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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1980)
emerald Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday, November 25, 1980 Patrick Wang Photo by Debby Abe Computer prof gets grant, but will resign next year By GABRIEL BOEHMER Of Hw Emerald The National Science Foundation has awarded University Prof. Patrick Wang a $30,000 research grant in computer science, but the University won’t see the research materialize on campus Adding to the Computer and Information Science Department's problems of faculty short ages and overcrowding, Wang says he will resign from the department effective Jan. 1, 1981. Wang is considering job offers from the Inter national Business Machines Corp., International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. and General Telephone and Electronics. The corporations are offering Wang salaries almost double his faculty paycheck. Wang says he is leaving for a corporate position because he can "achieve more in that environ ment.” The job will have no teaching respon sibilities, will offer a greater challenge and will pay better, Wang says. Wang will use the two and one-half year grant on his research in the comprehension and recognition abilities of computers. “It sounds very theoretical, but it's very prac tical and very intuitive,” he says. His research would apply to language translation, signature and fingerprint verification, and even picture processing, he says. Wang has had two previous NSF grants and has applied for two more. CIS department chairman Steven Hedetniemi says he is scrambling to fill Wang's vacancy. Computer Prof. Art Farley is also leaving the University. As a result, one or two sections of CIS 315 and two graduate courses probably won't be offered next term, Hedetniemi says. The University can't compete with the higher corporate salaries offered to the highly demanded computer scientists, says Hedetniemi. "We re competing for the same set of people.” "This is another indication that faculty salaries are not competitive," University vice-president for budget and finance Richard Hill says of the CIS resignations. "It is one painful consequence of the present budget setbacks. "We ought to have the flexibility to compete, but we don't.” ‘It’s a consequence of budget cuts. You can only sell Oregon so long’ The Association of Oregon Faculties estimates faculty salaries have deteriorated 17 percent over the last decade, Hill says. “The chancellor's office made a salary recom mendation that we re probably not going to get, " he says. The chancellor’s office estimates that $49 million is needed for parity recovery and merit increases in faculty salaries in the State System of Higher Education. Losing faculty members to industry is only one side of the coin, says the University administrator. Attracting faculty from industry is just as harrow ing. "You can only sell Oregon for so long,” Hill says. Although some well-endowed colleges and universities compete with the salaries offered by industry, it's a problem that plagues most cam puses, he said. Questions plague human resources dept. By KEVIN HARDEN Of ttw Emerald SALEM — A Legislative Fiscal Staff report presented to the state Emer gency Board last week could be the first step toward some fundamental changes in the financially-strapped Department of Human Resources, says a member of the board. Sen. Ed Fadeley (D-Eugene) chairs the board subcommittee that handles human resources matters. He says the report confirms his observations that department Director Leo Hegstrom has increased the centralization of deci son-making authority and pushed the department into a “non-advocacy" role. He says this could place some state welfare programs in a financial strait jacket when the 1981-83 budget is for mulated next year. “It is not just the centralization of power that disturbs me,” Fadeley says. "One of its effects was that people who knew the facts and wanted to be ad vocates for certain programs could not say what they needed. “In effect there was also central cen sorship by those in authority,” he says. "The people in charge of certain pro grams could not say what they needed directly to us. Only the director could." Fadeley, who has been critical of Hegstrom in the past, says the depart ment must become more of an ad vocate for state welfare programs before it finds itself in a financial crisis. “The Legislature and the people need the facts laid out as they are and not covered up,” Fadeley says. “But whether that requires a change in the department’s director or its direction is not yet clear. Maybe the two are the same ” The report, a brief preliminary analy sis of department management requested in October by the board, found that most of the department’s administrators support the centraliza tion of power by the agency’s director, at least in principle. On the other hand, the department’s reduced advocacy for state welfare programs was seen as a "surrender from traditional competition” for state funds. According to the report, the depart ment has apparently given in to enor mous budget cuts and has reduced some welfare programs to the bare necessities instead of lobbying for more money. “Many programs and divisions are genuinely concerned that the changes toward a centralized posture involving reduced aggressiveness and reduced program advocacy for General Fund resources effectively translates into downgraded priorities for the depart ment,” the report says. Although the report does not say when the department decided against lobbying for more funds, it does point out the agency has had more than its share of problems this year. Besides being hit with a $48-million budget cut during the August special session, the department also was in the process of dealing with a $52 million budget cut made earlier in the year. In order to keep many programs afloat, the department had to make some cuts of its own, says Assistant Director Dave Fiskum. legislative issues The effects of some of the cuts to welfare programs were described to the board last week when nearly 100 wel fare recipients marched outside the state capitol and then spoke before Fadeley’s subcommittee. Many were women with children who had their monthly welfare allotments reduced to nearly $325 after budget cuts. ‘‘It is not surprising that there is some dissatisfaction with the way things are run,” Fiskum said. ‘‘But the overriding consideration is that the climate is very different than in the past." Fiskum defends the department’s policy of “quiet advocacy” by saying Hegstrom has strongly advocated human resources programs to Gov. Vic Atiyeh. “He doesn’t believe in going around the governor to the media or others to get what he needs.” Past lobbying efforts have not brought the results the department hoped for, Fiskum says, and more lob bying for a larger share of the budget won’t always get the job done. “The effect of that advocacy has been to make a bad situation less bad,” he says. But Childrens' Service Administrator Nick Peet disagrees. Peet believes Hegstrom’s decision not to push for more funds is incorrect. He has resigned his position effective early next year because of the in creased centralization of power and decision-making authority by the department’s director. "I think you have to be an advocate and fiscally responsible at the same time," he says. “I think it is possible to be both.” Sen. Fred Heard (D-Klamath Falls), who will become Senate president next year, has been sharply critical of Hegstrom’s direction in the depart ment. Heard has so far been quiet about the report, saying only that it confirmed his suspicions about the department. The final report will be turned over to the Senate’s Human Resources Committee next year for evaluation and possible action, he says. If the Legislature then decides to push for a new department direction, Hegstrom will be prepared, says Fis kum. “There's a lot of support for Mr. Hegstrom,” he says. "But the tenure of human resources department heads nationwide is not very long, and he has no belief that this will be a permanent position.”
