Graphic by Sioux Anderson
'We care1
Image makers sell University
Editor's note: This is the second article in a
series about the University's public image.
By MIKE LEE
Ol the Emerald
Remember when anti-war protestors blew a
hole in the ROTC lawn? How about the time they
blockaded 13th Avenue across from Taylor’s? Or
the sit-ins in Johnson Hall?
Not so many Oregon parents remember, and
that suits Jim Buch just fine.
Buch, you see, is the University’s admissions
director — the doorkeeper to the ivory towers.
"When we don’t want to be crass and say
we're recruiting, we say we are doing ‘pre-admis
sions counseling,’ ” Buch says. "It’s a euphe
mism for getting the bodies in."
Before they graduate — and long after, too —
those bodies will be caressed by a line of
image-makers at the University, from the orienta
tion office’s Gregg Lobisser to the alumni as
sociation’s Vince Bilotta.
That’s not to say image is made in a vacuum,
or that one image fits all people.
"The image of the institution is the product of
all the smaller parts," Buch says. "In trying to
paint the image, you are assuming that you can
step into the collective minds of all those people
looking at us — and that's not possible."
So when Buch sends his recruiters to Port
land, or Bend, or San Francisco, they tell different
stories about the University. It’s easier out of
state, by the way, especially on the East Coast.
"We ‘sell’ the University as quality education
in a quality environment,” Buch says. “It’s a great
place to live, and a great place to learn. And it’s
true."
Tell that to Oregonians. Oregonians who
remember the 1960s, and who are reminded of
the turbulence by current protests.
“There is still that segment of the population
in Oregon who think that everybody at the
University of Oregon, if they’re not an avowed
Communist, certainly are reading Karl Marx every
night before they go to bed, and are likely to
declare tomorrow for the Red cause,” Buch says.
“Fortunately, those stereotypes are dying,
however slowly.”
Even after their extinction, though, the
University will have image problems in Oregon,
Buch says. Eugene is simply a big town in a
small-town state.
“Our students can get on a bicycle and ride
to one of the state’s major shopping centers. It
can’t be done in any other communities,” Buch
says. "Our size scares a lot of people away."
Not enough that the University suffers for it —
enrollments are holding steady in the face of
declining numbers of high school students. But
the institution mainly draws in-state students from
the metropolitan areas, leaving the countryside
for agriculturally-based Oregon State University.
Even after students enroll, the University's
size causes problems for image-makers. Gregg
Lobisser, one of Buch’s employees, sees his job
in the orientation office as fighting alienation in a
15,000-student institution.
“We lose the greatest percentage of students
in the first three weeks of school,” Lobisser says.
“Many of them before they even go to class."
To keep them here, Lobisser organizes New
Student Week, a dazzle of 130 activities for
freshmen each fall. With 100 student hosts, dan
ces and spaghetti feeds, as well as registration
and advising, Lobisser wants to show students
“we care.”
“When all of the knowns in your life have
suddenly disappeared — when you come to an
institution — you want to have something, some
Continued on Page 9
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