Mindpower — meaningless in budget crisis
K'S irony at its most bitter that today marks the
beginning of National Higher Education Week
while colleges and universities in this and other
state systems are in the throes of financial disaster.
Two weeks ago Portland State University
declared financial exigency — bankruptcy. They
did so to compiy with a faculty union agreement
requiring a year’s notice before laying off tenured
faculty. It’s obvious that PSU will be laying off
qualified faculty to stay afloat.
PSU, like all eight state campuses, was told by
Chancellor Roy Lieuallen to submit 1982-83 bud
gets 4 percent less than present spending levels.
That may not seem like an extraordinary cut —
but this 4 percent is another slice into a budget
pared by $118 million and shaved another 3.5
percent by Gov. Vic Atiyeh. Compound this with
last year’s special session budget measures
Higher education may have been pushed off a cliff
and is plummeting to a depth where financial
survival is doubtful.
Who's to blame? Most point to the chronic
failure of Oregon's lumber industry, which has had
revenues slumping way below expectations The
Legislature advised institutions that they would
have to reduce or eliminate programs if they
wanted to maintain faculty and instruction.
What's to guarantee when — and if — the ailing
lumber industry recovers the Legislature will
restore institutional budgets to original, pre-1980
levels?
Even if the lumber industry makes a vital
recovery, there lies the immediate specter of
"Reaganomics” on the horizon.
Irving Spitzberg, general secretary of the
American Association of University Professors
said in The Chronicle of Higher Education, "All the
problems we are seeing right now are the over
ture. The sad symphony itself will be when the
Reagan cuts come.”
The shifting of education programs from federal
to state control, meaning less state funding, is
what concerns educators. Pres. Ronald Reagan
has already ordered a $16 billion cut in college
aid.
It all seems a hopeless tangle of circumstances
that we as students, faculty and administrators
can do little to unravel.
But these cuts to higher education were put into
effect by the legislature, and me governor - not to
mention the federal cuts being orchestrated by
Pres Reagan All those people are elected of
ficials If they are not being responsible we can
remove them through the ballot box.
The colleges and universities are right now
educating the future of this country Mindpower -
America’s greatest energy source - are the
bywords of Higher Education Week. Those
bywords are just empty phrases if higher educa
tion is permited to perish at the hands of misguid
ed legislators
To shrug and accept fewer course sections,
less faculty, and institution closures — which is
being seriously considered at the University of
Washington — amounts to mute compliance with
those short-sighted enough to continually hack
away at higher education budgets
There are some truly special events scheduled
for Higher Education Week at the University,
culminating in Pres Paul Olum's inauguration
Let’s not allow this week and the weeks following
to be the last hurrah for higher education in
Oregon
It's a cliche — but your voice can make a
difference in the future of higher education
Bowing to pressure
Pres. Olum and others who claim that (1) an
arrangement with an outside environmental group is
violating university "neutrality" and (2) that therefore
the environmental law clinic should be thrown off
campus, are wrong in both their assumptions and their
remedy This university (or any other) is not now
neutral, never has been and never will be Can Olum
point to one example of university "neutrality"?
Advocating different points of view forms the
foundation of education. Also, throwing the law clinic
off campus is itself not a "neutral" action, it is a clear
bowing to pressure from such as Aaron Jones, a
multi-millionare race-horse fancier and owner of the
non-union Seneca lumber mill, big-business front
groups such FORE (Foundation for Oregon Re
search and Education), a few influential Law School
alumni, and a misinformed labor union, Lumber
Production Industrial Workers A much greater volume
of support for the clinic has come from 44 state legisla
tors, almost all other labor unions (including all campus
labor unions), all major state newspapers, and some
national publications (e g Sports Illustrated), not to
mention almost all Law School students Therefore
Olum's intended actions are clearly taking a position,
and it is that of a wealthy and powerful outside minority
Olum's actions are an example of passivity, not of
neutrality A "neutral” action would be to invite the
timber companies to set up a law clinic to help educate
students about their positions This way, even more
money could be brought into the hard-pressed Univer
sity Instead, Olum's actions will just worsen the finan
cial condition of the University, should the National
Wildlife Federation remove its thousands of dollars of
support However, lumber companies may not judge it
necessary to pay for their own clinic, since their views
already seem to be so well represented at the Universi
ty
The Emerald deserves credit for covering the story in i
detail and for taking a stand, because this issue is a !
crucial one. not just for the University, but for the <
society at large Organized labor has recognized its <
importance, because at the national level, the AFL-CIO i
has formed a coalition with many environmental groups <
to combat the Reagan attacks on the Occupational
Health and Safety Act, the degradation of air quality,
etc The International Woodworker's Association Pre
sident, Keith Johnson, is spearheading the coalition in
the Northwest
Dick Young
Research Associate
Psychology
Question tuition increases
Well, fellow students, once again we succumb to our
apathy, and bow down to the powers that be in the
bureaucracy Once again we allow ourselves to be the
victims of forces seemingly beyond our control Begin
ning this term, Fall 1981, we have been saddled with an
increase in our general deposit of $25, and an increase
in tuition of almost twice that Have you not even
questioned way this has come about, or are you only too
willing to simply put up and shut up 7
Admittedly, the reasons lying behind the increases in
tuition and fees are many and complicated However,
this does not release us, as those who bear the brunt of
the increases, from our responsibilities to bitch and
moan about the increases Admittedly, our bitching and
moaning should have occurred last year, when we were
in a better position to influence our elected repre
sentatives in government Now, due to our apathy, we
have created our own abyss and are falling into it
Rather than sit docilely by and put up with these
increases, I would rather suggest that you join me in
writing to the State Board of Higher Education, Pre
sent Paul Olum, your representatives in Congress,
rour parents, local newspapers, (even The Emerald)
}tc It is too late tor this year, or even the next,
jnfortunately, but perhaps if we start now some
:hanges can be made for the future
Start writing'
Barbara G. Powell
Senior, CSPA
Newsletter in error
This is to inform those vets who picked up a copy of
the University Veterans newsletter that the American
Legion and the American Red Cross do not offer short
term loans to vets as I stated in the newsletter While the
Red Cross will help veterans in cases of extreme need,
like no food and no heat, they do not offer short term
loans
I apologize to those of you who made inquiries into
these organizations, to the organizations themselves,
and to David Isenberg, director of the University Ve
terans Association, who seems to have caught most of
the flack for my errors
David Wellafry
Coordinator, University Veterans Newsletter
Proud union member
As a member of the classified staff of the University
and as a proud union member, I echo the sentiments of
Nancy Garvin in her letter of Sept 29 concerning the
Pair iqcup
The aim of OPEU is to secure the best possible
contract for classified employees and to have the ability
to enforce that contract efficiently That has not been
totally possible in the past because of the large per
centage of employees who have been willing to freeload
off the labors of their fellow employees in the union
Why the outrage over Fair Share? Every other public
employee union that I know of has had it for years Right
here at the University the Graduate Teaching Fellows
Federation has had Fair Share for sometime Several
other state agencies, like Adult and Family Services,
and the Department of Transportation, have had Fair
Share since 1977
At the recent OPEU convention further steps were
taken to make the dues structure even more fair The
minimum dues level of $9 was reduced to $7 for
employees who gross less then $500 a month, (mostly
part-timers) Other than that the dues structure was not
raised and cannot be raised until the next convention,
which isn't scheduled for another 2 years
The members of the union are the ones who
demanded Fair Share in this contract We are sick and
tired of the non-members holding us, (and themselves),
back You cannot tell me that the motive of most of the
signers of the de-authorization petition isn't simply
blind cheapness
Alan W. Brown
Custodian, Education
Friday, October 2, 1981