Group promotes system overhaul
By JOYCE DE MONNIN
Of the Emerald
Winter term brough back a
glimpse of the radicalism of the
sixties as groups of students
banded together to protest the
proposed 12 per cent tuition hike.
The Revolutionary Student
Brigade (RSB) has been a major
force behind these demonstra
tions in an attempt "to raise impor
tant questions" to the University
student body, says Burt Knorr,
University RSB spokesperson.
The Revolutionary Student
Brigade is a national group of ac
tivists who belong to the Re
volutionary Communist Party
Their immediate aim is to raise is
sues that expose the class nature
of boards like the State Board of
Higher Education, says Knorr.
The RSB is probably one of the
most visible groups or campus
There are currently about 20-25
members of the Brigade but a
handful makes up the core. These
people spend many lunch hours
selling papers or distnbutmg leaf
lets on the EMU terrace. They
also man a table inside the EMU
selling papers, Marxist-Leninist
literature and just rapping with
students All of their time is do
nated and the money that is raised
is sent to support the party and the
national RSB publication, Fight
Back
The long range goals of the
RSB are more radical than raising
issues They want to reorganize
the entire economic system
A handful of people run society
and the vast majority of people
produce the wealth,' said Knorr.
"The system cannot accommo
date itsetf to meet people's needs
If the system doesn’t work, let's
get rid of it. The only alternative is
to keep getting screwed '
Knorr says the RSB will con
tinue to work against the tuition
hike, which was recently ap
proved by the State Board of
Higher Education. The RSB uses
the success of students protesting
in New Jersey which halted, at
least temporarily, a tuition hike in
that state.
Over 800 students and faculty
took to marching when New Jer
sey governor Brendan Byrne an
nounced tuition hikes and teacher
cutbacks. At one confrontation, 6
demonstrators and 25 policemen
were hurt. There were also inci
dents of vandalism and egg throw
ing.
The tuition hike in Jersey has
been curtailed temporarily, but it is
still not certain where the money
will come from.
The RSB sees New Jersey as a
victory for student solidarity.
“By organizing, we re able to
see that we can win,” Knorr says.
"We don’t propose a concrete
solution to this tuition hike be
cause there is no standard solu
tion," Knorr explained. “The prob
lem is in the nature of the system. ”
According to the paper, Fight
Back, the current economic crisis,
which is forcing the hikes and cut
backs in service, is caused by the
"capitalist ruling class. The big
businessmen and bankers, faced
with a dropping rate of profit, are
pulling their money out of unpro
fitable’ institutions like schools
and hospitals and bank loans to
cities and are using even more
government money than before
for ‘incentives’.”
Knorr and his constituents criti
cize the nature of the capitalistic
system. They are using the tuition
hikes and other cutbacks as a veh
icle to demonstrate what they feel
are basic problems within our
economic system.
Knorr blames the poor job mar
ket on the economic system as
well. "People are having a hard
time just finding a lousy job with
lousy pay and lousy working con
ditions. Most people want to do
more than stand in an assembly
line eight hours a day. Most peo
ple want to make a contribution to
society.'’
Fund complements tuition
By GREG WASSON
Of the Emerald
It hurls to shove $215 through a cashier's window
and get nothing in return but a validated fee card. But
that figure represents only about 27 and one-half per
cent of the cost of running the State's colleges and
universities. The remaining dollars come from the
state general fund.
The general fund is the coffer the state legislature
dtps into to finance state programs. Sixty per cent of
the general fund money comes from the income tax
and the remainder from left-overs from the previous
biennium, federal revenue sharing dollars, and a
passel of taxes and fee charges like the cigarette tax
This year the level of state funding is about one
half a per cent higher than that, according to State
Chancellor Roy Ueuallen. State funding is deter
mined by the legislature, but tuition levels are deter
mined by the State Board of Higher Education.
The state legislature sets a limit on the amount of
money the state board can spend, and funds them at
a lesser amount.
For example, the legislature might authorize the
board to spend $200 million and then only fund them
with $150 million For the additional money, the
board turns to library fines, transcnpt fees, but mostly
tuition The board is under no obligation to raise the
additional money, but according to Lieuallen, charac
tenstically they will.
According to State Sen. Ed Fadeley (D-Eugene),
legislators keep an eye on the past when deciding
how much the state should give to higher education.
"The general fund of the state, historically, contri
butes about 72 per cent of the cost of instruction at
higher education institutions state-wide
"One of the reasons for this attitude.” says Lieual
len "is that the board almost always asks for more
money than the legislature approves. Once having
asked for authority to spend say $300 million and
given the authority to spend only $275,000, the board
is pretty apt to try to find the resources to fill that full
amount."
But the ratio between tuition and state money is
not the only one to consider. Another important give
and take situation is the competition between human
services (welfare, aid to dependent children, etc.)
and education. According to Lieuallen and Fadeley,
these two programs are in direct competition with
each other
“They (the legislators) are weighing education
against welfare, which is one of the other big
budgets," says Lieuallen, “and probably in these two
they have more discretion than in any others.
The fact that the legislators have room to move
within these two budgets is not the only reason that
education is pitted against welfare in the minds of
most legislators.
The other large budget funded from the genera
fund pool is Economic Development and Consumer
Services. This includes the Department of Agricul
ture and the Economic Development Department,
agencies that deal in the business of insuring thal
jobs remain in the state.
The remaining budget of any size is the transporta
tion department's, but that money is earmarked to be
spent on roads and road related activities.
“You can't take the money from the highway com
mission and pay tuition with it," says Fadeley. “The
constitution says no and the voters have been pretty
tough on changing that portion of the constitution.”
One last point to keep in mind is that even withir
the area of education, higher education is competing
for dollars. The 60 per cent of the state general func
that goes to education must fund community col
leges, higher education, and provide basic schoo
support. The last category is an extremely popula
one because state money going to local school:
means lower taxes for property owners.
Knorr believes that as people
experience economic problems
and learn through their experi
ences they will come to accept the
Marxist ideology. “No one be
comes a communist overnight.”
Knorr said.
Knorr is currently a graduate
teaching fellow in the history de
partment. His political activism
was heightened during the Viet
Nam war. “It was the situation of
having the draft hanging over your
head as soon as you got out of
school. But it wasn’t just that fac
tor. It was the whole question of
the war going on and the fact that
these people were getting killed
for semmingly no reason. And
what the hell was the U.S. doing
there in the first place?"
After Knorr received his under
graduate degree, his lottery
number was so high that he was
not in great danger of being
drafted. “But if by some chance I
was called, I would never have
joined the service,” he said.
"I came to see that it was more
than a particular politician or the
Democratic party or the Republi
can party or this individual or that
individual that was responsible for
the war, but that the war was a
product of the system itself.
“I was in Italy for a year and saw
the intense struggle of the working
class. That began to break down a
lot of stereotypes that I had in my
own mind about what Com
munism was and what Com
munism wasn't.
“The whole question came to
bear of well, yeah, I'm against the
system, but what does that mean?
What do you do about it?
“When I came back and con
tinued to be active, I came in
creasingly to see the need for re
volution to get rid of the system
and that it would have to be the
working people who were going to
lead that revolution," Knorr said.
Knorr sees all these factors as
related and believes that the only
i way to effect change is by group
l action. “For the most part, people
I do get involved and do come to
see these things in the course of
I their own struggle and are forced
to involve themselves because of
; the conditions they face in their
daily lives.”
EMU CULTURAL FORUM Presorts
Reel Uve Traditional Amancan Music!
Sob Cajun Muse trim Louaana with
The Balia Brothers
OM Time Mountam Muse with
Lily Mae Ledford
and
Mike Seeger
File and Drum leal unrig
Lum Gudin
John and James Mitchell
Country Blues with
John Jackson
AH lor $? 50 (U of O students and children under 12)
and $3 25 for the general pubkc
Saturday. April 10 EMU Ballroom a p m
Don't Miss It!
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The Ananda Marge Society Presents
START THE
REVOLUTION
WITHOUT ME
Gene Wilder (Young Frankenstein)
and Donald Sutherland (M'A'S'H)
learn up lor a wtd spool ol I he French Re
volution A dazzling and sustaned
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Saturday, Apr* 3 150 Science
7 » * p m tl
13366 2
Oregon Daily Emerald
SIGMA CHI FILM SCRIES
presents
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THURSDAY. APRIL 1*t
Starring Warren Beatty Artre Christie Gol
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150 SCIENCE 7, 9. 11 p m.
$1
13330 1
THE GREAT
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In he first dialogue film (1940)
CHARUE CHAPUN plays both a meek
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Believing laughter to bo a potent weapon, he
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Also THE HISTORY BOOK, part one ol
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at history Irom the people s point ol view
FRIOAY, Apnl 2, 150 Geology
SATURDAY. April 3. 138 Gilbert
7 A 930 p.m
Labor Action Committee
_13365:2
CLARK GABLE & CAROLE LOMBARD
NO MAN OF HER OWN
1932
Friday, April 2. 7 A 830 p.m.
177 Lawrence *1
sponsored by U of O YWCA
13369 2
Photography al Oregon Gallery
presents
THE LOVED ONE
with Jonathan Winters
&
Robert Morse
A Black Comedy with something to offend
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APRIL FOOLS NIGHT
Thursoay, April 1 7 & 9 p m
177 Lawrence 51
f PERSONAL )
BUMPER STtCKtH 'crry ttinwn li lor Presi
deni S1 each M U 1600 Woolsey Berkeley
California. 94705 0373:6
GET INVOLVED IN STUDENT GOVERNMENT
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Is April 9 13375:6
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0381 31
JAMES ELLSWORTH: Happy 2ler you Racked'
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0385 31
ENJOY THE SPRING frolicking with a child Big
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DEPRESSED? U OF O Neuropsychology Lab is
offering a 4-6 week treatment program tot de
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assessments are completed A screening test will
be given Come to the Neuropsvchotogy Lab
Straub Hall. 15th and Onyx Hours 8 30 to 3 30
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13218 4-8
CROWDS: ITS YOUR turn to be out of control
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* TM
DO YOU have questions about TM7 An informal
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