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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1976)
Oregon If you’re beginning to slip in one of your classes, time is running short. Today is the last day to change grade options. Changes can be made with the Registrar in Oregon Hall until 4 p.m. An Independent Newspaper Eugene, Oregon 97403 Friday, February 13,1976 Vol. 77, No 98 EMU Board rejects UFW ban of lettuce By LOIS LINDSAY Of the Emerald The EMU Board Thursday resoundly re jected a United Farm Workers (UFW) pro posal to ban Teamsters lettuce from the EMU. The board said they were not authorized to take stands on such political issues. The three-point proposal, introduced by Nancy Byrd and Kurt Wilcox, members of the UFW Solidarity Committee, asked the board to pubhdy indicate support for the UFW Union in "its struggle to organize and win justice for farm workers. It also requested that the board strongly recommend" to EMU Director Adell McMil lan and University Pres. William Boyd that the University cease serving Teamster picked lettuce and grapes in the EMU The board rejected both requests 5 to 2. Steve Beard, board chairer, said it would be inappropriate for the board to decide other wise. "It's my personal feeling that it would be outside the bounds of our responsibility to take any type of stand on a political issue.” he explained. During extended discussion of the pro posal, the UFW representatives told the board the issue was a "matter of great con cern on campus." They claimed students were "wholeheartedly in favor” of banning Teamster lettuce. Wilcox and Byrd cited two petitions con taining more than 3,100 student signa tures," a spring 1974 referendum vote by students, and a five-term boycott of the EMU over the lettuce issue as support for their contentions. But members of the board argued that the evidence was inconclusive. Gary Feld man, one of two Incidental Fee Committee (IFC) members represented on the board, said the use of the 1974 referendum vote was "misleading." According to Feldman, only about eight per cent of the student body turned out to vote on that measure. Seventy-one per cent of that number voted in favor of the UFW. Other board members said students they were in contact with did not seem particu larly supportive of the UFW. They said the students seemed more interested in having a choice of both lettuces. The EMU currently serves both Teamster and UFW lettuce in marked containers. The board also turned down a UFW re quest that the issue be decided by an ASUO-sponsored referendum in the event Boyd refused to order the ban. Sally Fullerton, faculty member of the board, claimed approval of such a referen dum would constitute a political stand on the part of the University. A related request from the UFW asked the board to urge Pres. Boyd to lift the ban on fund-raising food sales on the EMU ter race. The request was referred back to the Food Services and Housing Subcommit tees following EMU Director s McMillan s testimony on behalf of the ban. McMillan told the board she would not accept any board recommendation to lift the ban at this time. In other action, the board approved a mo tion by Board Chairer Beard to continue looking into the possibilities of hiring a management analysis firm to look into management of the EMU. Beard said such an analysis was neces sary in light of consistent financial losses in the EMU Food Services and other EMU activities. Cost of such a survey could run from $4,000 to $5,000, he said. Patchwork(ers) Pnoto by Greg Clarlr A pair of workmen in downtown Eugene create a patchwork design as they build a lattice of concrete reinforcing steel. Writing instructor: italic script imminent By LORA CUYKENDALL Of the Emerald Oregonians may become the scribes of the nation. If the energy crunch idles America's presses or paper prices rise too high, Oregon grade schoolers will be ready for a rice-paper-and-lndia-ink revolution be cause of a decision made last spring by the Oregon State Textbook Commission. As a result of studies showing that chil dren write legibly and fluently in italic (a form of handwriting similar to the callig raphy used in many wall hangings and posters) the commission decided that elementary schools may teach italic writing instead of the traditional cursive script. During its review of instructional materi als, the commission approved four writing manuals for use in the state’s grade schools. One of those manuals, published by the Pentalic Corporation of New York, teaches italic writing. "Italic is more sensible than cursive styles,” says Lloyd Reynolds, who teaches calligraphy at Portland's Reed College. "You can write a legible hand faster in italic than in regular cursive. Reynolds was one of the main forces be hind the commission s decision, which makes Oregon the only state in the nation to teach italic as more than an arts and crafts supplement. Author of "Italic Calligraphy and Hand writing," Reynolds is a nationally known cal ligraphy expert. A brief history of handwrit ing he prepared helped convince the com mission that italic is as good and pernaps better than cursive writing. According to Reynolds, italic writing has its roots in 9th and 10th century Carolingian script. Although this style nearly disap peared, 15th century Florentine humanists revived it and encouraged its evolution into a rapid and functional hand. Scribes used it to print the books demanded by scholars and churchmen. With the invention of movable type in 1437, unemployed scribes shifted to pro todaq Bad water Crater Lake's problems of the summer have caused several changes in the park's operations... Page 7 Autism Children learn speech through new ‘‘sign language’’ method... Page 10 Satire Brad Lemley encounters an "anti-materialist” friend, only to find the guy is now part of the mat erial world... Page 12 Thriller The Flying Ducks upended top ranked Arizona State last night in notching the second highest score in the nation this year...Page 9 ducing handwriting manuals, says Reynolds. They opened schools and taught arithmetic, bookkeeping and penmanship to the growing number of "men of com merce." Then, development of copperplate en graving and competition among designers of handwriting texts played havoc with the written hand. The semi-mechanical art of engraving allowed craftsmen to draw per fectly symmetrical curves and loops while forming letters. Out of these intricate and standardized styles evolved the commer cial cursive” which is taught in most elementary schools today. "Standard American handwriting instruc tion hasn't changed in the last 70 years, says Chuck Lehman, author of the Pentalic handwriting manual. "Commercial cursive is extravagant, ornate and accident prone. He says the style s similarity of letter parts and intricate knots and loops make it hard to write legible cursive quickly. So far, only a dozen Portland area schools and a handful of private schools ( Continued on Page 3)