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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1981)
ft m emerald Eugene, Oregon 97403 Thursday, January 22, 1981 Photo bv Steve Dvkes Delta Tau Delta members joined thousands of other people across the country in hanging banners of welcome for the 52 American ex-hostages released Tuesday. Carter greets ex-hostages; abuse charged WIESBADEN, West Germany (AP) — His face strained but smiling slightly, Jimmy Carter waved to a cheering crowd as he entered a military hospital Wed nesday on a personal mission to greet the 52 Americans whose captivity frus trated his last 14'/2 months in office. The former president’s meeting with the freed hostages was "emotional to the point of awkwardness" and so moving that a photographer was asked to stop taking pictures at one pont, a Carter aide said. Even as Carter met with the Amer icans, the U S. government reported some of the former captives had been subjected to physical and mental mis treatment during their 444 days as hos tages in Iran. The State Department issued a state ment here, based on preliminary inter views, saying that "on the basis of what we have learned so far, we have further evidence of serious mistreatment in a number of cases during the period of their captivity.” It did not elaborate. Carter was denied the chance of an nouncing the hostages’ freedom while still in office. But as a special envoy of Pres. Reagan, he said he would be able to "express the thanks of a grateful nation to the brave hostages ” Small groups of the former hostages gathered on the third-floor balcony out side their hospital rooms, waving and clapping as Carter's limousine drove up. Several of them, including Marine guards, wore only light T-shirts and blue pajama bottoms in the sub-freezing night air. The Marines appeared to have new haircuts. Other American dignitaries who made the pre-dawn flight to Germany included former Vice Pres. Walter Mondale, former Secretaries of State Cyrus Vance and Edmund Muskie, former Treasury Secretary William Miller and Carter aides Hamilton Jordan and Jody Powell. It was Carter's first day as a private citizen, and, arriving in Frankfurt aboard the former Air Force One, he looked worn from the final hectic days of nego tiations to free the hostages, the cer emonies transferring power to Reagan and the long flight. Carter, dressed in a light gray coat, waved at a crowd of several hundred, some of them bearing signs reading: "We Still Love You Jimmy.” His plane touched down at 11:30 a m. PST, and he was greeted by West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. A few minutes later he left in a motorcade for the hospital, 20 miles from the airport The former hostages, dramatically released Tuesday in Tehran and flown to a U S. military hospital, relaxed by “tak ing showers and telling stories," as one hostage put it. They were released under terms of an agreement to exchange frozen Iranian assets for their freedom. The new State Department spokesman said Wednesday that the Reagan administration would not commit itself to fulfilling the agreement's terms until there was a chance to examine it in detail. Most of the former captives rushed to telephone loved ones in America, some of whom had no word on their fate during their days of captivity they endured. The family of Malcolm Kalp of Brock ton, Mass., said he reported he was beaten and placed in solitary confine ment for more than five months after he tried to escape. His family had not heard from him since the U S. Embassy in Tehran was seized by young Moslem militants on Nov. 4, 1979. Student unemployment imperiled Proposed bill changes aid By GREG WASSON Of the Emerald SALEM — Many students have jobs and families in addi tion to their studies. However, the state Employment Division is supporting legislation that says if student workers are laid off from their jobs, the presumption is they are unavailable for work and unqualified for unem ployment insurance. Currently, the burden of proof lies on the state, which must show that the student, like any other claimant, isn’t available for work. The legislation would reverse that. The bill, House Bill 2155, has had two hearings before the House Labor Committee. Mon day, Ron Nairn of the em ployment division admitted that students don’t have a record of abusing the program He con tended the switch is merely procedural, proposed for the sake of administrative ease John Moore of the Oregon Student Lobby disagrees. In testimony given Wednesday, Moore said the change would dramatically increase the dif ficulty of student workers to be eligible for unemployment. “This switch," he told the committee, “is either an im plication that students cheat on unemployment, or it is an insult to the thousands of student workers who may wish to exercise their rights to unem ployment." Moore’s interpretation is seconded by House Majority Leader Grattan Kerans, D Eugene, a committee member. Kerans said industry is trying to reduce the cost of unem ployment insurance and sees students as politically attractive targets. | legislative “The policy issue is, do you subject an entire class to a blanket treatment and say, Regardless of the circum stances in your case, you are judged guilty. Now, if you once prove that you’re innocent, here are the hurdles you have to jump over.’ ” Stoddard Malarkey, lobbyist for the State Board of Higher Education, joins in questioning the fairness of the bill "I myself had a student who took classes in the morning and worked fulltime in the afternoon, (who) was in effect holding down two jobs — one as a worker and the other as a student. If such a student should be laid off through no fault of his own, I don’t see why he should be excluded from un employment compensation." Actually, the proposed law formerly was standard practice in Oregon. However, in the mid-1970s, the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed an earlier decision and placed the burden of proof on the state. Libby Leonard, deputy ad ministrator of the Employment Division, said the current sys tem scrutinizes students more carefully than most applicants. "We now have an eligibility review program where we do in-depth interviews with any claimant we feel has a problem Students almost automatically are included in that program.” The law requires that anyone applying for unemployment benefits be available, able and actively seeking a job "If someone tells us that they looked for work at X company," Leonard explained, "We call X company and find out if that is true We’re getting very good results from that, if you consider finding people ineligible good results." Contradiction? IFC approves Mormon group’s goals Although the Incidental Fee Committee decided earlier this term not to fund groups promoting religious points of view, it approved the Latter Day Saints Student Union’s goals last week. IFC chairer Jon Neiderbach explains the apparent con tradiction by saying the group isn't trying to convert students to the Mormon religion but is promoting social activities for Mormon students on campus. ‘They're not promoting religious activities,” Neiderbach says. He explains that another religious group, the Campus Crusade for Christ, was denied its goals because it would have used incidental fee money to advocate Christianity. LDSSU Director Dan Harris says his group is not trying to promote the Latter Day Saints’ religion, but is trying to explain Mormon culture to students. "We, as Mormons, feel we have a distinct cultural identity,” Harris says, citing the religion’s pioneer heritage and interest in genealogical research as examples of Mormon cultural life that may interest many students. Harris’s wife, Susan, is one of four committee members who voted to approve the group’s goals, but she says she isn’t worried by the possible conflict of interest because all IFC members represent some interest groups. "We all definitely, as students of this university, have groups we re interested in,” she says, noting that the committee's law students were under no obligation not to vote on the Student Bar Associa tion’s goals. The LDSSU goals passed by a 4-3 margin. Neiderbach and ASUO Pres. Dave Eaton agree there is no problem with Harris’ vote “I’m convinced she’s looking at it in the same light she's looking at other programs,” Eaton says However, Eaton has said he may Veto any IFC appro priation to the Mormons. “I have to decide if these are the same kind of goals as other social-interest groups, or if they’re spending money on religious activities.” The issue of IFC funding for religious groups arose last term when the Campus Crusade for Christ applied for committee recognition and EMU office space. At a Jan 14 policy meeting, the committee decided to consider only groups with cultural as well as religious aims
