IFC increases foreign student budget
By GABRIEL BOEHMER
Of the Emerald
Although the Incidental Fee
Committee has cut back many
student-organization budgets
this year, one group Wednesday
escaped with a budget increase.
The Foreign Student Organ
ization, which includes 20
separate groups and services
about 700 students, walked
away with 17 percent more than
last year’s allotment.
The IFC voted unanimously to
almost double the FSO assistant
director’s stipend Committee
member Susan Harris explained
that the administrative burden
falls on only two people, and
that increasing the stipend will
allow other FSO members to
share the duties.
The assistant director’s salary
will be increased from $486 to
$837, while the director’s salary
was maintained at $1,107.
However, the IFC rejected the
FSO’s work-study increase
request by a 4-2 vote. The ASUO
reduced the amount of its
original recommendation in
light of the assistant director’s
stipend increase, ASUO repre
sentative Gus Palmitessa said.
Minority program works
Grades improve
for law students
By JEFF ENGLAND
Of the Emerald
A year ago, minority law
students were questioning the
quality of the education they
were receiving at the University
law school.
Now, administration, faculty
and students are guardedly op
timistic that the causes of last
year’s 69-percent academic
probation rate among first-year
minority law students are being
alleviated.
A platform written by the Min
ority Law Students Association
(MLSA) in February 1980 listed
several problems in the law
school, including “administra
tion and faculty insensitivity and
unawareness of minority is
sues.”
"Such insensitivity is seen by
some as subtle racism,’’ the
platform said.
While commending the law
school's flexible admission
policies, the MLSA contended
that minority and disadvantaged
students needed special help to
survive the first year of law
school.
A committee of administra
tors, faculty and students or
ganized and obtained funding
for a three-phase Academic
Support Program (ASP) for
academically disadvantaged
students that began this fall.
“While I think the ASP has
been a success in all of its parts,
the extent of that success is far
from clear,” says law Prof. Wil
liam Randolph.
Of the nine students par
ticipating in the program this
fall, seven finished with grade
Correction
A total of approximately
$6,000 will be divided among
the organizations receiving
proceeds from Monday’s
Jackson Browne benefit con
cert.
point averages “substantially
better" than their predicted
group average of 2.3 or less,
according to Randolph.
The law school is evaluating
the ASP before applying for
continued funding. It will lose
the almost $10,000 only if it fails
to honestly evaluate its prob
lems, says Gary Kim of the
Council for Minority Education
The council provided $8,000 for
the program this fall.
“We have soft evidence. We
know everything (at the law
school) isn’t OK," Kim says.
But students may hesitate to
criticize the program for fear of
losing it, he says
“The MLSA has always had
problems talking to the admin
istration.”
The percentage of incoming
minority students placed on
probation has declined 30 per
cent this year — from 69 percent
to 39 percent. But minority
students, who comprise only 11
percent of the law school
population, still account for 33
percent of the students on
probation, says MLSA president
Manuel Perez.
"I hope that the administra
tion and the MLSA can come
together in a unified effort to
resolve these probtums," Perez
says.
The hiring of civil-rights
lawyer Derrick Bell as law
school dean has encouraged
minority students, Perez says.
“Our commitment is to meet
our educational goals rather
than those of a particular pro
gram," Bell says. “I’ll embrace
those programs that work and
change those that don’t."
Bell says the law school will
continue its commitment to a
balanced student body and
faculty.
"It's good for Oregon that our
grads have contact with people
from a wide array of back
grounds and social settings I
believe we all see the value in
that.”
FSO director Julie Mungai
asked for an increase from 10 to
15 work-study hours a week for
an FSO office secretary. “To get
more students involved, we
need more staff hours,” she
said.
for FSO educational films, and a
matching amount for revenue
producing films. The FSO will
pay back 75 cents on the dollar
for the movies shown for profit.
Harris said the FSO is "one of
the few organizations that have
been successful” at profiting on
films.
The committee also approved
more than $3,250 for the FSO's
cultural programs. International
Night, which attracted 800 peo
ple last year, is the largest pro
gram the FSO sponsors, Mungai
said
Mungai argued that funding
the FSO is cheaper than funding
each of the groups in its organ
ization separately, and that
money budgeted for cultural
programs should not have to be
paid back.
“The bulk of our programs is
in cultural nights and they’re on
75 percent pay-back,” she said,
"so you’re really not giving it to
us."
In other business, the IFC ap
proved $1,200 for Rape Crisis
Network (RCN) telephone ex
penses. The YWCA houses the
RCN at low cost, and all workers
either volunteer or are paid by
federal programs
This is the first year the IFC
has funded the RCN For the
past two years, the RCN has
operated from a now-discontin
ued Law Enforcement Assis
tance Administration grant.
Action Now, which loans tools
to students, received $3,800
The IFC also increased the
Committee for Musical Arts
1981 -82 budget by more than 13
percent. The musical arts com
mittee brings performers to
campus for concerts and
student workshops, and often
charges students a reduced ad
mission to its events.
1
i lie; i wv^ucoicu uuuyci 111
crease — from $297 to $405 —
did not reflect the additional
number of students who would
benefit from the work-study in
crease, committee member Jim
Edmunson said.
The IFC also approved $550
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