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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1992)
V t i Daily I 48/30 I ■ ,^F" mostly sunny I B__B w B B^^F r B ^a warmer. Tonight, partly cloudy. B ^B B ^^^B B^k ^^^B B B Wednesday, partly cloudy ^B B B B^ B B^B B^ B B B even warmer with a high of 50 JL a WI^JLUL^Xm%JLJL L _>fii_ ^_ . .... _ Adequacy of UNL’s peer group questioned Faculty salaries are main concern By Cindy Kimbrough Senior Reporter_ Questioning the adequacy of UNL’s peer group has come up time and time again as UNL administrators, faculty and state senators continue to toss around how faculty salaries should be determined, officials said. Some claim that Nebraska is no longer comparable to some of the schools in the peer group and the group is no longer acceptable. Sen. Scott Moore of Seward, chairman of the Nebraska legislature’s Appropriations Committee, said that the University of Ne braska-Lincoln is not comparable with the other schools in terms of research spending, student i 1 enrollment, faculty size and state population. Moore said some weight needed to be as signed to the amount of research dollars spent, federal research awards received, the size of the student population, and different depart ments, as well as the schools’ roles and mis sions. Additional consideration should be given to the population within the states to finance the institutions, he said. Concern about the peer group began about a year ago when the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems recommended that UNL should compare itself to another peer group to establish faculty salaries, officials said. The center recommended that UNL com pare itself to Auburn, Colorado State, Iowa State, Kansas Stale, Massachusetts at Amherst, Oklahoma Slate University, Oregon State, Tenncssee-Knoxvillc and Washington State. - Sea PFFR on 3 ■ Average Professor's Salary Average Professor's Salary Maryland-College Park $69,100 Iowa State $63,800 Purdue 66,900 Massachusetts-Amherst 62,400 Ohio State 66,200 UNL 58,100 Penn State 65,100 Tennessee 55,400 Iowa State 63,800 Auburn 55,000 Illinois-Urbana 63 State 53,800 Minnesota-Twin Cities 62 jj 52,100 Wisconsin-Madison 61 State 51,900 Michigan State 50,500 UNL 49,100 Missouri-Columbia ^JunaMikolaJaMBW Ann Mari May, an assistant professor of economics, stands by a sculpture in the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. May said she takes her students to the sculpture garden for class discussions. Wake-up call Professor urges students to demand economic solutions By George K. Stephan Staff Reporter At a lime when economic problems thirst for solutions, Ann Mari May, an assistant professor of economics, tries to convince her students that they must demand solutions. In recent times, people have come to accept the government’s belief that no solu tions to these problems exist, May said. “We’ve got to start demanding solutions to problems and not accept that they cannot be ad dressed,” she said. ___ The common belief that government policy cannot effect economic change is especially true in young people, May said. “It’s younger generations who have been brought up with this notion that the govern ment cannot do anything right,” she said. “I think there’s this sense of hopelessness, that there’s nothing that one person can do to effectuate change.” May said she tried to convince her stu dents that they could make a difference. —--—---r “I try to teach them that there arc things people can do,” she said. “People can be enormously powerful and efficacious in terms of social movements and participation.” May came to UNL in 1987 and com pleted her doctoral degree in 1988. May said that her undergraduate degree in political science, which she earned at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, created an inter est in the politics of economic policy-mak ing, and led to her decision to become an economist. “Nobody grows up thinking they’re going to be an economist,” May said. “It’s some thing you come to much later.” May teaches U.S. Economic History, a class that helps studcnLs understand what individuals can do to change economic policies, she said. By studying the reactions of social groups to the economy in the past. May said, stu dents can sec that people didn’t always accept economic policies. May said she hoped this knowledge would encourage her students to try to change today’s economic policies. A common criticism of college students is that they are apathetic, May said. But this is because society has taught them to be that way, she said. “If you convince people that they’re powerless, they’re not going to demand anything,” she said. Economics must be looked at from di verse points of view, May said. It is impos sible to understand any issue by looking at only one interpretation, she said. In class, May often compares the econ omy to a piece of sculpture. “Where you’re standing is going to give you a certain representation of the way things are,” she said. By looking at different interpretations, she said, including those notoften taken into consideration, students can have a better understanding of reality. Any student not willing to look at alter native perspectives will find her class an uncomfortable experience, May said. Teaching is “a process of self-discov ery,” she said. “You help students to understand them selves better because they can’t understand themselves if they can’t understand their past." People view the world through their own See MAY on 3 Official says gift expands global vista By Sean Green Senior Reporter Editors' note: In his budget reduction speech Jan. 16, Chancellor Graham Spanier an nounced four programs to improve UNL and increase the university’s impact on the state and the world. This series will examine each of the four initiatives. financial gift to UNL will help faculty members boost their international ex periences through travel and instruc tion, a UNL official said. Jean Aigncr, executive dean of international affairs, said the program would be funded by a $25,OCX) donation from the Woods Charitable Trust and a matching fund from the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln. The goal of the program, Aigncr said, is to provide UNL faculty with more funding and a wider variety of international activities and See INTERNATIONAL on 2 Regents leader reveals goals By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporter John Payne said he planned to focus on im proving class availability and faculty fund ing during his term as chairman of the NU Board of Regents. Regent Payne of Kearney was elected Jan. 18 to lead the board. Payne said he thought the problems of class availability and funding for faculty were inter related. Students often arc turned down for classes they registered for, he said, because the classes are full, or not enough professors are available to teach the courses. Payne said he thought the problem could be alleviated by allocating money for more fac ulty. He said he would work for that additional money for professors in the budget now being formulated for the academic years 1993-94 and See PAYNE on 2 _ -—— 1 Presidential canidate Bob Kerrey is drawing criticism for his business background. Page 2. INDEX Wire 2 Opinion 4 Sports 5 A&E 6 Classifieds 8