Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 1972)
Housing office handles tenant hassles By CHARLOTTE STEPHENS Of the Emerald Is it really a hassle to get along with your land lord ? •Or do you just wish you had a landlord to cause pblems because you can’t find a place to stay? The ASUO Housing Office in room 312 of the EMU can help students with most housing problems they encounter. “We’ve got a referral service, and then secondly, it’s kind of a legal education too .. . trying to help kids find out what they’re obligated to legally when they move off campus, and what they can do if they have problems with their landlords,” says Frank Wall, program director since July. During the week just before and just after registration, the office will provide emergency housing while a student finds some place more permanent to stay. Explains Wall, “We thought two nights would provide a long enough time to find housing, but a short enough time that the people opening their homes up wouldn’t feel it was too much inconvenience.” “There’s a lot of housing close to school,” he adds, “but for one thing it’s hard to find because often the owners don’t need to advertise in the papers because they know they can get enough people if they just put a sign up. So there’s a communication problem, and if you’re new to Eugene, that’s hard to overcome.” When a student comes in looking for lodging, the office provides a list of available places of all types, as well as a list of people looking for roommates, offers copies of local papers and advises the student to walk around campus looking for rental signs. In addition, the student is given a pamphlet which the office published last summer entitled “On Becoming a Tenant.” The introduction states, “Many of the problems tenants face each year could be avoided or minimized if tenants were aware of their rights and responsibilities and acted on that awareness.” The 36-page guide gives advice and information on renting, legal rights and obligations of the tenant, and ecological housekeeping. A new edition, available this fall, will include specific information on cost and location of Eugene housing, what utilities cost, what you should do if you want to make repairs and possibly a short section on cooking and housekeeping. “Stuff like that would be very useful to a student who has never had a place before,” Wall says. “There’s a lot more we can add to it—I think we can just about double the size of it and still afford to print it.” Wall accredits a section of the pamphlet dealing with search and seizure with minimizing tenant complaints of landlord harrassment. By law, he says, “the landlord does have a right to come in at reasonable times to make an inspection of your dwelling, but that doesn’t mean he can come in every day right after you’ve left and check around to see who’s living with you and whether or not you’ve done the dishes.” One complaint the office still receives frequently is that the landlord never refunds the damage deposit even though the tenant has not done any specific damage during his occupancy. “A lot of landlords wait two or three months and then they really kind of rip you off for all kinds of stuff,” Wall says. “And because it takes so long to hear from them, a lot of people have already left Eugene, or they’ve just given up about it rather than try to get an itemized statement.” “But,” he adds quickly, “there’s a lot you can do, although there isn’t much written law. These damage deposit cases go to Small Claims Court, and in Small Claims Court the judge is sort of able to use his own discretion.” No lawyers are used and no written records are kept. Wall feels the tenant gets fair treatment in Small Claims Court. “It’s something you can handle yourself and it doesn’t take much time. Usually it’s pretty informal. I think what generally happens is that the judges are sympathetic to students.” For those who wish to avoid problems in the first place,Wall suggests inspecting a dwelling with the landlord and having him sign a written inventory of its condition. That way, when you move out, you can’t be charged for any damage that occurred prior to your tenancy. “Before you rent any place you should look at it fairly carefully,” cautions Wall. “If you sign a lease or rental agreement, you should read it over first.” Films, speakers set by Forum The ASUO Cultural Forum “is one of the agencies on campus that provides a cultural exchange,” says Debbie Barnett, assistant director of the program. And this year—more than ever before—that cultural exchange will play a big part in the full schedule of films, speakers and en tertainment the ASUO program brings to campus. This year the program will put greater emphasis on the oriental, Chicano and Native American student cultures while preparing programs for campus, according to Barnett. The Cultural Forum, which is directed by Mark Thrift, is funded by the ASUO and is responsible for providing a large variety of programs to students. Among those programs this year is a full list of movies, speakers, symposiums and concerts. There are many films planned for this year. They will start on Oct. 1 and will for the most part be shown in the EMU Ballroom on Sundays at $1 a piece. The film schedule will run as follows: Oct. 1: “Little Big Man”; Oct. 8, “Through a Glass Darkly”; Oct. 15, “M.A.S.H.”; Oct. 22, “Orpheus”; Oct. 29, “The Hired Hand”; Nov. 5, “Rashomon”; Nov. 12, “Women in Love"; Nov. 19, “Forbidden Games”; Nov. 26, “Claire’s Knee”; Nov 29, “The World of Buck minster Fuller’; Dec. 3, “The 400 Blows”; Jan. 14, “Klute”; Jan. 21, “Greed”; Jan. 28, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”; Feb. 4, “The Crowd”; Feb. 11, “The Garden of Finzi Continis”; Feb. 18, “Fury”; Feb. 25, “THX 1138”; March 4, “Citizen Kane”; April 1, “Summer of ’42”; April 8, “The Gold Rush”; April 15, “McCabeand Mrs. Miller”; April 22, "The General”; April 29, “Johnny Got His Gun”; May 6, “Duck Soup”; May 13, “Shaft”; May 20, “My Little Chickadee.” A number of concerts have also been planned by the Cultural Forum. Mason Proffit will hold a dance-concert on Sept. 16 in the EMU Ballroom. On Oct. 12, Seales and Croft will appear in concert in the Ballroom and several folk concerts with Dr. Corn’s Bluegrass Remedy on Oct. 27, the Sawtooth Mountain Boys on Jan. 19, and Gordon Keane of Feb. 23, will take place. According to Barnett the Cultural Forum has tried to add an art element to activites this year and will present a Korean Dance Troupe on Oct. 5 and the producer-director of the "French Connection,” “Minsky’s” and the “Boys in the Band” will hold a film festival workshop on Dec. 5 and 6 as part of the art program to be presented by the Cultural Forum. The Cultural Forum will also present Jack Anderson, controversial columnist, on April 20, in a lecture and Kreskin from the television show “The Amazing World of Kreskin” will be on campus Oct. 18. In an effort to involve politicians of the community with the University and to allow students to familiarize themselves with community politicians, the Cultural Forum will bring the mayor, several councilmen and the Attorney General to the Dad’s Room in the EMU on various dates through the year. “We’re open to suggestions and various agencies can bring suggestions to us,” Barnett said. The Cultural Forum will see what can be done about the suggestions according to Barnett. Feminists work for sisterhood By SHERRY STRATTON Of the Emerald The University Feminists want to “change attitudes but also change behavior and things which are structurally discriminatory to women. “We want to do it so that responses come about not just because of pressure but because of enlightenment. One of our main goals is changing the attitudes of women who feel that feminism is threatening to them. If they understood it they could benefit from sisterhood” said Janet Kerans in explaining the Feminist’s goals. Kerans, a sociology undergraduate and part-time civil service employee, is on the University Feminists board of directors along with Mary Pauli, a graduate student in History, Alice Blanchard, a graduate student in English, and Leslie Geschel , a CSPA undergraduate in gerontology. Pauli will be the Feminist’s paid coordinator this year, working in their new office in the EMU. “You’re a member of the University Feminists if you say you are, all you have to do is come to meetings,” said Kerans in explaining that there are no formal membership arrangements. “This way we’re open to any women, university or community. We have a balanced group, lots of different ideas of what feminism is.” Most members of the Feminists are graduate students, and most are connected with the University, or were in the past. “Lots of our members have radical perspectives, but our group is not,” says Pauli. The Feminists will be continuing and expanding the projects they developed last year. One of their main concerns will be the Defense Center. Their aim is to attract women who have complaints on sexism, whether they be students, faculty or community women. The Defense Center gives women a chance to talk over their complaint and get it out of their system. Complaints could be about hiring practices or professors using sexist text books, for example. The Feminists will give women with complaints some sup port, some sisterhood, and advice if they want to pursue the complaint. Pauli stressed that the decision to act upon complaints is completely at the disgression of the woman who brings up (he complaint. Everything brought to the Defense Center is strictly confidential, she said. Pauli said they provide ‘‘anything from a shoulder to advice on legal aid, but we are there as resource people to give advice and referral more than anything else ... we don’t wish to force anything into an issue.” Kerans said another thing they “really try to work on is sisterhood—we try to have a good sense of solidarity.” She said (hey stress friendship with women and try to provide an atmosphere where com petitiveness between women is not evident Another one of the feminist's on going projects this year will be the Rap Sheet—a monthly newsletter which contains anything that would be of interest to women. Anyone who has something they would $ like to contribute should contact Pauli at the Feminists office in the EMU. They will v be printing more newsletters this year and |i; increasing the distribution in an effort to reach more people. ?S Some of the Feminists have been helping to develop a new course for fall term—an Introductory Course to Women’s Studies that will be offered through several dif ferent departments. The Feminists will also be putting out a brochure in mid-September which gives course descriptions of the classes on women’s studies that will be offered fall term. Some 25 classes on women’s studies will be offered this year. Pauli said the group will be making an effort to establish better lines of com munication with minorities and other oriented women’s groups, such as the Faculty Women’s Committee. “We’re going to begin to reach out more-have more people think we’re speaking for them,” she said. “We’re going to increase our visibility so more people will know about us .. . that we exist and what we’re about. Our main effort will be within the campus. Sometimes we will refer people to other women’s groups. We don’t try to be an umbrella organization,” said Kerans. The University Feminists first meeting will be the first Tuesday after school starts An orientation meeting will be held soon after The time and date will be an- ijjj nounced later.
