Oregon
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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
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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)