Alien residency deadline arrives
By GARY NEWMAN
Of the Emerald
Thai god awful word “alien that the govern
ment starts using every year at about this time came
to us care of the Roman Empire It began as
alienus in Latin, then the Old-French made it a
weapon of cultural imperialism against the Anglo
Saxons after 1066 Now the word is used to ask
citizens of foreiqn countries who are residing in the
United States to register with the government
The word itself may be something of a spur,
Applications for American citizenship increased by
thirty per cent during the first three months of the
year, according to Lyle Dahlin, District Director of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service in Portland
The jump is caused by the Alien Address Report
program, said Dahlin
All citizens of foreign countries who are in the
United States during January, except diplomats and
members of certain international organizations, are
required to get an Alien Address Report from any
post office, fill out the computer-sized card, put a
stamp on it and mail it to the U S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service in Maryland
This included 4,714,005 people nationally in
1975 (the last date for which national figures are
available) The 1976 figure for Oregon was 28,014
There were 765 foreign students registered at the
University fall term
A potential citizen must live in the United States
for five years, or be married to a U S. citizen for three
years Exceptions to this residency requirement are
made for veterans of the U S. military The potential
citizen must have two witnesses who have known
him for the stipulated period and can vouch for his
moral character.
If he meets these requirements he can then
qualify for a fifteen to twenty-minute oral citizenship
test. Citizenship classes are not an official part of the
program, but are designed to assist the immigrant in
his quest for citizenship. Other countries have similar
requirements.
Drawing by Slave Sandstrom
Japan, for instance, requires the potential citi
zen to live in Japan for over five years, be over
twenty-years old, possess a definite skill or have a
means of support and a sponsor who can testify to
the aspiring citizen's character. Aiiens who are mar
ried to Japanese citizens are automatically citizens
after five years residence. If the alien is under 60
years of age he must learn to read and write
Japanese.
Citizenship classes are offered by LCC, usually
during fall and winter terms. The class meets once a
week and runs ten weeks. Tuition is $14 plus $3 for
the book. Half of the tuition is paid by Civitan Interna
tional, an international service club, said Russel
Tompkins, who teaches the class.
Tompkins is amazed at the quality of people who
have passed through his class. He talks of a Russian
man who walked across Siberia and into China, a
German lady who crawled out of East Germany
through a tunnel and a Chinese man who hid under
his father's house for six months before he cduld
leave China. ‘‘It is pretty beautiful to see these peo
ple, he says, "these people are gifted people.”
The test is not date and name oriented. Instead,
it focuses on the constitution and the structure of the
U S. Government. These people often know more
about the United States than people who were bom
here, says Tompkins, who once took an informal poll
on Willamette St. about the Bill of Rights. He asked
ten or twelve people what the Bill of Rights is. Only
one or two knew.
One last note on the derivation of the word alien.
It would seem that etymologists prefer to call things
by their Latin names. The word alien bears a striking
resemblence to the German word alein, which
means alone. Is it possible that this specimen came
in with the Saxons or did the German species
metamorphose from the same Latin chrysalis?
Bargaining bid by LCC part-timers fails
By BILL LUTZ
Of the Emerald
Forty-two teachers at Lane
Community College (LCC) lost
their first bid for bargaining unit
recognition last week
The LCC Board of Education
voted 5 to 2 against voluntary rec
ognition of the Adult Basic Educa
tion (ABE) and High School Com
pletion (HSC) instructors. The
issue now goes to an Employment
Relations Board (ERB) hearing
scheduled for Feb 3 at LCC.
Members of the unit have or
ganized as the LCC Educational
Association (ICCEA) and af
filiated themselves with the
Oregon Educational Association
(OEA)
LCCEA members say this ac
tion by the board delays improve
ments in the department and will
cost taxpayers money to cover the
cost of ERB hearings and elec
tions.
"It is impossible to effect
needed improvements in the de
partment unless we have job sec
urity and bargaining power first,"
said one member of the unit who
wished to remain anonymous due
to what he she called lack of job
security ”
Board members who voted to
deny recognition say they do not
oppose part-time instructors or
ganizing a bargaining unit, but say
they only wish to have the ERB
make a unit clarification
Board member Edward Cooper
said his vote was "not a negative
no-vote "
We are not necessarily ex
pressing opposition to bargaining,
we just want the ERB to make that
decision," he said
Stephen Reid, who also voted
no, clarified the issue. "There are
250 part-time employes here," he
said "Wejust don't want too many
bargaining units."
Katherine Lauris and Jim Mar
tin, the two board members who
voted for recognition, believe the
ABE-HSC instructors are an ap
propriate unit.
Lauris called them a “very un
ified group with particular working
conditions — a very logical bar
gaining unit."
"! believe in the recognition of
working people." Lauris added
adamantly.
LCCEA Pres. Pat John said her
organization is seeking a more
equitable salary schedule and job
security.
Members of LCCEA point out
that although they teach as many
hours as full-time teachers in
other departments, they are con
sidered part-time and paid an
hourty wage
"For this reason we are only
paid for classroom time, although
we spend a considerable amount
of time in preparation as do other
teachers,' one LCCEA member
said.
They further point out that adult
education and high school serves
an important service to the com
munity as well as.bringing consid
erable funds to the college from
state and federal funds.
If the ERB recognizes the
LCCEA as a bargaining unit they
will hold an election to determine
whether eligible teachers want
representation by the LCCEA or
no representation at all.
The LCCEA president says a
mailed poll taken by the OEA indi
cated 75 per cent of the ABE-HSC
teachers want union representa
tion.
Reid, however, said that even if
the ERB recognizes the ABE
HSC instructors as a bargaining
unit he will move that the board
challenge the appropriateness of
the unit.
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