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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1971)
Landscape students protest tree trim job By JOHN LANIER Of the Emerald About 50 landscape architecture students took their complaints about ex cessive trimming of trees and bushes on campus to University President Robert Clark Wednesday morning, along with some of the trimmed branches as evidence of their gripe. Morgan loses court appeal Former University Student Body President Kip Morgan and a fellow student, David Gwyther, lost the final court appeal on their draft board disruption cases early this week. The U.S. Supreme Court in refusing to review a U.S. Court of Appeals decision which convicted the two men, affirmed that decision. Morgan and Gwyther were convicted in U.S. District Court in Portland for draft board raids in Roseburg in January, 1969, and in Eugene in June, 1969, and were sentenced to two years in prison. According to Gwyther’s attorney, Herbert Titus, the only legal avenue open to his clients now is requesting a reduction of sentence. Titus said he is considering filing such a motion with the trial judge, Robert Belloni, in Portland. Belloni may act upon this request at any time within 120 days after the sentences start, according to the law in such cases. Neither Morgan nor Gwyther were available for comment on the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear their case. The two men have been free on bond. Jack Collins of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Portland said that paperwork on the case should be completed by next week. At that time a legal order will arrive in Portland and a U.S. Marshal will take Morgan and Gwyther into custody. The students, many of whom were part of a plant materials class of assistant professor Lawrence Walker, had been examining plants and bushes near Lawrence Hall when they came across some that had been trimmed extensively by Physical Plant crews, according to senior James Whitcomb. Enraged by still another example of destruction of University plantlife, Whitcomb said, the students picked up the branches and carried them to the President’s outer office in Johnson Hall, where they intended to confront him with the problem. They piled the many and assorted branches and cuttings in a 5-foot high and rather wide pile in the middle of the office floor. The demonstrators were met by presidential assistant John Lallas, who said, “I’m quite interested in finding out what your concern is and in helping you out.” He informed them, however, that the President was unavailable, and advised them to “find yourselves,” draw up a list of specific complaints and present them to the President through two or three representatives. He also suggested that they contact the Physical Plant about the matter, but several students responded that they had and “it just didn’t work.” “These are not diseased plants or anything,” one student said. “We want to know why they are being cut and have it stopped.” After about 10 minutes of discussion, the students returned to Lawrence Hall, carrying with them most of the floral “evidence.” They left behind a pleasant smell and a mess of twigs and leaves. Whitcomb told the Emerald that the landscape architecture students want “to save the plants we have on campus as much as possible,” and to make known their objection to Physical Plant trimming and pruning policies. , wwirc »$*v *&%«**; *» *''♦.*** * Photo by Bill Feather The White Bird Clinic offers free medical service at 837 Lincoln. For story see page 4. At California State Colleges Faculty demands Chancellor’s resignation SAN JOSE, Calif. (CPS)—Chancellor Glenn Dumke, who has ruled the 19 California state colleges with an iron fist for the past seven years, has never been a favorite of the students and faculty under him—for several understandable reasons. During the last year, he has single handedly ,fired popular professors, eliminated traditional campus disciplinary procedures, tacitly approved the current purge of 16 professors at Fresno State College, and silently stood by while Gov. Ronald Reagan slashed budgets for the state college system. It was no surprise, then, when two separate coalitions last week coin cidentally issued to Dumke a singular ultimatum: love the state college system or leave it. A public letter signed by 67 distinguished faculty members accused Dumke of “autocratic policies” that threaten to destroy faculty morale in the California colleges. The signers, all past recipients of outstanding professor or distinguished teaching awards urged Dumke: “Before the damage is irreparable, display a readiness to moderate that absolutist position which you seem to have assumed and which has begun to infect our campuses None of us will be proud to teach in an institution in which dissent is punished and authority is presumed to be unassailable. Nor can we teach well if we cannot teach proudly.” On the same day that statement was made public, a much harsher attack came from the editors of 10 state college student newspapers, who each printed versions of a “Dumke Must Go” editorial. Listing charges against Dumke, the editorials stated, “As the schism between the state college students and faculty and the chancellor’s office grows, it is apparent that the gap is beyond bridging. There is just one viable method of closing the irreconcilable division: Chancellor Dumke must go.” The editorial campaign was led by Craig Turner, retiring editor of the San Jose State Spartan Daily. Papers at the Fullerton, Pomona, San Francisco, Stanislaus, San Fernando Valley, Dominguez Hills, Sacramento, Long Beach, and San Diego campuses published the editorial. An 11th paper, at the San Bernardino campus, also criticized Dumke, but did not demand his resignation. Other student papers, according to Turner, would have run the editorial had they not closed down publication for the semester for finals. Both the editorial and the faculty letter were prompted by the recent faculty firings at Fresno State, objecting as an example to the ouster of the English department chairman there in which armed guards coerced the man out of his office. The professors and editors cited other grievances, as listed in the Spartan Daily’s editorial: “Utterly failing to convince Gov. Reagan and the state legislature to allocate adequate funds for the state colleges to maintain high quality education. “Formulating grievance and disciplinary policies which virtually eliminate the time-honored tradition of faculty peer judgement, kill local campus autonomy, reduce the power of a college president to govern his own campus, and set up Dr. Dumke as virtual dictator. “Proposing revisions in the method of granting tenure which would encourage faculty mediocrity and discourage student participation in such decisions. “Failing to stand up and speak on behalf of the colleges he administers at a time when those colleges are under attack from all sides. He has left higher education without an articulate spokesman.” The letter mentioned faculty firings at other colleges besides Fresno. Each student editorial listed the professors dismissed at its respective campus. Dumke’s response was brief: “While I have great respect for the recognized classroom performance of these signers, I am disappointed that the letter contains so many generalizations and does not recognize the full degree of academic governance that exists within the state college system today.” As to the editorisls, Dumke expressed “regret at such actions as this by student editors.” The faculty letter, representing the opinions of 67 of 80 professors who had won awards for teaching, listed the names of mostly older academics with outstanding reputations and little or no previous hassles with Dumke. A sizeable number of the signers could be considered con servative and the majority were moderates. Turner, who had organized the editorial campaign, also believed that “none of the editors I talked with were radicals. Many were liberals, but quite a few were conservative.” The Spartan Daily editor explained the editorial was written as a “way to express the united feelings of students throughout the state. We didn’t expect Dumke to resign, but every editor I called thought he was a terrible chancellor. He has alienated all the students in the state system.” Turner did believe the editorials had an effect. Shortly after their publication, Dumke issued a statement on the budget cuts which, though not as strong as some hoped, did ask for more funds in the future.
