Monday. October 25, 1982
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 82, No. 4-1
Regents to meet
on 3 percent cut
By Duane Retzlaff
The NU Board of Regents decided Friday to hold an
emergency meeting after the Nebraska Legislature's
special session in November.
In the special legislative session, a state agency budget
cut similar to last year's 3 percent across-the-board cut
will be discussed.
Regent Kermit Hansen of Omaha said he opposes the
across-the-board cuts. The university should set priorities
and make the budget cuts selectively, he said.
"Across-the-board cuts jeopardize a sound future,"
Hansen said, because they weaken the university gener
ally." Regent Robert Simmons of Scottsbluff said the board
should make plans now, instead of after the Legislature
acts, on how to administer the budget cuts.
Simmons supported the level of funding the univer
sity has received from the state government, saying
in a prepared statement that he read at the meeting,
"where comparisons can be fairly made, the quality
of instruction, research and public service at the Univer
sity of Nebraska ranks very high.
"We have spent the money needed to get it to this
high point,' he continued. "We should spend the money
needed to keep it there."
In a related matter, UNL Chancellor Martin Massengale
said the university's ability to make budget cuts involving
faculty reductions is reduced by the high percentage of
tenured faculty.
According to a report presented at the meeting, 30.9
percent of the university's faculty have tenure. The
percentage rises to 68.4 percent when "tenure-track"
faculty-members are included those "who ar virtually
guaranteed re-employment after six years at the univer
sity. Massengale said the university is hiring fewer young
faculty members, and more faculty members are retiring
later, a trend that will make the tenured faculty per
centage continue to go up.
Some of the tenured faculty percentage report and a
classroom space utilization report, statistics were given
in full-time equivalent (FTE) figures, which several
regents said were confusing;
"' W C TP-
Staff Photo by Dave Bentz
Nebraska comerback Allen Lyday (IS) and tight end Jamie Williams (80) congratulate each other Saturday after
Nebraska's 23-19 win against Big Eight rival Missouri in Memorial Stadium. The win raised Nebraska to 61 on
the season and 3-0 in the conference. Complete coverage of the game begins on page 12.
Regent Ed Schwartzkopf of Lincoln said the FTE
student figure is not the same as a full-time student
figure.
Schwartzkopf said schools calculate FTEs differently,
with some using 12 credit hours to mean full-time, and
others using 15.
The FTE figures are a result of taking the total number
of credit hours students are enrolled for, divided by
the 12 to IS hours required to be a full-time student.
This number of full-time students does not consider
other variables such as those students who take more
'than 15 credit hours which would change the results.
Simmons said "If we look at enrollment in credit
hours, then we have a different figure (from actual head
count enrollment)."
In other regents business, the academic affairs subcom
mittee reported that the number of instances has de
creased where students couldn't understand their foreign
teaching assistant.
Schwartzkopf said the students who complain about
foreign teaching assistants are usually the ones who are
doing, poorly in class and are just looking for someone
else to blame.
Related story on Page 7
Donaldson runs as 'carpenter candidate'
Staff Photo by Craig Andrnan
Curt Donaldson
By Chuck Jagoda
Curt Donaldson, the-Democratic can
didate for Nebraska's 1st Congressional
District, said the most important issue
to Nebraskans today is whatever football
team the LNL Cornhuskers are scheduled
to play next.
The carpenter candidate, who has stated
that he runs a humorous campaign
"because it allows me to commit the
truth," said farm prices come in a distant
second as an issue of concern in the state.
The candidate has pledged that "if I'm
elected to Congress, 111 do what I can to
provide free football tickets to people."
Donaldson's maverick campaign prac
tices are not limited to hi speeches, which
he plans to publish in a book entitled
"Good Enough For Government."
"I'm conducting a guerrilla campaign
without conventional resources,"
Donaldson said. His campaign workers
bake bread and sell it door to door.
Workers also sell travelers' checks with
pictures of Mark Twain, Will Rogers and
Jack Benny on them.
"I'm cheap, and you're not going to
have cheap government until you elect
cheap politicians," he said.
Donaldson said the United States is a
"nation in retreat from greatness. We've
turned to a philosophy of every man for
himself and the devil take the hindmost,"
he said.
Donaldson cited military expenditures
as the major budget error in an "economy
that is losing a billion dollars a day because
we're not operating at full efficiency.
Military expenditures are not going to bail
us out," he said.
Donaldson said he belisves post-nuclear
nlanning is absurd.
"We ought to start building the
American-Soviet War Memorial," he said.
He also proposes the construction of "an
underground museum of everyday life in
the 1st Congressional District. If elected, it
will be my boondoggle," the challenger
said.
Donaldson has proposed a consumer
law reform to take effect in the event of
World War III.
"Just as war invalidates claims against
insurance companies and credit card com
panies, I think consumer debt should also
become inoperable."
As an aid, to Nebraska's troubled
farmers, Donaldson has propsed a Farmers
Anonymous - "whenever farmers feel like
going into town and borrowing more
money than they can possibly afford, they
call me and we go drinking."
Continued on Page 15
Bereuter favors reduced deficit spending
By Chuck Jagoda
The Republican incumbent from Ne
braska's 1st Congressional District said
he thinks the most important issue con
cerning Nebraskans today is the state's
economy.
Rep. Doug Bereuter said unemploy
ment and farm prices, which affect both
the state and farm families in particular,
are important factors in the state's eco
nomy. He cited Nebraska's low unemploy
ment rate (46th or 47th in the nation),
but cautioned that "our objective has to
be that everyone who wants to get a job
can get a job. Our. unemployment is
relatively low, but that's no consolation
to the people who are out of work."
Bereuter said lack of investment of
jobs due to high interest rates and an
increase in the number of people entering
the job market are other problems in the
state's economy.
To solve present economic problems,
Bereuter said he favors a proposed reduc
tion in the level of deficit spending. He
said that the current high interest and
inflation rates are caused by growth
in the level of deficit spending.
"Once we level out the growth of the
deficit well see a larger percentage of
the gross national product devoted to
federal spending. Qnce the economy
heals itself, well, see more tax revenue."
Although Bereuter continues "to sup
port increases in military spending be
cause of the unprecedentedly large ex
penditures in the Soviet Union in the
last four years," he said he does not
support the full amount of the adminis
tration's proposed increases.
"I do not think you can increase de
fense expenditures by 17 or 18 percent
and spend that money well, he said.
Bereuter cited defense research and
development and the administration of
entitlement programs such as social secu
rity as two areas where supervision of
spending is lax.
Continued on Pase 1 5
Photc by Craif Andrttan
Rep. Doug Bereuter