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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1982)
Tl Daily usuaisus aura University of Nebraska-Lincoln Friday, March 12, 1982 Vol. 109 No. 44 Lincoln, Nebraska Copyright 1982 Daily Nebraskan Candidates debate issues, oppose UNL's budget cuts By Pat lliggins Governor Charles Thonc's proposed budget is the "worst of all possible worlds" because it increases taxes while reducing services, state Sen. Don Wcscly said. Wcsely, at a debate with his opponent Robert Van Valkenburg at the law college Thursday night, said the university budget situation is at its most serious point in re cent history. "The maintenance of a quality univer sity is an absolute necessity. I'm in a state of shock over the budget," Wesely said. "How much further can cuts go before the university is crippled?" Van Valkenburg said the money spent on education is the most wisely spent by the government. Given a choice between cutting back the university budget or rais ing taxes, Van Valkenburg said he would raise taxes. "Money spent on education will assist in bringing business to the Cornhusker state," Van Valkenburg said. He said it was "a dastardly mistake" by the Reagan administration in cutting back student loan programs. Wesely said the elimination of the pro posed veterinary school would be a good way to save money. Van Valkenburg said Nebraska needs a veterinary school in order to set the pace in the livestock industry. The proposed Nor den Dam project was strongly opposed by Wesely. "This is a boondoggle water project," Wesely said. "We can't afford such an ex pensive project with so few benefits." Van Valkenburg said the future of the Nebraska's agriculture industry depends on completion of the Norden Dam project. "Sen. Wesely is willing to spend millions for mastodons but not dollars for dams," he said in reference to Wescly's proposed renovation of Morill Hall. President Reagan's new federalism pro gram is already having a major impact on Nebraska, Wesely said. Because the state income tax is based on the federal rate, the tax cut has led to a $50 million short fall for the state, he said. Wcscly said some programs should be administered nationally rather than by each of the states. He cited the Aid to Dependant Children program as an example. The federal cut back in that program includes poor preg nant women so the state now picks up about $1 million in benefits. He said since Nebraska is paying ADC to pregnant women, other women from out of state may move here to collect those benefits. Van Valkenburg, while endorsing new federalism, said he anticipated a revenue deficit exceeding $100 million over the next three years. "We're going to have to take a close, hard look at Nebraska's tax structure," Van Valkenburg said. Lincoln's proposed gay rights ordinance was condemned by Van Valkenburg. Wesely said the ordinance was not an issue for the Legislature but one for local ities to decide. Fremont professor announces bid for 1st District congressional seat Larry Sather of Fremont officially filed for the 1st District congressional seat Thursday in the Secretary of State's office. With his filing, Sather is now placed on the democratic ticket of the May 1 1 pri mary ballot. After the papers were filed, Sather an swered questions at a brief press confer ence, while holding his 4-year-old daughter, Jennifer, in his lap. Sather, 38, an associate speech profes sor at Bellevue College for eight years, said he and incumbent Doug Bereuter, part ways on several issues. "Bereuter is anti-education," Sather said, pointing out that Bereuter voted to eliminate the Department of Education. Sather said he didn't know how Bereu ter feels about the proposed student loan cuts, but said he strongly supports contin ued student loans. Sather was a Marine in Vietnam, and went to college on the G.I. bill. Sather said he is becoming more fiscal ly conservative, but he has a strong com mitment to social programs. Sather said he was unhappy that Bereu ter completely supported Reagan's tax cuts last year, which Sather said "provide a windfall for the wealthy." In addition, Sather said defense spend ing is too high, and proposed a freeze on increases in defense spending. He said the defense department should "go on a diet" like other government departments are be ing forced to do. Sather said he is running because of his dissatisfaction with Bereuter's job per formance and his own long-held interest in politics. He said he has an excellent background, for entering politics. Also, he said he has taken enough courses in politi cal science to earn the equivalent of a bach elor's degree in political science. Sather's wife, Suzanne, teaches speech at Midland College in Fremont. Lincoln Democrat says education priority in congressional campaign In hopes of instilling a more positive at titude in the federal government, Marlin Pals of Lincoln says he has filed for the 1st District congressional seat. Pals said the government needs to "es tablish a system of free tuition for all lev els of education." He said the best way to make people employable and lessen the unemployment rate is to give them the education and training they need. He said the government will be compen sated for the education costs through the increased taxes these people will pay after getting better jobs. Pals, a Democrat, said Reagan's policies are very much like communists' and favors big business. He said that if elected he would favor policies that look toward the future and not the past, as the current administration is doing. "It's a matter of getting a more positive attitude in general," he said. Pals, 41, said he works in a grocery store and is writing a manuscript he hopes to have ready for publication next month. He said he graduated from Iowa State Universtiy with a general sciences degree in 1964, and studied life science at UNL from 1967 to 1972. Pals was an unsuccessful candidate for city council in 1981, but said he is better prepared for the congressional position. "The farm situation has to be taken care of," Pals said. "The government allows in centives, such as tax write-offs, for other businesses, so why not farmers?" iff tfflV4 is 3 O , 2 f , Si '0 11 tw& 3 & c J ill ' rfr : - 1 M Photo by Jodie Fields Spring training began for major league baseball teams in Florida this week, but UNL sophomores Carol Kelley and Jerry Hempel took advantage of Lincoln's warem tem peratures and Love Library's lawn to get in some spring training of their own. Study says higher education most expensive in Nebraska By Duane Retzlaff Nebraska has the most expensive sys tem of higher education in the country, ac cording to a recent study made by a Wash ington, D.C., institute published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Calculations made by Kent Halstead, senior research associate at the National Institute for Education, show that Nebras ka's system is expensive because a large number of students are enrolled in high cost, "research" universities, and few stu dents are in low-cost, two-year colleges. However, William Fuller, executive di rector of the Nebraska Coordinating Com mission for Post-Secondary Education, said the education system cost rankings do not reflect how much money the states spend on higher education. The calculations made by Halstead are based upon a national average of state and local appropriations and tuition for differ ent classifications of institutions of higher education. That national average for 1978 79 for the "comprehensive" classification of colleges, for example, was $3,113 per student. In Nebraska, however, these in stitutions, such as UNO, received $2,524 per student in 1978-79. Nebraska does not fund its institutions at as high a level as other states fund theirs, Fuller said. If the funds that Nebraska ac tually pays to its institutions were brought up to those national levels, Nebraska would have the most expensive system of higher education in the country. Also, Nebraska has more students en rolled in its more expensive higher institu tions than most other states. Therefore, the amount that the state would spend if its funding per student was equal to that of the national average, is especially high, Ful ler said. However, every classification of insti tute in Nebraska had a lower appropria tion than the national average for that aver age. In response to Halstead's study, Fuller said he wrote a memo to other members of the Nebraska commission, suggesting that Nebraska could lower its system costs if it placed a much higher number of students in low-cost, two-year community colleges. Currently, only 8 percent of college stu dents in Nebraska are in community col leges, according to Halstead's study. Community colleges are inexpensive be cause they require little or no research fa cilities, he said. Fuller said he questioned whether Nebraskans are willing to place more students in two-year colleges to lower education costs. Fuller said the state has to decide if it wants UNL to be a true "research" univer sity, or to settle for being just a state uni versity. If UNL is to become a research univer sity, Fuller suggested it increase its tuition rates, state funding, and number of gradu ate students. He also said some type of ad mission standards need to be adopted. Good research universities do not have open enrollment, Fuller said. "Some people are under the impression that because UNL is a land -grant college, it has to be open enrollment," he said. A research university is a selective in stitution, Fuller said - selective in students admitted and programs offered. UNL's problem is that it tries to be all things to all people, Fuller said. Continued on Page 2