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By Jonathan
"What's interesting is
that many of these people
that are leaving have
tenure These people
wanted to leave They
were not pushed out"
Wheeler
Taylor
Over the past three years, the
number of UNL professors leaving
the university for "higher paying
jobs at other schools has tripled, say
UNL faculty representatives.
The problem lies in Nebraska
reluctance to properly fund the uni
versity and make faculty salaries
competitive with wealthier schools,
said Desmond Wheeler, Faculty
Senate president.
Salary increases, ranking UNL in
the bottom eight percent of all state
universities, and stagnant operation
budgets lead to a faculty "brain
drain," and threatens to severely
damage the quality of UNL, he
"i said.
Over the past four years, Gov.
Bob Kerrey, the legislature and the
university have wrestled with the
problem of maintaining the quality
of higher education in the state
many think unsuccessfully. .
Of the five front-running guber
natorial candidates, the three that
could be reached during a weekend
of heavy campaigning acknowledged
that there is no simple solution to
eliminating the brain drain.
Although the candidates agreed
higher education should be a prior
ity of the state, all said they would
not attempt to fund the university
through a tax increase.
"The people (of Nebraska) will
not be supportive of higher educa-
tion as much as they would like to
J be until we broaden the economic
base, and they can be supportive
without being personally financially
penalized," said Kcrmit Brashear,
Republican candidate for governor.
Saying "there are no quick fixes,''
Brashear maintained that to ade
quately fund the university, the state
needs more people paying sales,
income and property taxes. Higher
taxes only force people and busi
ness out of Nebraska which impedes
its economic growth.
Democratic candidate Chris
Beutler said that until the economic
base of the state grows to where
more revenue can be collected for
the university; it is the NU Board of
Regents' responsibility to reallocate
money to give faculty raises and
keep them 'in Nebraska.
"It is the job of the governor and
the Legislature to provide as much
money as it can to the university
and to prioritize education," Beutler
said. "But once the money is allo
cated to the university, it is up to the
board of regents to decide how to
spend it.M
Democratic candidate Helen Bo
osalis said the university cannot
rely on tax increases and should
increase its efforts to attract corpo
rate endowments, foundation money
and federal aid if it is to retain its
faculty and quality.
. . . a tax increase is unrealistic,"
she said. We need to look at all
other avenues first."
Nebraska, however, is not the
only school with brain drain prob
lems. Cases of the rich stealing from
the poor are occurring across the
country.
In the higher-paying, more com
petitive fields such as engineering,
computer science and law, there
simply aren't enough professors to
go around. Faculty members in
these fields find their skills are in
such great demand that they are
able to "sell themselves to the high
est bidder." according to George
Tuck, Faculty Senate secretary and
journalism professor.
And the bids are increasingly
high enough that associate and even
full professors are being lured from
their tenured positions at the pros
pect of higher salaries and greater
research support offered by wealth
ier schools.
This exodus of professors is
occurring with such alarming fre
quency and in such large numbers
that universities nationwide have
implemented efforts to stop faculty
members' flight to other institutions.
At Indiana and Washington uni
versities, pay raises were given only
to faculty in departments in danger
of losing staff to richer schools,
according to the Chronicle of Higher
Education.
These policies were met with much
protest from faculty that did not
receive raises, but, according to an
Indiana administrator, the differential-raises
are part of a plan to
make faculty salaries there compet
itive enough to stop the professors
from leaving.
Efforts to stop the brain drain at
UNL have yet to be taken, however,
and the number of professors leav
ing the university is more than ever
before. Wheeler said.
In the calendar year 1983, three
associate and six full professors
"separated" or left the university by
their own decision. In 1984, 12
associate and 1 2 full professors left
UNL and in 1985, 12 associate and
18 full professors went elsewhere.
Professors who retired are not in
cluded with these figures.
"What's interesting," Wheeler
said, "is that many of these people
that are leaving have tenure. These
people wanted to leave. They were
not pushed out.'
Reasons for the "separations'' can
vary, but Wheeler said he is con
vinced that most of those who left
were lured away from UNL by insti
tutions not only offering better
salaries, but also more attractive
research facilities and funding.
The competition for faculty is
stiff, Wheeler said. In some cases,
UNL professors got jobs at other
universities where pay was 30 to 40
percent higher.
In the 1984-85 school year, UNL
faculty members made about $4,000
less than faculty members at peer
institutions, said Harry Allen, dir
ector of institutional research. In
1985-86, UNL faculty salaries fell
an average of $5,500 below the
salaries of the peers at comparable
land-grant universities, Allen said.
"The rich are basically raiding
the poor," Wheeler said.
But according to the vice chancel
lor of the academic affairs office,
the increasing number of exiting
faculty members is not causing a
crisis. The 69 permanent position
vacancies are only a little higher
than normal, but the number is not
unusual, said Marijane England,
academic systems coordinator for
the academic affairs office.
Wheeler said, however, the rea
son the number of vacancies has not
risen with the increasing number of
professors who are leaving, is be
cause positions are being eliminated
rather than refilled. He estimated
that about 20'positions have been
eliminated over the past few years.
Wheeler said that besides the
problems retaining faculty at UNL,
competition by those institutions
better funded by their state gov
ernments is making it difficult to
refill the positions left open by exit
ing professors.
For example, the organic chemis
try department has two openings it
has been trying to fill since last year.
Wheeler said offers were made to
the two top candidates, but both
turned down the jobs. A position
was offered to a third candidate
who, by that time, had already
accepted a job at another school,
Wheeler said.
In all three cases, Wheeler said,
the money offered to start the faculty
member's research or "set up" funds
was not attractive enough to bring
them to Nebraska. He said UNL
usually offers a little more than
$100,000 to set up research while
other universities in Florida and
Arkansas offer anywhere from
$175,000 to $225,000.
Other schools can offer so much
more "simply because other states
make a bigger effort to put money
into their universities," Wheeler said.
That commitment by the state to
higher education is something po
tential faculty base their decisions
on when considering job offers.
Tuck said. And when they see low
salaries, he added, it paints a bleak
picture of how the state plans to
treat higher education.
If recent budget cuts and battles
with the legislature to restore money
for the university are any indica
tion. Wheeler said, the brain drain
is likely to continue and further
effect -the quality of the university.
"This is going to get worse until
the state starts funding us prop
erly," he said.
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