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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1981)
dailyemerald Vol. 82, No. 155 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Friday, May 15, 1981 Wilkins gives committee budget tips By GREG WASSON Of the Emerald SALEM — In sharp contrast to faculty presentations Monday night, students seemed more aware of the severity of Oregon’s budget problems during their appearance Wednesday before the education subcommittee of the money controlling Joint Ways and Means Com mittee. The lead-off witness, ASUO Pres.-elect Rich Wilkins, told the subcommittee the Oregon Student Lobby is convinced that any further reductions “will weaken our nation and our state.” “But, we are not driven by our com mittment to higher eduction to the sort of immature refusal to acknowledge reality that has too often plagued a species of university radicalism. Instead, we see the problem and understand what it is like to be short of money with no real place to find it,” Wilkins said. The subcommittee is considering cut ting an additional 10 percent from the higher ed budget submitted by Gov. Vic Atiyeh. The panel now has suggestions from the State Board of Higher Educa tion, the Education Coordinating Com mission and the Oregon Student lobby on where to slice the additional $30.6 million. The state board has recommended the elimination of approximately 10,000 FTE students, 77 teaching faculty and ap “We understand what it is like to be short of money with no real place to find it. ” proximately 500 instructors, according to Wilkins. "This, we would submit, is not good policy, is not good economics and is, most emphatically not necessary to achieve the 10 percent reduction," Wil kins said. OSL legislative representative John Moore later specifically laid out the students’ proposals. They joined the board and the fcCC in suggesting increases in application and transcript fees - $743,200; suspension of state support of intercollegiate atheletics — $693,000; a 10 percent reduction in central activities — $620,374; and a decrease of 7? FTE positions for off campus instruction — $300,000. The group shared the ECC’s sugge stions that colleges and universities eliminate physical education service courses and the accompanying gym suit service — $4.8 million; institute expand ed television instruction — $1.1 million; roll back enrollments to 1980-81 levels — $2.6 million; and eliminate state support of summer instruction — $1.15 million. The OSL alone called for a 10 percent reduction in statewide services such as the extension program — $7.7 million — and a recovery of $2.54 million budgeted for salary increases. OSL argues the increases are unneeded if the faculty is reduced to the level the students proposed Dave Sweeney Photo by Anna Hoyt Forecaster enjoys zany weather antics By ANNA HOYT Of the Emerald Is Dave Sweeney for real? A pejorative question, maybe, but one that must enter the mind of thousands of television watchers each evening. There in your livingroom is KEZI’s zany — yes, that’s the word for it — weatherman, climbing aboard his "weekend weather limb" to promise more sunshine or kill picnic plans with rain. He shows off drawings submitted by local schoolchildren — which com pare quite well to his own. "There are guys who do it with puppets," Sweeney says. "You think I’m weird." Pause. “I’m working on the dancing girls.” Come on, now, it can’t all be true. But it is. "It’s part of my personality,” Sweeney admits. He says viewers like watching people on television who genuinely enjoy what they’re doing. "I don’t think having a good time on the air is something to be ashamed of," he says. "Obviously.” Sweeney says the crew at the station is used to his antics. "They just say, Oh, that’s Sweeney, he does these things.' ” Like the Halloween night he dressed up like Dracula, a la Gene Simmons of Kiss. After prophesying the weather in a Transylvania accent, he turned to poor Debbie Segura, who was anchoring that night, and said, "Vy miz Deboora, your neck — it looks delicious!” Then Sweeney lunged at her neck, startling her enough to scream — on the air. “I never tell anyone what I’m up to," Sweeney says. "I like the spontaneity of it." So it was the night Sweeney decided to let viewers get a live glimpse of his "weekend weather limb," off of which he habitually falls in promotional commercials. He found the biggest, mustiest branch possible in back of the station and dragged it into the studio, hiding it before he appeared. When his spot began, he threw the branch into the air, saying that how it fell would determine the weather. It smashed into a million pieces — a reflection of his accuracy, some might say. But Sweeney is not all body and no brains. He received a master's in science education at the University of Idaho, and began broadcasting weather in Lewiston in 1977 when he couldn't find a job teaching science. Sweeney’s happy now, "except I’d like to make bigger bucks,” he says. And though he may not have a "title" as weatherman, Sweeney insists his viewers "still get good weather infor mation." Sweeney disagrees that describing the weather as “grey and gunky" or “spiffy” — not to mention lurking "thunderboomers" — is merely silly. "I think adults can get into that just as much as kids,” he says. "You can’t just be a machine that has a stern look on its face and shows no emotion at all "Why not have a little fun with it?” Transcript requests up 20 percent By GABRIEL BOEHMER Of the Emerald While gripes about mixups and delays in the handling of academic records flow steadily through the registrar's office, the work pace there is picking up. Student requests for academic record transcripts have increased almost 20 percent this year, according to Univeristy registrar Wanda Johnson. Although Johnson can’t pinpoint the reason for the increase, she doesn't expect the activity to lessen due to current enrollment increases. Johnson estimates students ordered about 40,000 academic record tran scripts this year. And this year students are spending 17.8 percent more money in fees for official academic record transcripts. A portion of that increase is reflected in the price increase for official transcipts, Johnson says The cost jumped from $2 to $3 in 1979. An official record bears the registrar's seal, and the University pays the postage On the other hand, Johnson points out that the spending increase doesn't reflect the amount students spend on unofficial record transcripts. The University charges 50 cents apiece for unofficial academic record transcripts that don't bear an official seal and have to be picked up at t e registrar’s office in Oregon Hall. The delay between the request and delivery of a transcript depends on the time of year that it is ordered, Johnson says. Students spent close to $4,000 for unofficial record transcripts last fiscal year, according to Johnson. During the same time students spent about $4,500 for offical record transcripts. The delay between the request and delivery of a transcript depends on the time of year that it is ordered, Johnson says At the beginning of the term, the delay could be a couple of weeks. The Univer sity won't send the record until all the student’s grades from the previous term have been recorded. And delinquent business office accounts can slow down record delivery, Johnson adds. Registrar's office information supervi sor Carol Raymond says middle-of-the term orders also are put on hold until grades for that term have been recorded. Record orders are heavy in January and February when students apply for admission to graduate schools, accord ing to Raymond Although Johnson considers the specific destination of academic records confidential, she says the registrar’s office could compile a report on the percentages of the records headed for potential employers and other colleges and universities. But the registrar’s office staff has fallen behind in that type of research since it suffered budget and staff cut backs, Johnson says.
