Oregon daily emerald., April 13, 1973, Page 7, Image 7

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It never rains in
(Eastern) Oregon
Tired of the rain? Looking ahead to the hay fever season
with horror and resignation? Bored with the bilious green
climate of Eugene where even the fenceposts sprout?
Look east. Look to Oregon’s high desert country, out where
distances are not counted in miles but in “looks” — where you
count the horizons you have to cross to get anywhere. Consider
the Malheur Environmental Field Station (MEFS) for a cam
ping trip, for birdwatching, for having a hotsprings all to
yourself for a whole weekend, for earning credits toward your
degree.
The MEFS is 32 miles south of Burns in Harney County, a
county larger than seven of these United States. The center is a
former Job Corps facility now owned by a consortium of 18
Oregon schools and located on the western edge of the Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge near the Steens Mountains.
The first White settlers came to Harney County ten years
after Oregon became a state. With rainfall of only 9-12 inches
per year and winter temperatures below freezing for days at a
time, it’s easy to understand why. It’s volcano country — a local
lava flow is only 400 years old. It’s also dry lake country, with
miles of salt flats. There are people in Harney County, one to
each 960 acres, but the land is hostile to strangers and campers.
The MEFS is a home for travelers, biologists, ornithologists,
students, and other desert freaks.
The nearby Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has 264
species of birds, one of the largest avian concentrations in the
west. There are 53 species of mammals, but there is no accurate
count of the mosquito population Scientists study the animals,
including antelope and coyote, in their native habitats.
Two new species of fish have been discovered near the
MEFS in the past two years. A Portland State student found a
previously unknown fish in one of the lava tube caves, for
example, during her visit to the MEFS in 1972. More discoveries
no doubt remain to be made.
During the summer school session of 1973, the MEFS will
offer 22 courses for credit through Pacific University. All
courses are out-of-doors and will involve Held study and over
night camping in the desert. The courses will be taught by
visiting professors from several Oregon colleges and univer
sities and by faculty from other regions of the country.
A brochure about the summer program can be obtained
from David White, Rm. 204 Science I, or from Denzel Ferguson,
Director of the Malheur Environmental Field Station, P.O. Box
989, Burns, Oregon 97720. Some assistantships are available.
Photo by Peter Grant
Grattan Kerans
Math department offers
break from dull classes
Do mathematics courses interest you less than
corn-fed hog statistics from Dubuque, Iowa? are
you unaware of the difference between Calculus and
Calciferous? Can you remember anything from the
Math 104 class you had last year?
Well if you can’t, don’t despair, because the
University’s mathematics department may be able
to give you some shelter yet.
The people over in the basement of Deady Hall
have come up with a half dozen new courses during
the past couple of years which are innovative, in
teresting, and open to almost anybody who can
count to a hundred.
By CHARLES HOLZHAUER
Of the Emerald
The courses were conceived in an effort to offer
an alternative to the three term sequence pattern,
usually taken by students faced with the science
math group requirements.
Charles Curtis, head of the department, ex
plains that the courses represent an attempt to give
a student a broad, general introduction to
mathematics, as an alternative to the “cumulative
approach.”
The courses are in Probability, Counting,
Symmetry, Game Theory, Mathematical
Milestones and Statistics. Usually two or three are
offered each term, on a rotating basis.
The Counting course (which could teach you
how to estimate the size of a crowd, your chances of
drawing the Jack of Diamonds, or the volume of
water flowing down the McKenzie) wasn’t too
popular at first. “We called in ‘Combinatorics,’ ”
explained Curtis. “Nobody would touch it. So we
changed the name to ‘Counting,’ and now the class is
full.”
The Mathematical Milestones course takes an
un technical historic look at the development of
mathematical thinking.
The Symmetry Course can be vitally helpful to
students majoring in architecture, chemistry or
biology. In this class students learn to understand
and describe in mathematical terms the symmetry
which occurs in nature: the symmetry of a quartz
crystal, a snowflake, or a sea shell.
The big crowd puller is the Game Theory class.
This class explores the new concept of
mathematical analysis of strategy. It has been
found that by making a close study of the rules of a
given game, and by separating the psychological
factors from the strategic factors, a strategy can be
worked up that will win that game. “It’s like
working your way through a pyramid,” said Curtis.
“A bunch of fellows at MIT were playing around
with this idea. After a while they worked up a
strategy for Blackjack. They got some backing and
went out to Las Vegas. And they started winning.
The casino owners had to start changing the rules.”
Enrollment in the Game Theory course, as in
the otners, has just about doubled since it was first
offered in the fall of 1971.
Curtis stresses that all of these courses are open
to anyone who has passed Math 95, and that none of
them are sequential.
The department also offers a special seminar
course for students who arrive at the University
with an especially weak background in math.
Entitled Math 290, the class allows a student to
advance at his own rate. Students who complete this
course can then move on to other courses they
might formerly have been unable to handle.
Many of these new courses were instigated as a
result of student demands for re-organization of
group requirements. Now that they are being of
fered, everybody seems enthusiastic.
Grattan Kerans: former
ODE editor *makes good’
By SCOTT SPITTAL
Of the Emerald
Salem (SPECIAL) — You
could title this story “Grattan
Kerans — a former Emerald
editor makes good.” (We did).
You see, Kerans is an ex-editor
of the Emerald (70-71, to be
exact). And, depending on
whatever you value, he probably
has made it good — as the ad
ministrative assistant for the
Joint Special Committee on
Professional Responsibility way
up in beautiful downtown Salem.
But whether or not what
Kerans makes is good or not
depends on the judgement of the
committee, and the value of the
Legislation he helps create.
What Kerans makes for the
committee is information — in
his words, he’s a glorified “leg
man.” He says, “We’re here to
do the things the legislators don’t
have time to do (collecting in
formation, opinions, and the
details necessary to put out
legislation). I’ll pull things
together and come up with ideas
of my own — what I do, very
often, is put up something to be
shot at — something for the
committee to work from.”
The committee is attempting to
deal with a legislature in tran
sition from the leisurely bi-ennial
30-day sessions of the state’s
embryonic days, to today’s 150
day sessions, and, with the
inevitable march of “progress,”
to tomorrow’s full time
legislature.
“Oregon’s legislature is un
dergoing changes,” said Kerans.
“We have a citizen’s legislature.
There’s not a full-time politician
here — they’re all part time
politicians. They have other
businesses and professions.”
The committee’s main concern
is bills regulating conflict of
interest and financial disclosure
for legislators. Kerans said, “As
the legislators stay longer and
move towards longer sessions,
this raises the question of per
sonal interests conflicting with
legislative interests. We’re
moving towards a professional
legislature, but we have to find
something that fits this
legislature.”
And this legislature is in a
curious position, almost in limbo,
so to speak. “As the complexity
grows the legislature moves into
new areas — it’s not an arith
metical but a geometrical in
crease in complexity, everything
shows the same upward trend in
involvement and size.”
size.”
But as Oregon’s legislative
functions have expanded, they
have also demanded more of the
citizen legislator. Many
legislators have been forced to
retire from service because of
financial considerations, and as
the sessions get longer, the
legislator’s personal financial
considerations become more
acute.
And the Oregon legislature thus
finds itself in limbo — not a
professional legislature, but
certainly not the collection of
farmers and businessmen
leisurely gathering for a short
session as in past years.
“We’re not at the point where
we’re having 25 day sessions, and
not at the point where there’s 250
day sessions — we have to find
something that matches our
present circumstances.”
The financial remuneration for
serving in the legislature is not
generous — Kerans estimates it
at about $7500 a year. And so
most of the legislator’s support
must come from their outsid{J)
personal resources. This raises a
problem. “How much do we ask
a businessman to disclose to his
competitors while at the same
time insuring the public that he is
n.ot making a personal gain
here?” Kerans asks.
That is what the committee is
trying to determine regarding
conflict of interest and financial
disclosure — how to make a
reconciliation between a citizen
legislator with his own private
interests to protect and a public
that demands honest legislature.
“We’ve lost a lot of faith in
government,” Kerans said, “and
part of this is in response to
that.”
Kerans’ job is to provide the
committee with the basic
background information to
consider this matter and others,
including bills concerning open
meetings, open records, and
regulation of lobbying.
He drafts amendments and re
drafts bills at the direction of the
committee, interviews people
knowledgable in the matters
before the committee, and
generally directs the input of
information to the committee.
So, perhaps in a sense he has
resigned one editor’s job and
taken another — but this time, it
is the legislators, and not the
readership of the Emerald, that
decides whether or not if what
Grattan makes is really good.