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Tugboats, jazz group
moves to Chesterfield's
Arts and Entertainment, page 16
The 'other' Fryar,
making a name for himself
Sports, page 17
1X7 fl Paiiy ri
!X(P.
October 22, 1985
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 85 No. 41
'The money just isn't there'
NU professional schools area to cut, Kerrey says
Kerrey
Mark DavisDaily Nebraskan
By Todd von Kampen
Senior Reporter
As NU absorbs upcoming budget cuts, it
should consider its graduate professional schools
and central administration more expendable
than undergraduate programs, said Gov. Bob
Kerrey.
Kerrey said in an interview Friday that NU is
certain to lose part of its state support during
the special legislative session. NU officials are
scheduled to appear before the Legislature's
Appropriations Committee today to discuss Ker
rey's proposal to cut almost $5 million from NU's
1985-86 budget.
Kerrey, who announced last week he would
not seek re-election next year, said during his
1982 campaign that NU did not have the finan
cial support at that time to be a "superior"
institution. He told UNL students in April 1982
that, if elected, he would "go to the people and
say if you want excellence at the university, this
is wlnt it would cost."
Nebraska's declining economy has shown him
since then "the money just isn't there" to sup
port state government, including NU, at its pres
ent size, Kerrey said. Economic forecasts in 1982
said the state's economy would grow by 7 per
cent each year, but experts today predict 3 per
cent growth each year for the next two to three
years.
Research and undergraduate programs form
NU's "fundamental building blocks," Kerrey
said. If the NU Board of Regents keeps trying to
fund all of NU's programs, he said, the under
graduate programs will suffer and the overall
quality of the university will deteriorate.
"Is it more important to have the best instruc
tors possible in those areas, or is it more impor
tant for us to continue all the other things we've
decided we're going to do?" he said. "The
regents decided it's more important for us to do
all the things'. And I think that's a mistake."
Professional schools such as the NU Medical
Center and NU College of Law, should be elimi
nated first because comparatively few Nebras
kans attend them and fewer of their graduates
stay in Nebraska than those of undergraduate
programs, he said. Those who worry that too
many people are leaving Nebraska for graduate
training should be more concerned when stu
dents "go down to Kansas University because
they've got a better department of English,
chemistry, (or) mathematics," he said.
The regents must be willing to eliminate good
programs along with weaker ones to effectively
reduce NU's budget, Kerrey said.
"If you try to say, 'We're only going to elimi
nate those things that aren't quality, we're only
going to eliminate those things that aren't
necessary,' you eliminate nothing," he said.
"There are darn few things over there that aren't
quality, that aren't necessary. But the question
is, 'What can you afford?' "
Kerrey said each of the three NU campuses
could survive independently without damage to
their educational missions. He said the state
spends $19 million a year to maintain one cen
tral administration, which the state established
15 years ago.
Lincoln Sen. David Landis' proposal that NU
transfer $ 10 million in spending during five years
from weaker to stronger programs is unworkable
unless programs actually are eliminated, Kerrey
said. Landis' plan leaves the regents the freedom
to decide how the $10 million would be reallo
cated. "History has shown us that we've been able to
identify those areas of excellence that we want,"
Kerrey said. "But we haven't been able to make
the reduction of those things that are good pro
grams, that are needed, that aren't first-dollar
items," Kerrey said.
The regents' refusal this summer to close the
NU Medical Center's College of Pharmacy and
the School of Nursing's Lincoln division shows
the regents are vulnerable to public presssure,
he said. A tight budget will give the regents the
incentive to cut programs, he said.
1
Legislative hearing on
NU budget today
A Legislative hearing about the NU budget
will begin at 1:30 p.m. today in room 1517 of
the State CapitoL
. NU faculty members, administrators and
student leaders will speak to the Appropria
tions Committee. Gov. Bob Kerrey has pro
posed a 3 percent across-the-board cut for
state agencies, including NU.
ASUN President Gerard Keating encour
ages students to attend the meeting to show
support for the university. He said students
should visit their state senators at the
Capitol.
"Our strategy is to work toward a tax on
services" to generate revenue so cuts won't
be necessary, Keating said.
"They're going to be faced with a substantia'
reduction in the general-fund budget," Kerrey
said. "That's a given; it's going to" happen.
. . .They're going to be able to turn to people
and say, 'Last time you said we had the money,
this time we don't.' "
Students in programs that are eliminated
should consider that NU and the state will be
better off for the cuts, he said.
"What I will simply say to people is, 'Don't be
depressed by it,' " Kerrey said. "It may be your
program. But what's left is going to be stronger.
It's going to enable us when the economy turns
around to invest in things that we weren't able to
invest in before The only way you can do that
is to invest less in some of the things you were
previously doing."
SSA to send resolution to state legislators
By Diana Johnson
Staff Reporter
Alarmed by Gov. Bob Kerrey's budget
balancing proposal to cut three per
cent of state support to higher educa
tion, the Nebraska State Student Associa
tion has prepared a four-point resolu
tion that will be mailed to state legisla
tors this week.
The resolution was made during
NSSA's first statewide conference last
weekend in Chadroa
NSSA members include student re
presentatives from Chadron, Peru and
Wayne state colleges, UNL and the Uni
versity of Nebraska at Omaha.
. "This is a situation where everyone
is on the chopping block," said Kelly
Kuchta, UNL's acting NSSA board of
director representative. "This is an
opportunity for us to stand together."
The resolution will be used as a
"united statement" and a "working
document" for all NSSA members, Deb
Chapelle, NSSA executive director said.
The possible effects of a three per
cent cut are included in the resolution,
Chapelle said. For example, should the
Legislature adopt Kerrey's proposal,
NU's state support would be trimmed
'by about $5 million. Chadron State Col
lege would lose $172,000 from its fiscal
budget, Kathleen Neary, UNLNSSA
member said.
NSSA's resolution also encourages
the Legislature to find alternatives to
decreasing expenditures, like lowering
state support to universities and state
colleges, Neary said.
"If we are going to admit to the fact
that Nebraska is going to be economi
cally depressed, then we are going to
have to find answers for long-term pro
gress," Chapelle said, referring to Ker
rey's proposal.
NSSA's proposal suggests finding
state income producing programs,
Chapelle said. .
"This is not a short-term problem,
that's why alternatives are so impor
tant," Chapelle said.
The resolution suggests also that the
- Pr-3 2
three percent cut cannot be success
fully instigated in the mid-fiscal year,
Chapelle said.
"Any way you cut it, it's going to be
very difficult to find a way to adjust
quickly to the cut without harming
someone somewhere down the road,"
Chapelle said.
The resolution ends by stating that
"education is a sound and productive
investment for Nebraska," Neary said.
Please see NSSA on 3
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