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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 1976)
Boyd says no to evaluation disclosure By LOIS LINDSAY Of the Emerald A student request for public disclosure of faculty course evaluations received a flat “no" from University Pres. William Boyd Tuesday In a letter to ASUO Pres Jim Bernau, Boyd said he would not approve blanket public access to information tabulated from student’s classroom survey evaluations. He claimed faculty oppositions to the proposal prompted his decision. Boyd's letter came in response to a re Dorm plaintiff charges board ‘irresponsible’ One plaintiff in the possible lawsuit against the State Board of Higher Educa tion (SBHE) emerged Tuesday to charge the board with irresponsibility. Karl Koerfer, president of Collier dormit ory, said the board s staff had responded "unusually quick" to the plaintiffs charges of illegal use of dormitory funds. He claimed such a rapid decision implies irresponsbil ity. Koerfer, a previously-unidentified plain tiff, referred to a Monday letter from Edward BranchfiekJ, legal counsel for the board which dismissed the plaintiffs case as an erroneous interpretation of the facts Last week the ASUO and representa tives of various campus dormitories ac cused the board of illegally using $430,000 in excess dormitory revenue to construct tennis and handball courts at the University. In a letter to BranchfiekJ. at that time Robert Ackerman, attorney for the plaintiffs, requested the board replenish the fund and pro-rate the costs of maintaining the facility. He gave the board 30 days to comply be fore commencing court action Koerfer directed his charges of irrespon sibility against Roy Lieuallen, chancellor for the State System of Higher Education, who instructed BranchfiekJ to draft the letter to Ackerman. He said Lieuallen appeared to disregard the merits of our case. But he said the chancellor's statements "in no way affect my stand as a plaintiff other than to make me more determined to see this matter settled in court." Representatives of the ASUO are simi larly disgruntled by the board s response. Jim Bernau, ASUO president, says the SBHE staff has failed to respond in an intel ligent manner to the problem. "I really didn’t expect that type of a re sponse from the State Board. This is a seri ous matter and I would think they would treat it as such. None of the students are going to accept such an obvious brush-off We just won t be put off.” Mark Cogan, ASUO administrative assis tant, agrees. He says that if a settlement can not be reached within the 30 days, the plaintiffs are fully prepared to go to court. He says the necessary papers are being prepared now. cent memo from Bernau asking that the University president begin action to "make a finding” on the issue. The student executive said such action was necessary in order to comply with a State Board of Higher Education ruling of Nov. 25 requiring college presidents to determine privacy rights to those materials. At that meeting, the board adopted an ASUO proposal to allow student access to the evaluation records with the condition that such access be allowed only "upon a finding by the institutional executive that privacy rights in an adequate educational environment would not suffer by disclosure of such personal records." In his Tuesday letter, Boyd told Bernau that the faculty had made it clear to him that they did not wish to have classroom sur veys made available for publication. He said the faculty had rejected the idea at a December meeting and that he would re spect that opinion. "I believe the faculty has expressed clearly its desire not to have such materials published, and I will abide by that desire," Boyd explained. "I asked the Faculty Ad visory Council for counsel in this matter, and they concur with this position.” Bernau disagrees with Boyd's decision on all counts. He feels the president arrived at his decision in an improper and “possibly illegal'’ manner. “I feel the president has been remiss in his duties,” insists Bernau.1 He has failed to face the issue. At a minimum he should provide due process in considering the mat ter.” Such due process would include a hear ing, adequate notice to all parties and a { Continued on Page 2) Vol. 77, No. 91 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, February 4,1976 Carefree afternoon ■ Photo by Bob Welch The pond at Alton Baker Park provides an afternoon of recreation for a small boy as he plays leapfrog with cement blocks. His course is surrounded by an acute water hazard.___ Students input on tenure opposed By JAMES DIETZ Of the Emerald University Pres. William Boyd will oppose the Associated Oregon Student Lobby's (AOSL) attempts to include students on promotion and tenure committee. In a Monday interview Pres. Boyd re sponded to the lobby's policy statement, issued by ASUO Pres Jim Bernau. which todaq r Discrimination The State Board of Higher Education's rules on discrimina tion drew criticism at a legislative hearing on campus Tuesday. page 3 ROTC racism? A study by the Center for National Security Studies claims there is a lack of black officers in the army partly because of college officer training programs. page 8 v Changing attitudes The third in a series of articles de aling with changes in campus at titudes during the last eight years discusses alumni attitudes. page 12 Comeback kid Randy Besaw is out for his 18 season wrestling win after begin ning with a 4-7 record. His tur naround has the coaches talking. page 13 calls for ful! student participation in the promotion process. “I see no evidence to support the idea that the quality of the committee's decisions would be improved by students sitting on the committees,' says Boyd. ‘ The system would survive this added participation, but I don't think it will be improved by it." Boyd feels that student involvement at this level is not a necessary part of their education at the university. "The university should be directed to ward establishing an environment in which learning is best advances,” he comments. "This does not involve making the gover nance of a university a learning experience for people. When you get down to it, there's a lot of the old The sandbox is a good learning environment' sort of thing here Boyd adds, "The university is far too im portant to play with or make mistakes with Boyd is in favor of including student evaluations in the promotion and tenure process. "Student evaluations are valid and very useful," he sayd. "I think the more evidence which can be assembled on the effectiveness of a teacher, the better. On the other hand, the subsequent success of a student (in advanced courses) may be a better indicator of the success of a teacher than the student's impression at the end of the quarter.” Boyd agrees with the AOSL proposal that a professor's teaching and research profi ciency should be given equal weight during the promotion process. "A balance is reasonable,'' says Boyd. And although this is the first year weights have been as signed, research and instruction are weigh ted equally here. But he also sees a danger in giving too little attention to a professor's research ac tivities. “The best educational experience for an academically motivated student is a re search intensive university,” he notes. "We could build a university with faculty less in terested in research. Then students might appear to get more attention, but at a fright ful cost to the general intellectual atmos phere of the place.” He concludes: A university where the principle preoccupation is the decimination of knowledge rather than the advancement of knowledge will not have as fine an at mosphere for learning.”