Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 1977)
daily Oregon nerald * An Independent Newspaper Vol. 78, No. 153 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, May^4f 1977 Birds got the blues But area trail sings song of hope for declining bluebird population Along the edges of a field, a solitary bluebird sat on a telephone wire. Al Prigge pulled the car over to the side of the road and sat still a moment. All week long he had prepared himself for bad news. Last weekend he had gone out along this bluebird trail and found nests abandoned in the recent cold, rainy weather. Today promised to be no better since it had been cold and wet again. Story and photo By NICK GALLO Of the Emerald But this nesting box, which is one of 230 that Prigge and other members of the Eugene Natural History Society have placed in the outlying Eugene area was special. Here a pair of bluebirds had with stood the onslaughts of more aggressive tree swallows and had begun nesting. Here, the bluebirds were making it, but today only one sat on the wire. If Prigge, who is 54 with touches of silver in his gray hair, doesn’t see bluebirds flying about a nesting box as he approaches a site, he gets worried. Like the time last year when similar harsh weather knocked out a good many birds. Or like the time he reached into a box that had been shot up by vandals and found a bird shot through the breast. In 1974 Prigge and several others in the area organized a trail to provide nesting sites for the western bluebird. Since that species pref ers open but not densely wooded country away from urbanization, the trail runs alongside rural roads in Lane County. The reason for the trail is that the bluebird is in trouble. In the mid-19th century when European immigrants came to America they (Continued on Paae 14) Referendum Students blast white minority rule; demand divestment in two-day vote By HEATHER McCLENAGHAN Of the Emerald University students voted overwhelmingly against apartheid and white minority rule in southern Africa in Monday and Tuesday's special ASUO re ferendum. Some 1,160 voters marked ballots in the two days of polling. The first ballot measure, which sought to prohibit recruiters from corporations with investments in South Africa, Rhodesia or Southwest Africa to use University facilities, passed 903 to 257. The second measure, calling on the State Board of Higher Education and the University’s Develop ment Fund to divest themselves of all stock and other holdings in corporations with investments in south ern Africa, passed 980 to 180. ASUO election officials termed the referendum's turnout ‘‘excellent.’' Earlier this month 1,748 students cast votes in the ASUO presidential runoff election. The referendum grew out of several months of work by Southern Africa Support Committee mem bers to confront the University administration and student body with what they see as University com plicity in apartheid. The State Board of Higher Education and the Development Fund own millions of dollars in corpo rate stock in 27 companies doing business — either directly or through subsidiaries — in the racist coun tries of southern Africa. Recruiters from Weyerhaeuser, Standard Oil and IBM have been confronted or driven off campus by student demon strators in recent months. The referendum came in response to State Sys tem Chancellor Roy Lieuallen's charge that the de monstrators’ demands do not reflect the views of the student body. Southern Africa Support Committee member Bruce Bowers called the referendum’s outcome “a significant development in student activism.” “The turnout was at least as good as the ASUO presidential election's, given the fact that we only had two polling places. The vote is definitely as valid a representative sampling of the student body as the ASUO election ever has been. “‘Now the Administration will have to examine the Development Fund, State System investments and recruiting policy. It's time for Pres. Boyd to make a statement — if he opposes what the measure said, he should say it,” Bowers said. The support committee’s next step will be to encourage other student bodies around the state to hold similar elections to insure the University vote is not seen as an isolated expression of opposition to apartheid. Bowers said political figures in the state may be approached, including State Treasurer Clay Myers. Evaluations Legislation stalls as committee looks at value, validity of proposed release By MARY BETH BOWEN Of the Emerald SALEM — The student faculty evaluations bill escaped near death in committee Tuesday, when one of the committee members, Sen. Keith Burbidge, D-Salem, said he would support sending the bill to the Senate, even though he may vote against it there. Burbidge's stand tied the committee 3 to 3 on the measure. But whether House Bill 2702 gets out of committee appears to hinge on the vote of Sen. Tony Meeker, R-Amity, who was absent from Tuesday’s work session. Committee chairer Sen. Cliff Trow, D-Corvallis. agreed to committee member Sen. Frank Roberts', D-Portland, request to postpone a vote on the bill until the full committee is present, probably within the next week. HB 2702, which would require state system schools to release student evaluations of faculty members to students, drew praise and criticism from committee members. Trow, an Oregon State Uni versity history professor, said the evaluations are not an accurate measure of good teaching. ‘Student evaluations give you an idea of what the average student thinks about the teacher,” said Trow, "but they don’t get at the essence of teaching, which is the transfer of knowledge. Students want things laid out systematically and the things they want often restrict good teaching.” Trow added he thought the evaluations woufd “adversely affect good education” and that there are no present laws that prevent students from conduct ing evaluations on their own. Kirby Garrett, coordinator for the Oregon Stu dent Lobby, claimed that whenever students have attempted to conduct independent evaluations, a law suit or a threatened law suit by a faculty member has shut the operation down. Garrett added that under HB 2702, representatives of the faculty, administra tion and students would all have input in the selecting of evaluation questions, something faculty members would be left out of if students conducted the evalua tions on their own. Roberts, a Portland State University speech pro fessor, said he supported the bill because it provides accountability in education. But Sen. Fred Heard, D-Klammath Falls, a pro fessor at the Oregon Institute of Technology, said he believes in providing students with “scientific objec tive information,” but that the information provided by student evaluations is “subjective opinion.” Track meet The University men’s team will gear up for its trip to Champaign, III, Thursday in an NCAA prep meet. The Duck team flourished this season with a Pac-8 finish of fourth. Steve Geiger has the story on Page 15. .... Phoenix The Phoenix newspaper has slowly become a fading dream for Eugene senior citizens. Once a popular alternative to the seniors, toe Phoenix now faces deep financial troubles. Becky Young details the prob lems on Page 17,
