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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1991)
K 55/30 Today, partly sunny, windy and colder. Tonight, partly cloudy. Tuesday, mostly sunny, high near 60. Official says events protect tenured faculty By Wendy Navratil Senior Reporter Three developments emerging from the Budget Reduction Review Committee hearings last week cast a brighter glow on the budget cutting process, an official said. Thomas Zorn, _ __ chairman of the BUDGET Budget Reduction Review Commit tee and the Aca demic Planning Committee, said the APC explicitly committed itself last week to preserving tenured fac ulty positions and to avoiding the loss of faculty currently in tenure-leading positions at UNL. Committee assigns priority to gender equity The APC also assigned high prior ity to UNL’s goals and commitments to gender equity in the resolution. “A number of committee mem bers stressed that it was important to indicate the committee’s strong commitment to tenure and gender equity, in part, 1 think, because of the widespread perception that these were being ignored,” Zorn said. Some departments may still be cut, Zorn said. In any case, protecting tenure and gender equity goals may make it more difficult to formulate recommendations for incoming UNL chancellor Graham Spanier to con sider in December, he said. “It may mean moving tenured faculty to another department, or it may mean changing the structure of the department, or leaving the depart ment as it is,”Zorn said.“We haven’t acted on specifics yet.” Zorn said the APC also considered a suggestion from the BRRC to com municate to the UNL chancellor that the speech communication department was no longer being considered for elimination. “The APC has not as yet taken action,” Zorn said. “There is a pend ing motion close to that in language, but it has not been acted on. The committee has indicated that it in tends to further del iberate on that this week.” Zorn said the BRRC suggestion was significant, but it would only affect one department, even if the APC decided to adopt it. A decision with broader impact is the ATC’s positive response to a re quest by the Academic Senate that more hard budget data be gathered for the UNL colleges to examine. “We had already requested that the vice chancellors provide us with more details on the budget and other impacts of the budget cuts,” Zorn said. “What (the Academic Senate) wanted was for the various college committees to have time to respond to the various cuts.” Zorn said the Academic Senate resolution allotted four weeks for the college committees to respond once the hard budget data was supplied. But the APC did not set a specific time period in its requests to the vice chancellors, he said. “How all of this affects the ulti mate time line is a little problematic,” he said. “How long the process will be delayed is unclear.” Zorn said that although the hear ings woqld not be delayed, the col lege committees would be given a chance to respond to the hard budget data after they have assessed it. See BUDGET on2 Proposed cuts resisted on grounds of fairness Counseling, home economics officials defend programs By Jean Lass Staff Reporter In budgeL hearings Friday, officials from the Counseling Center and the Collegeof Home Economics told the Budget Re duction Review Committee that cuts in their programs would hurt gender equality and ra cial minorities. The hearings arc part of the University of Dl inrCT Ncbraska-Lincoln’sbudget BULHjb I reduction process, initiated last spring when the Ne braska Legislature man | dated that UNL cut its budget by 3 percent over the next two years. Proposed budget cuts in the College of Home Econom ics amount to onc-fi flh of its budget, or 17.6 percent. Joan Laughlin, associate dean of the home economics college, said a statement that the proposed budget cuts arc “gender neutral” to faculty, students and staff, made by Stan Lib erty, interim vice chancellor for academic af fairs, is inaccurate. “The home economics college serves pri marily female students, and most of the faculty arc women,” Laughlin said. “Saying that the budget cuts arc gender neutral doesn’t make it _ _ »» so. Proposed cuts in the home economics col lege stem from “inherent unrecognized biases of people who made the recommendations,” Laughlin said. Laughlin said officials who proposed the cuts said they were made on the basis of two criteria: quality of the program and centrality to the processes of UNL. Budget officials fail to sec women’s contri butions as central to the university’s mission, she said. See HEARING on 2 rvnui idle, r auimai Brian Mary, a senior art major, leads a protest march for hemp legalization down Centennial Mai l to the State Capitol, while Scott Kolb (center) and David Splichal, both of Lincoln, carry a large joint that Mary made in a sculpture class. Proponent espouses hemp values at rally By Wendy Mott Staff Reporter _ __ Proponents of marijuana legalisation displayed tic-dyed banners of mari juana and a figure of a smoking joint at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln’s Broyhill Plaza on Friday. Members of National HEMP, Help End Marijuana Prohibition, joined UNL student members of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in sponsor ing the rally that drew about 250 people. Coordinators of the rally said their goal was to leach students about the benefits of legalizing hemp, the marijuana-producing plant. Scott Fuglci.a freshman philosophy major and the co-coordinator of UNL’s HEMP NORML organization, said the short-term goal of the rally and the benefit concert that followed was to raise money for the organi zation. The group’s long-term goal, he said, is to “enlighten minds.” Jack Hercr, author of “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” and a hemp-legalizing activist, was the key speaker at the rally. Hercr said the most important point of the rally was to show the world the benefits of hemp and the fallacy of outlawing it. “The U.S. government is the most fascist pig in the world for outlawing marijuana,” Hercr said. The plant is a viable alternative fuel source to fossil fuels, which, he said, “do nothing for the human race except end it." ' It hemp was legal, Herer said, Nebraska could provide enough fuel for America.” Hemp could completely replace fossil fuels using only 35 to 40 acres of land, he said. He said people who smoke marijuana live longer, healthier lives than those who don’t, citing U.S. Department of Health studies. “You have to be a damn idiot not to smoke pot,” Herer said. Juan Gonzales, a senior secondary edu cation major who attended the rally, dis agreed with Hcrcr’s statements, saying that he thought the information was inaccurate. “These people are living in a fantasy world,” Gonzales said. “They arc so care free about smoking pot, but there’s more to it than that.” I 1 Page 7 Twins take the pennant. Page 8 “Frankie & Johnny" hits the spot Page 9 INDEX *. Opinion 4 Sports 7 , Arts & Entertainment 9 Classifieds 10 UNL budget troubling, Nelson says By Jeremy Fitzpatrick * Senior Reporter < He received his undergraduate, mastcr’sand law degrees from the University of Ncbraska Lincoln and taught there for four years. That back ground hasn't made decisions regarding UNL’s budget easy for Nebraska Gov. Ben Nelson. “It’sdefinitely a struggle,” he said. -i “A struggle of principle and expecta tions and vision and reality.” Nelson said economic realities have been hard on all state agencies. ‘‘At least in the case of the univer sity — for whatever it’s worth — it’s more (funding) than they’ve gotten in the past, but not what they needed or expected in their own judgment.” To meet reduced funding levels, the Legislature has ordered UNL to cut its budget by 3 percent over the next two years. Nelson said he has been following the budget-reduction process but doesn’t believe he should involve himself directly in it. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to try and step in and somehow micro-managc,” he said. “We’ve got the (NU) Board of Regents plus we have the new post Nelson secondary coordi nating commission to begin to deal with that and to help resolve these areas of contention in the process.” But his lack 01 direct invoivcmeni docs not mean he thinks the process is unimportant, he said. “It’s not as though I’m disinter ested or detached. It’s just that 1 don’t think I should micro-manage.” Nelson said he thinks the budget reduction process is helping UNL determine what its priorities arc. “I’ve always operated under the approach — and 1 really believe it’s accurate—if everything is a priority, then nothing is.” See NELSON on 2 a >.