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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1963)
The Next Sixty Days The University Amnts ii Vinous Biittle To say that the next sixty days will con stitute a crucial period for higher education in Oregon is an understatement of the fact. There have been tenuous periods for the University before and surely the critical condition of the University in 1963 will not be the end of education's problems. During the first ten years of this century higher education in Oregon was crippled by a ser ies of tax referendums, a so-called taxpay ers revolt much like the current situation. The impact of the depression was reflected in the University’s budget during the 1930’s when programs were sliced to the bone. The difference in 1963 is that the Uni versity has won its place as an institution of distinction. The University of previous years, the glorified high school and the country club disappeared long ago. The University receives a healthy share of fed eral and foundation grants. The faculty has improved. Many professors are national and international leaders in their fields. Awards and honors conferred upon men like Marshall Fixman and Virgil Boekle heide add to the University’s prestige. The University’s strong defense of academic freedom and freedom of inquiry have strengthened its national stature. Distinc tive publications such as Comparative Lit erature, Northwest Review and Old Ore gon have contributed also. The examples extend on and on. The negative anti-tax mood of the state is having its affect. Facul ty members are getting anxious. They are keeping an eye on the special session of the legislature and the action of the State Board of Higher Education. They are ask ing, “Are we following in the footsteps of Colorado and Montana where higher edu cation’s importance was drastically mini mized by ultra-conservative state leader ship?" And there is bound to be a lot of back-stabbing in administrative circles. There is always that professor in the other department who hasn’t done a thing since he got tenure. If he were to be cut out then maybe some other department’s budget could be saved. The fighting of the various vested interests within the state system and throughout all state agencies promises to be a vicious battle. The scars on higher edu cation will be seen for years to come. And there will be ample opportunities for demogogues to capitalize on higher edu cation in its crippled condition. There is no doubt that the vocal anti-education legis lators such as Walter Pearson will be point ing to line items in budgets which will not seem justifiable to the general populace. It’s a depressing time on the campus, not only for students who may be priced out of education, but for the faculty members who will lose faith in the state’s willingness to support education. As one educator put it the other day, “It’s going to be one hell of a storm and the University will feel its im pact for years to come." Changes for Fraternities Fraternities at the University are taking steps to improve their system and their image. At a meeting last Wednesday the Inter-fraternity Presidents’ Council voted to merge with Inter-fraternity Council. The new organization will combine the admin istrative, executive, and legislative branch es of IFC, although the Tribunal will re main separate. Chuck Morberg, Presidents’ Council president, said the reorganization will eliminate communication difficulties between IFC members and committee and facilitate planning of activities. An execu tive IFC committee of eight persons will plan agendas for the IFC meetings and hear committee reports where discussion will be freer than in the whole IFC body. The executive committee will then report the committee recommendations to the IFC. The ten present standing committees will be apportioned among three new com mittees. One of these new committees will be public relations and services. A more concerted effort is going to be made to pro mote fraternities and to explain their pur pose and functions. We are encouraged with the attempts for improvement in the fraternity system. An Untapped Resource Monday, Oregon’s legislators will con verge on Salem to tackle the complex prob lems of the states’ fiscal condition. We suggest that while they consider cut ting the budgets of state agencies, and tak ing other negative attitudes, they’ll be pass ing up a wonderful source of revenue whose potential has not yet been fully tapped. That source of revenue? Sin. That’s right, good old everyday, cigarette smoking, beer-drinking, race-track betting, pool playing, sleep-in-Sunday-morning type sin. The advantages are numerous and wor thy of consideration. (This is in the best editorial tradition. Advantages are never few or worthless.) A longer racing season at Portland Mea dows, more and bigger liquor stores—with Gold Bond stamps perhaps?—off-track bet ting, maybe an 18-year-old limit for beer drinking, slot machines,—the list is end less. Nevada has few fiscal problems, no state income tax, no sales tax, all due to the pres ence of Reno, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and others. New Hampshire has instituted a state wide lottery in preference to other revenue raising means. Drinking age for beer in New York is 18, attracting scores of teenagers from sur rounding states. Obviously, it won’t be necessary to cut any budgets. Just extend the racing season, license more tavern operators, remove those puri tanical rules about those struggling small businessmen, the bookies, and revenue will increase wonderfully. Everybody knows sin is popular. Why else would there be so many churches? True, the state police, various hospitals, and public welfare might request larger budgets, merely to take advantage of the larger amounts of money available, of course. And the University might find itself with a dipsomaniac student body, frittering away tuition money in one-armed bandits, plac ing bets with hard-eyed, shifty looking men in the SU Fishbowl on the weekends of foot ball games, but, the state needs the reve nue, and such an obvious way to raise it is certainly worth exploration. After all, sin is more popular than sales taxes. Herblock -*• Jl KH'w' ♦* | w/. K*<« “What A IMrty Trick, Sneaking Up On Us Prom Behind Like That!” IHlIlHillllfHllHWIllHIHilll Letters To tJjc Editor mw***!*,.,. Dimes for Dignity Emerald Editor: How about a Dimes for Dig nity Campaign to raise funds for the printing of proper name plates. An Open Letter to the PHD (Alias the Common Man). What gives with the name plates on the doors; 'Mr.' Doe, Mr.’ Hay, Mr.’ Me? What hap pened to the title Dr,’ that noble appendage for which you struggled lo those many years? Are you ashamed to Ik* counted a scholar, when to be a scholar in this age of materialism is to hold on to ones ideals at the cost of personal gain? For men of stature, your false modesty is unbecoming. Did the lawyer study harder, achieve more, that his door should proudly bear his insignia attorney-at-law’? Does the doc tor omit the ‘MD’ from his shingle, the accountant the ‘CPA’ from his calling card? Or perhaps this glaring omission is due to some misguided defer ence to those instructors who have no title. Then, I submit, you are false to your own ideals. You are not enlarging the goals of humanity, but rather lending yourself to that universal attempt to re duce all mankind to mediocrity. Or perhaps you consider Dr.’ ostentatious! Now that you have convincingly removed yourself from the status of the common man, you deem it a mark of bigness’ to be counted a com mon man. This, sir, is the great er ostentation of the two. We who sit at your feet are ourselves striving to rise above the level of the common man. Who needs a common man to lead the way? Marion Paulsen, C.P.A. * * * Inadequate Protection Emerald Editor: The fire which took place Monday morning at Moore Hall revealed several inadequacies in the fire protection of the Uni versity. 1. A call placed to the cam pus operator resulted in no co operation in turning in the alarm. The number of false alarms turned in probably had a great deal to do with this. Even so it is not up to the op erator to decide which alarms are false and which are real. 2. A person turning in an alarm most likely knows only the name of the Hall and rarely the address. Even so the firemen should be able to locate the ad dress immediately. The first group of firemen arrived at the Moore Hall fire approximately fifteen minutes after the first call was made, even though the fire station is only two blocks away. The blaze had already been extinguished by men from Parsons Hall 3. Fire extinguishers are not located in the lobbys of the halls. The one used came from the third floor of Parsons Hall. 4. The fire hoses in the halls are too short to reach other halls if the hoses in the burning hall are inaccessible. 5. The fire alarm in the base ment of Bean sounds only on the East Bean side. Should an alarm for a fire endangering both quads be turm-d in there. West Bean would not have the benefit of warning. 6. The ventilation system transfers smoke from the burn ing area to many parts of the quad adding to the danger of smoke damage and inhalation If an effort is made to rectify these conditions the dorms would be much safer places in which to live. Robert Ramberg, Parsons Hall Hal Holman, Counselor, Parsons Hall • * • An Apology Emerald Editor: We, the men of Parsons and East Bean, would like to apolo gize to the Eugene Fire Depart ment for waking them up at 4:30 a m. We would also like to apologize for putting out their fire. We do think, however, that it would have been nice if the Eu gene Fire Department had shown up while the blaze was being subdued to at loast super vise the extinguishing of said blaze. We realize that we are to (Continued on page 3) OREGON DAILY EMERALD The Oregon Doily Emerald is published twice in September and five day* a week during the academic year, except during ex* ■ initiation and vacation period* by the Stu dent Publication* Hoard of the Utiivertity of Oregon. Filtered a* second class mailer at the poat office, Eugene, Oregon. Subs* rip* tion ratea 95 per year; 92 per term. Opinion* expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not pre< tend to represent the opinion of the A SCO or the University. EVERETTE DENNIS, Editor LARKY WILLIAMS. Business Manager JANET GOETZE, Managing Editor JIM SHEER, Advertising Manager RON COWAN. News Editor DOUG HAGEN. Editorial Page Editor CATHY NEVILLE, Academic AITairs Editor DICK RICHARDSON, Associate Editor JIM KKAKK, Assistant Managing Editor HAY MAST, Sports Editor JOE HEHGEH, Assistant News Editor GEORGE HICHAM, Photo Editor CHUCK HI GGS. PHYLLIS ELVING, STEVE GREEN, Associate News Editors Editorial Hoard : Evnrcttc Dennis, Hon Cow an, Janet Gocl/e, Dong Hagen. Dick Richard* son, Dave Sands, Jerry Utti, Ray Mast, Pam Pashkowski, Cathy Neville, -Put Holt, Simeon Crow ther, Dong Comb*, Joe Uergcr, Jin. Frake.