Oregon daily emerald., May 18, 1981, Page 9, Image 9

‘Building a better Oregon ’
University works to enhance imaae around state
Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part series
about the University's public image.
By MIKE LEE
Of the Emerald
For an institution that's hanging onto financial
solvency by the skin of its teeth, the University can ill
afford to alienate the public it serves — or the
Legislature that feeds it.
Enter Curt Simic.
Simic, the University's public relations vice
president, has to convince the public that it doesn't
want the University crippled.
“The image that the state is getting something
back for its money is really very important," Simic
says.
It is Simic’s job to maintain that image.Three
years ago, then-University Pres. William Boyd creat
ed Simic's Office of Public Services to “coordinate”
the face the University presents to the public.
For instance, where there's an achievement, a
news release can't be far behind. “We hustle the
best we can because there’s so much good news,
important work that goes on,” says Barbara Petura
of the news bureau. “And we know we aren't coming
anywhere near to scratching the surface of all of the
good stories.”
Fundraiser Doug Wilson uses those
achievements to spur private donations. “What I’ve
tried to do is not raise money,” Wilson says, but get
people to help build a better university.
And those achievements will quickly appear in
Old Oregon magazine, which alumni director Vince
Bilotta sends to University graduates.
Ask any one of these people what the
achievements are, and they'll answer in a word:
research.
“Oregon's Energy is Mind Power,” reads a
public relations pamphlet. The University is one of
the 50-member elite Association of American
1
Universities. The University is one of three institu
tions originally designated as centers of excellence
in science by the National Science Foundation. The
University employs six of Oregon's seven National
Academy of Science members.
Outside the state, people recognize the Univer
sity’s accomplishments. Convincing Oregonians,
however, is not so easy.
“What we have to harp on, on the research side,
is that we’re helping to create new knowledge,”
Simic says. But that knowledge can be very tech
nical, adds Petura, "and we find it is difficult to
interpret that to the general public.”
‘What we have to harp on, on the
research side, is that we’re
helping to create new
knowledge’— Simic
Especially with Oregon State University around.
As the land-grant college in an agrarian state, OSU
has an edge in proving its worth. "It’s easier for
people to understand more wheat, bigger fish, larger
timber yields,” Simic says. “It’s harder for them to
understand molecular biology and solid-state phys
ics.”
That’s why the University’s "Building a Better
Oregon" television campaign shied away from the
technical accomplishments. “It didn’t speak to deep
theoretical basic research, but we talked about
services,” such as the art museum or the Labor
Education Research Center, says Simic.
Still, the University has nothing to compare with
OSU's string of extension offices throughout the
state. "When you talk about cutting off the agricul
tural extension service,it's like cutting off mother
hood, apple pie and the flag all at once,” Simic says.
Which brings us to the Legislature and the
looming 10-percent budget cut. The alternative to
the cuts, which could mean the loss of two profes
sional schools, is increasing taxes to cover in
creased costs. What legislator is going to do that?
To find out, Olum and Simic travel to Salem
weekly to plead the University’s case.
“The thing we think they have to see is what the
trade-offs are," Simic says. "It has to be put in
perspective: Do you want your property taxes
reduced at the expense of higher education, basic
school support, human resources?"
“The Legislature doesn’t listen to what the
students say, or what the faculty says, because they
have a vested interest in something,” he says. "What
they want to hear from is the taxpayers.”
Among those taxpayers are alumni. “We've got
an alumni legislative effort out there in the state,"
says Bilotta. Using his 55,000-name mailing list,
Bilotta makes sure graduates know that the Univer
sity is in trouble and needs their help.
"The quality of that diploma, the reputation of
that degree, depends totally on what the University is
like at the present time — whatever that present time
is," Bilotta says.
Time may be running out for the University as we
know it. If the Legislature’s cuts go through, the
institution will be forced into exigency, a kind of
bankruptcy that forces administrators to fire tenured
faculty.
“Once you’ve gone through financial exigency
and have made it clear that you're the kind of place
that’s in such trouble that you have fired senior
faculty, it’s going to take a decade before you get
back to acceptance in the community of scholars,"
Olum warns.
That’s one image everyone wants to avoid: ivory
towers crumbling.
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