Survival
Survival Center
plans Earth Week
Survival Center Director Mike McClellan is contemplat
ing showing movies and having baked food sales to con
tinue operations for the remainder of this year.
Although earlier this spring, McClellan said he felt con
fident that the center’s proposed $12,746.68 budget for
1976-77 would be approved by the Incidental Fee
Committee (IFC), the committee voted Wednesday to
allocate the program only $7,961.
The center s proposal for 1975-76 received a similar
cut from $5,980 to $4,115.48. The proposal for the com
ing year was considerably higher than the seven per cent
budget increase as allowed by the ASUO constitution, but
ASUO officials said the funding approved still represents
a marked increase.
ASUO vice-president Jim Davis explained, “We ap
proved a substantial increase from last year. The center is
one of the most outstanding programs in the ASUO." The
Executive recommended $8,553 for the center’s 1976-77
budget, Davis said.
McClellan said the biggest increase in the requested
budget, administrative expenses, included supplies, re
ference materials, printing and duplication costs, tele
phone and postage costs, publicity, travel and audio
visual usage.
“We spend a lot of time and money commenting on
state environmental activities, providing recycling infor
mation to public schools, and sending out materials," said
McClellan. “We provide students a voice, and information
costs money."
With the State Legislature in session next year, the
center will be heavily involved in environmental legislation
and student lobbying in conjunction with the Associated
Oregon Students Lobby (AOSL).
“It’s logical our expenses will increase this year,”
McClellan explained. "Most of the money will be for trans
portation and reference materials.” He added that the
center will attempt to coordinate with the ASUO when
they can, to cut any costs.
Project Intercept, a paper recycling program and one of
the center’s traditional functions, has been enlarged to
include all forms of recycling. McClellan hopes to expand
Intercept beyond the University, to provide information
throughout the state.
Another tradition of the center is Earth Day, desig
nated in 1970 during the height of environmental
awareness—and when the center had-its beginnings.
This year Earth Day will be expanded to Earth Week,
according to Bruce Walker, asst, director.
“We want to stress an activity-oriented program this
year instead of the traditional speaker-panel Earth Day,”
Walker said.
The week, beginning April 26, will include a bicycle
ride, a bird walk, rafting down the Willamette River and
jogging. State representative Norma Paulus will speak on
solar and energy legislation during the week.
Crisis Center helps
troubled students
Every night two or three students reach for their
telephones and call the Crisis Center. The center is an
emotional lifeline for troubled students. Its staff members
act as counselors, listeners and friends.
Four staff members, all with masters degrees in
counseling, deal with the nighttime crises of the students
at the University. Most people never call the center and
some don’t even know it exists.
But Steve Schweitzer, director of the center, says
that those students who do call need immediate help.
Their crises don’t occur during the Counseling Center
office hours and they can’t wait out a lonely night,
Schweitzer explains.
Some 900 persons have called the center since Sep
tember.
The greatest number of calls comes in the fall when
new students are away from home for the first time and
have difficulty adjusting to a new environment.
Fall term, calls were about 15 per cent higher than
normal according to Schweitzer. During a term, the center
is busiest just before midterms and during finals.
The two women and two men staff members take
turns at their 15-hour shifts, from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Schweitzer says as many as 12 calls may come in during
one evening but the average is three.
Salaries are below Graduate Teaching Fellowship
averages and Schweitzer plans to raise the pay if the
Crisis Center’s $3,371 budget request is approved by the
Incidental Fee Committee (IFC). The center was allo
cated $2,361 for 1975-76 and the Executive approved its
request for 1976-77.
Currently, Schweitzer administers the program and
works four evening shifts each week for $366 per month.
The pay raise would bring him $400 per month. During the
summer, Schweitzer works every night of the week for the
same pay.
V.
Two other staff members would also get small raises.
They both work three evenings each week and share one
salary, $222 per month. Under the new budget, they
would share $311.
The fourth staff member is unpaid but Schweitzer
hopes that a small salary could be arranged for this sum
mer.
The Crisis Center consumes few incidental fee dol
lars but Schweitzer believes it provides a very valuable
service. He thinks it helps preserve sound mental health
among students.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among
students all over the country. The statewide rate is one of
the highest in the nation. Surprisingly, the University has
bucked these trends and has an exceedingly low number
of suicides each year.
Schweitzer admits that the Crisis Center is not totally
responsible for the encouraging statistics but he says
staff members have helped a number of people deal with
their suicidal thoughts.
“You can't take the responsibility for someone's life,"
Schweitzer says. "You can just take responsibility for
doing a good job. If they take their life, it’s in spite of what
you’ve done, not because of it."
"Something must be mellow about this campus."
Schweitzer remarks. He thinks the University community
is in good mental health.
Starting this term, the Crisis Center will also operate
as a drug referral agency. Schweitzer says the staff
members will receive in-depth drug training. He estimates
calls to the center will increase 25 to 50 per cent.
Switchboard fills
role of coordinator
Switchboard can help you find Spot, the dog, a ride to
Colorado and the next Friends of the Earth meeting. It
acts as a community coordinator, moving information
from one person to another, from someone with a prob
lem to someone who can help.
The community makes Switchboard work, according to
Dick Wolf, who will take over directorship of the program
later this spring. The agency relies on local people to find
the dogs and riders, and to provide up-to-date information
on personal services, including meetings and local
events. Switchboard operators also answer hundreds of
calls from people who need something constructed or
repaired and are reluctant to call a commercial business.
The agency received over 22,000 calls in a six month
period ending Dec. 31,1975, Wolf said. About 40 per cent
of those calls were from University students, according to
Switchboard figures.
Switchboard requested almost $1,200 from the ASUO
for 1976-77. The new budget, approved by the Executive,
would be about $900 higher than last year Director Bill
Kittredge says the extra money is needed to pay higher
phone bills and for new equipment. The IFC will vote on
the program’s allocation today at 2:30 p.m.
Incidental Fee money represents only part of the
Switchboard budget. Lane Community College, Pacific
Northwest Bell, Renaissance Faire, Hoedads and private
citizens also provided funds last year.
Center provides
drug information
“We don't ask for an outrageous sum of money for
the services we provide," said Wayne Harger, program
coordinator of the Drug Information Center (DIC), of their
1976-77 ASUO budget request of $7,201.80.
“Even if they (the Incidental Fee Committee) gave us
what we ask for, the whole University and the community
would benefit at a very low cost."
Harger said that students can get all the information
they need about drugs, legal and illegal, at the DIC and
because “no other place in the state provides our ser
vices,” he feels the DIC is a necessary program for ASUO
government support.
ASUO incidental fees provide only 26 per cent of the
total DIC budget while 40 per cent of the program’s clients
are U of O students, Harger said. He said the rest of the
money comes from grants, contracts and sub
contracting.
“We subsist on a hodgepodge of money sources that
have to be renewed each year. Ours is a year-to-year
battle."
According to Harger, the DIC requested $6700 last
year, were awarded $4800 but only received $4400 from
the ASUO.
“I don’t know why they cut us," he said. "Too often in
the past the IFC wanted to get into program management.
I don’t think any other program has been able to cut costs
like we have and yet keep up services, but we can’t go on
forever. If they want services, they’ll have to pay for
them."
The DIC was first funded in spring 1972 for $800
out of special funds and not through the budget process,
Harger said. In 1974, it expanded to include all of Lane
County.
Harger asked for more funds this year because he
wants to make some changes. He asked for a director of
student services to help deliver DIC services to the stu
dents and for that director to be paid the minimum wage
instead of the $95 a month the ASUO pays other program
directors.
But Harger is realistic and said, "I didn't expect to get
it." The Executive recommended to fund the program
$6,281 and during hearings Monday the IFC voted to
actually allocate DIC $6,360
Harger is asking the State Mental Health Division to
pay for office costs. He said he is asking the IFC to pay
mainly for only the student director and drug analysis, $11
a sample for 300 samples or a grand total of $3300
Another change that Harger asked for was $150 for
transportation and supplies to thb Renaissance Faire, if
it's held, instead of having that money come from DIC
employes pockets.
Another service Harger would like to add is a Student
Drug Survey. The survey would attempt to find out about
the drug habits of students and would include questions
on what would help improve DIC services
Harger said he feels there is an immediate need for
services the DIC provides since the drugs and the use of
them are "things that have a high impact on our lives "
'We try to promote decision-making skills," Harger
said "You make the decision on whether to use the drug
so you need information to base that decision on We
provide that information."
The DIC is involved in getting and giving information,
Harger said Besides providing a library of reference mat
erial and free drug analysis, the DIC also gives training
sessions to Crisis Center staff and Health Center nurses
and a DIC staffer speaks at every Health 150 and 250
class
Harger sees the DIC as a place for "dynamic interac
tion between the University as a resource and the public.
If they stay separated, they don't grow together This
program does good in that people can see what the
University is doing throughout the state."
Alert concerned with
problems of disabled
Alert, a campus organization concerned with prob
lems confronting physically handicapped students, re
quested $5,225 from the ASUO for 1976 But during
deliberations April 5. the Incidental Fee Committee voted
to allocate the program only $3,388
Loren Simonds, the current director of Alert sad
program organizers needed the requested money in
order to function effectively. Simonds claimed the lack
of funding in past years is an indicator of a need to
educate the university student body to the various prob
lems of the physically limited.
"We ve been one of the most severely underfunded
programs on campus and because of this, we havent
been able to do as much as we've needed," he said
One of the major aims of the organization is to bring
about an awareness to the experiences and frustrations
of the handicapped. Simonds said this education is
necessary to eliminate misconceptions and to bring about
a constructive change in the situation of the handicapped.
Being physically hadicapped cannot be absolutely
avoided, you never know when you can become hand
icapped and anyone lucky enough to become old will be
affected by some of the same problems affecting the
physically limited,” he explained.
Preparations are being made for an “awareness
week", a symposium to take place during spring term.
Also, a speakers bureau is being set up that will provide
interested classes with speakers and presentations on
subjects related to the experiences of the handicapped
Other projects attempt to make adjustment easier for
handicapped students. The "Backdoor Ran" is one such
project. It is a booklet that provides maps of the accessi
ble buildings on campus and the most feasible entrances
to them. The booklet is currently being updated.
Alert also provides academic counseling and serves
some 75 to 100 students.
Chris Goodrich, a University student who works with
Alert, said, “We re one physically limited student just try
ing to help another."
PACE functions
as referral service
Peer Academic Counseling and Evaluation (PACE),
a relatively new ASUO group, is a student-designed prog
ram which "cares about the academic problems that face
University students,” according to Karen Gegner, director
of the program.
“We re here to act as a liaison between the individual
student and the available services and departments on
campus," Gegner explained. "Were a referral service
where relevant information is available to students seek
ing referral help.”
PACE, which was first funded at $3,208 in
November, has a small 10-member staff. This includes
one salaried director, an assistant director, a work-study
person and seven other people who make up the PACE
Steering Committee.
Since its inception fall term, PACE has been very
busy. According to Gegner, it has written and published a
training manual as a teaching aid for incoming PACE
volunteers; co-sponsored the Academic Advice and In
formation Faire fall term and put together a course that
trains volunteers in peer academic advising.
The course involves a weekly seminar and a field
practicum which provides actual experience for PACE
advisors in the area of University services, committee
wort* within PACE and actual peer advising experience
within the office It carries one credit hour for the weekly
seminar and involves three hours of field experience.
PACE is "a response from students and faculty who
expressed a desire for an active system of peer counsel
ing for students faced with academic advising problems,"
said Karen Gegner. To emphasize this point, she added,
We want them to come back, if they can't get the ans
wers to their problem. We re here to help."
PACE directors asked the ASUO for $6,368 for the
upcoming fiscal year, nearly double what they were allo
cated during 1975-76. Gegner said the request was jus
tified "because the amount will cover the entire year in
stead of from November on.”
The Executive recommended that the IFC allocate
$5,238 to the program, but during a deliberations meeting
April 5 the committee voted to pare the program's budget
to $4,262.
PACE's offices are located in Suite 1, Room 11 in the
new section of the EMU. Office hours are between 9 a m.
and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Placement goal
of student bar
A proposal to establish a full-time placement commit
tee with increased salaries, prompted the Student Bar
Association (SBA) to ask for more than three times the
amount allotted to the association last year.
"We are the only law school on the West Coast
without a full-time placement director," SBA Pres. Jim
Mueller said.
At present, most of the money spent by the associa
tion goes to its six major programs: the speaker's prog
ram, Peoples Law School, Moot Court, Land, Air and
Water, the Women s Law Forum and the Minority Law
Student Association.
The speaker s program sponsors two public lectures
each week. The talks have featured local politicians,
among them Jim Weaver, Charles Porter, Al Densmore
and Jim Redden Other speakers include May Brussel,
who has spent more than 10 years researching the as
sassination of John Kennedy, and lawyer Leonard
Boudin, who has represented Daniel Ellsberg, the Ber
rigans, and Dr Benjamin Spock.
The People s Law School is run by law students and
features free public classes on law-related topics such as
consumer protection, bankruptcy, women's rights and
small claims court. Times and dates for the school are
listed in the Emeralds "briefs " section.
In the Moot Court, law students engage in advocacy
debates over matters of law The Moot Court board, com
prised of third-year law students, chooses a team to com
pete in a yearly regional competition with teams from law
schools in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
Teams from here have won the regionals four of the past
five years, including this year.
This year s team will attend the national competition
in Washington D C. The UO team last year filed "the best
brief in the nation" according to Mueller
The Minority Law School Association works toward
recruiting and helping minority students adapt to the
“pressures of law school," Mueller said.
The Women's Law Forum has recently lobbied for a
bill that would limit what evidence may be introduced in a
rape tsial about the victim's past sexual activities and
sponsored an assertiveness training course for women in
the law school.
Last year the SBA asked for $8,709 and was granted
$4,800 after appealing the original grant of $4,300.
This year they wanted $15,409.52, nearly one-third
— $4,492.50 — for the placement committee. Of that,
$3,600 would pay half the salary of a full-time director.
The other major increases would have covered a
salary increase for the director, from $360 to $855 annu
ally, and would establish salaries for the vice-president
($486) and secretary-treasurer ($360), Mueller said.
Neither are paid at present.
The ASUO executive recommended a budget of
$9,100 for the association. They axed most of the place
ment program, including the director's salary, and a $400
request for a TV in the law school lounge. In a delibera
tions meeting Saturday the IFC voted tentatively to pare
the funding level back even further to $8,114.77 pending
consideration of a one-year pilot placement program for
law students.
Action now lends
students free tools
Remodeling houses and raising barns doesn't con
found Action Now workers. They’ve got the skills and the
tools to take care of construction problems.
And they’re willing to share.
The group loans tools of all sorts to any student
without cost. They tend to throw in a little free advice as
well.
Action Now has changed in recent months from an
activist agency to a service program with more long-range
goals, according to member Dan Jacobson.
“Being the end point of a referral system, we have to
keep our focus on something we can work on effectively,"
Jacobson said.
The group s main project is development and expan
sion of the tool bank but it will also have a hand in renovat
ing a barn in the Bethel district for use as a community
center.
Carpentry tools are in greatest abundance but the
tool bank can also help people working on automotive,
machinery, welding or gardening projects. Students can
pick up the tools Mondays and Wednesdays at 1557
Agate St. from 10 a m. to 4 p.m. when they present a
University identification card.
Tools are loaned for one week periods and program
director David Russell says most are in continual service
He estimates 15 students use the service each week.
Workers are currently remodeling the basement of
Whitebird, 341 E. 12th St., for use as a community
oriented tool bank. The new facility was to open this
month but shortages of materials and volunteer labor
have delayed completion until spring.
Enlarging the Agate Street student facility is a top
priority for the group, according to Russell. He has asked
the Incidental Fee Committee (IFC) for $2,500 to purch
ase property adjacent to the tool bank. Russell says the
extra space would be used to store and recycle building
materials.
The group requested $2,765 of incidental fee money
to maintain the program next year—an $801 increase
over last year. During budget deliberations April 5 the IFC
voted to allocate the program $2009. The Executive had
recommended $1,967.
Cooperative allows
low-cost buying
One of the newest ASUO agencies is the University
Food-Op Inc., a non-profit, student organization which
purchases food at low cost for students.
Last year the Incidental Fee Committee approved a
$15,000 budget for the then-new Food-Op. The money
was used to buy a delivery truck, construct a store and
cover initial operating expenses.
The program began combining the purchasing power
of fraternities, sororities and other living organizations to
buy food at wholesale prices. Then in January of this year,
the Food-Op opened to serve the entire University com
munity.
Student memberships cost $1 for individuals and $2
for households of two or more persons living together.
Faculty and staff may join at $2 for individuals and $4 for
households.
The small but efficient Food-Op General Store, lo
cated on 15th and Agate streets, has some staple items,
like bread, milk and fresh produce, available in the store.
One store employee said more people should be aware of
the things that can be bought right there.
But, most groceries are purchased by filling out a
“shopping list” at the store and picking up the order two
days later. The Food-Op is working on a plan now to make
deliveries to customers.
Besides the approximate 1,000 students served
through the living organizations, over 300 memberships
have been sold. And the numbers are climbing.
Several weeks ago, the Food-Op board of directors
submitted a 1976-77 budget proposal of $48,439 to the
ASUO Executive and the Incidental Fee Committee
(IFC). The amount included funds to build a completely
new store to replace the small building now used. But
after considering the request, the Executive recom
mended that the IFC only allocate the program $8,249 —
a marked cutback from last year’s $14,595 budget.
According to board member and founder of the
Food-Op, Boyd Wilson, the Executive wouldn't approve
the budget request since the program was so new. “Their
attitude was one of caution," Wilson said. “They want to
wait a year or so until the store has more time to mature."
But, Wilson said the Executive has approved funds
N
for improvements on the existing store. He said the IFC is
taking bids on the work right now. Depending on the bids,
Wilson estimated the final budget might be the same or a
little more than last year’s $15,000. The program is
scheduled to go before the IFC today for final budget
deliberations.
Besides asking for funds to expand the store,
Food-Op uses IFC funds to pay for most administrative
costs. The program director, assistant director, comptrol
ler and secretary are all salaried with IFC funds. Other
employees, about a dozen work study people, are paid
from operating income.
According to board member Eric Bellman, who works
in the store, “The Food-Op is one of the few ASUO agen
cies that has an income to support its operation.” Em
phasizing the non-profit nature of the service he called the
program “revolutionary."
Program furnishes
rent-referral service
Off-Campus Housing, a rent-referral service funded
by the ASUO, has received a $589 budget increase for
1976-77, the bulk of which is in anticipation of the coming
legislative session in Salem, according to Lois Hill, prog
ram director.
“Tenants have got to start giving input to the legisla
tive session,” Hill explains.
Although the program received $5,380 in funding,
Hill had originally requested $5,738, $300 of which would
have been used to acquaint tenants with pending legisla
tion and “encouraging them to actively participate in the
legislative process."
The $5,738 budget proposal included increases in
postage ($50), printing and duplication ($200), publicity
($50), and includes two new work-study positions at a
cost of $495. Other major increases included a rent refer
ral card printing cost of $200 and $361 to cover the cost of
buying city maps to sell to students.
Last year s budget was $4,791. The Executive re
commended $5,435 for 1976-77.
In a 15-page report submitted to the ASUO executive
office and the Incidental Fee Committee (IFC), the prog
ram director claimed its rent referral service has been
"significantly improved” in the last year. The report cited
the revision of referral cards to include more information
about the rental, reorganization of the bulletin board, and
more effective listing procedures as evidence of im
provement.
Hill reported the office handles 3-400 listings and
about 150 individual problems per month and that nearly
half of the 10,000 1975 renters handbooks have been
distributed.
The report cited three basic objectives" for the com
ing year which include “providing a rent referral service,
educating student tenants about their rights and the na
ture of available housing options, and acting as tenant
advocates.”
The last two objectives have, in the past, been
shared by OSPIRG. The two offices work closely in pro
ducing the annual Renter s Handbook.
Housing group offers
living alternative
Co-Ed Housing Inc. has submitted a $300,
1976-1977 publicity budget request to the ASUO Execu
tive and Incidental Fee Committee (IFC).
Sharon Hill, program director for Co-Ed Housing,
Inc., says the money is needed to initiate an effective
advertising campaign.
Established nearly 40 years ago as an alternative to
dormitory living, Co-Ed Housing, Inc., which includes Parr
Tower and University House, women's housing units, has
become, in recent years, the most inexpensive campus
housing situation.
Last year with the help of ASUO the corporation
achieved 90.6 per cent capacity. However, by lowering
the total cost of room, board, phone and utilities to $850
this year, the corporation must attain full occupancy in
order to financially break even. With a better advertising
campaign they feel this can be done.
ASUO has requested Co-Ed Housing, Inc. allow men
as well as women to reside at University House. Co-Ed
Housing, Inc. has been a female organization since it was
founded in 1935. The term co-ed was then applied to
female college students.
ASUO feels the co-ops should service both males
and females if they are to be included in the budget. A final
decision by Co-Ed Housing, Inc. has not yet been
reached.
The Executive has reviewed the program’s budget
request and delivered a recommendation for $225 in fund
ing. The IFC will decide the actual allocation during its
deliberations meeting today at 2:30 p.m.