Oregon daily emerald., January 19, 1973, Image 1

Chicano confab calls for education reform
Photo by Jean O'Leary
A member at Ballet Felklorico, a folk-dancing troop from San
Francisco State College, performs in a skit Thursday afternoon daring
the two-day CUcano conference, Qne Pasa, Rasa.
By MARIANNE RINALDO
Of the Emerald
Hie first Chicano Mobile Institute or conference
began Thursday on the University campus. The
institute, titled Que Pasa Raza got under way with a
news conference at 9:30 a.m. but formally began at
noon with registration followed by short keynote
addresses from Chicano leaders.
One major area of discussion was ethnic studies
and the relationship of the Chicano to higher
education.
Keynote speaker Manuel Rivera talked about the
Chicano education, saying, “We know where we are
and where we’re going. You must reverse the
question and ask the educator and the ad
ministration, ‘How come we don’t have more
Chicanos in higher education?’ ” Rivera stated it
was up to the administration to answer the question.
“Chicanos begin school at different levels and
when they come to Anglo schools they are treated
the same,” he said. All are treated as a minority no
matter what background or environment they may
have come from.
Rivera then asked a series of questions calling
upon the University to come forth with answers.
“How come we are shifted and put aside?
Professionally speaking where is the ac
countability? I want some answers.”
Rivera said that the reason there are not more
Chicanos in higher education is because that by the
eighth grade SO per cent of the Chicanos in school
have dropped otrt. “A Chicano doesn’t have a
chance ... We don’t have any Chicanos in higher
education, only an elite group which is ready to put
up with the institution.”
According to Rivera, the curriculum in schools is
irrelevant. “You are labeled from the start as a
project. You must be grateful. Bow down and kiss
their (the administrators’) hand. That’s what it is
like to be a Chicano in higher education.”
“You have to be standardized, think, act and
dress like a WASP. It won’t make any difference if
you have a doctorate or two masters, you will still
be a Mexican in the eyes of the administration and
then not even a Mexican-American,” he added.
Rivera called upon Chicanos to participate and
put their beliefs into action, stating, "Since 1924
we’ve been trying to sensitize the American com
munity, the dominant socieety.”
Following the keynote address by Rivera, Lila
Gonzales, from the University of California at
Berkeley, delivered a series of short speeches
dealing with Chicano studies and ethnic studies.
Gonzales stated that “Chicano studies has been
formed in the University only as a political ex
pediency. There is no commitment.” She added, “It
is more astute to set up Chicano projects in
Universities thus quelching any legitimate
protest.”
Gonzales teased University President Robert
Clark, who was seated in the audience, quipping,
the reason the University has been sued by the
Department of Health, Education and Welfare is
because “President Clark doesn’t have strong
friends in Washington and he’s in trouble.”
She then closed by reassuring the audience, “I’m
a hopeless optimist. Chicano studies has a place in
the University.”
The remaining two speakers, Frank Sandavol
from Chicano Studies Institute, Long Beach, and
Amoldo Vento from the University of Michigan
gave speeches calling upon Chicanos to remain
proud, warm and intellectual. Sandoval said above
all Chicano studies must produce spiritual unity.
“We want to be one with each other. That is the
essence of our being.”
Anti-inauguration rallies set
for today, Saturday
An anti-inauguration rally will be held at 12:15
p.m. today at the EMU Free Speech Platform.
Organized by the Student Mobilization Com
mittee, the rally is designed as a prelude to
Saturday’s Inauguration Day demonstration ac
tivities. The Saturday activities are sponsored by
three local Eugene peace groups.
On Saturday, a “March Against Death” will be
held, starting at 10 a.m. from the EMU. The march
will proceed to the mall where it will meet another
community-sponsored march and at 11:30 a.m.,
both groups will continue to Alton Baker Park
where a memorial service will be held.
Land use bill would
guide state growth
SALEM (Special)—A state Senate
committee began hearings Thursday on a
bill that, if passed by the Legislature, may
well guide the future growth of Oregon.
S.B. 100 deals with the review and
evaluation of state-wide land-use planning
programs. As envisioned by its supporters,
including Gov. Tom McCall, the land-use
lull will involve local government—cities,
counties and special districts—in the
development, adoption and im
plementation of comprehensive plans,
subject to review for compliance with
state-wide planning guidelines.
At the state level, local plans will be
reviewed by the Land Conservation and
Development Commission, a five-member
policy and decision body for a newly
created state Department of Land Con
servation and Development.
The bill would also create a new Joint
Legislative Committee on Land Use, a
standing committee which will have the
task of advising, reviewing and assisting
the Department.
The local level for the development of
land-use policies will consist of 14 planning
districts throughout the state. Lane County
will make up one entire district.
The Land Conservation and Develop
ment Commission will be responsible for:
—Establishing state-wide planning goals
—Issuing permits for activities of
critical state concern
—Preparing state-wide objectives and
regulations for areas and activities of
cr.tical state concern, and
—Preparing inventories of land use for
both existing and proposed developments.
The proposed land-use bill will also allow
the Commission to delegate functions and
authority to the previously created Oregon
Coastal Conservation and Development
Commission.
The emphasis of the land-use bill is on
local authority and control which would be
exercised through the fourteen district
councils. Membership of the councils
would include a representative of the
county commissioners, the mayor of a
district’s most populous city in each
county, and other members “as shall be
deemed appropriate in the bylaws adopted
by the district council’’
The bill provides for at least two-thirds
of the district council to be elected
representatives from cities and counties.
Also included is a section which allows the
voters of a planning district to use their
powers of initiative or ballot measure
approval “to alter or revise the number,
qualifications and manner of selecting
members of the district council.”
The duties of the local councils will in
clude such activities as coordinating land
conservation and development, reviewing
comprehensive plans prepared and
proposed by units within the district, co
ordinating activities with the state, and
appointing advisory committees to aid the
council in its functions.
The district council, in conjunction with
an appointed planning committee, will
also provide land conservation and
development planning, advisory and
technical services to each city or county
within the district; provide information,
maps and other data; conduct educational
programs relating to land conservation
and development; and, subject to approval
from the state Commission, join with any
similar council or planning agency with
jurisdiction over contiguous land situated
in another state to form an interstate
district council.
The areas of critical state concern in
clude scenic waterways, state parks and
recreational areas, primitive or wilder
ness areas managed by the U.S. Forest
Service, the Bureau of Land Management,
the National Parks Service and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers.
Also: land situated within a radius of
one-half mile from the right of way of a
interstate highway (1-5 and 80), certain
land west of the Oregon Coast Highway,
and designated areas forming the right of
way for scenic highways in the state.
Luted in the bill as activities for both the
State Commission and the district councils
are the planning, siting and construction of
airports, state and federal highway
systems, mass transit systems, solid
waste disposal sites, high-voltage power,
gas and oil transmission lines, sewage and
water supply systems, thermal power
plants, and nuclear installations.
The control of all this land will be
regulated by a permit system. The bill
reads: “...no proposed development
project constituting an activity of critical
state concern...may be initiated by any
person or public agency without a
development permit issued by the com
mission therefor.”
By its very wording, S.B. 100 would have
a profound impact on the growth and
development of the state, and according to
Gov. McCall, this is exactly what is needed
for Oregon.
“The single most important action
need jd for environmental protection is
land-use planning,” McCall told the
opening session of the legislature recently.
In a statement on land-use issued
Thursday, McCall urged the prompt and
thoughtful consideration “of this im
portant legislative package."
He is “convinced that a vast majority of
Oregonians are determined to develop a
planning process that will allow for or
derly development, and land use based
upon the greatest lasting benefit to the
public as a whole."
Terming S.B. 100 as “progressive ac
tion,” McCall warned that there is “a very
real danger that ixicontrolled development
will clear-cut the state of its liveability.”