Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 18, 1973)
r, m — ii Photo by Clay Eals Earlier this month. ASUO President Greg Leo was twice confronted with student parents and their children, who protested the student funding cuts proposed by Leo for the ASUO Child Care and Development Center. Leo, Barnett head 1973-74 ASUO “The ASUO will definitely be in operation this summer,” says ASUO president Greg Leo. Leo defeated graduate student Doug Marshall in a hard-fought campaign that fielded ten teams of can didates in the elections this spring. Leo is a junior in Public Affairs and the first undergraduate to hold the top ASUO post in many years. His vice president is Deborah Barnett, formerly chairer of the Eugene Black Woman’s Caucus and a member of the Cultural Forum. Like Leo. she is a junior. Leo said that most of the ASUO programs, including the Executive, would be operative during the summer. Leo said that he hoped to spend at least half of each day in his office and one ad ministrative assistant would work through the summer months. Leo said that some programs “are in a state of flux" because of the ongoing search for many new program directors and the uncertain position of incidental fee allocations. Leo said that he hoped all the budgetary matters could be ironed out by the middle of June. “We see the summer as an opportunity to get our programs designed,'' he said. The ASUO president said he would like to try to design programs “to make the summer school student feel welcome," Leo said that a free dance at the beginning of the summer term might be one way to accomplish this goal. “We want it to act as a sort of social mixer,” he added. Leo talked of two new programs on which he hopes to work during the summer. “We are exploring possibilities for larger concert facil ities.” explained Leo. Since last year when the Eugene Fire Marshal prohibited any further rock conerts in Mac Arthur Court on the grounds they constitued a serious fire danger, the largest facility available on campus for musical groups has been the EMU ballroom, with a capacity of just over 800. Leo also spoke to what he termed the “parking crisis” at the University. He said that he is exploring the possibility of opening the Autzen Stadium Parking lot to students, and contracting with the Lane Transit District for a shuttle bus between Autzen and the campus. Leo said that he would hope to get the project operative by the fall. Josh Marquis If vou’re looking for ASUO student government offices this summer, you may have to look long and hard, according to Deborah Barnett, ASUO vice president. . Student government is vacating its offices on the third floor of the EMU today, but new offices in the EMU addition won’t be ready until December 6 Despite what she calls the “portable” state of the student government Barnett is enthusiastic about the programs of the newly elected executive team. She said her first few weeks in office have been “hectic and time-consuming,” and she was unprepared for the work load.” but that summer term will be relatively slower for executive staffers so that they can “get this office together. “We walked in and we had 50 crises on our hands — every program and organization complaining about anything you care to name,” Barnett said. One major crisis was the disposition of incidental fee money. Barnett said, “It’s really hard to say” when the budget will be finalized but that, since the incidental fees committee overruled all of President Greg Leo’s vetoes, the executive staff is making “alterations” in the budget. She said the staff may submit a second budget to University President Robert Clark in an effort to reach a compromise on spending. When asked about the relations of student government with the legislature, Barnett said that since 1973-74 isn’t a year when the legislature is in session, ASUO probably won’t interact much with Salem. “But if we do,” she said, “Greg is a legislative person” and would do what’s required. Barnett said there really isn’t any division of labor between her and Leo, and that any major decisions will be made jointly. She said that she is more of an “operations person” and will concern herself with the “mechanics of home,” or managing the office. Leo will handle more of the public duties of the executive, although Barnett expects to be making a lot of speeches and doing a lot of ASUO public relations work. Barnett said, “It’s still difficult to say” anything about ASUO’s relations with the other schools in the state. She would like to see “some type of interaction,” perhaps an exchange of ideas about co governance. She would also like to see efforts made toward increasing the awareness of students around the state about “ethnic students’ and their role in student politics. She thinks such awareness could be enhanced initially by newsletters and short talks. “I can’t change the whole world by myself,” she said, “but we are the only multi-racial staff in the state,” and development of un derstanding could be "channeled in the proper direction” through the efforts of the ASUO executive team. Barnett is the first Black woman to hold higher office in student government in the history of the state, and one of the few Black student officers in major public universities nationally. She said she is not a “nationalistic Black,” but she said, “My home is in Africa, but I live here in the United States.” Barnett cautioned that people not take that remark “out of con text.” She explained that her first allegiance is to Black people and third-world peoples, but that she is a citizen of the United States and she believes in the democratic process. “I don’t like a lot of things the United States, the State of Oregon, and this University stand for, but I am here, and this is probably where I’ll be for a while,” Barnett said. She has never been to Africa, but she feels “emotionally" she is with Africa. Barnett said she has received some obscene and harassing mail as a result of articles in the Oregonian, but that she is unafraid of racial responses to her holding the office of vice president. She said she can make students more aware of ethnic peoples while she is inoffice, and that it’s the students who are going to “change the world.” Joyce Boles Greg Leo and Deborah Barnett were surprised and happy when they found out by telephone that they PhCl° bY ***** ***** had been elected ASUO president and vice president for 1973-74.
