opinion_
Olum’s inaugural comes at tough time
Paul Olum will be formally inaugurated as the
thirteenth president of the University Sunday The
ceremony — weather permitting — is scheduled to
be held in the Old Campus Quadrangle near
Deady and Villard halls
The inaugural and pre-inaugural activites Sa
turday are open to the public That means every
student can — and should — attend
Olum takes charge of the University at a time
when the future of higher education is uncertain
All over the state system colleges and universities
are on the verge of what is called "financial
exigency”.
In layman's terms that's bankruptcy.
Survivial of quality education at the University is
the main concern of Olum and his administration
It will be the toughest test of his tenure in office
Olum. in reference to Portland State University
declaring financial exigency, has come out with
statements stridently resisting this for the Univer
sity.
“It’s a pretty strong action — a public announ
cement to the academic world that you’ve broken
faith I would like to resist doing that,” Olum said
There have been several editorials written lately
concerning the pros and cons of fair share in the
University Classified Contract As president of the
OPEU Local 085 I. too, support fair share Aside from
my personal views, I support it because of what went
into negotiating it into the collective bargaining
agreement
When I went around campus last spring to discuss
negotiations with OPEU members, their biggest com
plaint was that they were stuck footing the bill for
everyone Fair share wasn't put into this contract by
accident, it was put there by membership involvement
When I hear non-members say they want a choice I
answer them in the following way You had a choice
during negotiations and you chose to sit on the other
side of the table If those of you who are fighting to
deauthorize fair share had put your energy into
negotiations every classified employee would have
benefited
If you disagree with the law, change the law Don't
attack those who must adhere to it
Fair share choice
Beckie Bragg
President, OPEU Local 085
a
neerer nafjiessness
On the subject of legalization of marijuana I d like to
relate an incident that occurred a couple of weeks ago
The story is true, but in fairness to those involved all
names have been omitted
Once there was a young man with a master's degree
in music and a secondary teaching certificate, who
loved nothing in the world better than leading marching
bands He had a nice job in a nice city and was doing
very well Unfortunately, the band leader was seen one
evening at a party where some of his students were
using the demon weed Since there was no evidence
that he had partaken, the records were closed and he
was asked to seek a new position
Being an excellent teacher, he found employment
very quickly; in a very small town, also in the Northwest
Unbeknownst to him, however, the police department
decided they needed to know why he had left his former
position Since the records had been closed, they were
forced to search deeper and soon very cleverly came up
with newspaper clippings about the case Written
before the hearing, the clippings were not quite accur
ate; they alleged more than was true
Meanwhile, in a secluded area of his backyard, where
no one could see them without a careful search, the
bandleader grew four scrawny plants for his own
consumption After leading a ragtag, small town, no
account band to victory at the state competition, using
his own arrangements and often composing the music
himself, the bandleader was rewarded with a search
warrant and a court date Plea bargaining brought him
the opportunity to plead guilty to a felony and hopefully
be assigned two years probation, the records sealed
thereafter
The fateful court appearance began The small town
police gleefully presented the fruits of their endeavor:
oi jrs
Olum, by this position, illustrates he is the leader
this University needs to survive the budget ons
laught of the Legislature He seems knowledgea
ble concerning what programs can be trimmed,
and what others need to be augmented Olum.
while he was the acting president, has demon
strated that his administration is responsive to the
views of faculty and students alike
The possiblity of financial exigency remains
remote at the University Olum continues to reject
the idea of letting go tenured faculty and elimin
ating academic programs
Olum has had a distinguished career in higher
education He spent 25 years on the mathematics
faculty at Cornell University He later became
dean of the natural science college at the Univer
sity of Texas at Austin He was appointed provost
and academic vice president at the University in
1976, becoming the acting president when William
Boyd resigned in 1980 In April Olum was selected
to be Boyd's permanent replacement
Some people have questioned it this is the
proper time to stage the pomp and circumstance
of an inaugural ceremony Olum himself was less
than keen on the idea It was the urging of some
faculty and administrators that convinced him to
go ahead with the ceremony
This is the proper time for an inaugural cer
emony. The ceremony shows that behind the
doom and gloom of the legislative cuts and the
specter of bare-bones education, the spirit of
higher education continues to be vital That,
despite the indiscernible future of higher educa
tion in Oregon, the University goes on
The inaugural is not to be thought of as a gala at
the Palace of Versailles while the peasants are
marching, although these can be thought of as the
best of times and the worst for the University
Olum deserves this inaugural to show him the
University community is behind him The Emerald
wishes him nothing but the best of luck with his
tenure in office
N0&3W LOVES A PEMTIST
the clippings and the four plants (they had cut the plants
up to increase the volume) Each side presented its
case and when they were through, the judge pron
ounced sentence ”1 don’t feel that probation is war
ranted in this case " he began The bandleader s heart
sunk
"I wish you could contribute this money to legaliza
tion I see more and more of you middle-class profes
sionals getting into trouble for the social use of mar
ijuana I wish you would contribute more to getting it
legalized The people selling it aren't going to ”
The bandleader suppressed a smile The iudge drew
a large "X" over the clippings "Small town police
departments are always making the mistake of trying to
do investigative work These have no bearing on the
case I'm going to fine you $1,000 As soon as it's paid,
the records will be closed "
Asked to resign, the bandleader is seeking em
ployment in a larger city far away from that small town
The town, incidentally, has a new bandleader A clean
cut, God-fearing, non-recovering alcoholic
At least he doesn't smoke pot
Merrl Horine
Senior, political science/psychology
Survivability
Intense debate is, at this very moment, taking place in
the chambers of the senate armed services committee
The debate is centered around the subject of
survivability To be more specific, survivability in the
event of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union
General David Jones, chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff at the Pentagon, does not agree with President
Reagan's plan to base the MX nuclear missile in
stationary silos Jones claims that placing the MX in that
manner will decrease survivability as opposed to former
President Carter's plan for placing the nuclear missile
system in a complex series of underground bunkers
connected by tunnels Senator Henry Jackson of Wa
shington concurs. “Placing the MX missile in stationary
silos greatly enhances the likelihood that these loca
tions will become primary nuclear targets "
The debate, of course is about which MX basing
system is more likely to survive a a nuclear attack It is
not a debate over which system will assure human
' survival “
I ask you Doesn't it seem at all strange to you that
these people (and here I use the term people'' loosely)
who are supposed to be defending and representing
you are more concerned about protecting their damned
tools of destruction than about protecting you
What kind of morality is it that says we must kill just as
many millions of their people as they kill millions of
ours7 Is it our moral responsibility to incinerate untold
millions of human beings for the sake of a political
ideal7 Don't you think the debate should be about
humankind’s survival rather than weapons systems
survival7
Bradley Passenger
Junior, psychology
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