T Tl Daily fl
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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