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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1977)
Vol. 78, No. 123 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, April 13, 1977 Colleges brace for more enrollment losses By LORI PETERSON Of the Emerald Some of Oregon’s colleges are bracing themselves for decreas ing trends in enrollment leading into the 1980s. Last week, Willamette Univer sity in Salem took its first step in preparing for enrollment fluctua tions when University Pres. Robert Lisensky announced he would ask the college trustees to dissolve the College of Theatre and Music and merge them with the College of Liberal Arts. Lisensky's plan aims at "stream lining administrative respon sibilities,” according to Bob Woodall, director of information services. If the college trustees approve the merger in May, a general tightening of the administrative ranks will result, according to Woodall. Lisensky says he believes the change will save money in the face of expected enrollment de clines. This could be the start of a series of precautionary measures taken to guard against enrollment ‘ declines in many of Oregon's col leges. As Glenn Starlin, vice-provost at the University of Oregon points out, current data indicates a de crease in the 18 to 24-year-old age group leading into the 1980s. “We’re just in the first phase of there being fewer people in this age group,” he said. “We expect in the next five years, there will be a definite decline.” Escape into nature Up a dead-end road, past the mangled remains of abandoned automobiles, Silver Falls, near Coos Bay, spreads its waters over a huge, dome-faced rock as it descends more than 200 feet. For a tour through Oregon’s dense forest growth, see Page 10. ASUO filing deadline today Deadline for filing for both ASUO and OSPIRG positions is 5 p.m. today. ASUO candidates may me in Suite 4. OSPIRG candidates may submit applica tions in Suite 3, EMU. (See related story, Page 3). A mandatory candidates’ meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Voter’s guide statements are due 5 p.m. Friday in Suite 4, EMU. The ASUO presi dent will be allowed 400 words while all other candi dates are limited to 250 words. Positions open and the number of applications filed by 4 p.m. Tuesday include: ASUO president (4), the offices of president, vice-president an secretary/treasurer for the senior (0), junior (3) an sophomore classes (2), three positions on the EMI Board (1) and seven Student University Affairs Boar (SUAB) positions. SUAB positions open include: No. 7, healtl physical education and recreation: No. 9, scienc and math; No. 11, fine and applied arts: No. 1! liberal arts and undeclared; No. 16, education an librarianship; (no applications filed for any of thes positions), No. 2, journalism and speech (2); and N< 1, law/CSPA (1). This represents a severe change from the large number of college-age students in recent years, a result of the post-World War It baby boom, according to Starlin. Enrollment figures for this Uni versity show a decrease, with fall term, 1976, down 2.9 per cent from fall 1975 figures. Winter term enrollment figures showed a 3.7 per cent decrease from the year before. The decrease already has caused a financial squeeze on this campus since the University is funded by the number of fulltime equivalent (FTE) students, or those taking a 15 credit hour load per term. Southern Oregon State College (SOSC) in Ashland has also taken steps to cushion the blows of these projected enrollment de clines, according to SOSC Pres. James Sours. Enrollment was down four per ’cent fall term from the previous year. Winter term enrollment fig ures also showed a four per cent decline from the year before. “We’ve reduced our faculty by 10 positions” in order to stay fi nancially stable, says Sours. The college also is gearing up on prog rams for returning students and older “non-traditional students,” according to the president. Sours says SOSC initiated a study of high school enrollment two years ago. The study included students in grades nine through 12 in Josephine, Jackson and Klamath counties. Report findings showed an increase in these stu dents, but Sours said at the same time Multnomah County, the largest county in Oregon, showed a steep decline in students within the same age group. “The number of high school students just aren't there any more,” he said. Currently enrollment decreases are non-existent at Oregon Col lege of Education (OCE) in Mon mouth but OCE Pres. Leonard Rice says, ‘‘We are expected to have enrollment declines from 1981 until 1989.” In preparing for any decreases in enrollment Rice says, “We do a great deal of employing people on a fixed-term basis. He explained that in the California State School System people are hired for shor ter periods or term appointments. OCE is also going to count on what Rice terms as “normal attri tion,” or the expected vacancy of faculty positions caused by re tirements. “The most fundamental reasons why institutions are fac ing drops is because the veterans didn't stay in school as long as we expected,” explains Rice. He points to OCE’s case where this year there has been an eight per cent drop in men and an an eight per cent increase in women enjol led in classes. He believes the de cline of veterans enrolling in col leges “caught people off guard." Robert Blummel, Portland State University (PSU) president, says “By our own estimates, we re not likely here to suffer reductions.” He says PSU draws students of varied age groups instead of the traditional 18 to 24 year-old group. PSU also has more students en rolled on a part-time basis. But Blummel adds that regard less of PSU’s stable enrollment, the school “will be making con tingency plans.” While higher education officials have gone to the drawing boards to devise more stable methods of funding for state system institu tions in the future, Starlin believes the projected declines forecasted for the early 1980s will affect all col leges.
