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Daily Nebraskan
Friday, January 29, 1982
r
Merit system without salary fund raise debated
By Mary Louise Knapp
A proposal to base salaries for NU staff members on
merit received mixed reactions from regents and faculty
members.
At the Jan. 17 meeting of the NU Board of Repents,
Regent Robert Simmons of Scottsbluff asked NU Presi
dent Ronald Roskens and the three campus chancellors to
prepare a report with a plan to distribute salary money
based totally on merit.
Simmons made the suggestion after Roskens said the
university will probably not get more than the 5 percent
increase Gov. Charles Thone recommended for all state
employees.
Thone had proposed a 63 percent budget increase for
the university. The regents had asked for a 19.8 percent
increase.
Simmons said in an interview Tuesday that the univer
sity has actually been operating on a merit system for pay
ing its faculty for quite some time, but the system has
never really been designated as such.
"Theoretically, we have operated on a merit system for
quite some time," Simmons said. "Lvcryonc talks about
it, but no one believes it."
If the merit system is put into effect, distribution of
the proposed 5 percent salary increase would be unequal,
Simmons said.
"Some might get none at all, some might get 10 per
cent, he said.
Regent Kermit Hansen of Omaha said he strongly be
lieves in the merit system.
"As far as I am concerned, the merit system on the
whole is better than across-the-board increases in salary,"
he said .
The subjectivity of the merit system is one of its maj
or problems, he said.
"I have never been in any organization where they
(employees) were 100 percent satisfied with merit," he
said. "The employees may not agree with their bosses
about the amount of increase in salary.'.'
Larry Walklin, president of the UNL Faculty Senate,
expressed disappointment with the 5 percent proposal for
university staff salary increases.
"We hope the faculty will get more than that," he said.
Walklin said the idea of the merit system loses its ef
fectiveness if salaries are raised by just a few percent.
The proposed 5 percent increase in salaries is not
enough to keep the university competitive with other
schools of comparable size, he said.
Roskens, in a prepared statement, said higher salaries
than would be given to university employees by the 5 per
cent increase are necessary to make the merit system more
meaningful.
"When discussing salary increases based on merit, it is
important to define the word 'merit.' I believe that any
salary received is based on merit."
"I recognize that some persons consider a salary in.
crease as meritous only if it exceeds the so-called average,
or satisfactory, level."
"Not all employees of the university achieve the same
level of job performance, and that is why I oppose a gen
cral, across-the-board salary increase. It leaves no room for
above average increases for the above average performer."
"Two important matters must be taken into consider
ation . First, when salaries are low by comparison, as our
faculty salaries are in many instances, the university has
an obligation to consider base salaries before applying
merit."
"Second, it is more meaningful to reward outstanding
job performances when you receive monies to fund 10 to
12 percent increases rather than five percent increases. Wc
requested funds to support higher salaries than it appears
we will receive for 1982-83."
Black students to voice concerns
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By Ward W. Triplctt III
Black students attending any of the Big Fight schools
will have a chance to hear how students in the other seven
live during the fourth annual conference on Black Student
Government in Ames, Iowa, Feb. 19 through 21 .
Nebraska will probably send 20 to 30 delegates to the
conference, which consists of a series of workshops,
lectures and meetings intended to define the problems
black students face on a predominately white campus.
The conference's theme is "Survival Strategies for the
'80s."
"Black students risk losing face with their culture when
they go to a university like Nebraska," said Monte Luc, re
gional coordinator for UNL's Afrikan Peoples' Union.
"Blacks don't get a chance to interact with other black
students very often because there arc so few of us here,"
he said. "Some students can get discouraged easily, and
pack their bags and go home."
Helping keep up the morale of discouraged students is
one major goal of the conference, according to Darnell
Miller, president of Iowa State's Black Student Union.
"A big thing about this is to get people together,"
Miller said. By discussing similar situations, students can
possibly arrive at some way to help each other out, he
said.
Some of the workshops scheduled include "Combat
ting the Real World," and "Creative Thingking." The key
note speakers will be sociologist Dr. Nathan Hare, who
will discuss black relationships, and former Atlanta Mayor
Maynard Jackson. Miller said about 300 to 400 people are
expected to attend.
Miller said another important part of the conference is
the quarterly meeting of the Big Fight Council, a group
composed of three black-students from each school.
Fugene Tolston, president of APU, Charlene Maxey and
Cynthia Gooch represent UNL. Yvette Jardin, also a UNL
student, is the conference's Parliamentarian.
The council is the ruling body of the conference and
keeps the schools in contact with each other throughout
the year, according to the chairperson for this year's coun
cil, UNL's Dorcen Charles.
Charles said that the conference is also an opportunity
for blacks to make the personal and business contacts
that their individual institutions cannot offer, due to the
low number of black professors and community leaders.
"Blacks also lack campus political power," Charles
said. "Holding this conference allows us to bring together
the different schools to discuss how we can better go
about getting the things we want," she said.
Nebraska has a disadvantage unshared by any of the
other schools, as it is the only one that does not receive
an annual budget from the university for black related
activities. This is partly because UNL has the lowest num
ber of black students, 350, compared to 800 at Okla
homa, and 560 at Iowa State.
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