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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1976)
Vol. 77, No. 136 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, April 21,197' 3 Barnhart turns down dorm alcohol request By DARLENE GORE Of the Emerald Housing Director H.P. Barnhart has rejected a Dormitory Govern ance Council (DGC) proposal to permit alcohol in dorms set aside for residents over 21. The student committee has appealed his decision to Gerald Bogen, vice-president for student affairs. Barnhart told the DGC that the presence of alcohol in the dorms would reduce livability and might drive away some students. He said “excessive noise and lack of privacy would be compounded” if the proposal were accepted Quiet, private surroundings are highly valued by residents, according to a dorm survey and Barnhart believes they are especially important to students over 21 The Housing Department has received no clear indication that dorm students favor the proposal, according to Barnhart. The most recent survey indicates that 46 per cent of the dorm residents think the right to dnnk alcohol in their rooms would improve living conditions. Barnhart is also concerned that limiting a few dorms to students over 21 would reduce flexibility in his department. Currently, all but one of the dorms house freshmen together with upper-class students The DGC contends that Barnhart has skirted the proposal and failed to address specific issues. It seems that he was just over-confident, said Dave Hercher, chairer of the DGC alcohol committee He thought he could just say Shoo and we would go away. But this thing has to be decided on the issues Hercher says there is no reason to suppose that noise, lack of privacy and other problems associated with alcohol use would be compounded if drinking were legalized in the dorms The group has told Bogen that “present enforcement of the (alcohol) policy is lax or non existent. especially among the target group (those over 21) and the mere technicality of the proposed change would increase neither con sumption nor related problems. Barnhart concedes that enforcement of the alcohol ban is some times lax Nobody bothers them if they dnnk in their own rooms,” he said. Rule enforcement occurs more often if a large party creates a disturbance “If people are drinking," said Barnhart, 'they're drinking on their own responsibility I would prefer it on their own responsibility rather than passing it on to you or me I would prefer that it be on individual responsibility.” Hercher contends that Barnhart's survey statistics measure the opinions of the total dorm population rather than the target population of students over 21 He believes older students would be more favorable to the proposal and the Housing Department would have little trouble filling an over-21 dorm The department has already reserved 213 spaces for seniors and graduate students and Hercher believes these people could be placed in a special dorm. The University fias no ban on alcohol for the Westmoreland and Amazon married students' housing, according to John Thorpe, director of family housing. The housing project is considered the same as any community in the city " Drawing by JoArw Fahfgren Minority proposals go to Senate The University Senate will dis cuss three recommendations from the Educational Oppor tunities Committee today at their 3:30 p.m. meeting in 229 Law. The motions from the committee grew out of its six-month review of Pres. Boyd's restructuring of the minor ity services program in August. The committee's report says there are no established guidelines for planning, imple menting and evaluating minority and disadvantaged student pro grams. Nor is there a definitive pol icy which speaks to the commit ment of the University and the ex pectations of both the institution and students under the Academic Opportunities Program. Committee chairer Katherine Eaton has three motions before the Senate which would develop a University policy. The first directs the Senate to investigate the alleged misuse of delegated authority by the Office of Admissions, Financial Aid, Em ployment and Housing for Special Students. The second asks that the ad ministration and faculty develop and adopt a policy clearly defining the commitment of the University to cultural, racial or ethnic minority students. And the third asks that the fa culty assist in the immediate for mation of a committee to develop a cultural/racial/ethnic compo nent at the University which speaks to the needs of minority disadvantaged students. The committee is to include represent atives of affected cultural, racial or ethnic groups, AOP staff and interested faculty." Davis wants ASUO to deliver ‘quality education’ Editor's Note: The following article is the final story in a six-part series dealing indi vidually with candidates for ASUO presi dent. Thursday's Emerald will feature a wrap-up article outlining issues and stands of the campaign. By LOIS LINDSAY Of the Emerald Student government has taken a new academic and legislative direction” during the past two years, says ASUO presidential hopeful Jim Davis. It's a trend he wants to see continued. “The only concern of the ASUO should be to help insure students a quality educa tion,” the 22-year-otd graduate student ex plains. "Students put a lot of money into this institution. They have a right to be well rep resented — a right to receive the best edu cation and best services possible." Running on a 17-plank platform, Davis says the ASUO can deliver that quality edu cation only by giving "equal attention to academic issues, student consumer legis lation and program administration and fi nance." He says these three elements rep resent the "overall educational experi ence." "A quality education cannot, and should not, be restricted to the classroom," the gerontology and administration student ex plains. "We've got to explore cultural and alternative facets as well." Academic concerns Davis plans to ad dress include completion and expansion of the consumer's guide to classes by "con tinuing the fight for access to faculty course evaluation matenals. "Instruction must become the number one priority," Davis insists. "To insure this. Jim Davis faculty members need to be accountable to the students " In line with the accountability issues, Davis says he will push for inclusion of stu dents on promotion and tenure committees, a goal partially achieved by this year s ex ecutive. But he will also work for an in crease in the number of times high-demand classes are offered and for publication of a career information booklet to aid University students. Student consumer legislation is another major concern of Davis's. He says his ad ministration will spend a great deal of time before the Oregon Legislature lobbying for such issues as lower tuition, increased fi nancial aids, greater state support of child care and foreign student expenses, protec tion of tenants' and dorm residents' rights, non-discrimination and an evaluation of minority programs on campus. Dealing with program administration and finance, Davis says his major goal is to "increase communication and working rela tionships with the programs and the Inci dental Fee Committee (IFC)’’ and to build on the budget counter-budget process in itiated this year. The candidate, presently ASUO vice president for programs and finance, says communication has been “very good" this year but "can always be improved." He says he would like to establish more or ganizations like the Programs Director's Council so the programs could have more direct input into administrative decisions. A major issue Davis plans to explore next year is the establishment of a student union and the students' right to bargain collec tively. He says House bill 3043 (which al lows students to sit in on faculty negotia tions) is “nice but certainly not enough." Responding to accusations by another candidate, Davis defends the present ad ministration against the charge of "pushy power politics. ’ “Sure it's been aggressive. But there's nothing wrong with that. You have to be aggressive a lot of times if you want to get anything done.” But Davis says he'll have a somewhat different approach than Bemau. “Basically I'm a people person. I've always been able to communicate well with people by just sitting down and listening and then present ing my views." Davis sees his “experience on all levels of the ASUO’’ as the biggest asset of his candidacy. Involved in the student associa tion for the past four and a half years, Davis has worked with six ASUO-funded pro grams (serving as director of two), served for three years on student-faculty commit tees, worked with the EMU and student ad visory boards, and served as ASUO vice president.
