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.