Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1965)
A Bad Proposal A bill, introduced into the Legislature this session, would prohibit the State Sys tem of Higher Education from increasing college tuition or other fees without legis lative permission. We hope that this bill will fail, as did a similar measure intro duced during the last session. The proposal asks that legislative control over dormitory and other fees, plus tuition, be granted on the grounds that such fees are an indirect taxation on the parents of students within the State System and there fore should be reviewed by the Legislature. A great amount of legislative control of ed ucation is possible under the existing pro cedure; further control could hamper edu cation greatly. The State Board of Higher Education's budget is submitted to the Leg islature each session for approval. At this time, reductions are frequently made and the entire tax program is evaluated by el ected representatives. Over a year ago. a referendum election defeated the legislature’s proposed tax pro gram. forcing the state to cut many budgets, including higher education’s. Following the tax defeat, enrollment increases and pro gramming already begun by the state sys tem forced the State Board to consider rais ing tuition to cover the year's expenses. At the time the Legislature adjourned, it ap peared that tuition would have to be raised for this fall term. Although the increase was later rejected, the legislature was no longer in session by the time this decision was made. Placing the power to lower or raise fees in the hands of the legislature would reduce the State System’s ability to deal with such emergencies, and others such as sudden in creases in demands upon facilities or facul ty. In an extreme year, with public opinion running high against education, and we hope this situation never arises, legislators could conceivably cut budget requests ana deny the State System the right to raise tui tion to meet existing costs. Such action could only result in curtailing the activities of state institutions. The new proposal would not only give legislators power to determine how much could be spent for higher education, but also how it should be raised. Many factors affect the level of tuition, compulsory fees and dormitory fees each year. The dormi tories must be operated on a self-liquidating basis, making their prices dependent upon current prices, the percent of occupancy and other factors. One of the factors affect ing tuition annually is total enrollment. Budgets are established after estimating the number of students who will be enrolled in the state system and therefore will be pay ing for education in a given year. Although enrollment projections generally give a close picture of future enrollments, a sud den drop or rise could make a difference in Higher Education’s financial picture for a given year. The State Board of Higher Education is the body legally constituted to operate the state’s colleges and universities. This group is extra-political with members appointed by the governor. This procedure places the men and wo men responsible for operating the state’s “smokeless industry,” education, before the public but does not subject them to the constituent pressures which would be pres ent if they were popularity elected. At the present time, the legislature reviews edu cation and weighs its budget in terms of the state’s total taxation structure foi* a given year. The proposed bill is not a necessary change and could conceivably be a harm ful one. We urge that this bill not be passed. The Unjust McCarran Act The Oregon Journal, January 18, 1965 The seeming injustice of the Internal Security Act of 1950, also known as the McCarran Act, is likely to be brought to local attention again this week. On Tuesday the Subversive Activities Control Board is scheduled to open a hear ing in Portland to determine whether Ralph Nelson, formerly of North Bend and now of Portland, is a Communist and should be re quired to register as such. The injustice involved is that if Mr. Nel son is a Communist and did register, he might lay himself open to prosecution un der various other anti-subversive laws such as the Smith Act. To force him to register, therefore, might violate his rights against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amend ment of the Constitution. That this is a real danger was recognized in December, 1963, by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. Chief Judge David L. Bazelon wrote then that a series of Supreme Court decisions had confirmed that “mere association” with the Commu nist party amounted to criminal conspiracy. In that decision, the appeals court ruled that in view of the Fifth Amendment, the Communist party itself could not be con victed of failing to register under the Mc Carran Act unless the government could show that some representative of the party was willing voluntarily to sign the registra tion statement. Last June the .Supreme Court let that decision stand It has not yet decided whether individual Communists can be punished for refusing to register, as several have refused. It may seem galling to insist on the civil rights of Communists who would not hesi tate to deny them to their opponents if they had a chance. But the Bill of Rights was written precisely to protect people with un popular ideas from harassment. When they turn from ideas to action against the gove ernment they should be prosecuted for that. But a federal hearing aimed at forcing a man to confess himself a Communist is too reminiscent of the show trials back of the Iron Curtain. The registration provision of the McCar ran Act should be repealed if the Supreme Court doesn’t declare it unconstitutional first. Machine-Age Artists From the Daily Iowan The many talents of computers are just now becoming apparent. SUI is planning to hold a computer dance, where partners _ will be matched by an electronic Ann Lan ders, and a Fortune magazine release says that computers can write poetry. “Auto-beatnik” verses are being written by R. M. Worthy’s computer at General Precision, Inc., in Glendale, Calif. One of the samples from the pushbutton bard is Lament for a Mongrel To belch yet not to boast, that is the hug, The high lullaby’s bay discreetly crushes the bug. Your science was so minute and hilly, Yes, I am not jade organ’s leather pro grammer’s recipe. As she is squealing above the cheroot, these obscure toilets shall squat, Moreover, on account of hunger, the room was hot. Judging from this verse (?), it will be a long time before a computer is accepted in the Writer’s Workshop. This is one area where automation won’t take over. ■4—ie'SZ lS.l fC. ' —-TH# P“<T* “I Guess I’m A Natural-Born Devlationist” arnmnn LdtCVS tO tl()C EctltOV muiaiuumw»ai Viet Nam Emerald Editor: What a coindence! The 18 Jan uary edition of the Register Guard prints an editorial en titled "Treacherous Friends." concerning the "lunatic fringe.” Among other comments was a quotation from an Eisen hower administration official" . . . He (the extremist) re serves his sharpest shafts for the man relatively close to him in the political spectrum The next day the Emerald car ries a letter from Barry Barlow, in which Mr. Harlow Hips a neat barb into the Johnson adminis tration with the comment that” . . . even Dean Rusk, in an unu sual moment of candor, admit ted. . .” From the context of the letter I assume Mr. Harlow to be at least a liberal As 1 recall the recent election the Johnson Humphrey ticket enjoyed the support of everyone to the left of moderate Republicans, includ ing socialists and communists. Funny thing, they get their team elected and even before they arc inaugarated, we find that the top team members have been lying to us all along. Mr. Harlow further states that". . . these realities (of the Viet Nam war) do not coincide very well with what one reads in most newspapers. . 1 re cently completed 28 mos. of mil itary duty on Okinawa, which is one of the major staging-out areas for operations "down South,” i.e., SE Asia. I was ex posed to intensive news cover age of the situation, in addition to having the opportunity to discuss it with personnel inti mately involved, such as Special Forces men, fellow medics re turned from temporary duty down there, various Intelligence personnel, and Viet Namcse trainees on Okinawa. I also had plenty of time for outside re search on the situation. I thought that I had a fair idea of what was happening and I rarely find any points of agree ment with Mr. Barlow’s inter pretation. As one with an earn est desire to know the "truth” I wonder if Mr. Barlow could supply me with a list of publica tions which do report the situa tion accurately? I had to chuckle, albeit grim ly, when I read the line. . . "While led by Communists, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam includes indivi duals of any different political beliefs. . So did Castro’s movement. Mr. Barlow fails to mention what happens to those adherents of different political beliefs after the Reds take over. I suggest that he spend an eve ning or two visiting Cubans who got out after Castro got in. Mr. Barlow makes one state ment from which 1 could make no sense. Following what sounds like a rehash of the socialist’s solution to the problem, he says . . . “If either side rejects a cease-fire, the United States should end its illegal military involvement Which, as I in terpret it. means that regardless of what happens we should pull out. If so, why bother with cease-fires, (Jenevea Conventions and all that diplomatic fanfare? Yours truly Walter I.enington Graduate, Anthropology Behavior Theory Ivmearld editor: In Mr Powell's second mud died letter, he says that ‘‘simu lated conflict situations car solve a learning process, even beyond their cathartic effect ’ In fact, there is evidence thal “effective catharsis occurs only when an angered person per ceives that his frustrator has been agressively injured’’ (I, HerkowiU, “The Effects of Ob serving Violence,” “Scientific American,” Feb 19fl4i. It fol lows that simulated conflict situ ations may stimulate real vio lence. Furthermore, I hope thaf in his reply Mr. Powell will des cribe how simulated conflict sit uations "solve” learning pro cesses. Mr Powell attacks my conten tion that interpersonal conflicts between growing children can be healthy. Rather, he "always thought that the accepted thesis was [ that 1 the frustration led to agression." In the first place his “accepted thesis" and my contention are not mutually in compatible, as he implies. As to my contention, it is supported by Dr. A. T. Jersild, a well known child psychologist, who describes several situations in which conflict between children is healthy (Child Psychology, Prentice-Hall, 5th edition, 1960; pp. 183-191, 199-200). From such conflict, a child learns what oth er children will tolerate of him, (Continued on page 3) OREGON DAILY EMERALD The Oregon Daily Emerald i* pub* lished five timrs in September and five day* a week during the academic year, ex cept during examination period*, by the Student Publication* Hoard of the Univer sity of Oregon. Entered a* second class matter at the post office, Kugene, (Oregon. Subscription rates $S per year; $2 per term. Opinion* exprr • rd on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not represent the opinion* of the ASUO or the University. Cathy Neville, Editor J. Craig Mathiescn. Husines* Manager Chuck HeggHf Managing Editor Kenneth R. Kappe!, Advertising Manager Stephen Green, News Editor Dave Jordan, A vitiate Editor Phil Scmai, Sports Editor Phyllis Elvittg and Rich Babow, Associate News Editors Irma Dawn Moar, Associate Managing Editor Bob Carl, Assistant Managing Editor Steve Dinico, Entertainment Editor Hob Denniston, Photo Editor Mary Stamp, Feature Editor Editorial Hoard: Pam Hladine, Clifford Kaufman, Pat Molt, Stephen Green, Steve Goldschmidt, ( buck Hcggs, Dave Jordan, l‘hil Sernas, Karen Winn, Hob Carl, .Mike Gannon.
