daily Emerald
Vol. 82, No. 159
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Wednesday, May 20, 1981
Controversy tests administrators
Officials toil over tainted image
Editor’s note: This concludes a series on the
University's image.
By MIKE LEE
Of the Emerald
At times, ivory towers get smudged.
Law school clinics jump into bed with envir
onmental activists. Protestors throw burning
yellow ribbons before national heroes, and
student newspapers publish profane humor sup
plements. A
And then the phones ring in Johnson Hall
Secretaries placate as many angry callers as they
can and send the rest to the boss. Then letters
arrive. All must be answered.
Not all image-making is as easy as promoting
the latest member of the National Academy of
Sciences. Both University Pres. Paul Olum and
Curt Simic, the public relations vice president,
must spend some time defusing problems.
Since January, three potential image-tar
nishers have made the news. How they were
handled gives clues to the personality of the
University administration and the difficulties in
dealing with a diverse public.
January: The Environmental Law Clinic.
There’s still some bad blood from this one,
though passions have calmed.
Timber businessman Aaron Jones had
threatened to withdraw a $250,000 contribution
towards the University’s planned basketball dome
unless the University would cancel the clinic,
which has fought timber interests on environ
mental issues.
“He was angry that we were doing that kind of
thing, and hurting, as far as he was concerned, a
major industry for the state of Oregon,” Olum
says.
And Jones' complaints were not groundless.
Because of “a very loosely and carelessly drawn
agreement” between the law school and the
private Pacific Northwest Resources Clinic —
funded by the National Wildlife Federation — the
ELC appeared to be under the PNRC's control,
Olum explains.
That made the University appear to be taking
sides on public issues. Or, as Simic says, it looked
like “we were in bed with the National Wildlife
Federation.”
The administration separated the ELC, tech
nically a law school course, from the PNRC and
offered students a chance to work for businesses
like Weyerhauser if they want to.
Olum is satisfied he did the right thing, but
“there are some die-hards who won’t be happy as
long as the clinic exists at all,” he says. But he
stresses that the clinic has a right to exist as a
teaching device.
Meanwhile, nearly half the state s legislators
had signed a petition supporting the administra
tion against Jones and other lumbermen. Olum
had to make sure they didn’t think the University
had sold out.
"The hardest thing to do,” Olum recalls,
“was to tell our supporters — who were giving us
big praise for preserving freedom of speech and
standing up to the lumber interests — to say, look,
you’re absolutely right, but on the other hand they
had some justice on their side.”
February: The Tomseth Incident.
With the media present in full force, a pro
tester dropped a burning yellow ribbon before the
EMU Ballroom stage where former Iran embassy
hostage Victor Tomseth was speaking.
As bystanders and police wrestled with the
protester, others shouted that Tomseth was a CIA
spy.
Continued on page 3A
Graphic by Sioux Anderson
‘Immoral minority’ heckles Rev. Falwell
By GREG WASSON
Of the Emerald
SALEM — The Rev. Jerry Fal
well brought his moral rally to
i---:—
the steps of the state Capitol
Tuesday morning.
Surrounded on stage by 30
American flags, 30 young
Christian singers in red gowns
1
Olum, students
will meet today
The University's budget problems will be the focus of an
open meeting today between University Pres. Paul Olum and
students.
The president’s convocation with students will begin at
3:30 p.m. in Room 150 Geology.
The purpose of the convocation is to give students a
chance to discuss any issues that interest them. However,
current fiscal issues are expected to dominate the discussion.
“We will devote the whole meeting to a wide-ranging and
informal discussion of the current status of our fiscal prob
lems, what is being done about them, and as much as can
reasonably be said about contingency planning," Olum says
In a statement to the University Assembly last week. Olum
said the University faces the closure of as many as three
schools or colleges and eight departments in the College of
Arts and Sciences if the Legislature doesn’t approve Gov.
Atiyeh's 1981-83 budget and imposes an additional 10
percent in cuts
The meeting is open to ail interested students.
and white suits, Falwell pointed
at the members of the Immoral
Minority who were heckling him
and accused them of being ex
amples of the kind of moral de
cline he was lamenting.
“We have had a pornographic
explosion in this generation,”
Falwell said. "The Hugh Hefners
and now the Norman Lears have
tried to jam down our throats
indecency, pornography, vul
garity, obscenity — the kind of
things you are shouting out
there, the kind of things that are
a violation of the principle of
common decency.”
But when the subject turned
to the Reagan administration,
Falwell had nothing but praise,
especially for Secretary of State
Alexander Haig. Falwell said
that it was refreshing to see a
leader willing to "shake his fist
at the commies” and that he
was impressed at the way Haig
handled himself the day Pres.
Ronald Reagan was shot.
“He walked out and said, Tm
in charge here,' ” Falwell said
“And I believe he was — under
the vice president, of course.
But he was doing what was right
and saying what was right.
"Somebody asked me if we
should be in El Salvador. Well,
it’s either there or Florida, and I
prefer El Salvador.”
At a press conference before
the rally, Falwell took ex
ception to the claim that his
movement represents a dan
gerous mixture of church and
state. He said the "other side”
has been active for some time.
"Men like William Sloane
Coffin, the Berrigan brothers
and the National Council of
Church leaders have long been
out in the political arena," he
said. "I protect their right to do
that. But what's good for the
liberal goose is also good for the
conservative gander.
"And like them, we re doing it
as private citizens, not speaking
for our churches or congrega
tions."
At the rally, however, Falwell
was not so soft-spoken.
“It was Solomon, the wisest
man who ever lived, who said
3,500 years ago living by
God’s principles promotes a
nation to greatness Violating
those principles brings a nation
to shame.”
Falwell said the only organ
izations that feared his
movement were the abortion
rights people, the gay rights
groups and the ‘‘other perver
sions in our society.’’
One of the few legislators who
attended the rally was Rep.
Drew Davis, a conservative
Portland Democrat who was in
troduced by Falwell. Davis is
considering running for Con
gress next year.
Falwell supports teaching so
called scientific creationism in
the schools, which would be
required in Oregon under a bill
sponsored by Davis.
Oregon is the 41st state to
which Falwell, pastor of a Bap
tist church in Lynchburg, Va.,
has brought his campaign.
He claimed a recent nation
wide poll shows 54 percent of
Americans consider themselves
part of the Moral Majority, an
organization he started two
years ago and which Falwell
boasts has 4 million members.
The 2,000 that gathered to
hear Falwell at Tuesday's rally
was less than the 5,000 sup
porters predicted would attend
The crowd was split almost
evenly between supporters and
non-supporters.