Computer science confronts problems
By TODD ADAMS
Of the Emerald
The University computer sci
ence department is at a cross
roads — some critical problems
demand attention and yet there is
potential for improvement in a field
of enormous growth.
Dept. Head Steven Hedetniemi
has seen some positive signs
since arriving a year and a half
ago, but problems such as out
of-date equipment, demands on
computer use and staff shortages
New director will take charge
still must be dealt with.
A lot depends on the preroga
tive of a new director of University
Computing now being sought by a
search committee, Hedetniemi
says.
“The new director is going to
have to decide on how to proceed,
how to generate some revenue,”
he says. “And I'm talking about
between a half million and $1.5
million.”
And though the nation-wide
search is almost over, the
department s problems are not.
This year’s operating budget in
computer science left the depart
ment low on funds this spring re
sulting in curtailed access to the
most vital computer science tool
— the computer.
“From the fall of 1976 to the fall
of 1977, the number of credit
hours enrolled in by students in
the department rose by 41 per
cent,” says Hedetniemi. ‘The
Boyd
(Continued from Page 1)
together 42,000-plus people and
not have some complaints,” Boyd
responded. But I think the prob
lems and complaints were at a fairly
tow level.”
When asked if he would support
the idea of more such concerts at
Autzen, Boyd says, “I’m open to
the possibility.” Then Boyd adds,
"I have to confess that I was one of
those who was unenthusiastic
about it. A University works years
building a good reputation and
you hate to jeopardize it for mere
money, consequently, I had
thought it was a high-risk proposi
tion.”
“But we had it, and the judge
ment of people who thought it was
a good idea" says Boyd, “turned
out to be better than my own
judgement, so if they wanted to
have another one and I were as
sured that the controls were as
adequate, and if we could con
tinue to get the minimum support
necessary from the larger com
munity, I would be willing to have
another.”
TAXPAYER REVOLT: "I think
that a Proposition 13-like action
would lead to increases in tuition
fairly dramatically, and I think that
would be very bad for Oregon be
cause our tuition is high enough
now so that any significant in
crease would surely have the ef
fect of reducing opportunity for a
number of people who are now
just barely able to get across the
threshold.”
Boyd adds, “Education could
once again become a kind of or
nament for the privileged, and I’m
anxious for that not to happen.
NEW METHODS OF FUND
ING: Boyd feels “that we should
be funded on what is technically
called a program budget' rather
than a head count or student dri
ven model.” He feels the present
method “does not provide ade
quate support for basic research,”
and makes programs that are not
well-populated vulnerable since
they can't be maintained.
“Population goes up and down
according to vogues and to job
market, Boyd says. “University
programs are established at great
costs over a long-run of years,”
and “need to be preserved from
temporary deprivation.”
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Boyd has been working tor a
new funding method for three
years, and says, “No one’s going
to be willing to go about new
methods of funding until it’s clear
what the tax system is going to be
like.’’
Boyd has just returned from a
meeting in Denver of the Western
Interstate Commission for Higher
Education (WICHE). The meeting
was “to develop plans for cooper
ation in the future of advanced
graduate education,” says Boyd,
“so that as schools reduce or
eliminate programs, we can keep
alive in each area all the programs
that are needed.”
Boyd says that the University is
“more apt to provide advanced
graduate instruction than to look
for it elsewhere because it’s an
important part of our mission.”
The WICHE Student Exchange
Program is designed to help stu
dents from western states “obtain
access to fields of professional
education that are not availabe in
their home states,’’ at in-state tui
tion rates. Boyd says this is impor
tant for Oregon students who want
year-round librarianship training,
for example.
"Many GRADUATE programs
are shrinking —the assumption is
that many will shrink out of exis
tence — like librarianship. If that’s
going to happen it's terribly impor
tant that we coordinate with sister
institutions so we don’t all shrink
the same program."
Boyd says that he doesn’t ex
pect to be eliminating much work
at the advanced graduate level,
but believes the volume of such
work will be reduced substantially
with smaller student populations.
"But it would be prohibitively
expensive and perhaps impossi
ble to recreate them. If you let
them go out of existence some
would be lost forever," he adds.
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comparison between the winter of
76 and winter of 77 showed a 34
percent rise."
The influx of students puts a
strain on the department’s budget
and on use of the computer. But
even if ample revenue is found
next year, the problems won’t end
there.
“We have obsolete equip
ment,” says Hedetniemi. “The
computers we do have are out of
date. One is eight years old (the
model 50, 360 computer) and the
other is six years old (the
PDP-10). When they get that old,
they tend to do what we call
crash,’ or shut down.’’
Hedetniemi estimates it would
take about $1 million to update the
system in the department.
“Computers can be purchased
much cheaper now than a few
years ago,” he notes. “We bought
about a $25,000 micro-computer
about four years ago. An equival
ent machine could be had for
about $1,000 now.
According to Charles Klopfen
stein, who has aided in the applica
tion of computers in the chemistry
department, the reduction in com
puter price is the result of a
change in the “economy to scale.”
It used to be the bigger the compu
ter, the more you got for the
money, but because the cost of
computer hardware (the mechan
ical, electrical components) has
gone down, it’s now cheaper to
buy smaller models.
Besides equipment needs and
demands on computer use,
another vexing problem is staff
shortage. The department has
hired two new instructors for the
fall, only to fill existing vacancies.
“We have the highest student
faculty ratio of any department in
the arts and sciences at the Uni
versity,” says Hedetniemi. “Staff
ing is a serious problem
That’s not to say, however, that
the present staff is not capable. In
fact, Hedetniemi says the staff is
perhaps the most positive of the
department’s good points.
“We have a high quality staff,”
he says. “The instructor’s records
are excellent. Faculty research is
very active and some of the work
that’s been done is super, super
good.”
Good rapport between the de
partment staff and the profes
sional staff at the computer sci
ence center is another positive
point, along with the graduate
level program in computer sci
ence, which Hedetniemi likens to
a family in closeness and cooper
ation between staff and students.
“Things are definitely looking
up,” says Hedetniemi. “We’ve
seen definite improvement in the
past year and a half.”
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