r v n Daily r
Monday, September 13, 1982
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 82 No. 15
Regents approve budget request of $156o3 million.
By Duane Retzlaff
The NU Board of Regents approved the 1983-84
budget request Friday after much discussion by board
members about adopting a "lamp sum" request format.
The regetns approved a specific line-item budget re
quest for 1983-84 and similar budget request guidelines
for 1984-85, along with a statement that they would
prefer the state appropriation to be made in a lump
sum.
The measure passed 7-1, with Regent John Payne of
Kearney voting against it.
The board asked for $156.3 million for 1983-84,
a 6.1 percent increase from the $147 million in the 1982
83 budget. Both budget totals do not include salary in
creases for university employees.
Jim Raglin, NU director of public affairs, said the
regents are waiting to see how the economy develops
before submitting a salary-increase request, which should
be made later this fall.
Regent Robert Simmons of Scottsbluff was the strong
est supporter of the lump-sum budget request.
"I don't see what's wrong with asking for a lump sum
and not being tied to it," he said.
Payne opposed
Payne opposed the lump sum request, saying it could
cause misconceptions about the budget and hurt the uni
versity in the long run.
Regent Kermit Hansen of Omaha said he favored
asking for a lump sum from the Nebraska Legislature, but
that information should be provided about how the
money is spent. In addition, the regents should claim the
prerogative to shift funds from one program to the other,
he said.
Simmons had earlier moved to ask the Legislature for
a lump sum of $140 million for 1983-84, which the uni
versity could spend as it saw fit. The motion was defeated
7-1.
NU President Ronald Roskens said he has asked the
Legislature every year for a lump-sum budget, but ha?
made no inroads with them on the subject.
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Corncobs spirit organization members Dennis Kean and Lynn Larsen take a ride on a miniature Go Big Red car
during Saturday's Nebraska-Iowa game. For more photos of the game turn to pages 10 and 11.
Faculty research grants down
By John Koopman
The good news is that the UNL faculty received almost
$25 million in grants and gifts for research in the 1981
82 fiscal year. The bad news is that the amount is down
from the two previous years.
According to Earl Freise, assistant vice chancellor of
esearch at UNL, administrative officials do not look at it
is a "down" year.
"The amount of money the faculty received this year is
the third-highest amount in the history of the university,"
he said."Just because it's down from the last two years is
io reason to look at it in a negative sense."
Freise said the grant total was lower mainly because of
federal cutbacks in the amount of grants given.
The amount of money gathered for grants in the 1979
50 fiscal year totaled more than $30 million and the
1980-81 fiscal year totaled more than $31 million.
Amounts of the grants awarded to various faculty
members were as varied as the different types of research
done.
The smallest amount awarded was $25 to the
chemistry department for the Research Equipment Fund,
given by Buckwell University.
The largest amount was $1.6 million awarded to the
International Programs diviiion of the Institute of Agri
culture and Natural Resources. The grant was from the
Development Support Bureau of the Agency for Inter
national Development for the SorghumMiDet Support
Program.
Freise said competition for grants can sometimes be
come a vicious circle.
"Our faculty has to be competitive, but part of the
ability to be competitive is to have the facilities within
the institution to back them up. In other words, you've
got to have equipment and facilities to get more
equipment and facilities," he said.
Since UNL's computing facilities are not yet well
developed, it's hard to get grants for them, Freise said.
On the other hand, UNL has one of the leading centers
for mass spectrometry in the nation and receives a great
deal of money every year for this.
David Brooks, freshman chemistry coordinator, ex
plained the grant process for the science department as an
example of how grants are solicited for each department.
"When a new faculty member is hired, the university
will set them up with a certain amount of laboratory
equipment and supplies. The amount of money the uni
versity supplies may reach as high as $100,000 but num
bers of $50,000 have been typical in the past. Somebody
would be hired in a general area of scientific expertise and
would be expected, as a part of their career, to attempt to
get support for that work from a federal agency like the
National Science Foundation, the National Institute of
Health or the National Aeronautics and Space Administra
tion. They would be expected to try to get additional
funds to support their research. Writing grants is an
expected part of a faculty member's job," he said.
He said the way most competitive grants are awarded is
by a peer review process. Generally, he said, whether you
get a grant depends upon how highly your research idea
is regarded by your peers.
"If you don't have outside funding, then the only
source of support you have to do research with is state
support, and state support is just not close to adequate,"
he said.
The regents' request probably will be disregarded as
well, because special interest groups in the Legislature will
want to make sure,the area of the university that concern
them will be funded, Roskens said.
Regent Kermit Wagner of Schuyler agreed, saying
"every senator has a pet item on the universtiy budget."
With such large amounts of money involved, the Legis
lature naturally wants to know how the money is spent,
Wagner said.
Residency requirements changed
In other board action, the regents unanimously
approved changes in residency requirements for tuition.
The minimum residence period for foreign students trying
to establish U.S. residency two years to 180 days.
Regent Ed Schwartzkopf of Lincoln, chairman of the
academic affairs subcommittee, reported that university
enrollment figures are not yet available.
However, he estimated enrollment at UNO is up one
half of 1 percent, UNL enrollment up slightly less than
1 percent and enrollment at the NU Medical Center
"down a little bit."
The board voted unanimously to disallow the
complaint of Alan Lemke, assistant professor of English
and curriculum and instruction at UNL, who said his
academic freedom was violated when he was not granted
tenure.
The regent's decision came after the UNL Academic
Freedom and Tenure Committee concluded there had
been no violation of Lemke's academic freedom and rec
omended that the complaint be disallowed.
Related story on Page 3.
Voter registration
in Unions planned
byNSSA, GLC
By Eric Peterson
A voter registration drive co-sponsored by the
Nebraska State Student Association and ASUN's Govern
ment Liaison Committee will take place in both the
Nebraska Union and East Union this week, said GLC
state liaison Andy Carothers.
Voting information and out-of-county registration
applications will be available today, but Carothers said
Lancaster County voter registration won't -start until
Tuesday. He said the League of Women Voters will
register Lincoln voters in both the unions Tuesday and
Wednesday.
Carothers noted that voters may register for any
precinct that they have lived in for at least 10 days,
which means UNL students can register as Lincoln voters.
"Students can register if they consider Lincoln their
permanent residence," he said.
Carothers added that if students wish to vote by
absentee ballot or to register to vote in their home
county, NSSA and GLC can handle that, too.
Students must first fill out an application, which
GLC will mail to the county registrar.
When the county mails the absentee ballot or registra
tion form back to the student, Carothers suggested they
bring it in to the ASUN office to be notarized.
He said one problem with the registration process
last year was that some students signed their ballots
before bringing them in to the notary public in the
ASUN office - the law requires documents to be
signed in the notary's presence. Carothers said ballots
may, however, simply be signed again.
Carothers said NSSA and GLC are bringing in two
speakers for the registration effort. In the Nebraska
Union lobby, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob
Kerrey will speak Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. while the
Nebraska Young Democrats help register voters.
On Wednesday at 2:30, Nebraska Secretary of State
Allen Beermann will speak as a stand-in for Gov. Charles
Thone. The UNL College Republicans will help out with
registration that day.
Students can register as Lancaster voters from 10 a.m.
to 2 pin. both days, and can get out-of-town voting
material on both days until 4 pjn.
Carothers said the week's goal is 500 new
registered voters, compared to the estimated 350 voters
NSSA and GLC registered last spring. In any case,
Carothers said, the organizations will work with
registering student voters before every primary and
general election.
"It's our big concern to get as many students registered
to vote as we can. We can get across to the administration
and others how politically involved students are," he said.