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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1976)
editorial Right move wrong president 1 At least one university president in this state is concerned with students’ desire to be able to intelligently choose their clas ses. Unfortunately this president is Joseph Blumel of Portland State University and not UO Pres. William Boyd. Monday, Pres. Blumel approved the release of faculty evaluation information, explaining, ‘We have a responsibility to the students to provide that kind of information. They have a real stake in the issue.” While Boyd hides behind the contention that the faculty does not approve of such release, Pres. Blumel reasons, “The students’ interest in this kind of information is paramount." Granted that the faculty is concerned over the release of the evaluations, has Boyd really made an effort to ascertain the entire faculty's wishes on this matter? He bases his refusal to grant access to the evaluations on a December general faculty meet ing. At this sparsely-attended meeting, only a minority of the total faculty was present to vote on an ASUO proposal to publish a course evaluation booklet. The question of student access to classroom surveys was not even specifically voted upon. Boyd also received reinforcement from another small, selective body, the Faculty Advisory Council. At a Nov. 25 meeting, the State Board of Higher Education voted to allow the president of each institution to decide the question of access “upon a finding...that privacy rights...would not suffer by disclosure...” If Boyd is serious when he says he wants to respect the faculty's opinion on the issue, he needs to broaden his base of input. At the very least he should consider polling the entire faculty as to whether or not they want students to have access to the classroom surveys that the students filled out. The ASUO claims that 76 per cent of the faculty would voluntarily consent to the release of the evaluations. Is Boyd interested in determining if this is so? Pres. Blumel’s decision represents the type of concern for students’ interests that should be reflected on this campus by this administration. Boyd’s refusal to grant access illustrates his dis played attitude toward students; they should be seen and not heard. Boyd’s position on the question of access may not be entirely inflexible, however. Following a conference Monday between the ASUO and the administration, ASUO Pres. Jim Bemau appeared slightly more optimistic over the future of students gaining access to the surveys. Bernau was vague on the specific details of the conference, but he asserted that the meeting produced a “definite moral victory for the students." The nature of that victory is not yet clear, but the only victory that should be acceptable to students is one that insures them an opportunity to intelligently select their classes on the basis of published evaluations. V. J Letters— Grass left' If some of our environmentally-aware, friends of-the-earth type students would stop walking and riding their bikes on the grass, there might be some grass left by the time spring ar rives. Glen A. Love English Parties contrasted “Vielen Dank” to reporter Karon Stirling for her entertaining article on ‘Kameval’ in Germany in the February 11 edition of the Emerald. Your readers might like to know that in contrast to German parties over there, our own Fas chingsfest, Feb. 27, at the Theta Chi fraternity house would cost them very little: one dollar, which includes liquid refreshments (ve srow sem in se svimmink pool). Also, it’s not limited to German students. After all, they celebrate “Kameval” in Nice (France), Rome and Florence (Italy), and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and of course Mardi Gras in our own New Orleans. So — everyvon iss in vitet, and ve promise ve vill shpeak only Enklish! Helmut Plant Associate Professor German Club adviser Keeping up Feb. 9, a near-capacity audi ence at 177 Lawrence Hall was treated to a presentation by one of the English-speaking world’s most popular and prolific scholars in Roman history. By failing to an nounce Michael Grant’s lecture, the Emerald seriously flubbed in the performance of its admittedly humdrum, but nonetheless vital, task as a campus bulletin board. However, all is not yet lost. Dur ing the coming month the Univer sity will have opportunities to hear two more classical scholars of like stature, who have well established reputations as crowd-pleasers. On. Feb. 23, we shall have a return visit by Ernst Badian, Professor Roman History at Harvard. And on March 4, there will be an illustrated talk on the ancient theater at Athens by N.G.L. Hammond, Professor Emeritus of Greek at Bristol and one of the world’s foremost Greek historians. As these dates come up, let’s hope that the Emerald can keep up. C. Bennett Pascal Professor of Classics Spys copied Hooray! Boyd and company have finally proved to this Univer sity that they are true blue Ameri cans. With the grace of god and their contracted photographers they will seek out those students who oppose the policies that Boyd and company feels are in the in terest of this University. HOW TMAT‘» d,GRAD'*G ©1976 Who says the grading system is inflated? I only missed eight out of ten on my Medieval Thumbsucking midterm, and all I got was a ‘C’ plus. -More from Les-\ by LESUE ZAITZ Horton on way out District Attorney Pat Horton was caught with his pants down when the world found out he was borrowing county money to travel nationwide to endorse liberalized mahjuana laws. Though Horton has talked himself blue trying to ease the embarrassment, the political damage has been done. He is vulnerable in the upcoming election. That use of county money is really only a small weapon in the arsenal of complaints Horton's op ponents have against him. Two factions will be deftly using that arsenal to see that Horton finds new quarters next year. A group of Eugene at torneys, growing in creasingly unhappy with Horton s operation of the office and hsi antics with county funds, has been beating the bushes to find one of their own to pit against the incum bent. The group is impres sive, representing some of the most distinguished local members of the bar. Among them are Ed Fadeley, a state senator, Bill Frye, district attor ney seven years.ago, Charlie Porter, former Con gressman, and Ken Morrow, one of the most re spected defense attorneys in the area. Individually, they make too good a living to step down to the $31,500-a-year district attorney's salary. They have quietly turned to Steve Keutzer, who spent seven years under three Lane County dis trict attorneys before quitting in 1973 to go to work for the state attorney general in Salem. Keutzer was in line for appointment to the dis trict attorney slot when John Leahy resigned in 1972. However, Robert Naslund, the top Repub lican deputy attorney in the office, got the tap from Republican Gov. Tom McCall. Keutzer says he’s interested. He never sold his Eugene home and has been waiting for the right moment to come back. If he can be assurred of campaign bucks and help in an organization, he will probably announce his intentions next week. In the other corner, police officers have finally convinced John Charles to run. Charles, assistant city attorney in Springfield, is popular with Spring VI__ field officers for his city ordinances protecting of ficers and outlawing Oriental martial weapons. Charles, conservative and quiet, was almost apologetic in announcing his candidacy last weekend. He is not well-known among Eugene attorneys but has built a strong campaign organi zation countywide. Whether the police associations will officially jump into the battle will be decided next week. The Springfield Policeman's Association to a man backs Charles, but they aren't sure they want to get the union politically involved The Eugene Patrolman's Association endorsed Horton in 1972 but they are having some misgiv ings about that involvement. Union leadership is polling membership on that issue As to an en dorsement there, the choices aren t on the table yet, but Charles' supporters have been making overtures. It's no secret that police officers around the county are frustrated with the district attorney's office, particularly the staff turnover. The cops know the law better than the rookie deputy district attorneys. "You just get tired of going in there and being told by some kid you're doing this wrong and you’ve been doing it that way for 15 years," said a deputy sheriff. The Lane County Bar Association won't make an endorsement. But the influential members within (including the group coaxing Keutzer) are definitely after Horton. Attorneys, a naturally quiet bunch publicly but talkative among themselves, don't like Horton's travels and a luxury car, no matter what the expla nation. That's just not professional. And, too, there is a question about Horton's legal abilities. He lost a lot of points in handling the prosecution of Norman "Snake" Brooks, leader of the commune involved in the murder of a sheriff's detective. Brooks was charged with murder, a charge which left some local attorneys scratching their heads. Brooks was convicted of hindering prosecution. Horton has decided to seek re-election but has yet to put together a campaign organization or worry about formally announcing. Horton, though, does like the view from his fourth-floor office at the courthouse. He will unquestionably start his campaign in the political hole. Some as yet unknown candidates may sense that vulnerability and go for the jugu lar. It could indeed be a messy race. J It is appalling and a disgrace for the leaders of the academic world to take part in programs which are similar to those being used by Un ited States Intelligence agencies, that of spying on dissident stu dents. What is most appalling is that the administration has come out and stated that “the legal value of the pictures as evidence is very low..." yet continues conducting a police-type administration in order to observe the movements of cer tain students on this campus. Are the students of the University and the faculty obliged to let this sort of practice continue, let alone sup port such programs? While we hail the 100th an niversary of this University and the 200th anniversary of this nation, will we also hail the rise of facism within our country? Eric Wright Business, soph. Friday, February 13, 1976
