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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1977)
Student funds go to ACT for legal battle... By MADELEINE MATTHEW Of the Emerald The Amazon Community Ten ants (ACT) has received student funds to aid in their legal battle against the University. In a meeting last Thursday, the Incidental Fee Committee (IFC) voted to give ACT $2,613 over the next three months. This was lower than the one month $2,376 budget ACT had proposed. Most of the budget cuts came in the proposed salaries of the coor dinator of representation and ten ant advocate. ACT had requested a monthly salary of $450 for each position. But the IFC cut these proposed salaries to $150 and $125 per month respectively. They said they could not base sal ary on the market value of one’s work, but must pay relative to other student positions within the University. Directors of student programs such as OSPIRG are presently paid about $100 a month. The coordinator of representa tion will be responsible for legal issues and representation and negotiation. The tenant advocate will assist the coordinator and facilitate communication within ACT. ACT leader Walt Sheasby currently holds the coordinator’s position. ACT will receive nearly all of the other funds it requested. This includes $145 for external public relations, and $393 for internal communication expenses. To supplement free legal aid which it already receives, it will also get $1,250 to hire professional ac countants and lawyers. Because of its reputation in col lective bargaining and labor negotiations, ACT will use the Kulongski law firm to negotiate with the University concerning the legality of the three-month-old rent strike. Students living in Amazon hous ing have been holding the strike in response to a proposed $10 rent increase. Many have put their rent checks in escrow and refuse to pay until a compromise is reached. But the University ad ministration does not recognize ACT as an official negotiating party and questions the legality of the strike. According to ACT leaders, their organization must gain legitimacy through a well-known law firm be cause “students have no legiti macy of their own in the eyes of the administration.” By using such a firm, ACT says the University will no longer be able to ignore stu dent demands. “The administra Members of one Amazon residence proclaim their politics. Other tenants remain uninvolved for one reason or another. tion would be forced to confront the tenant problems,” says Sheasby. ACT will also work with the bus iness school and a professional Eugene firm, Gregor, Thorp, McCracken, Early, P.C. to make a study of the housing office and. physical plant operations. They say a “Pandora’s Box” will be opened up, “exposing the cost in efficiencies, mismanagement and incompetence” in these depart ments. ACT insists that the results of the study may prove so embar rassing, that the University will have to start correcting these problems. If these wastes are cor rected, says ACT, then all stu dents’ expenses at the University could be lowered. Despite the setback in funding ior the coordinator and advocate positions, ACT leaders called the IFC’s move a “historic decision.” They say it could be “a catalyst for student action on future issues.” ACT representatives met with Secretary of State Norma Paulus Wednesday to seek a state audit of University Married Student Housing. She remained non commit al, but assured them that her office is conducting an audit of the state system’s debt service and maintenance policies. Most of the IFC members stand in unity with the goals and objec tivies of ACT. Steve Herlocker, however, consistently voted in opposition to ACT’s requests, say ing he was “not in sympathy" with the organization. ...while some tenants refuse to get involved ay MELODY WARD Of the Emerald While nearly 140 families wage a ren' strike at the Amazon project, almost 10C other tenant families refuse to get involved Their reasons for not participating vary, but most non-strikers agree that the University will probably be the final victor in the three-month-long controversy. "It’s basic life," said one student from Germany. “When you rent, you're at the mercy of your landlord... you have a choice to either live here and pay the rent increase or move out." Other foreign students fear loss of funds which come through the University. “I am a scholarship student,” explains a grad stu dent from Japan. “All my checks are pay able to the University, so there's no way I can get involved with the rent strike. I'm really locked in." A South African woman thinks a foreign student shouldn’t get involved in struggles between native students and their university because she is sponsored by her govern ment. The problem of the purse is not confined to foreign students. “I’m in a very volatile financial position and can't afford to pay much more than $80 per month,” says an architecture graduate student. “I’m in debt up to here trying to pay off my degree and trying to find a job in this town." He admits he agrees with the issues Amazon Community Tenants (ACT) are striking about. “The housing department has not been bad to us — we had to delay paying our rent one month — but when we had problems with our stove, it took three trips before they fixed it." He adds, "This is not a radical issue. When people say $80 is a steal, what salary rate are they comparing it to?" One family dropped out of the strike this month because the father is bidding for a job at the University. “I think the University will get the increase in any case,” he says. Other tenants mentioned the case of a fellow striker, Helmy Elgamal, a University grounds worker who was laid off July 13 after being questioned about his involve ment in the strike. Most students who work for the University stay away from the strike because they don't want to risk losing their jobs. Many tenants aren’t striking because they will be finishing their degrees soon or plan to live at Amazon only until the end of the summer. But that doesn't mean they aren’t sympathetic to ACT. “I don’t think they chose the best arguments though,” remarks an cider student. “The issue should have been that proper maintenance saves energy costs, instead of the emo tional argument about the kids getting colds from the drafts." "We re moving," comments a Chinese woman. "Also, my husband doesn’t think they (ACT) have a very clear presentation. They may have good reasons for striking, but they haven’t presented them clearly.” This sentiment was also voiced by the architecture student. "In the beginning I felt the strike wasn’t being handled in a profes sional manner. Only recently have they started to match the University power for power by hiring lawyers and accountants.” But a two-year resident isn’t striking be cause “I don’t like ACT. The maintenance claims are valid but really have nothing to do with the strike. The main thing they want is to get Amazon into their own hands. I’m against the rent hike but I would prefer to pay 10 bucks more than let ACT take over running this place.’’ And a young Englishwoman tends to agree in part with his complaint. “It’s a double-edged thing. Part of it is the rent hike, but part of it is they want to make Amazon a tenant-run cooperative. If it were a co-op, I’d feel obliged to help run it and I just don’t have the time.” However, she does think ACT represents Amazon tenants. “I certainly wouldn’t try to go around ACT and I think it’s doing a pretty good job representing the students.” Expert Racket Stringing Tennis Strings Imperial Gut, Superb Gut, Super Blue Star, Blue Star, Staytite Nylon, Servus Nylon, Leoina Sheep “66" Fast 24 Hour Service Tennis Rackets by: Head, PDP, Prince, Yonex, Davis, Dunlop, and Wilson Open Friday til 9 11th & Mill 343-0013 Everything for the Runner SUGAR PINE RIDGE 877 E. 13th Upstairs next to U of O Bookstore 346-5584
