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February 1S85. Page 2
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Ypjrom kindergarten to college, children get bigger, talk
y bigger and think b'gger. Schools also grow and change.
H Education is one of the country's biggest costs and,
JLL undoubtedly, one of its biggest assets.
But money for higher education is scarce. Growth doesn't come
as easily as it did a few years ago.
UNL is no exception. The state's agricultural economy is
faltering, making it more difficult for administrators to get the
money they need, more difficult for faculty members to get higher
salaries, and more difficult for students to face tuition increases.
Administrators say UNL's growth has been restricted, but they
cite plentiful evidence of the university's academic and physical
health. Faculty members, however, say their salaries aren't
growing fast enough. They say the core of the university will
deteriorate unless more money is found for salaries and programs.
UNL is growing, but many people question the direction the
university is taking. Since 1975, the annual budget has grown from
$88.4 million to $137.6 million. Faculty salaries grew, but not as
much as salaries of peer institutions did. The average UNL
professor earns 14.3 percent less than his peers.
Tuition, also grew from $18 per undergraduate resident
credit hour in 1975, to $38 in 1985. The increase was slightly ahead
of the rate of inflation.
Perhaps the greatest criticism of the direction of UNL's growth
has come from faculty members.
"The university tends to react to the chance event rather than a
master plan," said Linda Pratt, professor of English and last year's
UNL president of the American Association of University Professors.
Pratt said projects like the Lied Center for Performing Arts drain
dollars from the operating side of the budget, which includes
faculty salaries. But, administrators say the Lied Center will be an
asset to the university because it will bring in "high culture"
performances, enhance the fine arts environment on campus and
attract high quality staff.
Pratt said no one asked whether the arts community in Lincoln
could support an auditorium the size of Lied.
"Administrators wait a landmark they can look at as an
accomplishment but they (projects like Lied) are drains on the
core of the university drains on faculty salaries," she said.
Currently renovation and construction projects, such as the Lied
Center, will cost an estimated $55 million. That indudes the $20
million Lied Center, a new animal science building and several
renovation and construction projects on City Campus.
Pratt said capital projects, such as the Lied Center, should be
delayed until faculty salaries are improved. She said the regents'
goal of setting salaries at the midpoint of peer salaries is not
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This issue f The Sower exmir.es UNL's growth.
Chris Welsch looks at the adversity's expansion and its
possible drawbacks beginning on Page 2.
Jonathan Taylor explores the laud expansion of the
campus, and the need for mere space. Story on Frje 3.
On Pa?es 4 and 5, The Sower lochs at the economics of
sports. Cob Asmussen investigates tig Red footer's rise to
success. Ward Triplett sad Lisa Nutting found that many
women's sports still have a longsy to go.
Laari Hopple explores UNL's relationship with Nebraska
businesses on Page 6.
On Page 7, Gah Y. IZuey 'and Michelle Infeik look at low
faculty salaries, while Jadi Nygren writes about the cost of
education at UNL
Finally, The Sower interviews Ronald Roskens, the man
behind the NU empire, on Page 8.
enough.
"Midpoint in a peer group that dcesn t represent the best
schools, even in our region, is not a worthwhile goal," she said.
The average salary of a UNL professor is about $33,555,
according to a report compiled by the Faculty Senate Salary
Committee. That figure is only 85.7 percent of the average salary
of a professor at other American Association of University
campuses. The committee averaged the salaries of professors at 10
AAU institutions for comparison. An average UNL associate
professor, paid $28,902, gets 88.2 percent of the average salary
paid to peers, according to the study.
"Faculty salary in an institution is a measure of the support of
real education respect of the life of the mind," Pratt said. "Low
faculty salaries at the University of Nebraska tell people we're
trying to recruit that there is very little support for scholarly or
academic work. The best will go somewhere else."
Norman Thorson, Faculty Senate president and a UNL College of
Law professor, agreed with Pratt
"The most critical need of the university is to adequately
compensate faculty," he said. "Quality of faculty depends on
quality of pay. The reputation of an institution vis a vis other
institutions for a good deal is based on the compensation of
faculty."
Some progress was made last year, Thorson said, when faculty
salaries went up as much as 1 1 percent It's more difficult to raise
salaries than it is to build buildings because capital projects are a
one-time expenditure, he said But, he said, deferring some capital
projects would make it easier for the university to afford bigger
salaries.
Norma Sue Griffin, UNL's AAUP president and an associate
professor of health, physical education and recreation, said it is
difficult to determine whether money spent on capital projects
detracts from faculty salaries. But, she said, faculty salaries are too
low. Although administrators say improving faculty salaries is their
number one priority, she said, that commitment is not strong
enough.
"The most important problem is that we don't have a
commitment from the administrators, regents and Legislature that
is obvious enough to faculty members," she sard "Faculty
members don't feel the administration and regents are committed
enough to salary increases."
Griffin said the NU Foundation influences the university when it
gets a donation like the Lied Foundation gift of $10 million. The
university had to find the other $10 million. It did, through state
funding and private donations.
According to D.B. ''Woody" Varner, chairman of the foundation's
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Chris WfeischSower
David CreamerSower
Chris WeischSower
Capital construction and renovation are
needed to improve UNL's "academic environ-
AM W 9 f
"Faculty sdzry in an institution is a measure
of the support of real education ..."
Pratt
"Faculty members don 'tfeel the administra- f
tion and regents are committed enough to j
salary increases." Griffin
