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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1973)
Committee approves law school fee hike By TODD MEERIMAN Of the Emerald Portland (Special) — The finance committee of the Oregon State Board of Higher Education voted Thursday to recommend full Board approval of a fee in crease plan for University law students after certain revisions of the plan have been made. Following testimony by University representatives supporting a proposed plan for reorganization of the Law School fee and tuition schedule, the committee decided to adopt parts of the plan proposing new law fees while diluting provisions for student financial aid. The reorganization plan, submitted by Law School Dean Eugene Seoles, calls for the creation of four new fees for law students while making provision for partial or total waiver or deferral of the new fees in cases of “extrme hardship, need or merit.” Committee chairer John Mosser expressed concern that the committee, by adopting the proposal, would set a precedent whereby all the schools in the state system could apply for special fees to be applied toward special needs. Mosser also questioned whether law students should be exempt from regular incidental fees. Clark agreed and indicated that the incidental fee provision of the proposal would be altered. Calling the proposal “too big an increase with too big a remission program,” Mosser cast the tie breaking vote to defeat a motion to recommend Board approval. The committee then unanimously voted to have Mosser prepare a modified version of the plan, to include the fee increases except for the special law incidental fee, to submit to the Board on May 22. Mosser said his proposal would include a “phase-in” of the new fees with a maximum 30 per cent waiver. Under his plan, the waiver would be decreased yearly, Mosser said. Funds generated by the fees under Scoles’ rate schedule are earmarked for the Law School. The proposed fees are: —A $20 School of Law ap plication processing fee, to be paid by all applicants. It is estimated that this fee will produce about $30,000 a year. —A $200 School of Law ad mission acceptance fee, to be paid upon admission to the school. Based on an entering State Board to review plan to replace Amazon foundations By TODD MERRIMAN Of the Emerald PORTLAND (Special) — One hundred twenty apartments in the University’s Amazon Housing Complex may receive new foundations as a result of action taken Thursday by the Oregon State Board of Higher Education building committee. The com mittee voted to recommend to the board that a contract be awarded for the replacement of struc turally unsound foundations in the Amazon Complex. But it was apparent that the recommendation will be closely scrutinized when it is considered by the board on May 22. Board member Edward Westerdahl, citing the estimated $170,000 cost of the project, questioned the wisdom of making major repairs on “facilities that have outlived their usefulness.” Westerdahl said he supported the concept of providing low cost housing for students but said renovation of the World War II era buildings was contrary to “good business policy.” Board member Elizabeth Johnson suggested the Amazon issue will provide the board with an opportunity to review policies on low cost housing administered by the State System. Guidelines are needed, Johnson said, to insure that occupants of such housing are needy and are making adequate progress toward degrees. University President Robert Clark defended the foundation replacement project. Clark told the committee that some students “desperately need” the Amazon housing in order to meet educational expenses. The foundation replacement, if approved by the board, would be funded from University married student housing, and general repair, reserves. The project will not result in rent increases for Amazon Housing, Clark said. But he added that other factors may soon force a rent hike. In other action the committee recommended that the board deed two acres of land south of the Autzen Stadium parking lot to Lane County for use in a proposed waterway in Alton Baker Park. In exchange, the county would be required to return land adjacent to the stadium parking lot, and of equal value, to the board within three years. The committee also com missioned Chancellor Roy Lieuallen to compile a report on the effects of the energy crisis on the state system of higher education. Lieuallen agreed that there is a need for such an in vestigation. “This crisis is a real one and it may be upon us before we know it,” he said. For collective bargaining AFT wants separate agents By JOHN KNOWLTON Of the Emerald The University is an independent campus unit. When collective bargaining for faculty employees becomes a reality, the bargaining agent should bargain separately with employers rather than having a bargaining agent represent all seven of the schools in the state system. That is the position the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is taking in their recently published newsletter, “AFT Advocate.” According to the newsletter, independent campus bargaining should be pursued “because at the campus level faculty have the greatest opportunity to participate in and influence the daily operational policies and decisions that most immediately affect them: pay increases, promotion and tenure criteria, teaching loads, local grievance procedures, budget allocations, etc.” This position is in opposition to the one taken by the Oregon State Employees Association (OSEA) which has a collective bargaining stand that would encompass all of the state supported institutions of higher learning. “OSEA wishes to have a statewide unit because they are the only strong statewide organization and such a unit would be to their benefit,” says Nathaniel Teich, AFT executive committee member. An important consideration in collective bargaining is the definition applied to the bargaining unit, exactly who is being represented. Reich says AFT’s definition of the bargaining unit is different than the definition used by other teaching organizations. “It’s unclear who would be included in the bargaining unit in OSEA or ASUP based upon membership because they have administrators listed as members,” says Teich. AFT limits its membership to “full-time and part-time teaching and research faculty” and excludes administrators, which Teich defined as “department heads on up.” “The AFT has a philosophy more similar to an industrial labor philosophy,” Teich says. He said there should be a separation of the faculty and administrative interests in collective bargaining. Recent statements by Sen. Lynn Newbry (R Talent) on collective bargaining have pleased Teich. Newbry has suggested that in place of having the State Board be responsible for allocating money to the universities, the money should be given to the university in a lump sum and each university should disburse it. Teich says such a suggestion “shows that the Legislature is anticipating collective bargaining by faculty and they are looking for ways to meet it.” An additional “bargainable issue” seen by AFT is a change from the 100 per cent merit system of salary increase. “There’s a certain sentiment in faculty across the state for a cost of iiving increment instead of merit pay. That would guarantee that everybody gets something where now some people get nothing,” said Teich. (See related story, page 13.) class of 150, this fee will produce $30,000 annually. —A $300 Law Study resources fee, to be paid each year ($150 a semester) by all law students. Scoles’ plan proposed partial or complete wiaver of this fee for currently enrolled law students. With waivers for exisitng students, this fee will produce $60,000 the first year and increase to $120,000 in four years. The law study resources fee, is intended, in lieu of tuition increases, to give the money to the law library and to cover other instructional —A $60 law student incidental fee, to be paid each year ($30 per semester) by all law students. Under Scoles’ plan, law students would not pay the ASUO con trolled incidental fee but would maintain access to “general institutional activities” while contracting with the ASUO for specific activities. The majority of the funds generated by this fee would go to support law student oriented activities. A provision of the Scoles plan provides that if the waiver and deferral authority is not ap proved, the amount of the resource and acceptance fees should be reduced to $100 an nually for each fee for students presently enrolled. Scoles and Donald Chalmers, president of the student bar association, urged the committee to recommend Board approval of the new fee structure with waiver authority. The majority of law students support fee increases in lieu of tuition increases, Chalmers said. Law students must bear the “stigma” or “distinction” of the school from which they are graduated, Chalmers said, ex plaining the desire for increased fees. Comparing it with “the county library in Drain, Oregon,” Chalmers said the University law library was in “dire straits” due to lack of funds. Chalmers added that law students have a “vested interest” in insuring that faculty salaries are competitive with good law schools. Scoles reminded the committee that the law school will convert to a semester system in the 1973-74 year, resulting in less working time for law students this sim - mer. To grant a fee increa^se without providing for waivers, Scoles said, would produce “extreme hardship” for re turning students. University President Robert Clark seconded Scoles’ ob servation. Clark noted that law students, once forced to leave, do not have “an effective chance to change institutions.” The committee, however, was reluctant to grant the Law School any special waiver authority. Committee member Edward Westerdahl II said that law students are “the one element that probably needs it (waiver of fees) least.” Westerdahl characterized law students as “able, articulate, well-educated” students with a “better potential for rewards” than most undergraduates.. Annual walk benefits self-help projects Trying to break the economic trap that keeps people’s basic needs from being met; that is the goal for the Walk for Development, set for Saturday, May 12. Volunteers will collect pledges from sponsors prior to the 34-mile walk which will begin at 7:30 a.m. from the Lane County Fairgrounds. No one is required to complete the entire course that includes 3-mile checkpoints offering food and drink. Coordinator Gary Bond described the walk as different from other walk-a-thons because the walk is locally run and 100 per cent of the funds go directly to self-help projects in the Eugene Springfield area. “Those community projects which relate to people’s basic needs fit our criteria for funding. We are not a charity; instead we’re trying to help people become self sufficient,” Bond said. Walks held in 1969 raised $21,000 while in 1971 a total of $51,000 was gathered. Funds collected this year will be shared between various projects, the amount being set by a student board that represents the University, LCC, and the seven high schools involved in the walk. Bond noted that funds collected from prior Walks for Development helped to take people off welfare through education scholarships. One important goal, according to Bond, is trying to support projects which locate, create, and train people for jobs. Projects to be funded relate to such basic needs as health care, child care, counselling, education, job placement, food and shelter. Such organizations as Growers’ Market, a non-profit co-op food store; OUR Credit Union, a source for low-interest loans; Goodwill Industries; Women’s Transitional Living Center; Council on Aging; University Day Care Center; and Economic Development Council, among other, are listed for support from the Walk for Development. “We’re not just helping the poor but helping people see their basic needs met... Students at the University are most capable of understanding what we’re trying to do,” said Bond. Volunteers should contact Campaign Director Steve Jole at 689-3228 or Projects Director Gary Bond at 686-8097. Pledge cards for the walk are available at the EMU main desk or at the Walk for Development office at 610 Willamette.
