Don’t count on aid, senator warns students
Was Salem overgenerous in the past? J
Story and Photo
By LOHA CUYKENDALL
Tho days ol generosity are over at the Legis
lature — at least as tar as higher education is
concerned, according to state Sen Frank
Roberts, D-Multnomah, Portland
Roberts told faculty, staff and students ol the
education college's Center for Educational
Policy and Management (CEPM) Thursday af
ternoon that the Legislature would probably
continue its trend toward decreasing the
amount of state money used to support higher
education
Many members of the Legislature increas
ingly believe that students should bear more of
a share of the cost of education through tui
tion," Roberts said
He also predicted that a bill currently in the
Legislature, HB 5557, which would provide
nearly $2 6 million in aid to college students
from middle-income families, would probably
fall victim to the demands for funds to support
secondary education and provide property tax
relief
Roberts said the rise in importance of com
munity colleges and the growing belief on the
part of the public that a college education isn't
a necessary criteria for success has fueled the
belief that the Legislature may have been
"over generous with higher education in the
past He said tho public and some legislators
still feel a distrust of colleges because of the
campus unrest of the late 1960s and early
1970s
Roberts also outlined the areas which he felt
were of main importance to educators and
have been discussed in the Legislature in re
cent years. While he said the issues of
teachers standards, faculty rights, unioniza
tion and basic education have pretty much
been resolved, he pointed to students rights
as a continuing issue because of the interest
shown in them by the student lobby.
Roberts said the conflicting circles of author
ity in the administration of both secondary and
higher education in the state is a continuing
matter of legislative concern. The conflicting
governing bodies significantly affect educa
tional administration,' he said, describing the
overlapping authorities of the State Board of
Higher Education, the Oregon Coordinating
Commission and the Legislature He cited the
confusing system of governance as a reason
lor his introducing legislation this session to
eliminate the office of state superintendent of
public instruction
Roberts was on campus Thursday and Fri
day to discuss education and legislative pro
cesses with the CEPM faculty Today he will
participate in individual and small group dis
cussions at 9:30 a m with interested persons
in Room 101 of Casea Hall, on Kincaid Street
across from PLC
At 2 p.m he will discuss his general impres
sion of CEPM. the University and education in
Room 004 Casea Roberts appearance is part
of a CEPM program to bring educational lead
ers from throughout the state to the University
campus.
Sen Frank Roberts
From the Doctor:
Any rubella contact could risk pregnancy
Dear Dr Copperman
I have an older sister who is
planning to have a baby I am gel
ting married and my blood test tor
Rubella was negative III get the
Rubella vaccine can it infect her
baby?
Worried
^par Worried
I don t Know lor sure il the
Rubella vaccine can cause birth
defects, but the possibility is
strong enough that you must be
very careful
For those who don t know,
Rubella (or German Measles) oc
curs in epidemics and in sporadic
clusters In 1944 following a se
vere Rubella epidemic, a very as
tute physician in Australia noticed
a large increase in births of dam
aged babies
On investigation the mothers of
these babies had been Infected
with Rubella virus and developed
German Measles during the first
three to four months of pregnancy
The babies had a distinct pattern
of problems, with some or all of the
defects being present in each
child Deafness, cataracts and
other eye problems, mental retar
dation with small brains and
slightly deformed skulls, and heart
malformations were the primary
problems these poor children
were afflicted with
Following the epidemic of 1964
in this country, in addition to the
previously mentioned problems,
many of the babies were found to
be still infected and ill at the time of
birth with a host of problems in
cluding viral pneumonia and
hepatitis.
The tragedy of the damaged
children was magnified by the
heartbreak and guilt of the
mothers, many of whom blamed
themselves for the defects in the
child, and all of whom were bur
dened with the lifelong care of the
surviving infants.
A live vaccine for Rubella has
been used widely since the late
1960s, with the primary hope
being that after a certain number
of people are immune, the dis
ease may disappear the same
way that smallpox has. The vac
cine causes minor symptoms in
many of the people immunized as
they develop a modified infection
Because the vaccine virus en
ters the blood stream, the theoret
ical risk of infecting a pregnant
woman s baby does exist. It isn't
known whether this might occur or
if it would lead to birth defects.
That risk of infecting an unborn
baby is controllable for the woman
being vaccinated by making sure
that she is not pregnant and is not
liable to become pregnant in the
two months following vaccination
Transmission of the vaccine
virus to another pregnant woman
from a vaccinated woman or child
is also a theoretical risk, but one
much harder to protect against.
Birth defects have not been attri
buted to this kind of transmission,
but it remains a possibility.
Nobody knows for sure how
good the protection is from the
vaccine and how long the protec
tion will last Studies, so far, indi
cate a good probability that the
vaccine will protect future babies
from the ravages of the Rubella
virus.
By an $18 blood antibody test
we can tell if anyone has already
had Rubella. If a woman has an
tibodies, then she need not worry
about getting Rubella or giving it to
her baby. Since in many instances
Rubella can infect a person with
out the person getting sick and
developing three-day measles,
every woman should be tested for
Rubella antibodies before having
children.
Every woman without an
tibodies who plans to have chil
dren should be immunized during
a time period when she has no
chance of being or becoming
pregnant
In addition, all children should
“Exceptional” Center exceptionally open
Since the University's new Ex
ceptional Family Advocacy
Center opened early last De
cember, fewer than five develop
mental^ disabled persons have
taken advantage of the free ser
vices offered by the federally
funded program.
The center, a brainchild of the
University Center on Human De
velopment. exists to aid people
handicapped by mental retarda
tion, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, au
tism or dyslexia One of the agen
cies chief functions is to search for
and disseminate information
about all types ot programs avail
able to help the disabled at any
level.
"We re here to help all hand
icapped people who need our
help, says Bodie Smith, one ot
the center's three stall members
"Until things pick up we re keeping
busy keeping our knowledge up to
see what's out there for the hand
icapped."
Smith, like fellow staffers
Paulette Lavrar and Dorothy
McNair, are parents of handicap
ped children They are paid for a
few hours work each week, but
donate much more time "When I
was working with my child I
needed emotional help. I joined a
group and found out that I wasn I
the only parent with a retarded
child," says Smith.
The center's staff has been
busy keeping up on the latest
legislation, such as Oregon Se
nate Bill 94-142, which states that
all handicapped children, regard
less of age, have the right to an
individual education program in
the public schools.
Along with monitoring the latest
legislation, the center aims to as
sist families with handicapped
members and to provide training
in group self-help skills.
“We can train parents of hand
icapped children to advocate for
their rights,” said Smith. The
center's help is available to any
developmentally disabled person
in Lane County, according to the
programs director, Anita Chavan.
The center's staff is on campus
in Room 126, Trailer 290, parallel
to Alder Street Office hours are 9
a m. to 5 p.m weekdays. While
appointments are appreciated,
the center handles drop-in clients
also.
be immunized against Rubella
when they are very young to pro
tect later spread of Rubella to sus
ceptible young women who might
be pregnant.
So dear Worried, you definitely
should get the vaccine before you
plan to become pregnant. How
ever. it would be a good idea not to
expose your sister until after the
fourth month of her pregnancy, at
which time the danger of her baby
having birth defects would be min
imal.
Terry Copperman. M D.
Copyright 1977
1171 Monroe, 485-0*54
1 j. I1'.!
J I • Across from
^paghetljlWa