An Independent Student Newspaper
Vol.23, No. 32
University of Oregon, Eugene
Thursday, October 21,1971
Says University official
4Advising process stinks’
By CLAY EALS
Of the Emerald
Harry Alpert told faculty
members Wednesday that the
academic advising process at the
University “stinks.”
Alpert, Vice President for
Academic Affairs and Provost,
was responding to a question
posed at Wednesday’s Faculty
Town Meeting in 177 Lawrence
Hall.
University President Robert
Clark, who chaired the session,
brought prepared questions for
administrators to answer at the
session for the information of
some 75 faculty members who
attended. It was the first such
meeting this year.
In answering the question
about the quality of academic
advising, Alpert told the faculty
he would like to respond in the
way of an old movie-star
comedian looking at an art
exhibit. That movie-star said of
the exhibit, “Confidentially, it
stinks.”
“And I can say the same thing
for our academic advising
program.”
Alpert added, “Our advising
mechanism almost fell apart at
the beginning of fall term. Bev
Fagot, Director of the Office of
Academic Advising, said it was
the worst mess she had ever
seen.”
Alpert said a committee has
been set up by Clark to deal with
the problem, and that Bob
Bowlin, Dean of Student Per
sonnel Serivice, would chair it.
“We hope that as the report of the
committee gets finalized, we can
definitely improve the academic
advising program.”
Improving the advising
program will cost money, he
added. “When I was talking with
the President on this, I said, ‘Bob,
this is going to cost money,’ and
he looked me back in the eye with
complete silence. “
Clark said he hoped a way to
improve advising could come
about without much money spent.
The Office of Academic
Advising is located in 140 Hen
dricks Hall. It coordinates ad
vising for thevariousdepartments
on campus as well as helping
students decide a major.
At the town meeting, the
question of academic advising
was brought up by Clark during a
discussion of why students
weren’t able to get into class
sections this fall, especially
freshmen.
When asked to explain this,
Alpert told the faculty, “The
deans of various departments
with whom I work didn’t an
Hours reduction feared
by school librarian
Library hours may soon be reduced by one-third shortly if the
University Library is not able to secure more workers from the Work
Study program.
Carl Hintz, University librarian, in discussing the possible cut said
the decision is being “reviewed at higher levels,” and that he is hoping
for a decision soon.
Hintz said the problem began to develop last summer, when the
Library was forced to hire students not on Work Study because the
program lacked sufficient funds.
Larry Large, Acting Director of Financial Aid, said that only a
partial program was run in the Work-Study program during the
summer due to lack of funds. At that time, there were only enough
Work-Study people hired to supply workers for Federal grants.
Hintz said that, with a budget cut in the money for student
assistance, the hiring of non-Work-Study personnel placed a great
hardship on this part of the budget. To stay within the budget, he said
the library was understaffed this summer.
During the summer, Hintz requested 231 certified workers in the
Work-Study program for the academic year. The Office of Financial
Aid, which is in charge of the Work-Study program, notified him that
he would receive 185-195 workers.
He stated he had “received a net 150 certified workers, and we now
have 130 working (in the Library). Some quit after a few days, and
others didn’t show up for work.”
Large said “students have a choice” where they want to work in the
Work-Study program. He said his office tries to line up work for those
“who are eligible and those who want to go to the jobs. ”
Large said 1,200 requests for workers were filed with his office, but
only 860 people have been certified for the Work-Study program.
The shortage of help has caused the library many problems, ac
cording to Hintz. “We are currently short 600 hours of student work a
week,” he said.
The shortage can be seen throughout the Library, he said. “There is
a line in the Reserve Book room, and periodicals are not being
reshelved.”
“Members of my staff have worked extra hours” to keep the
Library running,” he added.
“Reducing hours would be very distasteful to those in the Library,”
Hintz said. “It’s a most pressing situation, and a decision can’t be
delayed any longer, as we are about to come apart at the seams. ”
ticipate the enlarged enrollment
of freshmen this year.” This
year’s freshman class is the
largest in the University’s
history; more than 200 more
freshmen enrolled this year over
last year.
"There were some indications
of the increase several months
ago,” Alpert explained, "but 1
don’t think they were properly
communicated.”
Vice President for Student
Services Gerald Bogen then stood
up and said, ‘‘The com
munication was adequate, but it
wasn’t read carefully.”
Bogen then added he was
‘‘quite puzzled” about the
matter, since “it is presen
tly impossible” to tell how many
students will show to register
until they actually do so. He said
a meeting is scheduled for Friday
among faculty and ad
ministrators to study the problem
and present proposals of how to
eliminate it.
One proposal, Bogen explained,
is for students to register for next
year during the spring in ad
vance. He said a Philadelphia
based firm, Systems Computers
Technology, may be consulted by
the University for implementing
computer registration.
“And we’ll need resources,” he
said.
Dean of the College of Liberal
Arts Burton Moyer then brought
up another aspect of freshman
enrollment this fall. “It’s the way
freshmen distributed them
selves. There was a marked
(Continued on Page 5)
Ticket sale pleasing
Athletic Department tickets
are selling well this year.
Vice President for Ad
ministration and Finance Ray
Hawk reported this at Wed
nesday’s Faculty Town
Meeting in 177 Laurence Hall.
(See related story this page).
‘‘It’s going to be better than
we had originally thought,”
Hawk said. As of a Wednesday
report from the AD, Hawk
said, about,“$53,000-plus”
worth of tickets had been sold.
‘‘The kind of ticket we’re
depending on is the game-by
game sales.”
At last Saturday’s
University of Oregon
University of Washington
football game, 6,175 student
seats were sold, out of an
available 6,200, Hawk said.
This year, the University is
using a new student method
for funding athletics. Of the
$1.6 million total AD budget,
$230,000 is needed by the AD
from students. In past years,
the full amount was supported
by student incidental fees.
However, only $100,000 is
being paid for by incidental
fees this year, the rest to be
made up by student ticket
sales ($130,000).
Straub Hall: dorm or office?
More protests plan
to convert Straub
Straub Hall should not become University office space.
ASUO President Iain More stated this position in a statement
released Wednesday.
His remarks were concerning the possibility that the old student
dormitory will be converted into “educational and general use” for the
University instead of living space.
At the Oct. 5 meeting of the Building and Facilities Committee of the
State Board of Higher Education, a proposal was passed to do just
that. The proposal would authorize the initial phase of the Straub Hall
conversion within a budget of approximately $135,000. Total cost for
the conversion would be about $1 million.
The full state board will take up the proposal at its meeting next
Monday in Klamath Falls.
More had several reasons for opposing the Straub conversion.
It “would seem to be illegal under Oregon law” to make the con
version, he said, because of a decision by the 1927 State Legislature,
which “specificialy dedicated Straub Hall for use as a facility solely
for dormitory housing, boarding or student activity purposes.”
Funds were issued after 1927 to finance the costs of Straub, More
said. They were “pooled in common with all other bonds in the State
System and therefore were all pledged to amortize additional issues of
revenue bonds.
“The Oregon Constitution states that bond issues are authorized
only for facilities that appear to be wholly self-liquidating and self
supporting from revenues, gifts, grants or building fees.”
More said the Straub conversion “might be deemed as a threat to
the liquidation of the bonds,” because now, there is no mention of
reimbursement. “This would be a violation of the Oregon Con
stitution.”
Because of this, dorm rates for the other University dorm buildings
would have to be raised, he added. They would have to be raised “to
produce revenue to meet the self-liquidating bonds. Straub would no
longer be a contribution.”
Of the possible raise in dorm rates, More said:
“The students in all the state schools have felt the problems of the
increase in tuition and the wage freeze. They should not be subjected
to actions which could cause further increases albeit to only a certain
segment of the student population.”
More recommended that the state board, at its Monday meeting,
delay any action on the committee-passed proposal on Straub con
version “until other uses for Straub Hall are investigated, such as
married student housing.”
If the state board did pass the proposal, it “would be an example of
bad faith to dormitory students in all schools, insofar as this action
would do little for them but to keep the dormitory fees artificially high
in a period of escalating student costs.”
At the Oct. 5 committee meeting, board members were unable to
answer specific questions about the implications, legally and
monetary, of the proposal to convert Straub. To this, More said:
“The ASUO feels strongly that, in the future, if the board or its
committees feel that they have insufficient information on any topic,
this should constitute the basis for delaying any decision until that
information is available.”
Reasons given by the committee on Oct. 5 for converting Straub Hall
are as follows:
—Shortage of classroom, lab and office space on campus.
—Ability to put most offices of the psychology department in the old
dormitory.
—Space would be available for conversion because of a decrease in
the number of students wanting to live in the dorms.
—Precedents for this sort of change at other state schools.