he said, which could be used to finance broadcasts of Nebraska games next season. At this point, however, Hull could not speculate on the chances of that happening or of its effects on game attendance. "If it looked like it would detract from game attend ance, I wouldn't be for it," he said. Our first concern is to sell every seat in Memorial Stadium, because those seats are what make the kind of very fine athletic program we have. Plan for budget cuts leaves decisions up to colleges, says official By Leslie Kendrick The NU Board of Regents will be reluctant to impose an additional tuition increase to recover money lost from the university's budget cut, said John Strong, UNL in terim vice chancellor for academic affairs. The university is faced with a 3 percent budget cut as imposed by this year's special session of the Nebraska Legislature. There probably will be a tuition increase next year, but it will not be dramatic, Strong said. "There is a conscientiousness on the university about its land grant function to pn vide education at a cost not on par with the private institutions," Strong said. "If you get to that point you've lost your character istics as a land grant university," he said. A final decision about a tuition increase will depend on the university's final analysis of expenditure reductions, Strong said. "I don't think anyone views the university as a business where if profits aren't high enough we will raise the pri ces," he said. The cuts will come in limited areas, Strong said. Eighty percent of the university's budgeHs for personnel, he said. Because it is mid-November, few personnel members can be removed. "It is virtually impossible to eliminate a program in No vember because people have been hired and contracted," Strong said. Position cut Only those personnel in "C-line" jobs such as secre tatial ot clerical positions., can be cut. Strong said, and ther& ar& very few of those positions to cut The remaining 20 percent of the university's budget is spent on equipment and operating expenses such as pho tocopying, telephone bills, travel and library acquistions. Because the university is half way through its fiscal year, half of the equipment and operating cost budget already has been spent. Strong said this means that the 3 percent budget cut will come from the remaining 10 percent targeted for op erating costs that has not been spent. There will be a reduction in equipment purchased where the equipment has not yet been ordered, Alan Sea gren, NU vice president for administration said. In addition, there will be deferral of funds budgeted to building repair and maintenance, Seagren said. Additional savings might be realized on utilities but it will depend upon the severity of this year's winter, he said. More students Excess tuition revenue the university received this semester will counterbalance some of the cuts, Strong said. The extra revenue was because there were more stu dents than expected. Because the extra tuition revenue was not anticipated, it was not included in the budget, he said. When the university receives extra tuition revenue, Strong said, the extra money usually is used to pay for additional sections to accommodate the increased enroll ment. The basic plan for making the cuts, Strong said, is to leave the decision-making to the various colleges. While the administration realizes that no college is in a good position to take a full 3 percent cut, all colleges will have to make some cuts, he said. Not all colleges will be cut identically, Strong said. There are some departments which simply don't have the money and can't generate a 3 percent cut without elimi nating classes, he said. No classes that have been scheduled for next semester will be cut, Strong said. Continued on Page 2 Msfe friday Where Did They Go?: A psychology department survey reveals where its graduates found jobs Page 7 Oklahoma, Where the Wins Come Sweeping Down the Plains: Columnist Jeff Goodwin predicts an Oklahoma victory against the Huskers Page 8 In It for the Money: Both the director and the main character of The Pursuit of DM. Cooper seem to be out to make a buck , , .Page 10