The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, September 18, 1990, Image 1
S ^nB 2 2 wk / Correction: In Monday 's Daily Nebraskan, sisters Darcy and Stacey Cudaback’s names ,y SL-jl IS *« wf were misspelled in a story about players on the Wyoming volleyball team. The Daily jatu. W Nebraskan regrets the error. . fJ t a Af\ WEATHER k INDEX Today, 40 percent chance of morning showers, Newg Diqest 2 turning partly sunny by late afternoon, high in the PH.,_. ,y 4 low 70s. Tonight, mostly dear, low in the low 50s. . Wednesday, mostly sunny, high in the mid to Sports.i upper 70s. Arts & Entertainment.9 Classifieds.10 September 18, 1990 __ University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 90 No. 16 Proposed spending lid prompts hiring freeze for faculty, students By Jennifer O’Cilka Senior Reporter In light of a proposed 2 percent lid on state government spending, a hiring freeze at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agri culture and Natural Resources is “pru dent” budget management, officials said. Irv Omtvedt, vice chancellor of IANR, said the freeze would be in effect until Initiative 405,a 2 percent lid on budget spending, was decided in the Nov. 6 election. The freeze places a hold on hiring faculty, gradu ate and undergraduate students, and spending “across the board,” Omtvedt said. Elton Aberle, head of the animal science department, said the hiring freeze has kept him from hiring gradu ate students, student workers and faculty members. “We have had to cut back a few student worker positions,” he said. “Unfortunately, some of those had been hired before Sept. 1.” The freeze may make the univer sity less competitive with other uni versities for graduate students because the department is not able to offer them assistant jobs for the spring semester, Aberle said. The department also cannot ex tend offers for two open faculty posi tions, Aberle said. “If we can’t have those positions, we will be in some real difficulty offering those courses in the spring,’ ’ Aberle said. Courses that would be affected if the lid passes are a basic equitation class, or horseback riding, horse management and Rumen microbiol ogy. But, Aberle said, he thinks the freezes are a “prudent step” now. “I’m disappointed, bull think it is the correctaction to take at this time,” he said. “If the lid doesn’t go into effect, we’ve lost a little bit of time and that’s all we’ve lost.” Lowell Moser, a professor of agron omy and acting agronomy depart ment head, said the freeze is an alter native that allows the administration to be flexible if the lid passes. But because of the freeze, the department cannot hire hourly stu dent help for research. Moser said faculty members have been forced to | postpone some research work. many student jobs would be affected by tl»e freeze, but he estimated it would be fewer than 50. Moeller said some departments have made special requests to fill student positions, and some have been granted. Other parts of die university have failed to institute freezes. Omtvedt said this is because IANR is “unique.” The institute is different from other parts of UNL because it has many partnerships that affect its budget, Omtvedt said. The university and Nebraska coun ties jointly pay cooperative extension agents. “Many counties are at their maxi mum budget limitations,” Omtvedt said. “Regardless of lids, they are having difficulty meeting their part of (agents’ salaries).” Also, about 10 percent of IANR’s budget comes from federal appro priations. Congress has threatened to sequester some of those funds until its budget plans are finalized, Omtvedt said. Another aspect that makes the freeze unique to the institute is that it hires employees in research and extension year round, Omtvedt said. Other departments hire mainly when gear ing up for spring or fall semesters, he said. Alan Moeller, assistant vice chan cellor of IANR, said work-study stu dents are exempt from the freeze. Of the 400 students who work at the institute, 16 to 20 percent are work study students. IANR usually hires 75 to 100 students workers each fall, Moeller said. ‘ The freeze does not really apply to work study, but we arc looking at other student employees on a case by-case basis,” Moeller said. Moeller said he was not sure how -4 4 If we can't have those positions, we will be in some real difficulty offering those courses in the spring Aberle director animal science department -♦ f Buiic'h !r*U;nd'Daf!y Nebraskan Gov. Kay Orr listens to class discussion with Dan Niebaum, fund-raising chairman for Student Foundations, Monday in a university foundations class, Orr attended the class with Mike Lee as part of a “trading places” day. Governor participates in class Student attends meetings, visits offices; Orr says visit informative By Tabfth# Hiner ~ Staff Reporter For a dollar, UNL student Mike Lee circumvented the gubernatorial election proc ess and, on Monday, went straight to the lop. ^ The Valentine freshman was Gov. Kay Orr’s replacement dur ing “Trading Places,” an activity sponsored by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Foun dation. The yearly activity gives a stu dent the chance to see what a community leader’s day is like, while the leader sees the university from a student’s point of view. Students paid $1 a chance in the draw ing to be king - or governor - for the day. The day began in University Foundations 103, when the gover nor and the agribusiness student arrived five minutes late for the 10:30 ajn. class. The class then organized into small groups to discuss a hypo thetical situation involving a stu dent’s death and who was at fault in her death. FTofessor Dave Lewis leaches the 30-student class that is designed to introduce them to the university. Lewis said the class gets the; students acquainted with each other and the university, while develop ing their creativity, development and leadership. During class, Oit ran into a typical student problem: Her pen ran out of ink and she had to borrow one from Lee. After the class, Lee and Orr went to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid and found a line of 13 people ahead of them. Since i ce had another class to attend, they bypassed the line and went to the Nebraska Union Crib to receive such gifts as Student Foun dation sweatshirts. Orr said her 45-minute morning visit to the university was informa tive, but too brief. Lee said the morning was en lightening for him as well, because he had never been to either a foun dations class or to the financial aid office. Last year’s “Trading Places’ ’ community leader, Vice Chancel lor for Student Affairs James Grie scn, went to the winner’s ciasses. But Student Foundation President Dave Zauha said this year, it was not possible for Or to go to classes because of her campaign schedule. Orr said the visit was beneficial for her. ‘‘I’m sure, as 1 go through the biennial budget process, even the brief glimpse of campus life . . . will help me with decisions,” she said. After a lunch break, Lee at tended a Nebraska parole board meeting at which two people were granted paroles. Orr told Lee that parole board members consider several factors when deciding whether to release a person on parole. Members review now die person has spent his or her life since going to jail, if the pris oner is rehabilitated and how long he or she had been in prison. After the meeting, Orr left Lincoln to campaign in Valentine, Zauha said. See TRADING on 6 Highest level seen UNL records gains in grants, contracts By Cinay Wastrel Staff Reporter Grant and contract awards at the University of Nebraska Lincoln crept steadily upward since 1982 before reaching last year’s record level, according to a recent report. The university received more than $56 million in grant and contract awards for the 1989-90 fiscal year, the highest level ever received for one year at UNL, the report from the Office of Sponsored Programs said. From 1989 to 1990, the number of grant awards at UNL rose 65 percent from 1,645 to 2,712. Bill Splinter, interim vice chan cellor for research and graduate stud ies, said that although inflation cut into the increase in awards, the in crease moved faster than inflation. The increase was due largely to the university receiving more money for research, Splinter said. The number of research awards rose 68 percent from 1,030 to 1,729 from 1989 to 1990. UNL research was granted $29,664,587 in the 1989-90 year, making up 52 percent, of the total awards. That amount is almost double the amount UNL received 10 years ago and about $8 million more than two years ago, according to the report One impetus for the research gain was the Nebraska Legislature’s Re search Initiative program. The Legis lature established the program in 1988 with $4 million to provide for re search in areas that might lead to economic development for the state and to encourage research awards from other sources. The second largest amount of money, $9,361,831, went to the Of fice of Student Affairs. Most of that money went to financial aid. The next largest amount went to the College of Arts and Sciences, which received $8,017,810, or 14 percent of the total. Most of last year’s money, 64 percent, came from the federal gov ernment. This included $11,040,158 from the Department of Agriculture and $10,194,468 from the Depart ment of Education. Projects of $ 1 million or more made up 40 percent of the total. UNL Grant and Contract Awards^ 0 10 20 30 40 50 60