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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 11, 1991)
■k y i Daily t Nebraskan 87/67 Today, humid, partly sunny, thunderstorms possible. To night, partly cloudy with a chance of storms.Thursday, partly cloudy and warm with a 30 percent chance of storms. Departments fight proposed budget cuts Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories examining the ef fects of proposed budget cuts on individual colleges and departments. By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporter Vincent DiSal vo, a professor of speech communication, has taught at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for 20 years. Now, faced with the elimination of the Department of Speech Com i munication because of UNL’s pro posed budget cuts, he might have to start all over. “The personal feeling that I have inside is that it (the proposed elimina tion) is a slap in the face,” he said. “I’m flabber gasted and bitter.” DiSalvo is not the only person at UNL whose future is uncertain. Monday, Jack Goebel, interim chancellor at UNL, submitted pro posals to the Academic Senate’s Budget Reduction Review Commit tee to slash $2.5 million from UNL’s budget this year. The proposed cuts would elimi nate the speech communication and classics departments as well as the planned College of Fine and Perform ing Arts. The proposals also would i make significant cuts in the Teachers College and the College of Home Economics. Students and professors in the departments of speech communica tion and classics are not taking the proposed elimination of their depart ments lying down. Speech communication students are organizing a petition drive aimed at saving their department. They will collect signatures in the Nebraska Unions and through vari ous student organizations, said Andy Roob, a doctoral student who is help ing to organize the drive. Professors from both departments also are fighting the proposed cuts. Valdis Leinicks, chairman of the classics department, said he is writ ing letters to the new chancellor and to the BRRC protesting the proposal. See REACTION on 6 Academic Senate angry over cuts, officials say By Tom Kunz Staff Reporter 11 takes a lot to gel the Academic Senate angry, but proposed budget cuts have done just that. During a meeting of the Academic Senate on Tuesday, many faculty members said they thought they were “left out”of recent decisions on proposed budget cuts. •There arc CCMATC profound misgiv- wCIlM I C. ings about the budget cuts,” said Jim McShanc, as sociate professor of English. Last spring, the Nebraska Lcgisla n .-lure catted for the University of Ne braska-Lincoln to make 3 percent budget cuts over a two-year period. On Monday, vice chancellors pre sented their proposed cuts to the Budget Reduction Review Committee. At Tuesday’s meeting, George Tuck, Academic Senate president, said he has gotten several phone calls from faculty members about the cuts. Professor Bill Seiler, chairman of the Department of Speech Communi cation, voiced his anger at the pro posed elimination of his department. “The decision was made by people I’ve never met,” he said. Tuck said what most angers fac ulty is the lack of direct faculty con sultation about the cuts; he urged those in the budget-cutting process to directly involve UNL faculty. Although faculty members were asked to give their written opinions to their respective college deans last spring, Tuck said more involvement was needed. Decisions bn budget cuts were being made during the summer, which was another disadvantage to direct fac ulty input. “During the summer, faculty members are on vacation, doing re search work (at) a variety of places,” Tuck said. “They arc difficult to contact.” Graham Spanier, the newly ap pointed chancellor, fielded questions about the budget from members of See SENATE on 6 Budget review committee structure to be proposed By Adeana Leftin Senior Reporter A proposal for the structure of the Budget Reduction Review Committee will be presented for consideration by AS UN tonight. The BRRC was formed in response to a Nebraska Legislature man date that the University of Nebraska-Lin coln cut 2 per cent from this year's budget and 1 percent from next year’s budget. The committee, whose structure must be approved by ASUN, Aca demic Senate, the UNL administra tion and the Academic Programs Council, will make recommendations to thechancellor on whcreculs should be made. Andy Massey, Association of Stu dents of the University of Nebraska president, said the APC approved the BRRC proposed structure Monday. Two weeks ago, ASUN approved a proposed committee structure, but APC vetoed it to avoid a roll-call vote. APC consented to allowing a BRRC member to call for a division of the house when preparing to vote. According to Robert’s Rules of Order, when a division of the house is called, a roll-call vote must be taken. “We’ll just have the student repre sentative (to BRRC) call it every lime,” Massey said. The roll-call vote will let students know how the committee members voted, Massey said. “I think that we need some sort of accountability,” he said. n . . Kiley Tlmperiey/DaNy Nebraskan Rack em. Kent Hemmerling, a freshman architecture major, practices his pool game in the Nebraska Union game room on Tuesday. Correction: In a student profile Tues day, the name of Estonian student Viive Paju was misspelled Supreme Court nominee Clar ence Thomas' confirmation hearing opens. Page 2. All eyes are on McCant. Page 7. Take 6 comes to the Lied. Page 9. INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 7 A&E 9 Classifieds10_ I Programs, positions slashed despite UNO tuition increase By Kara Morrison Staff Reporter A 9 percent increase in student tuition at the University of Nebraska at Omaha was not enough to make up for mandated budget cuts for 1991-92. Eighteen full time positions, in cluding more than t six faculty posi tions, have been cut. Two aca demic sequences and many student services also have been eliminated, according to a UNO news release. The $600,000 generated by the tuition increase had to finance a mandated 6.5 percent faculty increase and up to 4 percent staff salary in crease. At the same time, UNO had to reduce its budget by 2 percent ($677,748) because of cuts mandated by the Nebraska Legislature. The business education sequence in the College of Education and the broadcast production sequence in the Department of Communication have See UNO on 6