Emerald
Vol. 82, No. 131
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Monday, April 13, 1981
Supporters rally for higher ed
Funding fight looms ahead;
Weaver, Heard offer support
By PAUL TELLES
Of the Emerald
Oregon students must fight for fund
ing if they don’t want Oregon's system
of higher education dismantled.
So said two state senators, the
chancellor of the state system, a con
gressman and a University vice pres
ident at Friday's rally for higher
education in the EMU Breezeway.
“I have a recurring nightmare," Roy
Lieuallen, chancellor of the State Board
of Higher Education, told the 350
students who gathered for the rally.
“The state system is sending out no
tices denying admission to thousands
of students, closing educational pro
grams and terminating faculty
members.”
Lieuallen said only half the cuts made
in the higher education budget during
last summer’s special session of the
Legislature have been restored. And
Gov. Vic Atiyeh has recommended only
a 4-percent increase in higher educa
tion funding in his current budget
proposal.
Worse yet, the state system has been
ordered to submit a "contingency"
budget with another 10-percent cut,
Lieuallen said.
"The smart money is betting that the
Educational Coordinating Commission
will recommend that there be a cut of
no more that 5 or 6 percent in basic
school support." Basic school support
is funds for Oregon’s public primary
and secondary schools.
If basic school support is protected, it
could mean 20-percent cuts in higher
ed funding, Lieuallen said. The ECC
was scheduled to submit its recom
mendations Sunday.
If the ECC recommendation passes
as outlined in the Legislature, "there
will be a lot of high school students in
this state who will find that post-high
school education is the sort of things
dreams are made of,” Lieuallen said.
Consequently Lieuallen urged the
students to attend today’s ASUO
sponsored "U of O Day” in Salem.
“If you need an excuse, come around
to Johnson Hall and we'll see what we
can do about it,” he told the cheering
crowd.
ASUO Pres. Dave Eaton said after the
rally that several hundred students
would attend the Capitol rally. Buses
were scheduled to leave McArthur
Court at 8:30 a m. today.
Sen. Ed Fadeley, D-Eugene, said
higher education has started behind
the state’s other programs in this year’s
budget race, and $30 million must be
added to the governor’s proposal for
higher education to eliminate the hand
icap.
“The governor started higher educa
tion 10 yards behind and wearing lead
boots in comparison to other state
programs,’’ Fadeley said. “Our first job
is to get the lead boots off the runner so
higher education will be co-equal in the
race with others seeking general fund
dollars.”
Fadeley also encouraged the
students to attend today’s rally, to pro
tect both their interests and the inter
ests of future Oregonians.
“If you don’t go, you are the initial
losers,” he said. “The long-range loser
is the kind of society we in Oregon want
to have.”
“I have no intentions of presiding
over the Senate while we dismantle the
Oregon system of higher education,"
state Senate Pres. Fred Heard,
D-Klamath Falls, said.
“If the Oregon Legislature has to stay
in session until Palm Sunday of 1982,
we’ll do it,” he said, referring to Lieual
len’s earlier statement that the ECC’s
recommendations were expected this
Palm Sunday.
Heard said the future of Oregon's
economy depends on the quality of its
higher education and admonished the
students, "Don’t let up.”
Departing from the state politics
themes of the other speakers, Rep. Jim
Weaver, D-Ore., criticized Pres. Ronald
Reagan for proposing increased fund
ing for the synthetic fuels industry, the
nuclear power industry and the military
while cutting federal financial aid pro
grams.
Noting that the MX missile system is
costing taxpayers $4 million a day,
Weaver said, “It seems to me that if the
government can throw away $4 million
a day, we can certainly provide the
Photos by Steve Dykes
Shaunna Poteet, University computer science major, demonstrated her support
for extra “Bucks for Ducks" during Friday afternoon's ASUO-sponsored rally in
the EMU breezeway.
young people of this nation a college
education.”
Weaver said Reagan’s budget
proposals would prevent needy
students from attending college and
would make higher education a
privilege of the wealthy, rather than a
right of all Americans.
"If you're going to college to improve
your chances to get a job, the president
says you should get a job first.”
However, Weaver said there are
many "boondoggles” in the federal
budget, and that it must be cut. He
predicted Congressional Democrats
would channel cuts into areas other
than those suggested by Reagan.
“It’s going to be a battle, but I think
we’ll win.”
University vice president Curt Simic
told the students that, contrary to
popular belief, good things don’t come
to those who wait
“It's up to us to hustle if we want to
get what we want.”
Students take appeal
to Legislature today
Almost 400 students are expected to
head for Salem today to try to convince
the Legislature to give higher educa
tion a fair shake
“Early indications show that it was
really a terrible situation," ASUO Vice
Pres. Rich Wilkins says of student re
sponse. “But now things seem to be
improving."
However, Wilkins, who has managed
the ASUO's lobbying effort this year,
says “Now is not the time to slack off.”
Ten buses were reserved for today’s
trip. During the day, students will rally
on the Capitol steps and hear speeches
from several Eugene-area state repre
sentatives, along with state Sens. Jim
Gardener, D-Portland, and Ted Kulon
goski, D-Junction City.
During the afternoon, students will
meet with individual representatives to
talk about the higher education funding
issue. A few students will meet with
Atiyeh.
The governor has recommended that
higher education receive only a 4 per
cent increase during the next bien
nium.