Dean proposes housing studies
By MARY FOR AN
Of the Emerald
A proposal to establish a hous
ing study group within the School
of Architecture and Allied Arts was
announced last week by Robert
Harris, architecture school dean,
at a meeting of Eugene’s Joint
Housing Committee.
Harris presented a tentative list
of topics which the study group
would consider, including a look
into the possibilities of "in-filling,”
the process of finding building
space in already built-up neigh
borhoods, the investigation of
consumer preferences, i.e., what
it would take to attract consumers
of housing space to the downtown
area, and the investigation of op
portunities for housing rehabilita
tion, re-cycling, and materials re
covery.
The formation of the group is “a
response to the multitude of com
plex housing issues faced by the
Eugene community,” according to
Harris. "We see the situation in
Eugene as a good laboratory” for
housing studies, he added later.
For example, the housing shor
tage in Eugene makes the
chances of someone finding hous
ing in the area of their choice “very
slim.” And yet most planners are
trying to control growth, older
homes downtown are being
turned into businesses, and
neighborhoods are resisting high
densities.
“The whole of American litera
ture is full of a kind of ethic that
suggests that wide, open spaces
are good for the soul,” Harris
says, "and that high density
breeds crime.”
Harris says resistance to high
density housing comes from tradi
tional attitudes as well as from di
rect experience. "They know what
it looks like — bombshells in the
midst of the residential fabric.”
But Harris says that studies in
conjunction with the joint housing
committee hope to demonstrate
that “high-quality, high-density
housing at a reasonable cost” is
feasible.
The School of Architecture has
housing studies going on all the
time, says Harris, in various de
sign and urban planning classes,
which deal with the economic and
political aspects of the supply of
housing. But the findings from
class projects have not been
communicated to interested
groups outside the school nor
have the studies been coordi
nated with the work of others.
‘‘One-shot studies are no
good," says Harris, adding that
now "information that used to be
bottled up in the school will be
more available" to various gov
ernment agencies, researchers in
other parts of the country and the
public at large. "Housing studies
will be coordinated with faculty
working on an agreed set of ques
tions.”
Group findings will be reported
in publications on various topics
which will be available for pur
chase like the Solar Energy Center
research reports. Harris says that
the reports will have national as
well as local significance in urban
planning and housing research
and design.
Harris, who is acting coor
dinator of the group until a director
is chosen in the fall, says that the
faculty will be asked to organize
Writing teachers
share expertise
By TODD ADAMS
Of the Emerald
Twenty-nine of the best English
composition teachers from
Oregon and Washington will close
out a five-week writing workshop
this Thursday at Parsons Hall in
the Bean dormitory complex.
After completing the workshop,
teachers will return to their respec
tive school districts to pass on
their expertise to other teachers
and their students.
The summer workshop, de
signed after the model initiated by
the University of California,
Berkeley/Bay Area Project, has
given teachers the opportunity to
share their expertise and sharpen
their own writing skills.
"The approach to continuing
education for writing teachers de
veloped in the Berkeley model is to
bring together outstanding
teachers of composition who
teach each other in workshop set
tings,” says project director
Nathaniel Teich, composition di
rector at Oregon.
Workshop particpants were
chosen, after submission of appli
cations, through nomination by
their school district, and then on
the basis of their merits as writing
instructors and group leaders.
“We were invited to submit ap
plications, then the individual dis
tricts had to be willing to give some
funding," says Lauri Clement, a
teacher at Willamette High School
in the Bethel School District.
"We are now to return to our
districts and pass on our know
ledge,” adds Clement. "We will
kind of act like consultants for our
districts.
Additional funding for the sum
Oregon Daily Emerald
mer workshop project came from
an Autzen Foundation grant and
from matching and direct grants
available through the Bay Area
Project and the National Endow
ment for the Humanities.
School Districts contributed
$700 for their participant and each
teacher receives a $500 stipend
for their attendance.
Eight teachers from the Eugene
area are in attendance including
Clement. The others are: John
Cooper, South Eugene High
School; E. Nicholas Giustina, Jef
ferson Junior High; George Jeff
cott, Monroe Junior High; Michele
Lansdowne, Roosevelt Junior
High; Daryl Loveland, Churchill
High School; Michael Rear, North
Eugene High School, and Patricia
Ylvisaker, Howard Elementary
School.
Springfield is represented by
Earl Craig of Centennial Elemen
tary School.
“We’ve done a lot of writing in
the workshop,” says Michael
Rear. "We have four major writing
assignments during the project
which we will leave for posterity
through publication if possible.”
their work in relation to the study
group's list of topics, which will be
expanded and arranged into
priorities. Harris hopes to be able
to attract research funds so that
staff and faculty can “spend some
real time in research.” Writing
grant proposals will be one of the
activities of the permanent direc
tor along with coordinating group
studies, says Harris.
Research funding has been
‘‘very slight” in the past, says Har
ris, because of the feeling that
housing should be a private issue,
not publically supported. Also,
foundation support has waned in
recent years, as has interest in
classical methods of research.
Harris says the group will study
the relationship between the sup
ply of housing for all income
levels, the preservation of agricul
tual land and the cost of land and
construction. They will also ex
plore various alternative densities
and new residential sites.
The group will also investigate
the need for a housing information
clearinghouse. “If one is required
we re willing to contribute,” says
Harris, adding that now planners,
developers and builders, and the
general public have to ‘ fish
around” for housing information,
even though there is a lot of it av
ailable.
I
f
Photo By Bob Murphy
Robert Harris, dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, has
proposed that the school set up a housing study group to work with
state and local government agencies to study housing problems.
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