OREGON DAILY EMERALD
Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not necessarily
represent the opinions of the ASUO or the University. Opinions expressed in signed columns
are those of the writer.
CHUCK BEGGS, Editor
LOUIE ABRAMSON
Business Manager
MAXINE ELLIOTT
News Editor
BOB CARL
Managing Editor
PHIL SEMAS
Associate Editor
WILBUR BISHOP. JR.
Advertising Manager
ALLEN BAILEY
Associate Editor
>*a|te 6
University of Oregon. Eugene. Thursday. January 13. 19bb
Computers Aren’t All Bad
Mention computer scheduling of classes
on this campus and there are immediately
cries of •'They’re trying to dehumanize
scheduling!” and "Students will lose all
their chance of getting the professor they
v ant!” Ever since Berkeley made the IBM
c ard a symbol of the reduction of students
ij mere automatons in the multiversity,
anything that puts students ‘‘at the mercy”
of a computer is bad, bad. bad.
But a closer examination of the question
\ .ill show that computer scheduling may be
i mch fairer to the student than the present
system.
Last year the Registrar's Office experi
mented with a computer-read sheet that
vould be used to eliminate almost all cards
from students’ registration packets. It
worked. With some revisions it will prob
ably be used to register students here start
ing in the fall of 1967.
But that’s not computer scheduling Stu
dents would still sign up for classes the
same way. They would still stand in long
v.nes. They would still find that getting in
) ight at the first of their priority hour won’t
assure them of a place in the class they want
because many departments don’t observe
the alphabetical priority hours.
The Registrar’s Office is talking about ex
tending the use of that computer to sched
ule students' classes. This would mean that
students would fill out a list of the courses
and sections they want. (They could also
mark in work time.) These lists would be
1 un through a computer and it would sched
ule classes. The computer would be pro
grammed to give as many students as pos
sible their first-choice section. Of course,
not everybody will be able to get their first
choice. And that’s the rub.
It has been claimed that computer sched
t ling would take away a student’s ‘fighting
chance” to get the classes of his choice But
is this “survival of the fittest" system the
1 est way to schedule classes? Sure, some
students manage to get all the sections they
want. But others don't get any. And most
get only some. This applies mainly to lower
division classes. Most upper division classes
are offered in only one section.
And most freshman and sophomores find
that the best lower division sections go only
to the swift and the strong. And even the
swift may lose out unless they make an ad
vance study on how many of their sections
observe priority hours.
Some say that computers will reduce stu
dents' efforts to get the sections they want
to a "one-sided battle with a computer.” But
computers, being emotionless, are fairer
and more impartial than people. The people
here who know about computers say the
computer should be able to give more stu
dents more of their first choices. To make
sure they’ll test it either this spring or next
fall, checking students’ first choices against
the courses they get by computer and by
the present system.
The avowed goal of the people trying to
solve the registration mess is to give the
most students their first choice of sections.
If that test shows that computers will meet
this goal better than the present system,
then students shouldn’t let idealistic opposi
tion to anything computerized stand in the
wav of their best interests.
Federal Mosser?
Those nasty old politicians are at it again.
According to Collegiate Press Service a
House subcommittee is looking into the
academic reward system that gives big
grants for research and mediocre salaries
for teaching in the nation’s colleges. One
of the solutions they propose is to recog
nize undergraduate teaching excellence by
Presidential award.
We can give them a tip. garnered from
this University’s unfortunate experience
with the State Legislature’s Mosser plan to
reward good teaching: don’t ask college
professors for approval.
Letters to the Editor
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Ski Difference
Emerald Editor
I would like to take this op
portunity to clear up an often
misunderstood relationship be
tween the University Ski team
and the Ski Quacks. These are
two separate programs. The Ski
Quacks is the ski club on cam
pus, catering mostly to the re
creational skier. The club of
fers meetings with ski films,
transportation to ski areas, over
night ski trips at reduce'd rates,
help and advise to the novice
skier, and perhaps most impor
tant, an opportunity to get to
gether with fellow skiers for
mutual enjoyment on the slopes.
The ski team is for the com
petitive skier or the advanced
skier who would like a chance
to become a competitor in t h e
sport.
It gives its members an op
Oregon Daily Emerald
Rande Wilmarth, Sports Editor
Xomi Borenstein,
Assistant Managing Editor
Larry Lange, Assistant News Editor
Dave Butler, Feature Editor
Shota Ushio, Photo Editor
Steve Dimeo, Entertainment Editor
Editorial Board: Chuck Beggs, Bob Carl,
Maxine Elliott, Phil Sernas, Allen
Bailey, Pair. Bladine, Karen Winn,
CliiT Kaufman, Gene Sokol ski, Nomi
Boreustein.
portunity to compete against
other college teams on the west
coast. It offers a program of
workouts and training off the
slopes as well as on the slopes.
Any person with an interest
in skiing would feel right at
home with the Ski Quacks Ski
Club. Any person, men or wom
en, with a competitive spirit for
skiing is welcome to try out for
the University Ski team.
Tore Steen
Coach, Ski Team
Faculty Advisor,
Ski Quacks
« « e
Beach Boys
Emerald Editor:
A small item on the back
page of Monday's Emerald noted
that the Beach Boys would be
appearing in concert at McAr
thur Court in March. Students
may have passed quickly over
this item without realizing its
significance in view of the past
policies of the Student Union
Board. The appearance of the
Beach Boys will mark the first
appearance of an outstanding
rock and roll attraction at the
University in at least four years
and perhaps longer.
Those of us who have strong
ly encouraged concerts or dan
ces with nationally known rock
and roll or rhythm and blues
artists are greatly heartened
by the expansion of the SU
Board’s entertainment program.
In past discussions, the SU
Board has turned down requests
by various individuals and rock
and roll groups because "such
entertainment was not in line
with the University attitudes.”
It is certainly time that back
ward opinions were changed and
the Beach Boys concert can only
be considered a step in the right
direction.
It should be pointed out here
that I offer no criticism of the
talent that has been brought
to the University in the past
three years. The SU Board has
brought in Henry Mancini; the
late Nat King Cole; Peter, Paul,
and Mary; Louis Armstrong; the
Smothers Brothers, and the
Ford Caravan of Stars among
others. This is an outstanding
group of performers and stu
dents and faculty should be
appreciative of this caliber of
talent. The SU Board has, how
ever, failed to realize that a
majority of the students enjoy
rock and roll and rhythm and
blues music.
Those in favor of rock con
certs have never advocated sub
stitution of rock and roll con
certs for the forementioned pro
(Continued on page 7)
Cameron’s Comment
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Situation Reassuring
At Tongue Point
Officials involved in President Johnson's War on Poverty are pre
paring themselves for a barrage of criticism that is expected to
emanate from Congress this year.
The President’s economic demands to support the war in Viet
Nam appear certain to influence appropriations for domestic ex
penditures, especially those expenditures designed to contribute to
Mr. Johnson’s Great Society.
The Job Corps will not be spared by the critics, especially those
Republicans who have been gathering incriminating evidence
against the poverty program almost since its inception While the
Job Corps has been considered one of the most successful of the
poverty fights, recent items in the national press reflect the skep
ticism that is mounting over this program
I found, however, in a visit last week to the University's Job
Corps Center at Tongue Point, some reassuring developments in
the program Some remarkable changes have been made since the
center opened up a year ago.
NO TRAINEES UNHAPPY
I could find no trainees that were really unhappy with the place.
They enjoy deeply the opportunity that has been given them
Many skeptics predicted that large numbers of youths wouldn't
return to the Centers following their Christmas vacations at home.
Hut thjs proved untrue, at least at Tongue Point Of 320 boys who
went home, only five failed to return, and one of the five got him
self a job.
The blame for the confusion, the charges of waste and the
various “incidents” at centers around the country must be laid, I
feel, at the feet of the program’s administrators, the bureaucrats
at the federal level.
For political reasons, the Job Corps took on too much of a
“crash program” atmosphere.
300 IN TWO WEEKS
The Tongue Point Center last summer received over 300 new
trainees in less than two weeks—far more than the staff was
equipped to handle. As a result, chaos reigned. The same was true
of other centers across the country.
As a result of the tensions, plus poor screening of candidates for
the Corps, violence broke out at some of the centers which drew
heavy attention in the press.
Since the influx of trainees was slowed down last summer things
at Tongue Point seemed to have improved greatly.
The vocational program is being well-run; Ernest Lareau, voca
tional training director, says that employers are demanding skilled
trainees as fast as the center can produce them.
RECREATION IMPROVED
Recreation facilities have been improved. The boys live in group
units and are allowed to make many of their own rules and try
their own peers for discipline cases.
My greatest impression after visiting Tongue Point was that
most of these young people don’t want to go hack home—back to
poverty, divorced parents and, in the case of Negro boys racial
mistreatment.
The trainees have found an opportunity to avoid a lifetime o£
strife and dependence on government welfare. They have been
gi\en a chance to compete for gainful, decent employment in their
society, a chance which could very well be their last.
Many of the trainees are very bright and want to learn, but they
have never had much of a chance.
CRASH PROGRAM
Many critics of the program have attacked the .Job Corps for
waste, overstaffing and excess expenditures. Of course, any crash
program is going to involve some waste through sheer confusion.
And stafl levels are high now—Tongue Point has 460 stall
(Continued on pai/e 7)