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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 13, 1978)
Vol. 80, No. 7 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Thursday, July 13, 1978 Shalcespeare — in Ilshland By JOCK HATFIELD Of the Emerald Ovshland’s Shakespearean fans are a friendly lot. Their disposition changes only when in heat or quoting. Quoting Shakespeareans are known to swell to enormous proportions and commit ax murders. Every year, since 1935, Elizabethan groupies have been gathering together for Ashland’s Shakespeare festival. In creasing national lust for Shakespeare each year has caused the festival to ex pand from eight performances a year to more than 200. Next year the festival will dish out incessant Shakespeare from March 2 to October 27. An estimated 200,000 fans flock in every year, dropping $10,000,000 onto Ashland’s economy. It is therefore with some interest that the locals regard the Shakespeare fans’ movements. The local paper has tried to statistically pin the fan down. Most of them, it says, are middle-aged college graduates from out of the state. But this analysis leaves un catalogued most of the Shakespearean fans more interesting peculiarities. Shakespeare fans usually roost in Lithia Park. This park surrounds the out door theater and would be a good setting for a movie entitled 'My First Mellow.” Here the Shakespeareans sit around and look tragic between plays. The fan can be easily identified by the book in his hand. He is never without it. The book is Shakespeare fans attentively wait for something to happen in Ashland's outdoor theater. The theater was designed as a replica of the Fortune theater in Shakespeare’s London. The very sight of the theater is enough to make the spectator want to deliver a soliloquy. This urge should be supressed. usually a Shakespearean play, but any thing dull and tong-winded will serve. X he Shakespeare groupie will read this book for weeks on end but will never get past Page One. If you sight a specimen past the first page, you have an imposter on your hands. He is a spy sent by the CIA or an English depart ment and should be considered danger ous. If you come across one of these, back away slowly and pretend you didn’t see anything. Each day at 2 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. the patrons gather outside the theater for one last look at Page One. They can be seen with wrinkled brows, desperately trying to make it to Page Two in time while Elizabethan players sing dirges around them. Once, before a play in 1951, a verified and credited tourist for got herself and turned to Page Two of As You Uke It, thus setting a town record. This tourist can now be seen, stuffed, over the mirror in the Ye Old Tavern. When not reading, the patrons can be found in Lithia Park doing strange things with their eyes and offering peanuts to each other. The first time I was offered a peanut, I was confused. However, new comers soon discover this is a local cus tom. Those who turn them down are con sidered to be either Californians or pickle producers. 6, 1 ometimes Shakespeareans may be spotted playing Frisbee in Lithia Park. These have a great faith in natural order and believe when they die their spirits go (Continued on Page 5) Boyd: Housing department a mixed bag By MARY FOR AN Of the Emerald University Pres. William Boyd says “the skill of our Housing De partment has not been in the area generally called people skills,' ” but stresses that "just in terms of certain kinds of efficiency, our Housing Department would have to get a very high rating." Boyd cites the continued exis tence of Amazon as evidence of the Housing Department’s effi ciency, saying, “Amazon exists for people to complain about only because our Housing Department is more efficient than most of its competitors. Nearly every Univer sity of any size once had an Amazon-type housing develop ment — very few still have them.” Boyd continues, “That’s because most places either fell so far be hind in maintenance that they had to tear them down, or they weren’t willing to stand the gaff that you get when you run a place like Amazon, and deliberately got out of the business, thus depriving students of cheap housing.” "I really felt it (the recent state housing audit) was an exonera tion of the housing department because a lot of charges had been made against them, including charges of illegal activites,” says Boyd, "and that audit along with the two preceding audits... de monstrate to my satisfaction that those charges are simply not true.” Boyd says he hopes “those perennial critics will take the trou ble to read it,” and that he sees "no evidence... in the audit of improper personnel practices.” He adds that “it’s a credit to the housing department to keep Amazon alive and not give up the struggle against constant criti cism.” Boyd says some of the criticism was justified, “and we have pro fited by listening to it.” Changes have been made in response to this criticism in the way Amazon is managed and in the maintenance system, so that more of the maintenance is handled locally, says Boyd. But he feels some of the criticism “has been repetitive and unfair,” Boyd says. “It has been found to be untrue and yet the first letter of apology has yet to reach my desk.” Boyd says he expects no changes in the Housing Department s managerial style. “I know of nothing that would change that. It’s got its good points and its bad points, like every other department in the University.” Other issues which Boyd ad dressed range from the future of graduate studies at the University to the Grateful Dead concert and Divestment. Here are some of his comments. DIVESTMENT: The Oregon In vestment Council’s refusal of State Board’s request and related action “directing its money mana gers to consider favorable 54 companies which have made a commitment to desegregation and fair employment practices in their dealings overseas,’’ is a mixed disappointment, Boyd says. “It’s hard for me to know what that really will amount to in the end. I’m sorry that the State Board's action did not prevail, but... I’m glad that the invest ment council stated this kind of principle.” Boyd says the crucial questions now are: Will following that principle really have the same effect as divestment? And if not, What will be the nature of the dif ference? ”1 would have preferred that the State Board had been allowed to divest itself of the stock,” says Boyd, “for two different kind of reasons.” The first is that Boyd thinks “the State Board followed careful procedures in reaching its decision," through its committee investigations, staff work, and ex tensive public hearings.” Boyd feels that “when a decision has been made after impeccable pro cedures have been followed, then I have a lot of confidence that it’s the correct decision.” “Then I also happen personally to agree with it,” Boyd adds, ‘ but I hope my reasons are more pro found than just my personal opin ion.” The second reason Boyd states “for being disappointed in the way things went” is that he likes “to see public education have the status of virtually a fourth branch of government.” Then, he adds, “I like it to be as free as possible from political con trol and pressure, therefore I resist and resent all subordination of the governing body of higher educa tion to other governmental coun cils and controls, so I have some governmental and philosophic reasons for regretting the deci sion.” Boyd doesn’t see any legal ac tion coming from the University, saying, “you would have to talk to the coalition or maybe the ASUO. If anything came off this campus it would come from one of those two areas, it wouldn’t come out of the administration.” THE GRATEFUL DEAD CON CERT: “You can’t possibly bring (Continued on Page 3)
