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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1971)
Vol. LXX11, No. 118 University of Oregon, Eugene Friday, April}, 1971 University accused of sex bias The federal government has asked the University for written commitments to assure equality of op portunity for female employees The request was made in a letter to University President Robert Clark from the U S. Department of Health. Education, and Welfare HEW has responsibility for assuring equality of opportunity under all federal contracts at educational institutions The University currently has about $17 million in such contracts. The letter was from Marlaina Kiner, director of HEW's regional civil rights office in Seattle She led a HEW team which visited the University to conduct a review on March 15 to 19 and March 22 to 24 "We have concluded that the University of Oregon is not fulfilling its obligations and we must ask for your written commitments to take appropriate corrective action.” Miss Kiner wrote "Without such commitments, we are unable to certify the University of Oregon is a responsible con tractor and eligible for the award of government con tracts " She asked that the commitments be submitted by June 1 On receipt of her letter, Clark said, "I, personally, would be surprised if in this or any other organization one could not find incidents of discrimination, but if they exist at the University they are not intentional, and where they can be identified we will move with dispatch to eliminate them ” The letter is part of a nationwide review of equality of opportunity being made by HEW at colleges and universities The newsletter of the National Association of State Universities and l^and-Grant College reports that "letters are being sent to presidents of every educational institution identifiable as an actual or potential holder of government contracts.” This action follows the issuance of federal guidelines in June. 1970, requiring employers to take affirmative steps to recruit women, NASULGC reported Prior to the June order, institutions had been devoting their major attention to eradication of discrimination because of race In her letter Miss Kiner asked for a complete computer printout of all University employes by name identified by race "This material will be analyzed and a date will be arranged for a follow-up compliance review to in vestigate the University of Oregon's employment practices as they relate to minority group persons," she wrote During her March visits she received a printout of all employees by name, but date concerning race was incomplete because in former years it had lieen University policy, under requirements of state law. not to keep records according to race To gain the racial date requested by HEW it will be necessary for the University to conduct a racial survey of all employees, Ray Hawk, dean of administration, explained This means that information from personnel files relative to discrimination must be provided by name to the federal government, he said On this subject the NASULGO newsletter wrote Questions have been raised by certain institutions as to whether the federal agencies have the right to inspect any personnel files they feel art* pertinent to a case "HEW contends that this right is explicit in any government contract that the college or university signs, and that the institutions are free to refuse any contract with those terms they cannot abide Further, HEW' says that prospective employees should be advised, prior to employment, that their personnel records may bo subject to such inspection in order to fulfill the terms of a federal contract” Miss Kmer wrote that the University’s recruitment practices for academic employees contributed to an "underrepresentation of females," Of a total of 2,444 academic employees, Wt are females, she noted The University must "achieve a ratio of female employment in academic positions at least equivalent to their availability." she wrote The University must also "improve" the ration of female admissions to Ph D graduate programs which provide employment opportunities, her letter said NASULUC reports this has been a point of disagreement with HEK by other institutions, and that the issue has been submitted to HEW Secretary Elliot L. Richardson Wage discrepancies against females exist in some academic areas. Miss Kmer reported She requested the achievement of salary equity in every job category "This will necessitate an extensive analysis of eni ployment records," she wrote To conduct such an analysis of individual personnel records will require the appointment of a special faculty committee to review faculty records, according to Dean of Faculties Harry Alpert He said such a committee would be appointed immediately and would have to devote a large amount of time to the task In the academic area. Miss Kmer also noted "segregation by sex in the men's and women's Physical Education departments." She wrote "The University must establish that sex is a luma fide occupational qualification for each job in the two departments." In the ranks ol University Civil Service employees, women "are in the majority in the traditional' lower paying jobs," Miss Kiner wrote Rules for employment of Civil Service employees are established by Oregon law, w hich the University and all other State agencies must follow, ami classification of positions and rates of jwy are established by Civil Service Law "We are cognizant of the University of Oregon's jiersonnel procedures for classified employees under the State of Oregon's rules and merit system luw,” Miss Kiner wrote "However, this fact does not in any way preclude or excuse the University from inquiring Into those procedures ” A “corrective action" she requested was "to modify |ob titles to a neuter gender" of such Jobs as "wnt chman" and "draftsman " I IM vTK \T» l» ph%OCt*l Fd»ard Teller »rt» do«n afl*r hrrkJrr% had rrpeatrdh In ... h,. lr« lurr on .uproar «o the ph^KTt colto^.um !Wwl»> ahrr»««, I, II. , .Ml, ,d lh. I»*lr»mf«ul •« dnrkiplBK hidro*wi burnt. »•* tn««*Mrd I.m M* adtoran at imrravrd irmunrnt, Teller hechled during lecture H> DF.AN WIIFKI.KK of ihr F.merald F.dward Teller, the nofed atomic physicist. faced a vocal group of protestors .it the regularly scheduled physics colloquium Thursday afternoon Teller, often called the ‘Father of the II bomb." discussed the morality of science and technology with students protesting Teller's involvement in the construction of the fusion bomb and its subsequent use on Hiroshima at the conclusion of his lecture At this time critical students pressured Teller into the following statement I believe the decision to drop the txtmh without warning or demonstration giveng the Japanese a chance to surren di r a as a real mistake I said so at the lime and the last time I made this statement publicly was at the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences meeting in Chicago " At that December tff7« meeting several young scientists and engineers attempted to present Teller with the "Dr strangelove award" engraved with the words T was just following orders " Teller did not accept the award The topic of the colloquium was supernova hut twice during the early part of the lecture Teller was interrupted by heckling students critical of his con • nbul ions to science Al the first interjection Teller was quest toned about his part in the H bomb t.*niro\ers> He lephed That is not the topic of this lecture \Ae are discussing supernova Huvsrll Donnelly, chairman of the |*tiv sics department stepped up and told the protesting nirl she was out of order ■■ Tlus is a meeting of the physic* depart moot, and you are out of order " Hie format of the colloquium em phasi/es that while the lecture* are meant for the physics department, they ure open to the public Teller resumed his lecture only to tie interrupted again by the same angry critic Teller responded to her interruption by saying "If you are angry with me you can leave " Order restored Donnelly restored order and asked Teller to continue his lecture at which time the physicist offered to spend time after the lecture with the protestors "I will be glad to spend time af terwards for an orderly discussion of the questions you have lieen asking "However, if I am interrupter! again, I shall leave when the physics lecture is completed and not talk with you In the name of academic freedom and for those who would like to listen to my lecture, please la* quiet If I am interrupted again, I will ask the chairman to clear you out of this room tier aid Bogen special assistant to » Diversity President Hubert Clark who was outside the lecture room, said, "the colloquium is considered a classroom and as such the professor can request the room cleared Several members of the Eugenr Police department were on hand for reasons of security since Teller is now the associate director of the Lawrence laboratory at Ijvermore California ( untlnurd ns Page 2