emerald
Vol. 82, No. 132
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, April 14, 1981
200 travel to Salem
Students rally for higher ed funds
By GREG WASSON
Of the Emerald
SALEM — As promised at Friday’s
rally, University students invaded the
capitol Monday, attempting to generate
concern over the plight of higher educa
tion.
Though the crowd numbered only
about half of the 400 persons ASUO
Pres. Dave Eaton had predicted, Vice
Pres. for State and University Affairs Rich
Wilkins labeled the visit a success.
‘The people that did come up were
interested. They were excited. They
cared and they wanted to show that to
legislators,” Wilkins said.
“I think we accomplished our goal of
showing that we know what is going on
and are very anxious for the Legislature
to see things in the same light as we do."
But, as pointed out at a morning rally
on the capitol steps, students have a very
poor track record at the polls.
r
"That hampers us," said Wilkins. "One
of the ideas we are looking at right now is
having another voter registration drive so
we can come back and say, 'Look, we
registered 30,000 students in the state
system.’ ”
The students spent the afternoon talk
ing with lawmakers from their home dis
trict, paying special attention to
members of the revenue committees,
who will approve any money-raising tax
increases.
Earlier in the day, Rep. Gratten Kerans,
D-Eugene, the House Majority Leader,
told the group that revenue increases are
a must.
"The fact of the matter is, this state and
its budget is facing the worst crisis it has
experienced in its 122-year history,"
Kerans told students. "What I want you
to do with your visit here today is to ask
the members one very hard-line ques
tion: ‘Are you prepared to raise the
revenues necessary to preserve those
elements of the budget which must be
maintained?'
“Don’t let anybody shuck you — that's
the issue.”
Eaton says the answers were some
times less than satisfying.
‘‘There are revenue committee
members that are supportive of us. But
most people are not ready to make any
kind of commitment,’’ Eaton said.
“I think we showed, however, that if we
don’t get more revenues and are forced
to take this 10 percent cut, it’s going to
devastate higher education.”
Eaton and four others met in the after
noon with Gov. Vic Atiyeh, who told the
five that he’d done what he had to
But, at the rally, co-chairer of ways and
means Sen. Ed Fadeley, D-Eugene/
Springfield, repeated his claim that
Atiyeh’s proposal puts higher education
in the financial race “ten yards behind
and wearing lead boots.
“In order for higher education to start
out equal with the other general fund
programs, there must be $30 million
added to the governor's recommenda
tion. I’m not going to lean into this or say
anything inflammatory, but the governor
really has done it to higher education.”
Fadeley was followed by Rep. Margie
Hendriksen, D-Eugene, who also
lamented the inadequacy of the higher
education budget. That fact, warned
Hendriksen, means the most trouble for
those whc are already disadvantaged
“There is a current lack of integration
of women and minorities into faculty
positions. I'm heading up a sub-commit
tee to investigate affirmative action, or
lack thereof, and we will be in Eugene
April 15.
"I’m very concerned that as the budget
crunches come forward, we will have
practically no women or minorities get
ting tenured positions at the University or
other institutions.”
‘Hello, Flipper?’
Computers may open lines
between humans, dolphins
By MIKE LEE
Of the Emerald
We may have the best
telecommunications system in
the world, but John Lilly still
finds fault in it.
“No dolphin can use our
telephone,” he says.
Although he is being a trifle
facetious, Lilly is serious about
bis research into hu
man-dolphin communica
tion. With the aid of two com
puters, he hopes to create an
electronic audio-visual trans
‘If dolphins are so
damn smart, and
men and women
are so damn smart,
why haven’t we
communicated
before this?’
lator that will allow the two
species to “talk” to each
other.
Lilly and his wife, Toni,
spoke to an audience of 250 at
South Eugene High School
Monday evening.
Lilly noted that a dolphin’s
brain is larger than a human's
— 1,800 grams to 1,500 grams.
Brain mass serves as a raw
measure of intelligence, he
said.
Yet, “If dolphins are so
damn smart, and men and
women are so damn smart,
why haven't we communicat
ed before this?"
One explanation seems
simple enough: dolphins talk
underwater.
Too bad early researchers
didn't recognize human limi
tations in this area. “A lot of
people tried (to talk under
water) in the '50s and '60s and
almost drowned,” Lilly said.
The second explanation is
more complicated: dolphins
speak in a range of sound ten
times as high and ten times as
broad as ours, Lilly said. And
they do it through four differ
ent voices, allowing two dol
phins to hold four conversa
tions at once.
The communications sys
tem Lilly is developing should
sort through all that, he said.
It’s called JANUS — for “Joint
Analog Numerical Under
standing System."
Using JANUS, a human first
speaks a command into a
microphone. One computer
then translates the command,
simultaneously "printing" it in
large words on an underwater
television screen while broad
casting it in dolphin-recog
nizable sounds. The dolphin,
either seeing or hearing the
command, will then execute it,
Lilly said.
“If you say Rosalie' into the
microphone, the computer
prints out 'Rosalie' and
creates a sound that is like
Rosalie’s,” Lilly said. The
second computer analyzes
Photo by Erich Boekelheide
John and Toni Lilly explain how humans someday will be able to "dial-a-dolphin."
any reply the dolphin Rosalie
sounds.
Then, if the command is
"GO TO 1,” Rosalie will swim
to a "1 ” painted on the wall of
her tank, and maybe fetch a
ball there if she is told to.
The translator can handle
only 40 words, however —
hardly enough for an extended
conversation. But Lilly says
this is only the beginning.
Lilly himself began re
searching dolphins in the
1950s. At the same time, he
worked with sensory-depriva
tion tanks, like the ones used
in the movie "Altered States,"
and studied the drug LSD in
the 1960s Lilly dropped his
dolphin work in 1968 and
traveled to Chile, where he
explored states of conscious
ness.
After his seven months in
Chile, Lilly investigated the
U S. mind-fads of the '70s:
Gestalt, encounter and
Rolfing
Lilly returned to dolphin re
search in 1976.
Since then, he has gained
actor Burgess Meredith's help
in establishing the Human
/Dolphin Foundation, a
private non-profit research
group based in Malibu, Calif
Ideally, Lilly's research will
enable humans, using port
able translators, to talk to dol
phins and have the replies
synthesized into audible Eng
lish "I won't be satisfied until I
can talk to dolphins," Lilly
said
"I want to have a telephone I
can call up a dolphin on —
Dial-a-Dolphin.”