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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1976)
Vol. 77, No. 106 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, February 25,1976 Tuition hike gets committee approval The Finance, Administration and Physical Plant Committee of the State Board of Higher Educa tion voted Tuesday to recommend to the full board a proposal to raise instruction fees an average of 12 per cent for all students By DENNIS PFAFF Of the Emerald Only one of the five-member committee, University student Valerie McIntyre, voted against the proposal. The issue now is scheduled for consideration by the full board at its March meeting during spring vacation. There were indications Tuesday, however, that discus sion of the hike may be delayed until April when students are back in school. McIntyre, in response to the demands of 30 to 40 demon strators who showed up at the meeting shortly after the vote was taken, said she will try to delay consideration until later in the spring. Board president George Layman, upon whomthe final de cision of whether to delay the dis cussion rests, said he “would not be opposed to such a delay if other board members agreed to it and if it would not unnecessarily delay operations such as the print ing of college catalogues. Layman, who is not a member of the Finance Committee, but who was present when the demonstrators (primarily Univer sity members of the Committee to Fight for the Right to an Educa tion) entered the meeting, termed their behavior “awful. The protestors entered the room a full 20 minutes after the vote had been taken, chanting, “No way, we won’t pay. The committee's discussion of room and board fees was stopped and various protestors engaged members of the committee in dis cussions which, at times, turned into shouting matches. After the meeting, Layman, still critical of the demonstrators con duct admitted some of the de mands were reasonable’ and he said. Most of the group was sen sible, with the exception of one or two. During the meeting, most com * Work and play Photo ty Greg ClarV While the giant guitar-player mural above a local stereo shop played away. Tuesday, a worker from the sture used a mop-not a guitar-to remove the picture. It was nothing against musicians. though. The next picture, to appear soon, will feature Phoebe Snow, according to a store representative. SEARCH seeks more teachers for spring term As the March 1 deadline draws near, SEARCH coordinators are wondering how many teachers are going to sign up to teach spring term SEARCH courses. SEARCH, an ASUO funded or ganization which offers alternative and innovative education, is cur rently accepting applications from interested people who "have a certain skill they are able to share with other people," according to Michael Connelly, SEARCH seminar coordinator. Presently only seven definite classes are scheduled for spring term. Connellv expects a total of 25 classes by the March 1 dead line, down from the 52 offered this term. Baffled by the drop in instructor participation, Connelly says We just don't know what more to do.' He says SEARCH has run classi fieds every day, arranged for pub lic service announcements to be aired over six radio stations, and placed notices on display boards around campus. A new staff this fall led to a re evaluation of what SEARCH is all about, its goals and philosophies. In mid-October, Connelly says SEARCH formed a new con sciousness. We are in a period of transi tion," says Connelly, "and are aiming at quality. We know we will have to sacrifice some quantity. SEARCH offers an opportunity for anyone to initiate and facilitate a class of legitimate relevance. The instructors who utilize the SEARCH program provide useful and beneficial learning methods. Because of the non-profit aspect of the program, each class instruc tor offers a talent or idea which he or she is willing to give freely for successfully implementing a worthwhile learning experience. It is solely through the concern of such people that the SEARCH program is able to continue to sur vive and progress within a pay for-knowledge environment. All interested persons should contact the SEARCH office lo cated in the EMU, before the March 1 deadline. mittee members agreed that they were personally not in favor of the increase, but said they believed they had no alternative. State System of Higher Educa tion Chancellor Roy Lieuallen said the board had forwarded a budget which included no tuition hikes to the last state Legislature. How ever, he said, the Legislature failed to approve enough money for the system to operate without the increase. After the meeting, Layman re peated that the board has no choice in the matter. He said sim ply rejecting the Legislature s budget and declaring that tuition would not be raised would proba bly cause an emergency session of the Legislature — not. however, for the purpose of allocating more funds. They'd probably just abolish the board,' he said. They don t like us anyway.” Before the vote. ASUO Pres. Jim Bernau also addressed the committee. He suggested that the board find ways to demonstrate to stu dents why a hike in fees is needed. He said he appreciated the position the board was in, but hoped the ASUO and other stu dent governing bodies would be invited to work with the board in finding "alternatives' to tuition hikes. After the meeting, Bernau also said the ASUO would furnish transportation for any students who wanted to address the full board on the tuition issue, whenever the board decides to discuss the matter. University Pres. William Boyd also addressed the meeting. Al though he said he was in full sup port of the recommendations, he said they would hurt the University in several ways: —Saying that the University has more graduate students than any school in the state, Boyd said any raise in graduate instruction fees would particularly damage the school: —The raise in nonresident fees will continue the decline in nonres ident enrollment: —The room and board increase at the University (also approved by the committee Tuesday, it will increase rates an average of over $100 a year) is much larger than any other school s and will hurt the University competitively; —A small differential in the amount University fees are hiked as opposed to colleges was termed by Boyd another part of an entire package of things work ing against us." —The number of foreign stu dents at the University will drop because of the raises.
