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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1978)
editorial Jeff Warren for ASUO president In what may be the best field of candidates in recent years for the ASUO Presidency, Jeff Warren emerges as the best of the lot. He has served for a year on both the Incidental Fee Committee (IFC) and the Student University Affairs Board and has experience in lobbying at the state legislature. Warren would increase the amount of activity coming from the ASUO Executive, as exhibited by his promises to speak at the University Senate on issues important to students and by his desire to be sure faculty members sympathetic to the student viewpoint attend the General Assembly meetings. Of all the candidates, Warren has the best ideas of exactly what he will do in office. He will fight for releasing faculty evaluations and is considering going to professors to have evaluations released on an individual basis. War ren is also committed to more Executive contact with the EMU Board and taking the football games off the athletic passes sold to students. All in all, Jeff Warren is the top man for the job. Fellow IFC member Doug Benson and MEChA Direc tor Ramon Herrera rate right behind Warren. Benson, in particular, has shown independent thinking even in the face of losing support from his fraternity, and is now swayed by special interests. He does have experience in both the EMU Board and the IFC, and seems very comfort able with the prospects of filling Gary Feldman's shoes. Benson wishes to hold a student convention at the beginning of each school year to help determine what issues the students feel are important. While the idea is good, its practicality is questionable. Benson hopes to attract up to 2,000 students to the convention, which, when looking at the low interest in ASUO politics, seems too far-reaching. Benson has not exhibited strong enough ex perience in legislative issues and lobbying, and shares Feldman’s view that the ASUO President does not have much power, which could lead to another quiet year in the ASUO Executive. Herrera exhibits much enthusiasm and has some good ideas, including establishing student peer counseling and exploring the ideas of the University contributing some money to the EMU. Herrera would also hold press confer ences as a way to increase the office’s power and influ ence. But besides these, Herrera is weak. His major drawback is the fact he's only been on campus since September and does not seem to have a good grasp on how the ASUO operates. He does not intend to use all the money allocated by the IFC to the ASUO Executive, even though the amount is significantly lower than what Feldman had to work with. Herrera also intends to do much lobbying himself instead of working with the Oregon Student Lobby, which could lead to the two groups stepping on each other’s toes and decreasing the overall effectiveness. The final two candidates, Jim Dowhower and Mike Lockwood, are both poor choices. While Dowhower’s re venue generating co-ops may be a good idea, it is unlikely he will be able to get them going well enough in his one year term to convince his successor to keep it going Whether the co-ops will, indeed, get off the ground is questionable, since Dowhower isn’t even sure where the money will come from initially. He also has overestimated his involvement with the OSL’s lobbying effort at the last session of the legislature. Dowhower’s overall knowledge of the ASUO appears to be minimal, and a one-issue candidate is a poor choice. Lockwood seems to favor a subversive administra tion, especially in relation to faculty evaluations. He would survey students, asking them to write the names of the two professors they think do the worst job teaching. Lockwood would then compile a “blacklist” of these names and pres ent it to University Pres. William Boyd, requesting him to move these faculty members to administrative positions. That’s a little too low for us to stomach. Another of Lockwood’s ideas is to encourage students to take a lower course load one term to lower the University’s full-time equivalency (FTE) figure, so the Uni versity would get less money from the legislature. Lock wood says this would “hurt” the University, and that he would use the ploy as a tool to get something from the administration. That also strikes us as an action beneath the office of the ASUO President. And the legislature funds the University for a two-year period, so one term of shenanigans will not affect the figure as greatly as Lock wood would like. Lockwood also has little experience with the ASUO and knows even less about the state legislature. Jeff Warren is the number one choice for ASUO Pres ident. V. WIHNOH SEWJNGU] ...OFDSRUM>,1R0R kmes.wk BaoteiMSs MOTE* iivm mt HQUXiWZ Letters For Lockwood To be president of the ASUO * one must be an industrious in novative person who is willing to accept the responsibilities that accompany the position. I feel Mike Lockwood has these qual ities and more. Mike is a conscien tious worker who advocates the following: Higher quality educa tion; program expansion (with out incidental fee raises); im proved parking; effective and ad vantageous use of our lobbyists in the state legislature; favorable re sults from bargaining with the Uni versity administration. I highly re commend that you employ your vote in support of MIKE LOCK WOOD. Amy Tobias Sophomore, History-Political Science For Warren This week University students have the opportunity to vote for our next ASUO President. In order to make an intelligent decision, a voter must consider each candidate's abilities and experi ence in two important areas: stu dent government and the Oregon Legislature. It is imperative that the 1978-79 ASUO President can effectively represent student in terests in both these areas. Jeff Warren is the one candidate who can undoubtedly do the job. Warren has been active in stu dent government during the past two years at the University. He was a member of the Student Uni versity Affairs Board during the 1976-77 academic year. Since May of last year, Warren has held a position on the Incidental Fee Committee. As a fellow IFC member, I can attest to Jeff’s abil ity in evaluating programs fairly, and cutting through the inevitable budgetary fat. Oftentimes throughout the year Warren has provided the committee with a u nique and valuable insight into the functions of various program^. He thoroughly understands the oper ation of the student government and the entire University. Warren is also knowledgeable about Oregon’s legislative pro cess. He has a good working rela tionship with the leaders of the Oregon Student Lobby, the or ganization he worked for as a lob byist in the 1977 Legislature. This point is of significance considering that the OSL is the state’s strongest lobbying body dealing with student issues. With Jeff Warren as ASUO President, stu dents can expect to have strong leadership on key legislative is sues. I urge students to compare the five presidential candidates on the basis of qualifications for office. Jeff Warren is eminently qualified to be our next ASUO President. He possesses the necessary ex perience, intelligence and ability to be an effective advocate for students. Ted Walker Senior, Political Science Not for Dowhower Jim Dowhower, in his campaign literature, is circulating a set of de liberately misleading statements regarding his qualifications to be ASUO President. Because of my personal knowledge of the facts, I feel compelled to set the record straight. oomrary 10 uie impicMiun created by his statement that he has “worked with the previous three ASUO Presidents,” Mr. Dow hower has in fact worked for the ASUO a total of only about four months, part of the time as a vol unteer and part erf the time on the paid staff of ASUO State Affairs, under my supervision. Of the two — not three — ASUO Presidents with whom he worked, neither was in office at the time. Regarding his claim that he “published" a legislative newslet ter for the ASUO, you should know that he did no more than to ar range for the printing of articles that were written by others. Of all the misleading state ments circulated by Mr. Dow hower, the worst distortion of the facts is his implication that his per sonal lobbying efforts were a major cause of the Oregon Stu dent Lobby’s success at the 1977 Legislature. In response to this more arro gant assertion, some facts must be brought out. Direct lobbying was not a major part of Mr. Dowhower’s efforts for the ASUO. His testimony before a legislative committee was limited to a single appearance, this on a bill that did not pass. The few times he even went up to Salem last year were primarily for the purpose of deliv ering — not to contact legislators. This slim record of involvement scarcely entitles Mr. Dowhower to take credit for the success of a legislative program. Many per sons on this and other campuses put much more time and talent into lobbying efforts than did Mr. Dowhower. Finally, to finish setting the re cord straight: Mr. Dowhower didn't even write many of the statements published in his pamphlets. The statements on tuition policy are substantially copied directly out of position statements written by the Oregon Student Lobby. This plagiarism violates one of the fun damental principles in an academic community — that of giving due credit for statements that are “borrowed” from other sources. It is sad that some candidates abuse and distort facts in their zeal to get elected. I am sorry and disappointed that Mr. Dowhower has chosen this tactic. Mark Cog an Senior, Political Science 1976-77 ASUO Vice-president for State Affairs Pave paradise? In Mike Lockwood’s letter of Tuesday the 25th, he demon strates that he is not qualified to be ASUO President. He demon strates this through his desire to “Pave paradise, and put up a park ing lot.” While the athletic fields on 18th may not be paradise they are not “rarely-used” as Mike sug gests. These fields are used by students for recreation. Softball, flag football, soccer, and kiteflying are a few of the activities which take place on these fields. Another mistake Mike makes is that he does not seem to consider the effect of increased parking at the University. We are living in a time when we must consider all the aspects of a problem before proposing a solution. It does not make sense to encourage people to add to air pollution, burn up our limited resources, add to noise pollution, and increase traffic problems. This is what providing more parking space does. If peo ple are tired of the hassles in volved in driving to school, the ob vious solution is to walk, ride the bus, carpool, or ride a bicycle. We have not heard the ideas of the other candidates yet, but Mike Lockwood demonstrated with his ideas on the parking problem that he is not capable of fulfilling the office of ASUO President. Hey Mike Lockwood, Put away that automobile, Let’s not destroy All of our nice open fields. Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you got till its gone Ya pave paradise, Put up a parking lot. Gordon Mallon Junior, Philosophy and Gary Lewis Senior, Linguistics
