NU faces preliminary budget cuts
By J. Christopher Hain
Senior Reporter
What goes up must come down.
In January, Gov. Ben Nelson rec
ommended a budget increase for the
University of Nebraska, but Monday
the Legislature’s Appropriations
Committee finalized a preliminary
recommendation that amounted to a
decrease.
Sen. Roger Wehrbein of
Plattsmouth, chairman of the Appro
priations Committee, cautioned that
the preliminary budget cut was just
I that — prelimi
nary.
i “The odds are
pretty low we’re
going to take all
those cuts,”
Wehrbein said.
Kathy Tenopir
LEGISLATURE Legislature's!^
cal Analysis office said details of the
committee’s cuts would be available
later in the week, but she said the
recommendation included a $4.5
million cut.
That cut would come from several
areas, and including an across-the
board cut, the total reduction to NU’s
budget would amount to a cut equal
to 2,5 percent of the current fiscal
year’s total budget of $305.3 million.
That would equal $7.6 million.
The university’s next move, said
Randy Haack, director of budgets
and analysis for NU, is to assess what
effect the committee’s recommenda
tions would have on the university.
Under the direction of NU Presi
dent Dennis Smith, the university
then would meet with the committee
March 7, Haack said, and lay out the
impact of the proposed cuts and iden
tify what other priorities would not
be met by proposed funding.
In the meantime, he said, the uni
versity would determine what kind of
budget could be put together from the
recommended cuts.
Wehrbein said most state agen
cies faced preliminary recommenda
tions of a 10 percent budget cut.
Those recommendations usually
amounted to areas that could be cut if
’ —j See BUDGET on 3
1^
Spirit plates
can’t drive past
state senators
By J. Christopher Hain
Senior Reporter
The president of the UNL Alumni Associa
tion would like Cornhusker fans to show their
spirit whenever they drive.
Brian Van Deun is used to trying to stir up
spirit among alumni, but he has had trouble
gl getting legislation passed in
|f Nebraska that would allow
% for Cornhusker license
plates.
Van Deun said he had
heard much support from
1 alumni for Cornhusker
I FPICI AT1IRF uuwcvci, icgisiauuii
LtuioLft i UKfc providing for them has been
frequently proposed but never passed.
This year, Van Deun has worked with Sen.
Kermit Brashear of Omaha, who has spon
sored LB620 to provide license plates with
“Nebraska Comhuskers” printed on them for
$50.
Van Deun was involved in developing the
first such plates in the country for Penn State
University, when he worked in Pennsylvania.
Van Deun said most of the spirit plate
programs in other states also had been used as
a way to raise money for scholarships. Van
Deun said that was the main reason to imple
ment spirit plates, and he said he hoped schol
arship funds could be worked into Nebraska’s
program.
lbozu nas aireaay naa us commuiee near
ing, but hasn’t yet been moved to the floor of
the Legislature.
But LB465, another bill that would provide
for specialty plates, has been advanced to the
floor. Under this bill, any non-profit organiza
tion that orders a minimum of 500 plates could
receive specialty plates for $30.
Specialty plates produced under LB465
would provide a decal for each organization
ordering a plate, but the decal would be placed
on the same basic plate for every organization.
See PLATES on 3
i JonWaller/DN
Nebraska head football coach Tom Osborne (right), along with co-captains Terry Connealy (middle) and Rob
Zatechka, accept The Associated Press national championship trophy.
NU football team awarded AP troohv
By Trev°r Parks,
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska football team finally re
ceived the other trophy for winning its
national championship.
At halftime of the Nebraska men’s bas
ketball game against Kansas, Coach Tom
Osborne and 12 players took the court and
accepted The Associated Press national
championship trophy from Paul Simon,
Nebraska AP bureau chief.
The Comhuskers received the CNN/U S A
Today championship trophy on Jan. 3, two
days after beating Miami 24-17 in the FedEx
Orange Bowl.
Osborne handed the trophy to captains
Terry Connealy, Ed Stewart and Rob
Zatechka, and together the three held up the
trophy to a standing ovation from the sell
out crowd of 14,552.
To conclude the 15-minute ceremony,
each of the 12 Nebraska players and Osborne
received awards for individual achievement.
Osborne was the presented the AP Big
Eight coach-of-the-year award from Ath
A J
letic Director Bill Byrne.
Osborne then presented the other awards
to his players.
Six players received their awards for
first-team All-Big Eight honors. Linebacker
Troy Dumas, center Aaron Graham, out
side linebacker Donta Jones, I-back
Lawrence Phillips and comerbacks Barron
Miles and Tyrone Williams were all hon
ored.
Punter Darin Erstad and Graham also
received Phillips 66 Academic All-Big
Eight honors.
a
Regent Miller presents concerns to Academic Senate
By Chad Lorenz
Staft Heporier
Regent Drew Miller described his vision for
1995 to the Academic Senate Tuesday.
“I’m being realistic in terms of what one
regent can do to improve the university,” the
regent from Papillion said.
Miller said his first priority, the same he
stood on for his election platform, was admin
istrative process redesign. He said he thought
continual improvement was necessary for a
smooth, efficient administration.
Miller’s second priority is aiding improve
ment of engineering education.
The quality of engineering education didn’t
meet a satisfactory level to attract vital indus
try to Nebraska, Miller said. He said this lack
of quality discouraged companies such as
Mercedes Benz and BMW from deciding to
build plants in the state.
The engineering college
should focus on applied
education with an empha
sis on hands-on learning,
he said.
As an incentive. Miller
SENATE said Micron Technology
Inc. was considering
Omaha as a site for a computer chip factory,
providing 3,500 high-paying, skilled jobs.
Rebuilding the university’s libraries ranked
third on Miller’s agenda. Miller said he would
like to see the university develop a virtual or
electronic library as hard copy information
became obsolete.
Deferred maintenance was Miller’s fourth
area of concern. Miller said delaying neces
sary maintenance did not save the university
money and could end up costing more.
“We need to put more funding in the area of
catching up on maintenance,” he said.
In other business, the senate heard Chancel
lor Graham Spanier’s feelings on gender eq
uity efforts and an adjusted grading scale.
Spanier said the university needed to gener
ate ideas to increase its number of women
faculty. He said he felt optimistic about the
university’s efforts.
Jane Conoley, chairwoman of the
Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of
Women, said 49 women would need to be
hired to reach the midpoint among peer insti
tutions.
If the university continued to hire at its
current rate, she said, it would lose ground to
the peer institutions.
“We are getting better, but not as fast as the
rest of the world,” Conoley said.
The commission will present a full report
on gender equity at Saturday’s regents meet
ing.
About the grading proposal, Spanier said
any system would work. The proposed system
would add minus grades.
The Academic Senate will discuss the re
vised grading proposal at its March meeting.