T Tl Daily fl NstalStaa University of Nebraska-Lincoln Tuesday, January 19, 1982 Vol. 108 No. 7 Lincoln, Nebraska Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan M ockler, GLC react to state's budget proposal By Eric Peterson The implications of Gov. Charles Thonc's 5.9 percent recommended increase in the NU operations budget arc serious for UNL's future, said ASUN President Rick Mocklcr and Government Liaison Com mittee Legislative Liaison Ruth Boham at a news conference Monday. "I think the state legislature right now feels the university is a luxury, and we can cut back on a frill," Mocklcr said. "It's a challenge to students to let the Legislature know that cutting back here is cutting back on further social and economic develop ment in the state." Recalling the 1 869 chartering of UNL as "a considerable investment on the part of the state in Nebraska's political and econ omic future," Mockler said the 5.9 percent increase would be too small for the univer sity's needs. "It's a 3 percent decrease in terms of real dollars," Mockler said. Boham said faculty salaries at UNL are a particularly sensitive area to financial pres sures. "The system will suffer, and faculty salaries are an example," she said. Boham said other universities, as well as private in dustry, are competing with UNL for quality personnel, and offer higher salaries in most cases. "We cannot afford to lose these human resources and realistically expect to recoup these losses," she said. Faculty salaries The NU 1982-83 budget request called for a 10 percent increase in salaries and wages at UNL, but Thone's recommendat ions included only a 5 percent increase, which GLC research says is below average for comparable land grant institutions. "The biggest concern of UNL's faculty is not that they keep pace with their academic counterparts at other schools, but that they keep up with the high cost of living - neither of which is possible at the current pay rate," a GLC fact sheet said. Boham said the non -competitive faculty salaries at UNL have forced some of the most crowded and underfunded colleges to restrict the number of students in certain classes by raising grade point average re quirements above the UNL norm of 2.0. Mockler said the goal of ASUN and GLC is to equalize CPA requirements among the colleges. "The most important tiling is to have equitable grade requirements for every one. Maintenance important Maintenance of UNL buildings is another concern for student lobbying and informational outreach, Mockler said. "In order to maintain even the present condition (of UNL buildings), prevention is the best cure," Mockler said. "If the uni versity cannot afford to maintain buildings now, there will be especially heavy bills in the future." Among UNL buildings, Architectural Hall, Bcssey Hall and the Animal Science building on East Campus have been most mentioned by GLC as in need of renovat ion or completion. When asked about his reaction to Lincoln Sen. Steve Fowler's bill to apply a 4 cent increase in the state cigarette tax to higher education capital construction, Mocklcr said any help would be gratefully received, but said, "If we could just main tain the campus buildings in their present shape, we'll be pleased." Boham said the proposed establishment of a veterinary school at UNL depends largely on the availability of federal fund ing for it. "If federal funds could match ours for the proposed vet school, then we could favor it ," Boham said . Overall, UNL is hurting from the fund ing freeze, Mockler said. "The university hasn't got what it needs for a number of years now," he said. Mockler mentioned library services as one area which has suffered severely in past budgets. The university budget request for 1982-83 asked for a 14 percent increase in library acquisitions, while Thone's 5.9 per cent increase doesn't provide for any library increase. All the efficiency cuts have pretty much been made at UNL, Mockler said. "I don't think there's any fat we can cut back. We're down to the marrow now.'" ASUN and its Government Liaison Committee are working with the legis lators to change these attitudes, Boham said. She said the GLC has doubled its membership from 30 to 75 members this year, nearly all of whom are involved with individual lobbying through the Adopt-a-Senator program. Mockler said he hopes an informational effort will have a positive effect for educat ion in the state. "When it's known that the cuts are going to be hurting people, I think that always makes a difference," he said. Photo by Dave Bentz Even on Monday - the fifth and final day to drop and add classes - students formed lines in the Nebraska Union. Beginning today, adds will not be allowed and drops will be processed in the Administration Building. Gifted students may graduate early By Alice Hrnicek Three Lincoln Public School officials question a pro posal by Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler that would allow top ranked students to finish high school a year early and transfer to a college with the aid of a state scholarship. Beutler admits that LB709 is riddled with problems. But the education committee member says the state should provide the best opportunities for its gifted stu dents. "We should be moving students along from institution to institution at whatever pace they can take it," Beutler said. The bill states that students in the top 10 percent of their class could spend their senior high school year in an accredited college, university or a technical community college. The students would be provided money, not to exceed SI ,000, for tuition, books and fees. They would be award ed their high school diploma after completing their first year in good standing at the college. The bill would mandate that public high schools struc ture their curriculums so that a student could graduate in three years. Beutler said the move could save high schools money and encourage students to go to college. However, high schools would have to employ more "in tense" teaching, meaning that students would take more classes at one time, said John Prasch, superintendent of Lincoln Public Schools. "The savings would be very minimal," Prasch said. Wes Lauterbach, principal of Lincoln Southeast High School, agreed that the bill would not save money because schools would have to offer the same courses even if their top students left. "I doubt that many kids would opt for this because it would mean a disruption of their activities," Lauterbach said. Often, the upper 10 percent of a class is the most in volved in extracurricular activities, he said. Lincoln schools and other large schools already allow some students to graduate one semester early and, in rare instances, one year ahead. Changing the curriculum to al low early graduation would pose few problems, admini strators say. But smaller Nebraska schools, which offer some cours es only once every few years, might spend more money to meet new standards, Lauterbach said. "There would be more pressure on secondary schools," he said. "Anything that tampers with local control is red hot." Beutler contends that the benefits would outweigh re structuring and other problems. "They say if we lose the top 10 percent, we lose all our leadership," Beutler said. "But that would give more peo ple the ability for leadership, which would be extremely valuable." William Moss, principal of Lincoln East High School, said schools "need to focus on more than the top 10 per cent." Continued on Page 3 Retired colonel calls bricks from old hotel marketing possibility By Chris Welsch Retired Air Force Col. Barney Oldfield has a plan. He would like to see the remains of the soon-to-be razed Cornhusker Hotel resold to raise money for the NU Foundation. His plan is to market bricks from the hotel in some what the same fashion as the now-defunct pet rock was sold a few years ago. "The bricks would by far outclass the pet rock," said Oldfield from his Beverly Hills, Calif., office. "For years the Cornhusker Hotel was the cornerstone of Nebraska. The bricks would hold fond memories for those who remember the (Cornhusker) hotel in its heyday." Oldfield, an NU alumnus, said his idea to sell the bricks has a great deal of potential, should the NU Foundation decide to implement it. "The marketing possibilities for the bricks are endless," he said. "People might want to buy them for conversat ion pieces, cornerstones in houses or fireplaces, or they (the bricks) could be painted gold, then employers could give them to their favorite employees." Oldfield said if the plan is put to use, the UNL student body will receive most of the funding created by sales. "The student body should get involved in marketing the bricks; they stand to gain the most from the idea," he said. Bill Smith, president of First National Lincoln bank, which owns the hotel, said the idea has merit, but it re mains to be seen if many of the bricks will be salvageable. "The mortar used in the construction of the hotel is very hard and I don't know if it can be removed without damaging the actual brick," Smith said. Smith said much of the brick will be destroyed when the hotel is razed. "The (dynamite) explosion is bound to damage a great amount of the bricks," he said. "Much of it will fall into the middle of the rubble where it would be nearly impos sible to recover." Inside Tuesday Liable to be libeled? Student organizations can find out if they are in a Thursday workshop Page 2 Chevy Breaks Down: And Modem Problems offers no quick fix Page 5 Won't You Come Home, Bill Jackman?: The Nebraska Re bounders Club gets into the recruiting act .... Page 6