Emerald
Vol. 82, No. 91
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Monday, February 2, 1981
Tuition increase
may bring about
enrollment drop
By BILL MANNY
Of Ilia Emerald
Proposed tuition surcharges could mean more
than just increasing the cost of a college education in
Oregon, according to the Oregon Student Lobby.
Across-the-board tuition hikes would eliminate
thousands of students from the system in the first year
of the biennium, says John Moore, OSL legislative
assistant and “in-house economist.”
And that loss of students would mean hundreds of
jobs and millions of dollars lost to Eugene and other
Oregon communities that support institutions of higher
education.
"There’s a serious danger that if the state board
staff has its way, 6,000 to 10,000 students would be
eliminated from higher education,” Moore says.
There’s also the “the multiplier effect,” Moore
says.
Every higher education dollar that’s lost means
approximately $2.50 lost in the community. That could
mean $150 million lost to Oregon communities and
$10-$40 million in Eugene.
“When you consider the University, you're talking
about a significant impact,” Moore says.
Moore stresses his figures are only estimates, and
the OSL is working on "down-to-the-last dollar” details
to present to the State Board of Higher Education at its
February meeting.
Moore says higher tuitions would “permanently"
eliminate productive college graduates from the “gross
state product,” the total of all state goods and services.
‘‘We’ll lose their
economic produc
tivity for a lifetime."
The state board
staff has prepared
two alternative
proposals to Gov.
Vic Atiyeh’s
proposed
15-percent tuition
hike over each of
the next two years
for all students ex
cept out-of-state
graduates. Non-re
sidents graduates
would face an
84-percent tuition
increase.
One of the alterna
tives is a $123 sur
charge for all
students. Another is
a $144 surcharge
that would be levied
on all resident
students but not
non-residents.
Residents current
ly pay 23 percent of the costs of instruction, while
non-residents pay 100 percent of the costs.
The state board calls the proposed increases
“surcharges," but ASUO Pres. Dave Eaton is uncom
fortable with the proposed increases.
"I don’t care what they call it,” Eaton says. "People
are still going to have to come up with the extra $123.”
Eaton says he’s not convinced the surcharges
would really be just temporary surcharges.
"They may be calling it a surcharge, but once they
start getting that revenue, they aren’t going to want to
let it go,” Eaton says.
"Things are Looking pretty grim up there in Salem.
We may be lucky just to get the governor’s 15-percent”
tuition increase.
At the state board’s Jan. 23 meeting, Moore and
OSL Executive Director Bob Watrus said a decision on
tuition before state revenue has yet to be computed
would be unwise.
Continued on Page 3
Emerald graphic
By LESLIE FARRIS
Ol the Emerald
Feminist gains in the United States historically have
benefited mostly white, middle-class, heterosexual
women.
So say minority and lesbian feminists who chal
lenged that historical bias Saturday during a regional
conference on Feminist Theory and Action held at the
University.
Speakers throughout the weekend told large
crowds in the EMU that feminism must diversify for
women’s liberation to succeed. They called on non
minority and heterosexual women to educate them
selves about the concerns of minority and lesbian
feminists.
Sharon Claeyssens, student and black feminist,
said feminist theory explains the oppression of all
women, not just white women.
“Women are black, brown, red, yellow, straight and
gay,” Claeyssens said. "Feminist theory must explain
the reality of women. I think it needs to construct a new
model because the white, straight, middle-class model
is wearing thin on some of us."
She said for feminism to succeed world-wide, it
must address women of color, "who are a majority on
the planet.” Feminists must understand and confront
the antagonism between white women and women of
color, she added.
Colleen Fong, student and Asian-American femin
ist, said acknowledging the "lessons of history" can
help solidify the feminist movement.
One such lesson teaches that feminism is not
immune to racial inequality. Fong said Susan B. An
thony asked Frederick Douglas not to attend a National
American Women’s Suffrage Association meeting in
Atlanta because Anthony feared his presence would
jeopardize Southern support.
"The racist status quo was adhered to during the
struggle for women’s suffrage,” Fong said. “Ex
pediency took the place of equality.”
She said in 1945, Congress voted down by just one
vote a motion to sterilize all Japanese women incarcer
ated in concentration camps. And in the late 1960s, Los
I
Graphic by Sioux Anderson
Feminists appeal for unity;
plead for sexual equality
J
Angeles Hospital sterilized between five to seven black
women per day.
“I don't want to further exacerbate the antagonism
between white and minority women,” Fong said. "I want
to move forward, but that can't be accomplished
without incorporating a rigorous analysis of race rela
tions and acknowledging our differences.”
Claeyssens said non-minority women must ack
nowledge women of color's fight against racism.
“Don’t tell us that we are prioritizing race first," she
said. "Too often when we go to other movements, we
are told we’re prioritizing sex first.
“Tell me, what do you see first when I come in? Do
you see my race or do you see my sex?”
This refusal to acknowledge both racism and
sexism is made concrete under Affirmative Action laws.
Despite the combined effect of racism and sexism in job
discrimination, Affirmative Action treats minority
women as either minorities or women, but not both.
University graduate student Sharon Anthony
pointed out she was only one of two lesbian speakers
during the three-day conference, which she said illu
strates lesbians’ position within the feminist movement.
“It seems ironic considering the movement has
been labeled a lesbian plot by its opponents," Anthony
said.
She said too few women realize lesbian feminism is
more than just a choice of sexual partners.
“Lesbianism and feminism go together like bagels
and cream cheese. Neither is quite the same without the
other.”
Anthony said all women weigh the costs of being a
socially acceptable woman against the costs of being a
lesbian feminist or a so-called political lesbian.
"We weigh the value of our essence against the
creature comforts and social sanctions,” she said.
“Because lesbian women know heterosexual women
go through this process, we are hurt and angered by
your inability or refusal to deal with lesbians and lesbian
issues.
"I call for us to be strong, to search out the
common ground with our sisters, to find the power in
our diversity, to deal now with the problems we have
with each other.”