Lewis pleased with efforts to increase salaries
By Amy Edwards
Senior Reporter
Jim Lewis, president of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Faculty Senate, said Sunday
he is pleased with the progress being made by
the Nebraska Legislature’s Appropriations
Committee to increase faculty salaries.
However, Lewis said he agrees with Sen.
Shirley Marsh of Lincoln that salaries for sup
port staff at the university should also be in
creased.
Lewis said support staff salaries are lower in
comparison to other universities than are fac
ulty salaries.
The Appropriations Committee will meet
today at 1:30 p.m. to make any necessary
changes in the tentative budget before sending
it to the Legislature floor.
The tentative budget includes an overall
11.2 percent faculty salary increase.
The committee made some assumptions on
how the money would be spent within the
University of Nebraska. Lewis said the regents
may choose to do something different than the
committee’s speculations.
The university has a real salary crisis that
will take several years to resolve, Lewis said.
Gov. Kay Orr’s proposal would be a substantial
step to make salaries comparable, he said.
Marsh said Sunday the appropriation of the
money will be left to the NU Board of Regents,
but she hopes they will listen carefully to the
speculations of the committee.
There are a number of categories that are all
important to the university, Marsh said. Sup
port staff often have equal years of service, but
are further down the line for salary increases,
she said.
Marsh said i f people don ’ t “look at the whole
picture,” the university could stand to lose a lot
of people who are important to the structure of
the campus.”
Salary problems are not equal at the three
university campuses, Marsh said, and this
should be taken into consideration.
NU President Ronald Roskens said he does
not want to speculate on the Appropriations
Committee’s decisions, but is generally
pleased with the trend in the committee’s plan
ning.
Speaker: Blacks isolated
from own cultural activities
By bretchen Boehr
Staff Reporter
Black athletes need to escape the
“dumb jock” syndrome, a University
of Califomia-Berkeley professor
said Friday.
Harry Edwards, a sociology pro
fessor and recognized leader in the
study of the syndrome, said nothing is
expected of a black athlete academi
cally because society places empha
sis on black athletic achievement.
Edwards spoke after a dinner
sponsored by University Programs
Council Black Special Events. About
To step into the
average press
conference is like
stepping into a Ku
Klux Klan meet
ing.’
Edwards
140 people attended the program,
“Let’s Put the ‘Dumb Jock’ to Rest,”
in the Nebraska Union Ballroom at
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Edwards said many black athletes
attending universities on athletic
scholarships are isolated from black
cultural activities on campus.
“Black athletes have virtually no
contact with involvement with any
thing supportive of black culture,”
Edwards said.
The black athlete is mainly under
the direction and influence of white
coaches, he said.
Edwards said America maintains
a plantation system where black
people are linked to less intelligence.
White society monopolizes
managerial positions, he said, and
blacks are told they are less suited for
these decision-making roles.
Less than 1 percent of the lawyers
in the United States are black and less
than 2 percent of the professors out
side of black institutions are black,
Edwards said.
“Blacks feel they should limit
their job expectations to what society
says,” Edwards said.
This plantation system exists in
American sports too, he said. Blacks
are virtually non-existent in athletic
management positions.
“Even if blacks got all of the bas
ketball and football coaching jobs,
still over 90 percent of the manage
ment jobs would be held by whites,”
Edwards said.
Approximately 50 percent of ath
letic scholarships go to blacks ath
letes and in some conferences, he
said, the number is even higher.
But there are only three black
basketball coaches at universities in
this country, Edwards said. Universi
ties hire black coaches only after
experiencing problems with black
athletes, he said.
Edwards said the media is the
most segregated sports entity. Out of
658 professional sports beat writers,
he said, only 28 are black.
“To step into the average press
conference is like stepping into a Ku
Klux Klan meeting,” Edwards said.
He said the plantation system
must be dismantled, not just because
of moral reasons, but because of the
cultural clash it causes on college
campuses.
He said the black inner-city com
munities arc producing most of the
athletes.
A university will bring a high
number of these black athletes on a
predominantly white campus, he
said. Some of these athletes attend
college although they don’t want to
further their education.
“Some of these students are on
campus because we’ve set up this
silly system that says if you’re good
at athletics you have to go to college,
even if you have no interest in it,”
See EDWARDS on 3
Bud Callahan of Ficke* FickeThe Auctioneers takes bids on these lamps at the University
of Nebraska-Uncoln surplus auction Saturday morning at UNL Warehouse No. 1 on East
Campus. AH 10 lamps pictured above sold for $2.
UNL surplus auction grosses $10,000
By Lee Rood
Senior Reporter
Jack Smith paid $6 Saturday for
an X-ray machine at a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln surplus auction
on East Campus.
The used machine was aboutsix
feet-long and came complete with
instructions and five other boxes of
accessories. Bud Callahan, the
auctioneer, told Smith he’d have to
register it with the State Health
Department.
A man shook his head as Smith
followed Callahan, of Ficke &
Ficke The Auctioneers, to another
part of UNL Warehouse No. 1.
“What the hell would somebody
want that for?” the man asked.
Smith said he doesn’t intend to
use the X-ray machine to X-ray, but
he wants to tear it apart and recycle
various metals.
Smith, from Pickrell, calls him
self a crap dealer. He comes to
university auctions to buy “good
crap, scrap junk or whatever you
want to call it.”
Smith said many people come to
surplus auctions to buy recyclable
metals. Others come to find an
tiques, used machines for their of
fices, or to resale their purchases.
James Sterling, manager of inven
tory at UNL, said the auction Satur
day was a success, grossing about
$10,000. Two surplus auctions last
year only made $7,000, he said.
Sterling said two big money
makers Saturday were lawn mow
ers from the UNL Department of
Grounds. They sold for more than
$1,(XX) each.
Sterling said money raised at the
auctions is pur into a general fund to
pay auction expenses and UNL*
classroom upkeep. If one depart
ment’s inventory brings in a large
amount of money, that department
gets the money, he said.
According to Marge Ficke, a
settling clerk at the auction, UNL
holds surplus auctions twice a year.
Ficke said departments at the
university give old machines and
office materials to UNL inventory
personnel. Other UNL departments
can take what they want from the
collected inventory.
Periodically, junk that isn’t
claimed is sold at the auction.
Auctions always attract a lot of
customers because inventory is so
See AUCTION on 3
Senators question pay hike approval
By Phil Richmond
Staff Reporter
While giving first-round approval Friday to
a constitutional amendment that would raise
state senators’ salaries, many Nebraska legisla
tors remained skeptical of voter approval.
LR7CA would raise senators pay from $400
per month to $ 1,500 per month. Originally, the
amendment proposed an $800 salary raise, but
further amendments increased the amount.
Sen. Vard Johnson of Omaha voiced senti
ment of other legislators when he said he is
skeptical the pay increase would meet voter
approval.
“I’m jaundiced, jaded and cynical that the
Nebraska voters will do the right thing,”
Johnson said. ‘They think it's more fun to do
the wrong thing.”
Johnson said such a low salary “saps one’s
self-worth,” because each day senators drive to
the Capitol they realize they arc taking part in
“human exploitation.”
Johnson said it is unfair that one lobbyist
receives a higher salary than the entire Legisla
ture.
Sen. Ernest Chambers of Omaha agreed.
“It’s not right for a lobbyist who stands
outside the glass doors and watches us work to
receive more money than we do,” Chambers
said.
Chambers said he, like other senators, has
considered leaving the Legislature because he
can’t afford to serve.
“In 18 years of service, I’ve earned $86,000
in salaries,” Chambers said.
He said private firms have offered him jobs
that pay that much in a year.
Sen. Tim Hall of Omaha said he is in a
similar situation.
“It’s very difficult for me to serve in this
body with three kids and a mortgage and a wife
who likes me home for dinner,” Hall said.
He said he is considering leaving the Legis
lature if salaries aren’t increased.
Sen. Elroy Hefner of Coleridge opposed the
amendments to increase the salary to $1,500 a
month. Hefner said he thought it went too far.
“I think if we raise it to $1,500, we’ll come
away and the people will not support it,” Hefner
said. ‘‘Leave LR7 the way it is — at $1,000 per
month.”
Senators also gave first-round approval to
LR258CA, which would remove salary re
quirements from the constitution and establish
a citizens’ commission to recommend salaries
for legislators.