emerald
Voi 83, No 52
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Monday, November 16, 1981
Photo by Bob Baker
Windy Weekend
The weekend weather left its mark on the Kappa Sigma fraternity at 1090
Alder street Saturday, at about 6:30 a m., a tree bounced from a neighboring
roof onto the frat's, causing extensive damage to both Dan Delaney, president
of Kappa Sigma, surveys the damage
Local pair’s generosity
graces University, OSU
A Eugene couple who believe higher
education needs relief more than home
owners do, have donated their rebate to
two Oregon universities
To send a message to state legislators,
Norman and Elizabeth Boyles split their
1981 property tax rebate, sending equal
amounts of the $280 and some cents"
to the University and to Oregon State
University
"We thought one was as hard up as
the other," Norman Boyles says
Boyles, who worked for 10 years as a
custodial supervisor at the University
before retiring in 1974, says he and his
wife feel higher education is less of a
priority in the state right now
Gov Vic Atiyeh's property tax relief
program is more concerned with return
ing money to those who may not really
need it than supporting necessary state
services, he says
"To me, it doesn’t make very good
sense," Boyles says "Why don't they
give that money to the universities9"
The Boyles' son and daughter attend
ed the University, three nephews
graduated from OSU with degrees in
mechanical engineering, and a son-in
law teaches landscape architecture at
OSU
But Norman Boyles says his son-in-law
had to find another job when it was
announced his department would be
eliminated at the end of the year
He says he hopes he can influence
others to spend their property tax rebate
the same way, although he says he
doesn't know of anyone who's thinking
about it
University Pres Paul Olum and Roy
Lieuallen, Chancellor of the Oregon
State Board of Higher Education, both
sent letters thanking the couple for their
contribution Boyles says he hasn t
heard from OSU
Giving back the nearly $300 means "a
little belt tightening and a couple less
Christmas presents," Boyles says, ad
ding "we just thought it might help "
Computer ‘bugs’
clog registration
No systems go on pre-registration plans
By ANN PORTAL
Of the Emerald
After fall term’s almost
overwhelming computer problems and
setbacks, the dream of computer pre
registration for University students this
winter is dead
Unwilling to continue extending
"overly optimistic" promises, two
University administrators immersed in
planning pre-registration say they are no
longer able to even predict a “birthdate"
for the complex new system
It’s been a very difficult pregnancy,”
says Gerald Moseley, associate provost
for student affairs
In the past, some University personnel
have said, Yes, we can do it by a certain
time, but that's never been true, says
Registrar Wanda Johnson
"Pre-registration is a nice feature, and
this institution should be moving toward
that,' but the University must first build a
solid foundation, she says
With a pre-registration plan, students
would submit course requests and alter
nates, allowing the registrar's office to
pinpoint problems resulting from over
crowding
That's what we need desperately
That’s the soul of pre-registration,"
Johnson says
The student would be given a tentative
schedule, and changes could be made
through a MacArthur Court process
similar to the present one The new sys
tem would give students more time to talk
with advisors and would allow the
University to eventually adopt a com
puter billing system, enabling students to
pay by mail
The first brick in the pre-registration
foundation, conversion from an old
computer to a new IBM 43-41, was laid in
July, six months behind schedule
Student records were then fed into a new
Student Information File containing ba
sic biographical data on each student
That conversion has been the source of
most of this fall’s problems.
During the conversion, the University
should have run the old and new com
puters as parallel systems in order to
monitor problems, Moseley says Al
though some parallel programs were
run, time limitations pulled the plug on
others The old computer's lease expired
and the University was forced to rely on
the new computer, "de-bugging" while
operating on line, he says
We asked for trouble, and we got
trouble,” Moseley says "Everybody’s at
their wits’ end ”
Among the problems have been tran
scripts with information missing, regis
tration packets (for 5.000 new students)
lost because no program for producing
them had been written, reversed drop
adds and 17,000 forms printed with in
correct information
Before pre-registration can even be
considered, the Student Information File
must be completely ”de-bugged’ and
the second layer of the foundation — a
Student Records Master file — must be
laid. Johnson says.
The Student Records Master will con
tain the cumulative academic records of
students, past and present
Unfortunately, the file that contains
student information from previous years
is poorly documented and not in good
order, Johnson says Every time infor
mation is taken from those disks (cur
rently stored in a locked closet), the
accuracy of the files is jeopardized, she
says
“The integrity of that file is very
troublesome to some of us who work with
it day to day."
The central issue, which will be the
Pre-registration
without adequate
computer programs
would be a “night
mare”.
most difficult to ‘ de-bug," is a familiar
one — a lack of funds
Over the past three years, as much as
$750,000 has been spent on the conver
sion. Moseley says. But no development
money was given for the project, so the
money has come from deferring main
tenance on the old system and increas
ing workloads People have resigned
and some classified positions have been
moved from other areas to work on pre
registration and conversion, he says
The new files require additional
software and programs that staff have
attempted to create in their “spare time”
using programs from other universities
But many programs still need to be
written, and there will be much discus
sion of whether certain registration
policies should be revised to eliminate
the need for some of those programs, he
says
Moseley says administrators in charge
of pre-registration have been asking for
additional money since 1968 Even if
there were an "ample pouring on of
money” now pre-registration is impos
sible this year, he says.
At the direction of University Pres Paul
Olum, the pre-registration team is trying
to assess the simplest, most cost-effec
tive system for “some form" of pre
registration, without going all the way,
Moseley says
Johnson says there is a possibility of
going ahead with a “crash system,”
depending on what the administration
decides, but she says she wants at least
an 80 percent chance of success
‘‘I bet I want pre-registration more than
Johnson Hall does," she says, but pre
registration without adequate computer
programs would be a “ nightmare”
Without more money for development,
pre-registration is impossible, Johnson
says
It may take four or five years for the
entire system to be converted. Moseley
says, yet intense efforts and a commit
ment to pre-registration survive
It isn't a lost idea It is to be done