:y W;:-.W:.
Weather:
Cloudy this morning with a 30 per
cent chance of light snow. Becoming
partly cloudy this afternoon with a
high of 28. Clear and cold tonight.
Low of 15. Sunny on Thursday with a
high near 30.
Ensembles to jazz up
Kimball tonight
Arts and Entertainment, page 6
Huppert hopes Huskers
make waves in invitational
Sports, page 5
0
1 o 1
hlakH. tff .jfr -n-'
December 4, 1985
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 85 No. 69
Tenure worth problems, UNL officials say
By Deb Hooker
Staff Reporter
Some UNL administrators and facul
ty members say that while problems
exist with the university's tenure sys
tem, it should not be abolished.
The officials were responding this
week to a national survey irt which one
third of higher education instructors
said students would get a better edu
cation if the tenure system didn't exist.
Tenure virtually guarantees a per
manent job.
The survey, conducted by the Carne
gie Foundation for the Advancement of
Teaching, included both tenured and
non-tenured instructors, said Robert
Hochstein, director of communica
tions for the foundation The third who
favored abolishing tenure could have
been instructors who have not been
tenured yet or instructors who actually
think its abolishment would improve
higher education, Hochstein said. The
survey did not ask participants why
they didn't support tenure.
Support of tenure varies at UNL.
"I would not have voted with that
1 don't think it makes that big of a difference. I
think it's kind of a plum that we can offer.'
T. E. Hartung, dean
College of Agriculture
third," said Henry Holtzclaw, UNL's
interim chairman of the chemistry
department.
Holtzclaw said tenure protects pro
fessors' right to freedom of expression
in the classroom. Without tenure, he
said, professors would be less able to
discuss controversial issues in class
because it could cost them their jobs.
However, the job security that tenure
offers can cause problems, he said.
Dismissal is possible
"If a person is incompetent and has
tenure, then their job is protected,
Holtzclaw said.
G.G. Meisels, dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences, said that while it is
hard to fire an incompetent tenured
professor, it is possible.
"Tenured professors can be dis
missed only if they are not doing their
job," he said. "The university must
show cause."
Tenure protects professors from
being fired for expressing views that
are unpopular with people who may
have enough influence with the univer
sity to have control over professors'
jobs, Meisels said.
Robert Furgason, UNL vice chancel
lor for academic affairs said the univer
sity has to prove that the instructor
should be fired. They cannot lose their
jobs for capricious or arbitrary reasons.
"Until they are tenured," he said,
"we have the ability to inform them
that their contract will not be re
newed." Furgason said instructors must work
at the university for six years before
they are considered for tenure. During
this time, they are on an annual con
tract and are reviewed yearly.
Six years needed
Furgason said there is a great deal of
screening for tenure. Instructors must
complete their six years and be
recommended for tenure by their de
partment chairman to their college's
committee. The committee must then
send its approval to the college dean.
The dean sends his recommendation to
the vice chancellor for academic af
fairs, who sends it to the chancellor.
The NU Board ot Regents gives final
approval for tenure status.
Because instructors must go through
so much screening before they receive
tenure, Furgason said, he doubts
tenured professors will let their work
slide simply because they have more
job security. He said that type of person
would not make it through the process.
However, Furgason said, some pro
fessors let their work slide below par
due to problems like lack of interest or
energy.
"I don't think tenure itself is the
villain," he said.
T.E. Hartung, dean of the College of
Agriculture, agreed that tenure does
not lower the quality of teaching at
UNL. He said recruiting good faculty
members and providing them with
good professional guidance will keep
the quality up.
"I don't think it makes that big of a
difference," Hartung said. "I think it's
kind of a plum that we can offer. Some
of our younger faculty might not hang
on if they didn't think they had a
chance of some security. And we need
all of them."
Students agree
UNL insurance
satisfiesFrieeis::
By Jen Deselms
Staff Reporter
A survey done by the University Health
Center Board showed that ,91.04 percent of
students who bought student health insu
rance last year were satisfied with the
coverage.
The board surveyed 6? students who bought
the insurance last year. Of the 13 students
who did not buy the plan again this year, none
were dissatisfied with the coverage.
This fall 1,603 students bought the plan.
This number is down 161 from 1934-85. Gary
Wilkinson, the health center's director of
business services, said difficulties in getting
information about the insurance to students
accounts for the decrease in sales.
The UNL student health insurance plan
pays medical expenses incurred during the
student's coverage period. After a $50
deductible for each occurrence, he said, the
student plan pays 80 percent of the covered
medical expenses to a maximum of $2,500,
Expenses of more than $2,500 will be paid up
to 100 percent to a maximuni cf $25,000 per
occurrence.
When students use the health center, Wil
kinson said, the $50 deductible is waived and
100 percent of covered charges are paid.
He said the plan covers a semi-private hos
pital room, doctor and surgical fees, nursing
care, laboratory services, anesthesia, ambu
lance fees, use of wheel chair cr crutches,
orthopedic supports and miscellaneous hos
pital expenses.
The policy can he bought from Jan. 13, 18S3,
to Feb. 23, 1SS8, Wilkinson scad.
Insurance is sold only darir.3 this period to
prevent netive sebctien, he said, Negative
selection is when staicnts get sick cr irj-rci
t?.i rt'du2-2 thf fstiittl espouses will beff
j5inisxllP;ft to :'mslB its j
ifh Hirp f. fin
V v.3i y
UNL students prepare for priesthood
Seminary requires
college education
By Martha Miller
Staff Reporter
Each day, 20-year-old Tim Christy gets up at 6
a.m. and attends a prayer session.
At 7 a.m., he goes to Mass, eats breakfast, then
goes to classes at UNL. After a day on campus,
Christy returns to his home in Waverly for more
classes, dinner and evening prayer.
Christy is studying to be a Catholic priest. He
is one of nine seminarians at the Lincoln Diocese
seminary at Our Lady of Good Council Retreat
House in Waverly. Young Catholic men study at
the seminary to become priests. They live, eat,
study and pray together under the direction of a
priest and bishop.
Attending classes at UNL and at the seminary
isn't unusual for the men. Although most semi
naries on the East Coast are complete universi
ties within themselves, the Lincoln seminary
doesn't offer all the classes needed to become a
priest.
"We have the scholastic classes required as
well as the seminary atmosphere," Christy said.
Priests must have four years of college besides
theology classes taken at the seminary, he said.
Seminarians take classes in basic church doc
trine and ethics at the seminary.
- After the two-year program, the seminarians
continue their religious studies at other
seminaries that offer degrees.
"Most people don't realize that it takes eight
years to become a priest," Christy said.
The men are studying to become diocesan
priests. This means they will most likely become
parish priests or religion teachers in Catholic
high schools within the Lincoln diocese.
Christy said diocesan priests are obedient to
the bishop and take the vows of obedience and
celibacy.
"We will not take the vow of poverty, but we
will practice pastoral poverty," he said.
The men live in the Good Council Retreat
House under the direction of Father Thomas
O'Donnell, who teaches the courses in religion
and ethics. Ha is the author of "Ethics in Chris
tian Morality," a book used by several prominent
- Please see SEMINARY on 3
11 ' ":3 l&l
1 t ) I f
l B. , -' i V ; J
f II ' ' Y
(In Ui - rJ
I , , , ; , .
David CreamerDaily Nebraskan
UNL studsnts snd ssminsrisns (clockwise from left front) Dave Daigle, Jim
Bsumsnn, Tim Christy and Jim Vcikmer pose with Father Thomas J.
O'Donnell at the Good Council Retreat House.
