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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1978)
New state rep proposes voter restrictions By JIM ALLEN Of the Emerald A bill that would force Oregon voters to register at least 30 days before each election is already in the works, says state Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Vida. Rogers, who won re-election to the District 44 seat Tuesday, says "There are a lot of citizens who don't feel people should be able to register so soon before each elec tion,' and adds that he will spon sor a registration measure in the 1979 Legislature Rogers advocates a bill that would reinstate the voter registra tion laws in effect before the 1975 Legislature, when voters were re quired to establish residency and Residency, 30-day limit may affect s be registered at least 30 days be fore each election. Currently, Oregon is one of only six states with a final-day registra tion program. Rogers also hopes to curb the number of out-of-state voters cast ing ballots in Oregon elections. "People come in here from out of state and vote in our elections," Rogers claims. Many of the peo ple I've talked to in my district, and I tend to agree with them, don't feel these people should be able to vote here." “The bill I would propose would prevent outsiders from voting within this area," Rogers explains. When asked about the effect the bill would have on student voter registration at the University, Rogers says he doesn t know what effect the bill might have on student voter registration, but adds he might propose legisla tion to deal with that.” Emerson Hamilton, Eugene Chamber of Commerce president, agrees with Rogers. “I don’t think this bill would cause any problems,' says Hamil ton, whose group is aiding Ro gers. People would recognize the deadline and would register before then.” Hamilton complains many peo Affirmative (Continued from Page 1) might have contact with the prob lem. "A few years ago in the journal of the Modem Language Associa tion, the most prestigious journal of its type, there was created an ethnic subdivision. But that's all but dead now, a victim of the in sidious backlash to affirmative ac tion that has swept the country." Coleman says. Coleman says the end of the subdivision was an example of what he says is a "slippage" in the commitment to affirmative action policies. "Here we used to have nine full-time black faculty, now we have four,” he says But Coleman doesn't think the administration has actively con spired to keep minorities from gaining tenure If there is a conspi racy, he says, "It's a conspiracy of ignorance of the built-in barners of the academic system as it relates to blacks ' Rousseve says there were many reasons for the exodus of black faculty members from the campus, including disenchant ment with Eugene because of its lack of ethnic communities, the chance for better opportunities elsewhere, and a failure on the part of individual professors to meet the expectations of the Uni versity. But Carter says the University is Corrections. amplifications A meeting to organize those people interested in Elizabeth Prophet's teachings will be held on Monday, Nov. 20. The meeting will be held at the Lane County Conference Center, formerly the Wil lamette Christian Center. 1330 Madison St. The Willamette Christian Center has moved to 2500 W 18th Ave Oregon Dally Emerald a "very discouraging place.” "In the academic world, there are informal networks of com munication that you must use," he says. "Here there is resistance to allowing entry to those networks, and information is a scarce com modity." Vice Provost Robert Albrecht, who oversees tenure, recruiting and hinng practices of the Univer sity, says he can't explain why the University is falling behind in its number of minority professors. “I can’t give general reasons, because we don't treat minorities as a group," Albrecht says. "This office reviews people equally on the basis of teaching and publica tions. Exceptions are not made." Both Coleman and Carter agree that the University is doing some thing wrong in its recruiting and hiring programs. "The University doesn t have the kind of reputation that should fnghten blacks away," Coleman says. "In fact, universities that do have bad reputations with blacks, some of those in the South for ex ample, have better affirmative ac tion programs than ours. * Coleman says few blacks live m Oregon and that those who move to the state face a severe cultural readjustment. "The big problem isn't racism," he says. “It's in the recruiting methods ’ Coleman claims the University doesn t know what it s looking for, doesn't know how to deal with black people, and sometimes isn't even serious about its affirmative action hiring program, They bring in an applicant and different administrators tell him different things about salary and what the University expects of him or her,” says Coleman. Carter says he negotiated over salary during his period of re cruitment, but stHI took a pay loss in order to come here. Later he was told he had been made a good offer by University stan dards Rousseve says he realizes the University has a problem offering competitive salaries, but that he opposes offenng minorities higher salaries. Albrecht recognizes the prob lem of salaries, but offers no solu tion. Recruiters don’t take the pro cess seriously, Coleman con tends. “They * bring in an unqual ified person knowing he's unqual ified, interview him, announce he's been found to be unqualified, and then say, But at feast we fulfil led our affirmative action obliga tion, at least we looked at him."’ Coleman says that only qual ified blacks are ultimately hired, but, like Carter, he feels that once hired blacks often become dis couraged because of limited op portunities for advancement to move on. As a result he adds, there s no sense of permanence or commit ment at the University. 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"This bill is aimed primarily at students,' says Warren. “The combination of the 30-day limit and the ban on out of state voters would severely cripple student voting power. Students don’t vote the way the Chamber of Com merce wants them to, and that’s why it's being pushed." During the 1978 campaign, the ASUO registered almost 4,000 student voters, including several hundred during October. Almost 30 percent of University students are from out of state and would be prohibited from voting under Ro gers bill. “Students at the University are among the luckiest in the coun try,” says Warren. “In some states, students cannot vote at all. “I think the bill can be stopped if the students organize with us (the ASUO) during the next session," he adds “If the Legislature con tinues to be dominated by Democ rats. there's a good chance the bill will be stopped." For that reason, Warren is con cerned about Tuesday s election of Republican Victor Atiyeh to the governorship "If Straub had been re-elected, there's a good chance he would have vetoed the bill," says War ren. Warren has already enlisted the support of the Oregon Student Lobby to fight the bill next year. In its Oct. 22 meeting at the Rode way Inn, the OSL voted to make opposition to Rogers bill a top priority’ during the next legislative session While Warren is concerned about the measure, Don Penfold. Lane County Elections director, is strongly in favor of the new bill. ‘ I'm a strong advocate of any type of legislation in this area." says Penfold, who feels the cur rent system "jeopardizes the in tegrity of the entire election sys tem. The biggest problem we have is that the election staff only has a certain number of people," he says. If most of the staff is busy registering people right up to the election, it would take their time away from the election itself." Penfold cites the example of a recent election in Alaska, where election officials were unsure over the winners of several political races and ballot measures Like Rogers and Hamilton. Pen fold doesn t think the earlier regist ration limit would hurt registration. “Everyone has easy access to the election process through the registration-by-mail program," he says. "Oregon has one of the easiest voter registration setups in the nation right now. but you'll al ways have a certain segment of the population registering at the last minute. The people will still register, but it will just occur 30 days before the election.” I NEW YORK Depart Dec. 15th Return Jan. 1st includes meals *260 round trip CHICAGO includes meals ^230 HAWAII Depart Dec. 15th Return Jan. 4th round trip Depart Dec. 16th I Return Jan. 2nd Includes meals, cocktails & in-flight movies *290 round trip $50 deposit holds your seat. All flight leave & return Portland. 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