—
CSPA
faculty
papers
go into
library
By SHAWN ROSSITER
Of the Emerald
CSPA faculty members have been advised to place their
correspondence, research papers, course information, grant
proposals, collaborative work with other professors or col
leges, and other documents in the CSPA archives collection.
Located in the University Library, the archives how hold a set
of CSPA files including many documents legally owned by the
University. CSPA faculty persons are responsible for turning
over all documents five years old or older to the University
archives under a special arrangement enacted by the Oregon
Legislature. For more information concerning what kind of
material should be contributed to the archives, contact
Rosemary Boss at extension 3825.
KWAX extends hours
Radio station KWAX-FM, located in Villard Hall, extended
its broadcast hours Saturday. The program ‘A Tempo” comes
on the air at 8 a.m. Saturday, featuring “good music and a
minimum of talk," according to John Shepherd, Division of
Broadcast Services head. The Saturday schedule previously
started at 10 am.
This increase of hours is significant since it means the
station has reached the highest level of performance as out
lined by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and will entitle
the station to a larger monetary grant from the corporation.
Currently, KWAX, at 91.1, is a Level-ll station. The extras
weekend hours and hiring of an additional staff member de
termined a Level-Ill title — a total of 18 hours of air time each
day, seven days a week. Maintaining a Level-Ill operation
entitles the station to an increase in their grant, nearly doubling
the amount they receive now.
Though the program “A Tempo” features mostly music,
Shepherd said announcements regarding events relating to
arts in the community are also included. Persons in the area
who would like to have announcements aired on the program
can do so by calling Karen Kammerer at 686-4236 or deliver
ing a copy to her at the station. This service is free of charge.
Internships in New York
The New York City Urban Fellowship Program is offering
internships in New York City government in a variety of areas
from September through June to University seniors and
graduate students in all fields. Interns will be awarded $4,000
plus a $500 stipend from sponsoring institutions, tuition waiver
or academic credit. For information and applications, contact
the University financial aid or career counseling office or write
Leonore Loft, New York City Urban Fellowship, 51 Chambers
St. Room 811, New York, N.Y. 10007.
Romance language dept.
also hit hard by inflation
By GEORGE WILLIAMS
Of the Emerald
Editors note: This is ths 29th in
the Emerald's series on the fi
nancial state of the University.
The situation in the Department
of Romance Languages offers no
consolation to the financial state
of the University. Like almost all
other areas it, too is definitely suf
fering from a lack of funds and is
being forced to cut back on tele
phone use, paper consumption
and Xeroxing. Understaffing and
crowded class conditions are the
rnost pressing problems.
"One of the most serious ettecis
is the inevitable increase in the
size of the sections,” said Perry
Powers, department head. Class
sizes have increased in both the
lower and upper division courses.
Many of the professors used to
think that 25 students was an ex
cessively large class in either the
first or second year of language
study, but now very few classes
have under 30.
DratMng by Alfred U
"Last term one Spanish section
had 42 members," Powers said.
"How much contact can you have
when dasses are running 35 to 40
students? It’s frustrating from both
the student and teacher stand
points.”
The frustration stems from the
fact that the study of a language
requires a close relationship and
an informal approach between the
student and teacher. Class evalu
ations from past students listed a
need for more classroom conver
sation, said Powers.
“Learning a language can’t be a
lecture setting," said Richard Des
roches, associate professor.
"But right now there is little chance
for conversation in the classes."
Desroches, who teaches a
French composition class, feels
students should be writing more.
With the larger classes, however,
many staff members are unable to
find the extra time it would take to
oorrect more papers.
Problems with size
Randi Bim, associate profes
sor, explained that problems in
votved with teaching literature in a
foreign language are hard enough
as is, but are compounded in large
classes.
"The ideal would be 15 to 18
students per class," she said.
Two aspects have created
overcrowded conditions—a drop
in the number of faculty and an
increase in enrollment. The ro
mance language department
covers study in French, Spanish
and Italian, and of those three only
French seems to be holding its
own.
According to Thomas Hart, ro
mance language professor, Italian
studies has lost one of its three
professors, and Spanish has lost
two of its six in the last year. Right
now the department has em
ployed one full-time visiting pro
fessor in Italian and one half-time
visiting professor in Spanish.
"Although we would like to re
tain them next year and raise the
half-time position to a full-time
one, we can’t be sure that we
can,” said Powers.
The University is the only
school in the state that gives a
doctorate degree in romance lan
guages, said Powers, but staffing
problems are hurting the program.
Steven Rendall, associate pro
fessor, feels the graduate prog
ram is "really badly hurt,” espe
cially in Spanish.
“The range of classes is limitea
throughout the department,” Re
ndall said. "It really threatens the
entire program, and some people
have questioned whether or not
we can even continue the prog
ram in the Spanish graduate
area.”
Enrollment up
Enrollment has shown an in
crease over last year and has con
tinued on into winter term with out
its usual drop. This trend, said
Powers, is showing a returning in
terest in the study of romance lan
guages. The University, however,
has made it very difficult to plan
the number of sections that can be
offered. It does not have sufficient
funds to cover all the sections,
said Powers, and negotiations for
new ones must take place on the
floor of Mac Court at the time of
registration.
“By that time we really don’t
have the graduate teaching fel
lows (GTF’s) available," he said.
“GTFs are doing much of the first
year instruction, and its hard to get
the best ones when funds are not
available in the spring.”
“We must adapt ourselves each
time there is an enrollment,” said
Elisabeth Marlow, assistant pro
fessor. “We always must wonder
if there will be enough money for
the next section."
"Money that is given in the fall is
taken back at the end of the term,
and we have to fight for it all over
again,” said Desroches. “Right
now there are three sections in
French composition class and we
need four.”
One professor said the depart
ment was given some funds last
spring, but still not anywhere near
enough to handle the recruiting of
GTF’s.
Supplies, services cut
Added to this problem are an
inadequate supplies and services
budget and the possibility of still
further cuts. The results could
mean the removal of telephones
from more offices and even grea
ter limits on Xeroxing and mailing.
Cutbacks in the use of such teach
ing aids as films and reprints are
also hurting the amount of expos
ure students receive to different
aspects of learning a language.
The department lacks office
space, and no money or space is
available for a badly needed stu
dent lounge, said one professor.
Classroom space is also terribly
inadequate.
“I’ve taught in some classrooms
that should be used as broom
closets at best,” said Rendail.
Bim, who also handles library
requisitions, termed the situation
“pretty grim." Book allotments
have been cut by a few thousand
dollars, and the department is be
hind schedule in getting the books
it needs. The department also has
special problem and extra costs of
having to go to European markets
for books, said Bim.
“We've just about run out of
money for the year,” she added.
The romance languages de
partment has an excellent poten
tial for growth and expansion, but
isn’t going anywhere at
present.
“We have a good faculty and we
could start building a strong de
partment,” said Bim. "But tem
porary appointments are hurting
morale. First rate people can’t be
given assurance that they can be
rehired next year."
With an increasing enrollment,
however, cutbacks would be
“highly detrimental," said Powers.
He explained that it would be
“shortsighted” to do away with
studies that focus on other peo
ples, cultures and literatures.
“Enrollment indicates a heal
thy student interest in this field,”
he said. “The interest should be
encouraged, rather than trun
cated."
The overall financial effect
"cannot help but represent a re
duction in the degree of educa
tion." said Powers. "We are doing
less now then we were able to do
three to four years ago, and there
are no encouraging signs on the
horizon.”
But even through all this feels
that the instructors and students
are showing a "remarkably
cooperative spirit."
“I consider these problems as
part of my job, ” said Marlow. “Hav
ing to adapt to a problem is not the
end of the world." _