Emerald
Vol. 82, No. 165
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Friday, May 29, 1981
Law clinic
claims win
in la wsuit
By JEFF BAKER
Ol the Emerald
The University environmental law clin
ic won a “significant victory” Wednes
day in an Idaho timber case. Or did it?
A U S. District Court judge ruled that
two environmental impact statements
submitted by the U.S Forest Service were
invalid.
Judge Fred Taylor also dismissed a
suit brought by the Idaho Wildlife Feder
ation, which was represented by the law
clinic. Clinic co-directors John Bonine
and Terence Thatcher were attorneys of
record for the federation.
Bonine called the judge’s ruling a
"pretty significant victory,” a claim that
an attorney for Evergreen Forest
Products can’t believe. Evergreen was a
co-defendent in the suit along with the
forest service and Boise Cascade.
"They sure weren’t claiming victory in
court yesterday,” Boise attorney Hugh
O'Riordan said. “I’d call it a Pyrrhic
victory — one where they lost more than
they won.”
O’Riordan said the National Forest
Practices Act allows national forests to
operate under old timber management
plans while new plans are being chal
lenged. Since the environmental impact
statements were rejected by the court,
the old plans go into effect in the two
southwestern Idaho national forests in
question.
i nc uiu piaris aiiow more roaa duiio
ing and timber harvesting,” than the
rejected statements did, O’Riordan said.
“Our people are happy because they
want to cut timber."
Bonine, reached by phone in Boulder,
Colo., said the government’s attitude
was “ ‘too bad, now we re going to use
the old ones.' ’’
Thatcher said although he was “not
absolutely clear what they’ll do,” he said
the government “hinted rather broadly"
that it would return to the old plans.
The next legal move is up to the feder
ation, both sides agreed. The federation
will “review any announcement of activi
ty in that area very closely," Thatcher
said.
"We don’t think the old plans can be
successfully challenged,” O’Riordan
said. “They’ve been around for 13 years
and have never been contested.”
Bonine and Thatcher paid tribute to
the “at least six” law students who
worked on the legal briefs used in the
case.
“It’s a tribute to the educational sys
tem that a group of law students can
force the forest service to obey the law,"
Bonine said
Not all Eugene residents consider the
law clinic a tribute to the educational
system.
The law clinic’s involvement in the
Idaho case sparked protests in January
and February from several forest
products executives, notably sawmill
owner Aaron Jones.
Jones threatened to withhold a
$250,000 donation to the University’s
proposed basketball pavilion if the clinic
was not disbanded. He said the law clin
ic, as a part of the University, should not
take stands on controversial issues.
Photo by Steve Dykes
Byers bests fast field
Tom Byers of Athletics West set a meet record of 3:55.73 in winning the featured
mile at Thursday's Twilight Meet at Hayward Field. Byers led four other runners
below the four-minute mark, including Bill McChesney, Rudy Chapa, Ed Spinney
and Ken Martin. Story on Page 8.
Lieuallen
pleads for
higher ed
By GREG WASSON
Of the Emerald
SALEM — The battle to save higher
education is moving into a new phase
and all segments of the enterprise in
vaded the capitol Thursday
First, Chancellor Roy Lieuallen and the
presidents of the University, Oregon
State and Portland State pleaded with
the House Revenue Committee to ap
prove Gov. Vic Atiyeh’s revenue propo
sal so that the state budget won't require
the drastic cuts threatened.
Then, students from around the state
held another rally on the capitol steps
and visited lawmakers from their areas,
encouraging them to avoid the carnage
that would result without additional
funds.
In his testimony, Lieuallen contended
that the past fifteen years have seen
higher ed forced farther back in the
pack.
"During the decade of 1967 to 1977,"
the chancellor said, "The share of the
states general fund allocated to higher
education has dropped from 24.4 per
cent to 14.6 percent.”
Lieuallen added that Oregon enrolls in
its four-year institutions about the same
percentage of its population as the na
tional average. If the money is drastically
reduced, he warned, the state should
consider reducing access.
Lieuallen predicted that without addi
tional money, 100 faculty and 35 classi
fied employees will be terminated this fall
with an additional 400 faculty and 265
classified personnel going the following
year. The chancellor estimated that the
layoff would be accompanied by denial
of access to 7,000 students.
Many of the professors who would be
terminated have tenure, a situation that
requires a declaration of financial ex
igency before the system can lay them off
or reduce their salaries.
Such a declaration, Lieaullen told the
committee, is the same as a declaration
of bankruptcy and would cause the word
to “be spread far and wide among
academics and will reduce the attrac
tiveness of the state system to able
students and faculty
Additionally, Lieuallen warned, the
declaration would cause faculty and
students already here to look for other
opportunities.
“While openings elsewhere might be
sparse, there are always places for the
best The best ones are the ones we can
least afford to lose.”
The same message was given to the
students as they gathered on the steps
by House majority leader Grattan Ke
rans, D-Eugene
“You don’t destroy universities and
then bring them back two years later
When the funding is gone and the faculty
is gone, you don’t call them back we
didn't mean it.’ "
Among the cuts proposed by the Ways
and Means committee in the event addi
tional money doesn’t become available is
$200,000 given to campus radio stations
Such a move would mean the end of
$123,000 slated for KWAX and the
$70,000 budgeted for KSOR at Southern
Oregon State College in Ashland.