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,