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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1981)
emerald Vol. 82, No. 133 I Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, April 15, 1981 Panelists cite progress by blacks Photo by Frlch Boekelheide Derrick Bell Weaver, Bell: Reagan budget bodes ill for minorities, poor By KAREN SHAUGHNESSY Ol the Emerald Oregon race relations have come a long way since the state was dominated by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, but there still is plenty of room for im provement, three panelists agreed in the EMU Ballroom Tuesday night. State Attorney General Dave Frohn mayer, Rep. Jim Weaver, D-Ore., and Derrick Bell, University Law School dean, addressed the theme "Up From Obscurity: Challenges of the ’80s.’' The panel was faced by seven state and local journalists, including KATU newsman Dick Bogel and KEZI news anchorman Don Clark. The discussion was moderated by Oregon State Univer sity social sciences Prof. Betty Griffith. Frohnmayer, who grew up in Oregon, said the "overt, outrageous discrimination” of Oregon law has given way to increased tolerance and under standing. Gov. Vic Atiyeh’s proposal to make racial discrimination a punishable offense is an example of this progressive trend, the former University law profes sor added. "I think the very obscurity of blacks in the state contributed to the election of legislatures during the 1920s that were entirely dominated by the Ku Klux Klan, legislatures which enacted laws dis criminating not only against blacks but against all minorities, racial, religious and political," Frohnmayer said. "So the progress, while it may seem glacial, has been astounding. There is now more tolerance and understanding of the problems of minorities than Oregon has seen before.” Weaver agreed blacks should take pride in the progress of the last 120 years but emphasized, "The 1980s should not be a step back for minorities but another giant step forward. "We’re seeing some tough times,” he said, “but the best of times are tough for minorities.” The priorities of the Reagan adminis tration don’t bode well for minorities, he said. "We agree that education is the op portunity young blacks need for pro gress,” Weaver explained "Key educa tional programs are the ones being dis mantled. The loan programs, federal grants for students — those are being cut back with eventual plans to terminate "We must not let that happen; that's going to be a catastrophe for blacks." Weaver emphasized the problems of blacks are shared not only by other min orities but also by poor whites. Bell commented that Reagan adminis tration plans to balance the budget "are a thin veneer over a plan to roll back the social programs of the last 50 years." Other ways to save money have been suggested, he said, but because they involve "sacred cows” of the rich — entertainment deductions, oil company depletion allowances — they haven’t seriously been considered, Bell con tended. The discussion was spon sored by the Black Student Union as part of the union’s annual Black Arts Festival. IFC candidates roast current committee By PAUL TELLES Of the Emerald A rising tide of discontent with the budget cuts made by this year's Incidental Fee Committee has carried 11 candidates into this week's IFC election campaign. Candidates complain that this year’s committee, which cut more than 9 percent from the ASUO pro grams’ budgets, hasn’t done enough homework before hacking at budgets during meetings and hearings. “I wasn’t too happy with things I saw happening this year," says law student Steve Baldwin. Baldwin says he especially was incensed by the 75-percent cut dealt to the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group. The decision wasn’t based on a reasoned position and consequently created a lot of hard feelings, says Baldwin, who worked as a work study assistant for OSPIRG this year. As a committee member, Baldwin says he would apply the practice in justifying beliefs and statements that he gained while earning his master’s degree in philosophy. Like Baldwin, Jonathan Bernstein says the IFC didn’t adequately fund student lobbies like OSPIRG and the Oregon Student Lobby. OSPIRG was cut from $42,000 to $10,000, while the OSL got $19,768, an increase of more than $3,000. Bernstein, a senior majoring in health and history, says he also would like to cut the athletic department’s incidental fee budget. “There’s entirely too much politicking on the IFC now,” says law student Cathi Bulone. Several commit tee members have voted on program budgets on the basis of the members' political agendas instead of the programs’ merits, she says. Although Bulone says she has gotten most of her information on the committee's workings through conversations with the four law students on this year's committee, she says her experience as a high school business teacher gives her the budgeting expertise necessary to be a good committee member. Alan Contreras, the only candidate with prior IFC experience, says this year’s committee hasn’t always done its "tag work," the individual reviews of program budgets, before the budget hearings. This has resulted in capricious decisions the program members rarely understand, Contreras contends. ....« --—.. Polls open today for ASUO election Students can cast their votes in the ASUO elections at eight locations today and Thursday. Polls will be open from 9 a m to 5 p m. Polling booths and tables are located in the EMU lobby, in front of Gilbert Hall on 13th Street, in front of the law school, on the corner of 13th and University in front of 150 Geology and at the Agate Street bicycle crossing between Walton and Hamilton residence hall complexes. Voting opportunities also will be offered to students in front of the Music School, in front of the library and in front of Esslinger Hall facing Univer sity Street I Contreras was a committee member last year and an IFC chairer last summer. Despite his criticism of the current IFC's methods, he says he shares its concerns with keeping the incidental fee budget as low as possible. "I would vote for no budget increases that would result in fee increases,” he says. David Gibson, one of three Greeks running for the committee, agrees with the others that this year’s committee hasn’t done its tag work properly. A member of Sigma Nu, Gibson frankly admits he is running, in part, to protect the Interfraternity Council’s budget, which was slashed by this year’s committee. “We’re just afraid of being zero-funded,” he says. However, this doesn’t mean he will rubber-stamp the council’s requests, Gibson adds. He says he would like to see more money given to the cultural programs promoting musical and dramatic programs on campus. “I want a hand in where the money goes,” says Pamela Jordan, another Greek candidate. Jordan criticizes the current IFC for not taking enough time to consider the program budgets and to explain its ac tions. ‘‘They should have taken more time and not slashed budgets because we have to get through things,” she says. Jordan is a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorori ty. She says she could bring new insights to committee business because she is a music major and a black woman John Miche, a senior majoring in math, frankly says he’s running for the committee "just to get in there and Continued on Page 6A
