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NU president to take more control of budget
By Brian Sharp
and Matthew Waite
Senior Reporters
NU President Dennis Smith said
Saturday he would be asserting more
control over the University of Ne
braska budget.
kill DH*CklTC Speaking during
NU nCIlCNIO e NU Board of
egents meeting
tis weekend,
mith said regents
id said they
antedoneuniver
ty with a strong
esident to whom
ic chancellors
would report.
With budget arrangements now,
Smith said, the office of the president
was basically a “fifth campus.”
“No university system can operate
in that manner,” he said.
Joe Rowson, NU spokesman, said
Sunday that control of NU’s budget
had been assumed by the Nebraska
Legislature in recent years. Smith’s
plan would return those duties to the
presidency, he said.
“We have wound up with a system
where ... the Legislature has come to
set the priorities for the university,”
Rowson said.
The university alwayshas received
its money from the state in a lump
sum, Rowson said. That money is
divided among the four NU campuses
by the regents and the president.
But the Legislature specifies where
it intends the money to go in appro
priation bills, Rowson said. NU offi
cials have come to honor those inten
tions, he said.
By law, however, the Legislature is
prohibited from directing where the
money will be spent.
“I think it (the change) is very
much within the spirit of the way the
university is constitutionally estab
lished,” Rowson said. “If you’re go
ing to have a system that works its way
around the president’s office, what
use is a president?”
With Smith’s announced change,
the president will deal with chancel
lors from each campus and then de
cide the needs of the entire system,
Rowson said.
Rowson said this should reduce the
a moun t of confusion abou t NU’s needs
— giving the Legislature only one
person to consult.
But Rowson said he didn’t expect
the change to end politicking between
campuses about funding.
“There has been direct communi
cation between some senators and
members of individual campuses,” he
said. “I expect that will continue, but
this makes it clear who is going to be
making the decisions.”
Lee Rupp, NU vice president and
director oflegislativeaffairs, will con
tinue to be the university’s only lobby
ist.
Smith said that many times spe
cific campus needs h ad to be addressed,
and the campuses’ only recourse was
dealing directly with the Legislature.
Now, Smith said a general univer
sity fund would be established by the
president to address these needs.
The money would be used to pay
for items such as research on whether
to establish an engineering college at
the University ofNebraska at Omaha.
“This is not a central administra
tion fund,” he said. “The money all
goes back to the campuses.”
Rowson said changes also would
bring funding of the president’soffice
directly under the regents.
In the past, Rowson said, each
campus would con tr ibute to the office’s
fund out of its own budget. The change
would define how much campuses
should contribute, he said.
Regents vote
for increased
waiting period
for residency
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
Out-of-statc students will have to live in
Nebraska six months longer to establish
residency, the NU Board of Regents decided
at its Saturday meeting,
ftlll nEACftlTP Voting unanimously,
NU REGENTS theboard changed the resi
dency waiting period for
i ncoini ng s tuden Is i n 1995
from six months to one
year.
To demonstrate resi
dency, students now are
asked to provide evidence
— such as signing an affida
vit that says they plan to make Nebraska
their permanent home. Students have 10
other ways to prove residency.
NU Provost Lee Jones said change would
make Nebraska’s lenient policies tougher.
The pol icy was meant to be broad, w i th each
of the four NU campuses developing their
own specific one.
Regent Don Blank ol McCook said the
change would mean a lot of money for the
university. However, he said, it was not
meant to deter students from coming to
Nebraska.
“We do want to attract the best and the
brightest,” he said.
The number of out-of-state students in
the NU system, especially in the professional
schools. Blank said, was significant. He said
50 percent of the dental college students and
38 percent of the law students in Nebraska
were from out of state.
Rcgen Ls * questioned the effee t of the pol icy
on out-of-state tuition scholarships designed
to offset tuition costs for exceptional and
minority students.
A 20 percent limit on the the number of
See RESIDENCY on 10
‘Cut it OUt’ T'avts Heying/ON"
Li Kitterer, a University of Nebraska at Kearney student, sits in front of Varner Hall Saturday while environmental
groups protest the NU Board of Regents’ contract with Mitsubishi Electronics. See story on Page 6.
Regents want no fee approval power
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
The NU Board of Regents on Saturday
passed a watered-down version of a proposal
for the regents to approve all fee increases,
including parking and athletic ticket prices.
The original proposal, brought by Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln student regent
Andrew Loudon, required campus chancel
lors to report all fee increases to University
of Nebraska President Dennis Smith. Smith
would then pass the information to the re
gents for approval.
During debate, regents amended the mea
sure to require the chancellors to report
increases to the regents, but the regents
would not have power to approve or disap
prove the changes.
Loudon said students’ concerns about
rising education prices brought on the idea.
“The cost of securing a col lege degree has
increased dramatically in the last decade,"
he said. “This new policy would ensure that
any changes would be subject to consider
ation in a public forum.”
On April 26, Loudon outlined his con
cerns in a press conference. He said parking
fees increased this year by an average of 81
percent, or $62.67. Also, football tickets
rose $ 17, and from 1991 to 1993, laboratory
fees increased on average from $16.47 to
$2L18.
Loudon said he wasn’t blaming the board
See PROPOSAL on 10
Election of senators to precede crucial year for UNL
ay Brian ^narp
Senior Poporim
For the last six years, the Nebraska
Legislature has dealt UNL round after
round of budget cuts.
And the University of Nebraska
Lincoln isn’t going to take it any
more,__ TU
■ i ... pi Thai « Ihf* nruMz.
sage Michael
Mulnix, executive
director of univer
sity relations, said
he wanted to send
senators this year.
^ j vv iiii pi miaiy
elections for
LEGISLATURE Beatrice and the
three Lincoln districts on May 10,
Mulnix said he was hopeful that would
be the message voters would send
candidates as well.
“It’s going to be one of the most
important sessions in recent history,”
Mulnix said. “We need additional
funding. We absolutely cannot take
any more cuts.”
The additional funding for which
UNL will be asking in the upcoming
session would go toward much-needed
maintenance projects and h iring more
faculty.
Mulnix said millions of dollars
were needed for maintenance projects
that had been neglected for years.
Combine that with the faculty that
needs to be hired, he said, and UNL
will be asking for a large chunk of
funds from the Legislature.
“We’re closing courses left and
right,” he said. “Class sizes arc huge.
Further cuts will result in serious cuts
toprogramsorjustlcsscrquality over
all.”
By most estimates, the Legislature
will begin with a $60 to $100 million
deficit because of shortfalls last year,
Mulnix said.
“We (UNL) have to be part of the
solution and not just constantly com
plain about cuts,” Mulnix said. “What
we (UNL and senators) are going to
have to do is put our heads together
and find a way.”
The budget cuts are coming—that
they can agree on. But whether the
cuts are warranted is another story.
Sen. Don Wesefy and Robert Van
Valkcnburg. candidates from the 26th
legislative district, disagree on how
much the university budget can be
trimmed.
Wcsely said the state’s budget
looked bad for the coming year, and
he didn’ t foresee any good th ings hap
pening for UNL’s budget.
“I think wc’rc in for a rough ride,”
Wesely said. “At the same time, the
SeeELECTIONSon9