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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 14, 1981)
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Vol 53, No 7 Eugene, Oregon 97403 Tuesday, July 14, 1981 CALC blasts eviction rule By HEIDI SWILLINGER OMha Emaraid Controversy continues over the evic tion of Clergy and Laity Concerned and the Coalition Opposing Registration and the Draft from the Koinonia Center CORD member Christina Cowger says motivation for the eviction is largely political She claims John Skillern, a board member of University Christian Properties, which owns the Koinonia Center, told her that "Philosophically, your activities don't meet with the pur poses of the building " Skillern says Cowger is "making something more out of this than there is " He says the two anti-draft groups were asked to leave simply because "The Methodists are leaving the Wesley Center and they need the space " But according to Wesley Center board member John Sherwood, "We have no commitment to go into Koinonia There have been discussions, but there has been no definite decision to move " Skillern says former UCP board member Doug Huneke advised the board at a June 3 meeting that the Methodists wanted to rent the center. However Robert Harland, a Wesley Center board representative, says dis cussion with Huneke about the possibili ty of the move was only of an explora tory nature " Huneke, who moved to California three weeks ago, could not be reached for comment "The original intent of the Koinonia Center was for that to be a collective religious center tor various ministries on campus," says UCP board member Cal Zigler "When the Methodists indicated they were interested in officing there, that was a priority item ” He says the Methodists were offered the basement area that CORD was using but that because it "was unsatisfactory to them," the UCP board voted to ask CALC to leave Why then, if the Methodists were unin terested in the basement area, was CORD evicted9 UCP board members Zigler and Sue Gordon do not recall having discussed asking CORD to leave at the June 3 Continued on Page 2 Photo by Erich Boekelhetde Lookin' good An Oregon Country Fair performer makes sure he is dressed for the occasion, bringing back memories of a bygone decade He was only one of the thousands of people who turned out over the weekend for the Fair. See pages 6 and 7 for photos of the Fair as well as the Emerald Empire Round-Up. Levy defeat hurts area Lane County and Eugene public ser vice programs already are feeling the effects of last week’s special budget election. Taxpayers voted down the county’s proposed $1.6 million tax levy, causing the loss of 30 public safety workers, including 13 uniformed officers and seven detectives Marcia Morgan, community relations director for the sheriff's office, says several services will be reduced or eliminated, such as the investigation of minor or non-injury traffic accidents, removal of abandoned vehicles from highways, assistance in recoveries of lost or stolen bicycles, and response to residential and business burglar alarms. “We're trying to shift people around and cover as much as possible,” Morgan says The defeat of Eugene’s Tier II levy, a $1 3 million supplement to the city’s core budget, affects 27 services and 11 capi tal projects, says Carol Baker, public information officer for the city. "They were all things that would have improved or extended services we have already,” Baker says. Tier II benefits included money for 19 playground programs for next summer, residential street lights — as well as lights along bike paths — and materials and training for a 24-member police reserve force The housing program for the low in come and elderly will continue to operate on a diminished budget, Baker says. However, the city will be unable to acquire land for a new fire station in South Eugene and there will be no mon ey available for designing and engineer ing a proposed station on Polk Street The Eugene Public Library was hit particularly hard by the levy failure “The part that concerns us most is the book budget,” says Helen Howard, as sistant city librarian “We lost $29,000 below last year's book budget in Tier II,” plus $45,000 that would have covered inflation and population growth in the 1981-82 fiscal year, she says As a result, Howard says reserve lists will be longer Profs agree students don’t write ‘real good’ By ANN PORTAL Of Iha EmtriM Editor's note This is the second of a three-part series examining a renewed emphasis on student writing abilities Do University students write good9 No — they don't even write well Student writing has shown little improvement since it began to decline 10 years ago, professors agree The student who understands agreement, tenses, parts of speech and diction still is the exception, not the rule However, professors now are well aware of the problems the literary crisis can cause students at a liberal arts univer sity But professors say they are helping students with writing problems that should have been solved long before students enter college Most professors agree that the crisis grows from roots that lie deep in the educational sys tem — Johnny passes through primary and secondary school without ever encountering grammar "The vast majority of students who come to us don't have the faintest idea how to put sen tences together," says Jack Hart, acting journalism dean Even if grammar is introduced in the curriculum, the acquain tance may be so brief that Johnny soon forgets the exper ience "I think they're getting it (grammar instruction) again, but you can't depend on what they're getting," says John Gage, assistant English profes sor Hart says the problem begins with grammar and high-school teachers who have graduated under writing requirements that were relaxed at universities during the 60s and 70s The teachers can’t write, he says, but most will retain their tenured positions for years, en suring that future generations of students won’t receive the writ ing instruction they need "We've dug ourselves a damn deep hole," he says Poor writing skills handicap University students in a number of ways, says Kathleen Dubs, assistant English professor and director of competition Students who are aware of their poor skills may avoid courses where they have to write, she says Or if they take the courses anyway, their grades may be lower just because they can’t express their ideas ”1 had one student say to me, I'm getting Cs when I should be getting Bs because of my writ ing,' ” Dubs says "And she was right " History professor Gustave Alef says 33 to 50 percent of his freshmen history class inevita bly flunks the first exam, largely because of poor writing Alef says that he and his three GTFs must correct each exam for grammar and spelling "Who ever heard of this nonsense?" he says Alef says students in his up per-level courses have better writing skills, but that may be due to a natural selection process Students hear through the grapevine about courses that require writing and may decide not to take those courses, he says. Hart says journalism profes sors now must spend a majority of their time teaching mechan ics, which means students with potential don't get the attention they deserve He also objects to well trained, well-paid professors using their time to teach writing But Dubs says many profes sors don't spend time helping students with their writing He estimates that 7 out of 10 in structors will not assume any responsibility for student writing in their courses Part of the problem is that many disciplines assume com munication simply is a process of getting information across, so the student is not rewarded for saying what he has to say well, Gage says
