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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1981)
Olum claims broken latch never reported By BILL MANNY Of the Emerald A "careful check” of physical plant records shows that personnel were not informed of needed repair work at a University dormitory room where a woman was raped 10 days ago. An investigation by Acting Pres. Paul Olum’s staff shows that procedures for responding to repair-work requests are “careful and thorough,” Olum said in a morning news conference Tuesday. Olum requested the investigation fol lowing the Jan. 10 rape. Several students claimed the latch on the woman's dorm room window had been broken and left unrepaired despite numerous requests made to the physical plant. Olum said the investigation, headed by the president's Assistant for Administra tion Muriel Jackson, found only one request for repair work on the window latch. The request was taken Sept. 26, three days prior to the beginning of fall term. Adams resident assistant Lisa Chase said last week she reported the broken latch to the physical plant as many as eight times fall term, but received no response. Chase said the latch was loose all term and finally fell off during finals week. “Our interest is much less in pointing fingers than it is in checking on current deficiencies and being sure they’re cor rected,” Olum said. Olum said repair requests are tape recorded at the physical plant and tran scribed daily by plant personnel. About 7,500 repairs were reported fall term According to records, Olum said, the latch was repaired following the Sept. 26 request. "Apparently the lock was bro ken again, but there is no record, on any of this, of any call taken from any of the tapes,” he said. "The tapes did not mal function, did not run out; there are no gaps in the tapes.” In the past, reports of repairs needed on dormitory first floors were "treated as an immediate emergency,” Olum said “That will continue certainly, and obviously we re going to be very sensi tive about even second-floor things that are near roofs.” Olum dismissed the possibility that repairs reported complete on the raped woman’s window were never done. "That has never come into question in this case,” Olum said, stressing that no repair calls subsequent to the September request were received. “Our people to the best of our knowledge are responsi Security ends dorm check A security check of University dormi tories has turned up 50 needed repairs, housing director Dan Williams, reports. Campus Security checked 1,500 rooms in 47 living units, Williams reported. The dorm check began last week, following the Jan. 10 rape of a Univer sity woman in a Walton-Adams room. The window through which police believe the rapist entered had a broken latch, police and dormitory residents said last week. Acting Pres. Paul Olum said the check was launched to "discover any safety deficiencies that needed correc tion." The 50 items needing attention in clude replacing 11 window latches, five doors and one broken window. Repairs also are needed for five door crash bars and closers, two roof hatches and one window screen. Nineteen doors had too much space around the locks, and one door’s “an ti-jimmy” device needed repair. Olum said the “first goal is to correct any safety problems.” All necessary repairs will be treated as “real emer gency problems that need fixing.” Williams plans to send letters to each student of the residence halls remind ing them of steps to take when im provements or repairs are necessary "to keep your security at a high level.” Those steps include reporting prob lems immediately to resident assistants or custodians during the day. They also can be reported to RAs on duty or the student manager after 4:30 p.m. or on weekends. The repairs found in the security check are expected to be completed by the week’s end. ble and careful. "There was no question that it was fixed the first time, I believe. The issue here is what happened the second time, and nobody's claiming it was fixed a second time — there's no record even of any call." Also at the conference, Olum said he was "very disappointed" with the NCAA’s recent action not to base athletic scholarships on a need basis. Olum said the Pacific-10 conference is a strong supporter of the proposal, but the change was "not what the biggest and most powerful of the football schools wanted.” However, Olum said the matter is not dead. "As the athletic departments of even the biggest universities gradually start going broke, it's much more likely we’ll get needs legislation ” Many athletic departments already are struggling, he said. But the issue is more than a "question of financial solvency,” he said. "It's also a question of fairness." Academic scholarships are based on need, allowing universities to educate more students. "I don’t see any reason why it should be different for athletic scholarships," Olum said. "I don’t for one minute believe all the claims that say that it would be harder to administer or it would give rise to cheating." Also, Olum said the University admin istration would support legislation this session to alter state hiring guidelines that limit the number of state employees to 1.6 percent of the population. Judge dismisses charge Andrew Page Emerald Photo Circuit Court Judge James Hargreaves dismissed coercion charges Monday against former University football player An drew Page, ruling for the third time that Oregon’s coercion statute is unconstitutional Lane County Deputy District Attorney Darryl Larson said he will appeal the decision. Hargreaves sustained a motion by Eugene attorney Ken Morrow that the Oregon coer cion statute used to charge Page is unconstitutionally vague. Last October Hargreaves dis missed coercion charges against tailback Dwight Robert son and former tailback Reggie Young by ruling that the coer cion statute is unconstitutional. Larson immediately announced he would appeal the decision. Larson said Tuesday he will seek to consolidate all three appeals to help save time and court costs Arguments on the appeals should be heard in court in about 30 days, Larson said The appeal will no doubt postpone the trial of Robertson on sex charges, Larson said Robertson s trial orginally was scheduled for Jan. 27 in Lane County Circuit Court. Page, Robertson, Young and former wide receiver Rick Ward were indicted Aug. 28 by a Lane County grand jury on charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy, attempted rape and sexual abuse. According to the indictment, the athletes allegedly forced an 18-year-old woman to commit sodomy on Nov. 14, 1978, and threatened to release damaging information about the woman if she reported the incident. Page pleaded innocent to the charges earlier this month. Ward, the only one of the four who has not appeared in Lane County court, is still fighting extradition from Colorado. The Colorado public defender representing Ward has called the charges trumped up and politically motivated because the indictments were handed down days before football sea son began. Ward, the leading receiver for the Ducks in 1979, transferred to the University of Colorado at Boulder ■■■ McKenzie Coffee Co. 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