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