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
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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*
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dent Publication* Hoard of the Utiivertity of
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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.