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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 19, 1981)
daiKremerald Vol. 82, No. 158 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday, May 19, 1981 Switch to semesters draws faculty debate By GABRIEL BOEHMER Of the Emerald Added bureaucracy and bad summer weather were cited as points against a proposal to change the University from its present quarter system to a semester format. The proposal, discussed at a Monday afternoon meeting, drew both criticism and praise from a small group of faculty members. No students attended the meeting. Semester study committee chairer Maradel Gale said a motion to adopt an early semester system at the University in the fall of 1983 would be made at the faculty assembly meeting in early June. The plan has been approved by Univer sity Pres. Paul Olum. Speaking against the switch, English Prof. Nat Teich warned that it might put too much stress on the University. Teich said that while some faculty members may be persuaded by the neatness and rationale of the conver sion, tailoring courses and requirements to the semester system could overload the University’s resources. “It may be a greater strain on an al ready weak system," Teich said. Speaking in favor of the switch, English Prof. Joe Heins said he views the semester conversion as a golden oppor tunity for a spring cleaning of University academic departments. The value of the semester system is that it would require departments to “cut up and throw away the course catalog,” Heins said. In addition to financial savings, Heins claimed a great deal of emotional, psy chological and instructional effort — on the part of faculty and students — would be saved And the longer semesters would remedy the ‘shopping cart” approach to education that pervades the quarter system, he said. “We think because we do things in smaller packages that we a get wider, broader education,” Heins said. But Heins seconded the suggestion of another professor that the conversion committee separate the motion into two parts: one for adoption of a semester system, and another for adoption of an early or late calendar. Earlier at the hearing, religious studies Prof. Jack Sanders said, “I'd like to plead with you to divorce the term ‘early’ from ‘semester.’ ” Objecting to beginning the fall semester in late August, Sanders said ail the evidence in the conversion com mittee's recommendation was aimed at the merits of the semester system, and not a specific calendar. "One of the things faculty enjoy about teaching at this university is the weather,” Sanders said. “One of the things that helps to make up for small salaries is the opportunity to enjoy the outdoor opportunities.” Geology Prof. William Holden said the calendar of the switch would hamper geology field research. Mountain snows sometimes last through July, Holden said, and the semester calendar would end the spring semester earlier than spring term now ends. "We see this as a real blow.” University associate provost Gerry Moseley — a member of the semester switch committee — remarked that Pac-10 universities are “all on the semester system, converting to the semester system, or studying the semester system." State college sports face funding hurdles SALEM (AP) — The game may be over for varsity sports at Oregon state colleges if a budget subcommittee adopts a proposal to drop state funding. Sen. Jim Gardner, D-Portland, led off a Monday debate by telling members of his Ways and Means subcommittee that the state higher education board has recommended saving $693,000 by eliminating support for intercollegiate athletics at state universities. He suggested that another $560,000 could be saved by also cutting funding for state colleges. Higher education Chancellor Roy Lieuallen told the subcommittee that most intercollegiate sports at the University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Portland State University would be self-supporting through gate receipts. However, Lieuallen said the funding cut at state colleges probably would mean no more intercollegiate athletics. Rep. Howard Cherry, D-Portland, suggested that funding should be cut but not eliminated until the schools have a chance to put the sports on a self-sup porting footing. "It’s an important function," Cherry said. "We should keep enough so they don’t have to drop out of the leagues." "I don’t care about the Pac-10,” Sen. Frank Roberts, D-Portland, said. "We re talking about education and you’re talk ing about traveling around the country playing games on Saturdays.” Ways and Means co-chairer Ed Fadeley, D-Eugene, said physical fitness was a national goal. "Then let the national government pay for it," Roberts retorted. University Pres. Paul Olum raised the issue of federal Title IX and state requirements that women have sports programs equal to those of men. "It’s an act of hypocrisy to tell us on the one hand to do it” and then remove funding, Olum said. Lieuallen got back in the fray, saying total equality could be provided by eliminating all sports programs but "that would be a draconian route " The subcommittee may finish work this week on the 1981-83 higher education budget Jim Weaver Photo by bteve uynes Weaver links blast to recovery process By TOM VISOKY Of the Emerald The eruption of Mount St. Helens still has much to teach us about nature’s ability to regenerate itself, Congressman Jim Weaver said at a Monday night speech in the EMU. In an informal speech titled "The Real Issues Confronting Timber Policy Today,” Weaver, D-Ore., said he sees the devastation caused by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens as an opportunity for people to observe nature’s recovery process. Weaver also linked the controversy surrounding the designation of Mt. St. Helens as a natural reserve to other problems confronting the timber in dustry. “It's fundamentally a philosophical difference,” he said. “There are fundamentally two kinds of human beings. One kind observes and learns from nature. The second wants to use nature, to exploit it “One sees a beach and the other sees a motel.” Weaver said this difference in out look has led to a great deal of conflict over the use of timber resources. But historically the users generally prevail, he said “The history of the world, of course, is the cutting down of all the trees Where are the Cedars of Lebanon?” Noting that “half the trees in the wor'd have been cut in the last 25 years,” Weaver said he favors careful timber resource management. “My particular leanings are toward prudence in the use of our natural resources.” Weaver said the intensive cultivation and harvesting of only a few select species of trees may cause unseen effects on the natural gene pool, which could adversely affect future timber harvests. “We don’t know what effects we're having on gene pools of plants.” Foresters are beginning to observe a rare root rot disease in selectively bred stands of young Douglas fir, Weaver said. Natural stands of trees immune to a wide variety of diseases are in danger of disappearing unless preservation areas are set aside, he added But Weaver noted that not all government officials believe in preservation management of natural resources. U S. interior secretary James Watt believes that perhaps some areas should be set aside tor the use of future generations, Weaver said But, "he (Watt) didn’t know how many future generations there were likely to be because we don’t know how soon the Lord will come back ” Weaver was the keynote speaker of the Outdoor Program’s Mt St Helens symposium. Related stories on Page 6 and 7.
