Photo by Trish Weisman
A new face on campus belongs to William Axford, appointed in
July as the new head librarian at the University Library.
OSPIRG
Students researching
public interest issues
In October, 1970, Ralph Nader came west with an idea.
He asked the students of the State of Oregon: Why not start your
own consumer watchdog agency, funded through student funds,
responsive to the needs of the consumer?
By June, 1973, Nader’s original idea had blossomed into a busy
and well-known organization that in the last two years issued
voluminous reDorts on topics ranging from toy safety to used-car
dealers, to bait-and-switch advertising.
The organization is the Oregon Student Public Interest Research
Group (OSPIRG).
Its purpose is simple—to serve as a watchdog over business and
government and to protect the interests of the consumer.
To do this, OSPIRG has grown in the last two and a half years into
a powerful consumer agency with a full-time staff.
OSPIRG is funded through contributions by most of the colleges
and universities in the state.
At the major universities, including this University, OSPIRG is
funded through the incidental fee process. The ASUO is funding
OSPIRG this year to the tune of $41,000. Contributions from other
colleges will bring that total close to the $124,000 that was OSPIRG’s
operating budget for 1972-73.
The money goes to finance the full-time staff, which includes three
lawyers, a psychologist, a scientist, an economist and a secretarial
force.
It also finances the basic research that is OSPIRG’s main tool in
protecting the consumer—the facts that, when backed up by publicity,
and, in some cases lawsuits, attempt to keep business honest and
government functioning in response to the people.
In addition, OSPIRG has hired 11 student interns for the summer,
including three from the University, for the projects it is conducting
this summer.
Those projects include a study of the public service performance
of television stations in the Portland, Salem and Eugene areas, a study
of the State Highway Division and its highway building functions,
several studies on land-use, including an in-depth look at the manner
in which the Oregon Coastal Development Commission implements its
permit-granting standards, a study on mental health, and a study on
tourism and the State Highway Department’s policy of advertising to
increase tourism in Oregon.
Among previous OSPIRG studies, major efforts have been made
in exposing advertising fraud, the selling of illegal, dangerous toys,
the proposal of Portland General Electric to build a nuclear
generating plant on Cape Kiwanda, and in promoting en
vironmentalist concerns around the state.
But that isn’t all. The list goes on and on.
OSPIRG is styled to be a “full-service” public service venture—
not just exposing fraud in business, but serving as a watchdog on
government agencies that frequently are unresponsive to the needs of
the public.
Scott Spittal
Legal services
At prices students can afford
For about ten cents a month, you’ve got an
attorney. The ASUO uses part of students incidental
fees to contract with a Springfield law firm for
group legal services for students.
Attorneys Bob Ackerman and Tom Hanlon, of
Babcock & Ackerman, see as many as 15 students a
day by appointment in the Legal Aid office, 318
EMU.
The firm was originally retained to represent
the student body in a lobbying capacity, but in 1971
their function was redesigned and they began to
represent individual students.
Services include: advice and consultation,
dissolution of marriage (used to be called divorce),
legal research, notarial acts, preparation, drafting
and reviewing of contracts and other legal
documents, conferences, correspondence or
negotiation with adverse parties or attorneys, in
corporation of groups for non-profit purposes and
most recently, preventive law presentations to
students regarding their rights and duties. This
service is available to individuals or groups on
request.
Students need only be currently enrolled at the
time the request is made to qualify, but there are a
few types of cases the office is unable to handle,
including matters involving litigation, criminal
cases, tax matters and estate planning, cases
against the ASUO, incorporation for private profit
and student conduct cases.
ASUO provides the attorneys with office space
and equipment, but the firm pays all other ex
penses. The service costs ASUO $19,000. There are
two part-time work-study secretaries. Ackerman
would like to transfer more of the legal research to
law students to further increase the office’s ef
ficiency and ability to handle clients.
The attorneys can refer cases of consumer
fraud to Oregon Student Public Interest Group
(OSPIRG) and represent students when conflicts
arise with the University administration or faculty.
Since the students, in essence,-retain the attorneys,
anything students tell the attorneys is privileged,
but consultations with advisers and administrators
are not.
At the time the University established the Legal
Aid office, only two other universities had similar
programs, usually called group legal service, like
group health plans. Ackerman has answered
inquiries from 30 to 40 other universities about the
program and believes programs like this will soon
be the rule, rather than the exception, on campuses
all over the country.
Terri Scarborough
For ALL Your Student Needs
University of Oregon
BOOKSTORE
(Formerly University of Oregon CO-OP)
Main Floor, rear:
art supplies postage stamps
check cashing qift wrapping
typewriter rentals wrap for mailing
Street Level:
book drops newspapers magazines
I shirts, sweatshirts qreetinq cards
sbny hitachi tennis rackets, supplies
Second Floor:
new text books
u.s<E*0 text 'books •
paper backs
special book orders
lost and found
free notary service
self op xerox
soap detergents, tissues
attache cases
candy, cigarettes_
study quides
asuo guides
refunds exchanges
university charges
scholarship charges
pens, markers
stationery, candles
reference books
trade books _
typewriters
elect omc calculators
back packs
school supplies
childr€*n books
com op storage lockers
895 East 13th Avenue Campus Phone Extension 4331
YMCA...More Than a Swimming Pool
The Young Mens Christian Association at the University
of Oregon has no gym, no steam room, no handball courts, no
swimming pool and no bible study groups.
The Young Mens Christian Association at the University
of Oregon does have an opportunity for you to get involved
with a teenager who is having a tough time adjusting socially
and emtotionally to her or his world (Rehabilitation
Assistance Program), to learn guitar or yoga, to be a friend
to a boy who needs one (the Big Brother Project), to drive a
bookmobile for “shut-ins”, to bridge the cultural gulf bet
ween foreign students and the community, to explore con
temporary issues with your contemporaries, to be involved in
implementing alternatives to the juvenile justice system, to
see one of your own ideas become a reality.
If you want something more than a swimming pool, come
down and see us. For all students, the YMCA at the
University of Oregon, Rm. 16, Erb Memorial Union, 686-4431.
RM 16 EMU
686-4431
UNIVERSITY
OF OREGON
vmca