Fager defends rights of student press
"There is a growing climate of
censorship hovering over school
newspapers," a press rights ad
vocate told a group of about 65
student journalists Thursday night
at Allen Hall.
Christopher Fager, former di
rector of the Student Law Press
Center in Washington, D.C. and a
leading defender of the rights of
student newspapers, spoke on
the rights of today's student press.
"The more high school presses
become meaningful and get read,
the more censorship is enforced."
he said. Fager used as an exam
ple of a Pecos, Texas school
where a principal refused to allow
a student to publish a second
school newspaper because the
school already had one."
Fager recently argued a case in
Virginia in which a student news
paper established that school
administrators :ould not control
the content of the paper even
though they funded its publication.
“There is a general decline in
knowledge of organization and
operation of the government by
adolescents," said Fager. “Young
people are not reading the estab
lished press, and are not aware of
their First Amendment rights.”
“Democrats for Lausmann”
answer Weaver campaigner
By KEVIN HARDEN
Of the Emerald
A co-leader of 'Democrats for
Lausmann" says controversy sur
rounding his group is a political
character assassination attempt.
Bob Gorman, who heads the
group with fellow University politi
cal science grad student David
Mason, added attacks on the
group are nothing more than an
attempt to discredit his group by
workers for 4th District Con
gressman Jim Weaver. Mason
made virtually the same state
ment when he responded to ques
tioning earlier this week.
The group's validity came into
question earlier this week when
Weaver's campaign manager,
Joe Rutledge, said Gorman and
Mason had become paid mem
bers of Lausmann's staff after
they were denied positions with
the Weaver campaign.
Both Gorman and Mason are
paid $300 monthly to run
Lausmann’s Eugene office. The
"Democrats for Lausmann" group
was started at the end of Sep
tember as part of a volunteer pro
gram to gather support for the Re
publican challenger.
Gorman said he and Mason ap
proached Rutledge as members
of a professional political research
group designed to aid candidates
during the 1978 election. The
group was not looking for paid
staff positions, he said.
"At no time did we discuss that
we should try to get a job on the
Weaver staff,'" Gorman said.
Gorman's and Mason's re
search group was seeking a con
tract for its services with Weaver's
staff, he said. They were also
negoitating a similar contract with
Lausmann at the time of the
Weaver meeting, Gorman said.
Their motivation for joining the
Lausmann staff came from the
"type of campaign Weaver's staff
was running,” Gorman said. That
campaign includes targeting op
ponents for harassment, he said.
Gorman and Mason decided to
join Lausmanns after they
learned Weaver’s staff had sing
led out Medford businessman
Norman Peterson for harassment.
Peterson, head of the Forest Edu
cation and Energy Institute, told
Gorman he had received several
threatening telephone calls from
people connected to Weaver’s
staff.
The FEEI is a private Southern
Oregon Program that trains un
employed workers in timber indus
try skills. Lausmann has publicly
supported the program during his
campaign.
The threats were made be
cause Peterson had received a
$10,000 grant from Lausmanns
plywood mill in Medford to con
tinue the FEEI program, Gorman
said. That grant was interpreted
as a political payoff by Lausmann
for Peterson's support, he exp
lained.
" We decided that because of
SOMEWHERE TO TURN...
T
M he Office of Student Advocacy (OSA). an ASUO funded agency, is
located in the basement of the old half of the EMU. room 16D
SA director Don Chalmers acts as the ombudsperson in grievances
between students and the University, student employers, and state agencies.
Cases commonly handled range from residency disputes to charges of
alledged hiring or housing discrimination.
T
A he Legal Services Division provides other professional services
through a full time attorney; Chuck Spinner. Chuck wifl help students with
name changes, divorces, incorporation, etc.
A
Iso available is the Student
Defender Division. Third year law
students working with Chuck act as
legal representatives in Student
Court, and, in select cases, accom
pany low income students in crimi
nal proceedings at the discretion of
the attorney.
SA is also available for
speaking engagements on issues of
student rights.
that incident, this was no place for
us to be working,” he explained.
“That was the motive for our
move, not money.”
Gorman explained that he and
Mason wouldn’t disucss the
"Democrats for Lausmann” group
again because they wanted to
“get back to the real issues" of the
campaign.
iT
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Photo by Keith Allen
"1
Christopher Fager