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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 1976)
Vol. 77, No. 103 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Friday, February 20,1976 Faculty again faced with evaluation issue By LOIS LINDSAY Of the Emerald The fate of public disclosure of faculty course evaluations is once more in the hands of University faculty members. In an official statement Thursday after noon, University Pres. William Boyd said he was "quite willing” to have the issue of al lowing access to student evaluations of fa culty returned to the faculty for debate. The statement came despite Boyd s an nouncement earlier this month that he would not approve disclosure of those ma terials. The president said he was basing that decision on a December faculty vote which expressed clearly its (the faculty's) desire not to have such materials pub lished." The presidential action was taken in order to comply with a State Board of Higher Education ruling of Nov. 25 which placed the burden on college and university executives to decide whether public access to official faculty records would constitute violation of privacy rights to those materials. Although student leaders accused Boyd of making a hasty and inappropriate deci sion, the president states this is not the reason he agreed to have the issue re turned to the faculty He told the Emerald he is taking the ac tion to help clear up some misunderstand ings' between the administration and the ASUO "I don't regard my action as changing anything," Boyd explained "I’ve always said I would be guided by the faculty in making my decision. There just seems to be some disagreement as to whether or not they have actually ruled on the matter. The ASUO claims the December vote did not address the issue of privacy rights to the materials and so did not constitute an ade quate ruling on the issue. They say that vote concerned a motion to establish a new evaluation form. Although Boyd said he doesn't neces sarily agree with the ASUO's contention, he is willing to have the issue put to the test. If Jim Bernau (ASUO Pres.) is right, the faculty vote will indicate that. Whatever the case, I will abide by their decision." Boyd said he indicated his willingness to return the matter to the faculty at a confer ence with the ASUO last Monday. He said he told Bemau at that time that he would take a neutral stand on the issue pending faculty discussion of the matter. Bernau said he is pleased and reas sured'' by the University president s deci sion. We feel very comfortable about having this matter debated between the faculty and students through the faculty governance system,” he maintained. This is what we were asking for all alonq. Bernau said the ASUO has abandoned plans to appeal the matter to the State Board He said such a move is no longer necessary' because of Boyd's latest deci sion. According to the ASUO president, a notice of motion on the public disclosure issue will go before the General Faculty, March 3. The matter will then be debated before the University Senate. March 31, and will be returned to the General Faculty for their final ruling on April 7. States unemployment level shows gradual improvement By FRANK JAFFE Of the Emerald The unemployment crisis plaguing Oregon is gradually improving, according to Dennis Minor, state manpower economist. Ranging as high as 12 and one half per cent a few months ago, Lane County un employment has eased to around 11 per cent, well above state (9 per cent) and local (7.8 per cent) averages “The situation in Eugene is better than last year, but still not good," said Minor, "although last year was nearly hopeless. The young and inexperienced have the toughest time cracking the job market. State fig ures show the 25 to 34 ag e group to be the hardest hit. “We have a Banana Republic' economy in Oregon," explained Minor. It is closely tied to the lumber industry. Because it's not well diversified, it's very cyclical." Lane County has a staggering depen dency on lumber and wood products—75 per cent of all manufacturing is in this area, according to Minor. Much of the remaining manufacturing is devoted to machinery used by the lumber industry. Because the demand tor wood products has been weak, Oregon's economy has suffered. The productivity per worker is steadily increasing in this industry, which Minor says will cause the job market to further contract in coming years. An increase in housing starts would pro vide a shot of adrenalin for Oregon's sag - ging economy. Housing starts are crucial to the lumber industry, Minor emphasized, while interest rates are crucial to housing starts. "In the housing industry s heyday, there were 2.4 million starts per year. Last year there were only a million," Minor said. "An average house costs $40,000 now. Not many people can handle it." Despite the adverse conditions, student jobs are available, according to Earline Cur tis of the University’s student employment department. "We re happy and busy over here," she rqaorts. "A wide variety of jobs are available right now. The economic out look seems to have improved." The summer employment outlook re mains uncertain. "Employers won t talk about summer yet," Curtis said. I couldn t even hazard a guess." Coffee cup and creation Photo by Greg Clark Drawing is one of the better things to do on a rainy afternoon-and it's even better with that handy cup of coffee, as these two students from the University 's architectural media class showed Thursday. r ■Talcs of campus life. Part 6 Self-destruct antics em-‘blaze’-on dorm life By BRAD LEMLEY Of the Emerald At first I was a little nervous about returning to the dorms. After being gone for three years, living in my little orange-carpeted flat in the Swiss Hacienda Manor, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to slip back into the dorm routine. Maybe as a 21-year-old senior I would be too jaded, too mature to fit in, especially since the only room I could get was in a freshman dorm. But as time went on and moving-in day grew closer I began looking for ward to going back. I knew I couldn't live in the Hacienda anymore — infla tion was making my rent bill look like a phone number and three years of my own cooking had landed me a part-time job posing for CARE post ers. But even more than that, I was beginning to grow anxious to return to the carefree days of my collegiate youth: days of close comradeship, hilarious practical jokes, and cease less, vibrant adolescent energy. So as I tottered toward the cold brick facade, staggering under the ponderous weg ht of one-tenth of my V book collection, my heart was light. This isn't going to be so bad after all, I decided. Who could tell? Perhaps by surrounding myself with those who wore the brilliant aura of youthful vital ity some of its precious glow would seep into my stiffened old joints, lim bering up my arthritic attitudes and teaching me to enjoy... My pleasant reverie was abruptly cut off by the roar of a mammoth streamer of flame, which smashed through a second-floor window and arched skyward into a thick bank of fog that hid the top portion of the building. Immediately, I dropped my books and raced up to the second floor anxious to discover the source of the blaze. When I reached the hallway I was greeted by a contingent of about a dozen young men who bore a re maik able resemblance to each other — so remarkable, in fact, that every time I counted them I came up with a different total. They were all white, first of all; a sort of bright, insolent white, and all were beardless, had straight, limp blond hair and wispy little moustaches that only the con ( Continued on Page 12)