Officials to share limelight
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All of these make it look as if the university
has pulled away from academics, he said.
“The ideal is that people see the university as
an academic institution,” he said.
NU Regent Drew Miller of Papillion said he
believes the university should spend what is
needed to be No. 1 in its top academic programs.
In other words, determine what programs in
which the university is strongest, and focus on
being the best at those.
“We don’t have the money to be No. 1 in
everything,” he said.
The chancellor agreed with this approach to
academics.
But Moeser and Byrne said it was important
to spend the money needed to have top-notch
athletic teams across the board.
Spending to be tops in all sports is a way of
ensuring all teams - men’s and women’s - will
have the same opportunities. And Moeser said it
wouldn’t be fair to cut back on those now, creat
ing middle-of-the-pack teams.
Under federal law, UNL has to have an equal
number of women’s and men’s programs. To do
this, Byrne said, it takes money.
“I don’t want to tear down the quality of the
athletic program,” Moeser said. “I want to build
up the quality of academics.”
State money available for academic pro
grams has been shrinking, while costs are
increasing. Because of this, Moeser said, there
have been academic budget cuts and shifting of
money within the budget.
“If it weren’t for athletics, our cuts would be
larger,” he said, referring to the $1.5 million he
mandates the athletic department give to the gen
eral university fund each year.
1 he money supports initiatives the university
doesn’t have the money from the state to cover,
including some student scholarship and academ
ic programs, Moeser said.
But Miller said making the athletic depart
ment give $ 1.5 million reinforces his idea of tak
ing money from athletics to support academics.
“That proves my point. You can transfer
funds from athletics to academics,” Miller said.
“I want to do more of that.”
Miller agreed the athletic department was an
asset to die university.
“Our image is clearly stronger in sports than
in academics: I don’t think that’s all bad,” he said.
“It is a reasori why a lot of students come here.
You never warn to give up on a strength.”
Building the Mind
Moeser said the university is working to
build a stronger academic future - and it’s start
ing with improving its buildings.
He pointed out the window in his second
story office in the Canfield Administration
Building toward construction on the new
Kauffman Residence Center, and noted that
work was also being done on Love Library,
Richards Hall and other academic buildings.
The construction is being paid for through
private donations and a bill passed in the
Legislature in April 1998. All told, about $300
million is being used for academic building
changes.
The university already has started to boast its
academic successes, Moeser, and others, said.
It has bought space in the Chronicle of
Higher Education, a newspaper distributed
among college and university professionals, to
advertise on-campus academic conferences or
prestigious academic appointments.
Several professors have been contacted by
national media, said Kelly Battling* national
news editor and a senior news writer for UNUs
public relations office.
Sometimes, a press release is sent. Other
times, the public relations office calls news
rooms to ask if they would be interested in the
professors’ comments.
Steve Taylor, a food science professor, has
been quoted in The Wail Street Journal as a
national authority on nut allergies.
Entomology Professor Leon Higley’s com
ments about die animated film, “A Bug’s Life,”
were featured in more than a dozen newspapers.
He said the insects in the fdm were anatomically
incorrect - the insects had four legs, rather than
six.
Higley's comments were reiterated by late
night television stars David Letterman and Jay
Leno.
Moeser said UNL has also hired an East
Coast firm to help promote the university in the
national media, such as The Washington Post and
The New York Times.
“I do think we have academic programs that
are that caliber,” Moeser said. “But 1 don’t think
we’ve been as successful in promoting the uni
versityls reputation for academic excellence.”
The university has taken advantage of its 30
second commercials during nationally televised
THE UHtVERSfTY is oHsseHHtfcwHsf wlwt ssiss bars called an Imbalance betweenfe Image
as an academic institution and as an athletic powerhouse. URL Is well-known <er its football
program throughout the country and even overseas.
football games to focus on the university’s acad
emics, Larsen said. And cameramen make sure
to let viewers glimpse the Academic All
American banner hung in Memorial Stadium.
Timothy Gay, physics professor, has been
featured on HuskerVision during football games,
teaching the crowd about football-related
physics phenomena. Even the players stop when
Gay comes onto the screen, Larsen said.
Larsen said radio stations that broadcast
Husker games are contracted to provide public
access commercials year-round. Some of these
broadcasts reach other states, she said.
Athletic Marketing Director Heidi Cuca said
the Husker sports image is a catalyst to getting
the university's academic programs recognized
worldwide.
“Why not use us to get that message out?”
she said.
Tlppiqg the Scales
To combat what some have called an unbal
anced image, the chancellor formed the
Institutional Marketing Team. Larsen and Meg
Lauerman, an assistant advertising professor,
were asked to lead the effort
The team's No. I goat is to let the nation
know about Nebraska’s academic programs. It
will make recommendations to fee chancellor on
how to do that.
UNLh academic reputation affects its annual
ranking by U.S. News and World Report. About
25 percent of the ranking depends on academic
reputation as determined by other universities in
a survey.
“If they don’t know about us, they can’t give
us a high number,” Larsen said. Potential stu
dents pay attention to those rankings, she said.
The university has, in the past three years,
floated back and forth between the third and the
second tiers. In 1998, the third tier meant UNL
was between 118-172 out of227 national univer
sities. In 1999, the second tier meant that the uni
versity was between 51-120 out of228 universi
ties.
The marketing team is composed of 16 peo
ple from various departments across campus,
including individual colleges, the Office of
Admissions, the Institute of Agriculture and
Natural Resources, the University Foundation
and the Athletic Department.
The team has finished its research and has a
strategy for pushing academics. Larsen said the
research was intended for internal use and could
not be released.
If all campus departments worked together to
promote UNL’s name, the PR would be more
effective. Now, the effort is split between campus
offices.
“We need to turn up the volume on acade
mics and alumni success,” she said.
Money Matters
If the university’s image were unbalanced,
some say more would donate to athletic pro
grams than to academic facilities.
Proving this would be tough.
“That’s debatable,” said Paul Meyers, direc
tor of athletic development and of fund raising
for the athletic department. “I believe people
decide where they want to donate.”
Christine Aguirre, spokeswoman for the
University Foundation, agreed.
“A lot ofpeople want to give to a strong ath
letic program, but a lot of people want to give to
strong academic programs,” she said.
The University Foundation, a private corpo
ration designated by the NU Board of Regents in
1936 to solicit and receive donations for the uni
vetsity, accepts donations for both academic and
athletic programs, Aguirre said.
The athletic budget forihe 1998-99 fiscal
year was about $35 miUion. About $6 million of
that came from donations. The rest came from
areas such as licensing revenue and ticket sales.
The Athletic Department pays for all of its
expenses, including building upkeep. No money
Comes out of the academic budget to support ath
letics.
The 1998-99 UNL budget was about $609
million. The foundation was unable to provide
numbers of how much was donated in 1998
1999 to just UNL, but to all four campuses, $51.6
million was transferred for use.
That does not include money given in the
form of an endowment, which allows the univer
sity to collect on interest every year.
To raise money for academic uses, the foun
dation identifies objectives for a specific time
period, such as building and program needs, and
those are recommended as areas people can
donate toward, Aguirre said.
The foundation works with the Athletic
Department so possible donors are not
approached twice by the same university.
The Athletic Department receives no student
Athletes and their
tutors
Learning Disabilities
The Sports Major
Corruption in the
System
Isolation and Its
Counterparts
Athletes After Graduation
The Social Scene for Athletes
Athletes as Role Models
A Day in the Life
The Academic/
Athletic Tradeoff
Gameday
fees and no state aid. It uses corporate and private
donations, as well as ticket sales and licensing
revenue.
ASUN President Andy Schuerman said he is
grateful he can tell prospective students they
don’t have to support the Athletic Department
with their tuition or fees.
“I thank the stars every day,” he said.
In the End
So, does the sports-dominated image the uni
versity has now affect students’ decisions to
come to UNL?
If they grow up in Nebraska, potential stu
dents have been bombarded with Husker para
phernalia since the day they were bom. Big Red
T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, glasses, pants, paja
mas, notebooks, blankets, clocks, posters and so
much more can be found in every town and many
homes.
What’s missing in towns and scores nation
wide are the pictures of Love Library, a central
study area; Neihardt Residence Center, a popular
spot for honor students; or even posters of the
campus’s beauty minus Memorial Stadium in the
background.
It takes a Big Red Welcome visit, o* being a
high school junior or senior to receive postcards
or a glimpse of such images.
“Our university is by far known by the major
ity of the people for its athletic program,”
Schuerman said.
But Schuerman said the university’s image
depended on who was asked.
At his Clatonia high school, Wilbur-Clatonia,
he said he talked with his friends about Husker
football. But when deciding where he wanted to
go to school, he drought more about the academ
ic side of tilings.
“I wasn’t going to go to a place where my
degree wasn’t going to be looked at favorably”
said Schuerman, a senior marketing education
major.
Having a high-profile team can be both good
and bad for recruitment, he said. When a player is
arrested, for example, it shines a negative light on
the entire university.
But the football team’s successes shine a pos
itive light, he said.
Drew Hanson, a senior international business
major, agreed.
“Fcxrtball helps to get people here,” be said.
Admissions Director Susanna Finnell, who
just arrived this semester from Texas A&M
University in College Station, said sire never
judges universities based on their sports images.
: - Potential students gain their impressions of
UNL either through words and pictures in the
media, which give UNL a mostly sports-based
image, or through their own research, which
yields a stronger academic image.
Spreading a solid academic reputation to
other states to get top-notch professors and stu
dents takes time, Moeser said.
It’S a reputation game, he said.
Finnell agreed, saying though Nebraska’s
image as a football state usually wins, if potential
students and professors look beyond that, they
will find a treasure.
“Oftentimes football wins - it’s snazzy ... it’s
out there, and it’s big-time,” she said. “How can
you balance that?”
The trick, she said, is showing off the acade
mic and scholarly side of UNL, including the
renowned Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery on
City Campus.
“How do you make that quick and snazzy?”