Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, March 12, 1953, Section 2, Page Five, Image 13

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    PRESENT SITUATION 'A CRISIS'
rage
rive,
-1
Faculty Opposes Change in Higher Education
1 *y unanimous action, the faculty
of the University of Oregon Wed
nesday went on record as oppos
ing current attempts to break
down Oregon's 20-year old pattern
of state supported higher educa
tion. The action was contained in
a lengthy statement sent to the
State Board of Higher Education.
Terming the present situation
"a crisis in the development of the
State System of Higher Educa
tion," I he statement strongly sup
ports the plan of organization and
'!><*< ialization of function which
has been followed in Oregon since
1032. Such a plan has made pos
sible, thi* statement says, “a plan
ned, orderly, and economical de
velopment through a central
authority guided by principle, able
to adjudicate disputes between the
institutions, to resist the pressures
of special groups and regional in
t' rests, and to provide first-class
in .traction in all fields without
waste.”
"Is this system still in opera
tion?" the statement asks. "Or are
we i turning to the choas and
waste of the 1920s?”
The faculty action goes on to
point out that in recent months
"every part of the allocation pat
tern has been brought into ques
tion; recommendations, sugges
tion.; and demands, heard in one
quarter or another, have covered
the full range of higher educa
tion; the liberal arts, professional
■ fields, and graduate work,"
It then enumerates some of the
j recommendations contained in the
| so-called Anderson report, the pro
! posals for a full four-year unit in
; Portland giving graduate as well
an undergraduate work, and sug
gestions from time to time for
I expansion into such professional
j areas as business administration,
education, and agriculture. In
these proposals, the statement
says, "principles long accepted ap
pear to be forgotten or contro
verted; new concepts, introduced
without examination, seem to pass
without challenge.”
Carnival Profits $260;
Organizations Get $185
Profits for the WRA Carnival,
as announced by Ann Blackwell,
' publicity chairman of the affair,
amounted to $230, net profit, with
$183 going to the houses partici
pating.
The groups with highest intake
were Wesley House, which made
$22.09, and the paired living
groups Alpha Tau Omega and
Zeta Tau Alpha, which made
$19.91. A prize of records from
Thompson's Record shop was won
by Theta Chi and Alpha Chi
Omega, for their winning ring toss
bisjth.
With reaped to the Anderson re
port, the faculty statement sup
ports the action of the State Board
of Higher Education in rejecting
expansion into the liberal arts
areas at the present time. If such
a move were authorized, the state
ment says, “the resulting programs
will be thin fare, a mere shadow
of truly liberal education.” "If de
veloped to provide solid liberal
i training,” it adds, “there will be
heavy additional expense to the
whole state.”
I
On the Portland situation, the
i report recognizes that changes will
! occur and does not oppose “a ra
1 tional development.” It goes on to
question, however, whether the
growth now proposed will be a
planned and an orderly one. with
| out unwarranted expense to the
state as a whole.
“Whatever the merits of this
decision, it must be recognized
that such an institution is bound
to duplicate in an extensive and
i serious way the facilities . . . ex
isting both in the private schools
! of the Portland area and in the
publicly supported units of the
State System as a whole. In Port
i land, duplication at the graduate
level is already extensive, and will
doubtless be greatly increased in
the future, not only in education
but in other fields,” the statement
continues.
The faculty statement was in
I troduced by the advisory council,
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
, Portland State Prexy Gives Views
By Len Calvert
Emar*!d Aiftifttant Newt Editor
(Ed. Note: This is an exclusive
- Emerald Interview with Stephen
Epler, president of Portland
State College. He presents the
arguments for a four-year school
in Portland in opposition to the
^ University faculty resolution.)
• "More youths of high ability
from low income families will have
a chance to have a higher educa
* tion." This is the basic reason that
_ Portland State should be a four
year school, according to Stephen
' Epler, president of Portland State.
In an exclusive interview with
the Emerald Saturday, Epler said
that a four-year school in Port
land would also end "geographic
- and economic discrimination." He
argued that more colleges in larger
| towns would give more people a
chance to go to school, and that
- many students can not now afford
to go away to school and pay the
necessary room and board bills.
An .another argument for a four
' year school in Portland given by
Epler. was the fact that while the
population in Oregon has doubled
in the last fifty years, the college
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enrollment "has increased ten
fold."
Slight Effect
The effect Of a four year college
in Portland on the enrollment in
the University would be very
slight, Epler believes. He feels that
most of the students who w'ould
attend Portland State could not af
ford to come to Eugene and that
Portland State would pull only a
few away from Oregon. He stress
ed the fact that it would be giving
many students a chance for a de
gree would could not otherwise af
ford it because they could live at
home and also work in Portland.
Epler also feels that the estab
lishment of a four year state school
in Portland would have little ef
fect on the private schools in that
area. He pqio.ted. to Seattle univer
sity in Seattle, "in the shadow of
the University of Washington” as
proof of his reasoning that people
would still attend the private
schools if they wanted to.
On the quesfipn of duplication of
courses being taught by state
schools Epler said that "we should
not be afraid'of duplication except
in specialtzed'fiields such as law or
medicine." When asked if he felt
that the teachers colleges should
also be granted a libera! arts de
gree, he said that he felt they
should and that it is “definitely a
national trend” for teachers col
leges to grant both liberal arts and
education degrees.
On the matter of the cost of
maintaining a four year school in
Portland, Epler said that he did
not advocate cutting the existing
' budget for higher education in
smaller portions, but that the
budget should be either made big
ger or a separate budget for Port
land State should be drawn up.
Claiming that Oregon now does
not pay as much per capita in
taxes for education a# either
Washington or California, Epler
said that the growing population
and wealth of the state should take
care of any necessary increase in
the costs of the State System of
Higher Education.
He believes that the bill will pass
the legislature, if not this year
then at the next session. As Epler
sees it, the demand for a four year
state school in Portland is great
enough that the bill will keep com
ing up until it is passed. Epler
stated that it is “inevitable" that
the state shall provide four years
of education in Portland.
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an elective body representing the
general faculty. It concludes:
"It is neither strange nor im
proper that the faculty of the Uni
versity of Oregon is disturbed by
these developments. A university
serves society by the critical ex
amination and preservation of
values, and by the increase and
dissemination of knowledge. It
must always be sensitive to public
needs, and especially so when it is
publicly supported. It must be
ready to accept onerous duties,
when the common good requires
them—to make sacrifices, when
social realities demand them. But
it cannot remain silent when the
framework by which it is sus
tained is threatened ...”
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