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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1979)
gSfSPf ■■■'■ ■ Vol. 80. No. 98 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday, February River running Photo by Patrick Sullivan Water recedes unnoticed as a solitary jogger proceeds along the Alton Baker bike path on a rainy, wind-blown Monday. The level of the Willamette rises and ebbs throughout the winter months as it flows through Eugene, leaving debris behind as proof. Irani students hopeful of new ruler By KATHLEEN MONJE Of the Emerald Iranian students at the University are talk ing about the Khomeini take-over in their country in much the same way Americans must have sounded after they won the Re volutionary War. own country feel free for the first time, after months of demonstrations and battles against the shah s government. "No one knows exactly what the new government will be like," Khachian says. "Were waiting to see.” But he and Reza Shahsavari expect more concentration on the social problems Iran faces, starting with ‘No one knows exactly what the new govern ment will be like,’ says Irani student Houik Khachian. The Ayatollah Rhuhollah Khomeini him self figures in their conversation as the savior of his country — a George Washing ton who has rescued his fellow patriots from a repressive monarch. "He's a very holy man," says Hovik Khachian, who expects the new govern ment to be considerably more liberal than the rule of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. Khachian says Iranians here and in their agricultural improvements. “The people have nothing,” Khachian says, "because the shah has always con trolled everything." He points out that Ira nian students at the University, unlike those from other Arab nations, have never re ceived government subsidization for their education. “The reason we are here, working and paying $900 each term for tuition, is be today The controversy over RARE II is set to move to Congress, and economists are arguing over how to argue the issue. See stories on Pages 6 and 7. A number of American students are par ticipating in the London student-exchange pro gram this term and Ann Treneman files an over seas report on Page 8. Chinese engineers toured the Springfield Weyerhaeuser Plant last week with their eyes glued on American timber technology, but they're being cautious about hammering out purchasing proposals for the future. See Page 12. cause there is no place we can learn these things in Iran.” Education is high on the list of problems Khachian says the new gov ernment will work to correct, along with health and housing. Another Iranian student, who did not wish to be identified, agrees that Khomeini will not be a sternly conservative religious leader. However, he says, in Iran politics and religion are inextricably mixed. ‘‘You cannot separate them. The mosques have always been the center of political activity.” Several Iranians expressed fierce satis faction at the plight of the shah, who has been living in Morocco for about three weeks. They dismiss former speculation that the shah might come to the United States. “The only time he could come here is if there are no more Persians in the U.S.,” one Iranian said. ”He would be killed. You saw what happened to his sister in Califor nia.” The students seemed sure, however, that leaders of the Imperial forces in Iran would not be harmed, since their decision two days ago to support Khomeini. "That is what Khomeini has said, that if someone accepts your position, he is not to be harmed.” As for shah-appointed Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar, who has resigned, sev eral students said they had received con flicting reports over Iranian radio that he had killed himself, escaped from the coun try or may still be in Iran. The Associated Press reported Monday that Bakhtiar is under the protection of Khomeini’s interim prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, an old friend. Americans still in Iran are safe under the new regime, the unidentified student said. We are not against Americans,” he em phasized, "just against Carter's support of the shah and the military advisers he has sent to Iran." The Associated Press says there have been no reports of violence against the 7,000 Americans in Iran. Khomeini suppor ! A Ayatollah Khomeini ters protected Western journalists at Tehran's Intercontinental Hotel from armed insurgents, according to the wire service. The students expressed some amuse ment at Pres. Carter's statement Monday that he has been in touch with the new government "and we stand ready to work with them." "That's the way Carter always is," a stu dent said. "He goes with the wind." If Iran's oil is the reason for Carter’s change of heart, he has a reason to be concerned, Khachian says. "Khomeini will cut Iran's production of oil by 40 percent,” he says. "We will still sell oil to .the United States, but not so much.” Prices for what is produced will go up, Khachian says. None of the students are worned about Russian interference in their country's af fairs. “If we could get rid of the shah, we could get rid of any super-power."
