-1 1
Tunnel between honors
£
hall, Selleck considered
Board talks of gender equity, tenured professor
By Lindsay Young
Senior editor
Residents of a future honors hall
will trek through a tunnel for meals if
the regents approve an addition to the
hall Saturday.
The tunnel will run from the hall’s
future location north of the Nebraska
Union to Selleck Quadrangle.
At its monthly meeting, the NU
Board of Regents will vote on whether
to approve the change in the scope and
budget of the Esther L. Kauffman
Residential Center.
Construction on the new honors
. hall was scheduled to be finished in
2001.
Regent Chuck Hassebrook of
Walthill said the tunnel proposal was
not necessarily unexpected.
“I’m inclined to support it,”
Hassebrook said. Hassebrook voted in
November against the $14.3 million
budget for the center.
Hassebrook said he voted against
t the budget because more space will be
built into the center than what is need
ed.
But, he said, the tunnel may be
needed so students will have access to
food service in bad weather.
The $400,000 tunnel will be fund
ed by private donors.
The regents also will decide
Saturday morning if they should ter
minate the tenure of a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln associate English
professor.
Regent Don Blank of McCook
will report findings of an academic
freedom and tenure committee and
make a recommendation to the board
on whether to terminate Bruce
Erlich’s tenure.
Erlich could not be reached for
comment Thursday.
Erlich, whose salary was $39,000
per year, has worked at UNL since
1973. He had a joint appointment in
the English and modern languages
departments. He was tenured in 1980.
brlich aid not teach in the tall
semester and will not teach this
semester, acting English Department
Chairman Stephen Hilliard said.
Because of standard procedure in
such cases, Erlich would be paid until
a decision is made, he said.
The reasons for the potential fir
ing have not been disclosed because
of their confidential nature, Hilliard
said.
Erlich taught primarily compara
tive literature courses in the English
department and German literature in
the modern languages department,
Hilliard said.
If fired Saturday, Erlich would be
the second English professor in the
last year to lose his job. Assistant
Professor David Hibler was fired last
summer.
The regents will also hear a report
from the universitywide committee on
gender equity.
The report outlines each of the
four NU campuses’ progress in meet
ing the regents’ gender-equity goals
set in 1991.
According to the report, UNL
made “marked improvement” in
1998.
However, the committee did offer
five recommendations to ensure
ongoing attention is given to gender
equity:
■ Family support policies and
benefits need to encompass all fami
lies, not just those that are traditional
ly defined.
■ An action plan should be imple
mented to counter UNL’s child-care
difficulties.
■ The university should continue
to advocate salary equity.
■ A task force should assess fields
of study in which women are under
represented.
■ Standards and a system of
incentives should be implemented to
ensure administrators and depart
ments are working to increase hiring
and promotion of women.
The regents meeting will be held
at 8:30 a.m. on UNL’s East Campus in
Varner Hall, 3835 Holdrege St.
LB636 proposes tax credits
for families, married couples
By Brian Carlson
Staff writer
, t State tax relief plans should
include an eamed-income tax credit
for low- to middle-income families
and eliminate the so-called “marriage
penalty,” Sen. Ron Raikes said
Thursday.
The Lincoln senator presented
: four bills designed to achieve those
ends to the Legislature’s Revenue
Committee. LB636 would provide a
state eamed-income tax credit, and
LBs 600, 601 and 710 outlined vari
ous plans for ensuring married cou
ples do not pay more income taxes
than they would if they were unmar
ried.
The federal government already
provides an eamed-income tax credit
for working families. A family with
two or more children earning less than
$30,095, for example, could receive a
tax credit worth up to $3,756.
LB636 would allow families to
claim a state eamed-income tax cred
it worth 5 percent of their federal
credit.
Lisa Gibson, a lobbyist for Voices
for Children, said federal earned
, income tax credits had allowed mil
lions of working families in the
United States to escape poverty.
“A state credit can just build on
that success at the federal level,” she
said.
Andrea Scholz, an Omaha mother
who holds two jobs to help support
her family, said a state credit would
make it easier for her to buy clothing
and supplies for her children.
Sen. Bob Wickersham, committee
chairman, said he was concerned the
tax credit could cause wage deflation.
If families received additional support
from the state government, they might
have less incentive to seek the highest
possible wage, and employers could
bid wages down, he said.
Raikes said his bill would encour
age low- to middle-wage earners to
continue working so they would be
eligible for the credit.
“The possibility of discouraging
economic advancement with this type
of tax benefit program is minimal,” he
said.
Raikes’ other three bills would
seek to end the “marriage penalty”
experienced by some married cou
ples. Under the current tax structure,
some married couples pay more in
income taxes than they would collec
tively if they were single and earning
identical individual incomes.
lbs ouu, out and / iu would seek
to lessen or end the marriage penalty.
Those bills provide three alternatives
for restructuring the current system
that vary in their degree of change -
and cost to the state.
LB601 would double the standard
deduction for married couples filing
joint returns. The standard deduction
is the amount taxpayers in a given
bracket can deduct from their taxable
income.
The bill would cost the state $21
million in lost revenue for the fiscal
year 1999-2000.
LB600, which has a $61 million
price tag, would also double the stan
dard deduction for married couples.
Additionally, it would expand tax
brackets so more families would fall
under less-taxed brackets.
LB710 raised some eyebrows
among Revenue Gommittee members
with its $150 million cost.
The bill would flatten the state’s
u
As many of you are
aware, the American
family as an
institution is under
attack in our
present culture
Jim McFarland
lobbyist for the Family Coalition
income tax structure somewhat, cut
ting the number of brackets from five
to two.
It would also increase available
deductions and make the available
deduction for a married couple equal
to the combined deduction the two
people could claim if they were single
and earning identical individual
incomes.
The bills vary in their effect on the
marriage penalty, according to an
analysis provided by Raikes’ office.
For a couple making $50,000 per year,
LB601 would lessen the penalty,
LB600 would lessen it still more and
LB710 would eliminate it.
Jim McFarland, a lobbyist for the
NonPartisan Family Coalition, testi
fied in support of the bills. He said
strong families played a crucial role in
promoting social stability by improv
ing children’s lives.
“As many of you'are aware, the
American family as an institution is
under attack in our present culture,”
he said.
No one testified in opposition to
any of Raikes’ proposals.
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Pulliam Journalism Fellowships
Graduating college seniors are invited to apply for the 26th annual
Pulliam Journalism Fellowships. We will grant 10-week summer
internships to 20 journalism or liberal arts majors in the August 1998
June 1999 graduating classes.
Previous internship or part-time experience at a newspaper is desired.
Winners will receive a $5,250 stipend and will work at either The
Indianapolis Star and The Indianapolis News or The Arizona
Republic.
Entries must be postmarked by March 1, 1999.
To request an application packet, write: Russell B. Pulliam
Fellowships Director
The Indianapolis News
P.O. Box 145
Indianapolis, IN 46206-0145
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