Higher ed: Fighting for its life
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Groups mass for lobbying efforts
KATHERINE EATON,chairer of
the University senate, recently
noted “the frustration of rhetoric"
in letter writing campaigns
designed to sway the legislative tied
of cutting University funds in order
to meet an anticipated shortfall of
state money.
Some faculty, staff, ASUO officers
and students have decided to
forgo the letter writing and take the
process one step further-in
the form of lobbying at the capito!
during the Legislature's special
session
Lobbying for faculty and staff will
be headed by the Oregon
Federation of Teachers AFL/CIO
According to a spokesperson in
Portland who heads the state wide
lobbying effort, the federation
opposes "any cuts in agency
budgets “
“There have been too many cuts
already we’ve already been
weakened beyond repair. " the
spokesperson says
The federation also says that
political motivation is behind the
legislator's decisions
According to the federation's
representative, most legislators are
more concerned with looking good
tor re-election than doing what is
best for state agencies
“I think that point is right on," the
OTF spokesperson says "In the
special session of 1980( which was
also an election year), we couldn't
even get them to listen We talked
revenue, revenue, revenue, they
said cut."
The lobbying efforts of the
ASUO's executives began last
week, when the ASUO recruited a
number of students to make up a
lobbying delegation coordinated by
the state and public affairs division
of the ASUO
Lobbying the revenue committees
of both houses, students will be
asked to offer one day a week for
the special session's duration
ASUO officials expressed an
anticipated "attrition" among
students, especially as the session
goes on longer, ASUO executive
coordinator John Moore told the
Student University Affairs Board
Jan 7.
Interested students attended a
two-hour informal session given by
Curt Simic. University vice president
for public services, and Bob
Watrus, executive director of the
Oregon Student Lobby
The Oregon Student Lobby is an
organization representing the
students of most of the state
colleges and will be in charge of
lobbying the joint Ways and Means
Committee and its education
subcommittees
Students on the lobbying team "
will be briefed assigned
committees and debriefed each
day they lobby and will be able to
use a University car to travel to
Salem
The lobbyists will be required to
bnef John Stewart ASUO vice
president for state and public
affairs, the morning after they return
from Salem
Interested students should talk to
Stewart. ASUO legislative
coordinator Dave Bums, or ASUO
secretary Marcia Noble
“What I have seen is good."
Watrus says about the ASUO s
efforts to organize student
lobbyists
The ASUO has made a good
effort to reach out to students and
get them involved he adds
Watrus is uncertain, however,
about the effect the OSL will have
on the special session
“The barriers (to students
influencing legislation) are
considerable But the students'
case will be made In terms of a
crystal ball, it's very hard (to tell),”
he said
WATRUS IS CONFIDENT that the
legislature won't restructure higher
education because such a move
would take considerable time, and
legislators don't want a long
session
Legislators are more likely to say,
“Something has to be done about
transfer payments. ” he savs
Student University Affairs Board
members plan to lobby in Salem
Tuesday hoping to first talk to
legislators from their home districts
and then lobbying other key
legislators and observing relevant
committees
Gov Vic Atiyeh will meet with the
Board at 3 p m Members are
planning to present a strong case in
opposition to the S28 million budget
cut he proposes for higher
education
The Graduate Teaching
Fetlowsh ip Federation is also
planning lobbying efforts for the
first day of the special session
aimed directly at legislators GTFs
and other interested parties are
planning carpools to travel up to
Salem Members also suggested
some form of a demonstration
According to Charlie Aker an
employee of the GTFF the main
thrust of their efforts will be
discussions with legislators During
a recent convocation, GTFs
brainstormed about which
legislators to target for a campaign
Classified staff members in the
Oregon Public Employees Union
gathered last Thursday to discuss
options in their efforts at lobbying
According to Becky Bragg, the
University representative of the
OPEU, plans were still uncertain as
to how many people would actively
participate
But. says Bragg, "we want to do
as much as we are able to do "
The OPEU group in Eugene is
planning several events The first on
their agenda is a lobbying effort
scheduled for the Jan 26 Id
estimate two carloads, says Donna
Glather, who works in the AAA
library "That doesn't sound like a
lot." says Glather, "but when
people have to take vacation time to
get away, it is (a lot)
THE OPEU is going to form a
caucus in earty February to take
"testimony” to present to
legislators They also plan a voter
registration drive to tie-in with the
special session
Thomas Brady a University
history professor and member of
the University chapter of the OFT
says that while University staff are
permitted to lobby, they are
restricted in that they may not
represent the University, only
themselves as individuals
The tone that most of the
University employee s unions are
taking is best stated by the OFT
representative
"Even taking a 5 percent cut is
unacceptable ”
By Debbie Howiett and Dane
Claussen
Cover photo by Bob Baker
Board’s decision
angers legislators
ONE ISSUE CERTAIN to emerge at the special session is just
how much influence legislators should have over areas of higher
education to be trimmed — or slashed
A letter presented to the State Board of Higher Education in
December indicates some state representatives and senators may
try increase their participation in those decisions
"We are concerned about the process you have used to arrive
at decisions about reductions," says the letter, signed by 27
legislators and presented to the board by one signer, Rep Margie
Hendrik sen, D-Eugene
"We feel that it is your responsibility as a Board to provide
informed public oversight and decision-making,” the letter
continues
"If you fail to exercise this responsibility, it is predictable that
the Legislature will exercise it for you — not because legislators
are better informed or have more time, but simply by default."
Rep Grattan Kerans, D-Eugene, another letter signer, says he
thinks many legislators stiH agree with the philosophy contained in
the letter
Those legislators would rather have quality at all of the state
institutions, with no additional cuts in the already austere budgets,
he says
But if that isn't possible, the colleges and universities can't
continue to engage in the mindless, bureaucratic approach" of a
certain percentage cut applied to each institution, Kerans says
"I think a growing number of people have the same feeling "
State board members apparently" have a different attitude,
he says Chancellor Roy Lieuallen has been a strong higher
education advocate for20 years and is doing his best to maintain
the present level of service, Kerans says
I can stand on his side of the structure and see his view
perfectly "
Yet Kerans says he thinks curriculum matters and program
reductions have ended up at the special session "by default," and
that's too bad, he says
Legislators have made program decisions before, such as
eliminating state support from physical education during the 1981
session, but legislatorsdo not necessarily have the background to
make those types of decisions, Kerans says
But he says the time has come to make realistic choices The
goal no longer appears to be across-the-board cuts in which "the
good, the bad and the ugly all get it the same
"We seem to be or that track, and there seems to be no force
to stop that track."
By Ann Portal
$2,119
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•^$1,993 • PERCENT CHANGE IN
AVERAGE COST • ONE
STUDENT
(1964-65) (1969-70) (1974-75) (1979-80)
YEAR
(1980-81)
STUDENT STATE
1964-1980 UP 142% UP 153%
1980-81 UP 11% DOWN 6%
OVERALL UP 153% UP 147%
1982
TUITION
Where do we go from
here?
SOURCE Keith Jackson. State System of Higher Education
(1981-82)
Atiyeh’s cuts may be partly passed
LEGISLATORS APPEAR unlikely to
accept all of Gov Vic Atiyeh's ideas on
what should be cut from the higher
education budget But his proposal is the
important foundation on which state
politicians will build
Atiyeh's budget plans include a $28 1
million cut to be absorbed by Oregon’s
state colleges and universities His
proposal, based on four 5-percent
packages prepared by the State Board of
Higher Education, accepts the first two
packages of cuts, each totaling more than
$11 million
The governor's proposal agrees with the
areas earmarked for cuts by the board
Although the board would have control
over how cuts would be distributed, those
submitted to (and approved by) Atiyeh offer
a clue as to what areas could suffer in
another round of cuts
The items in Package One include:
• $1.5 million to be gained through a
tuition increase (which a board
representative says would probably mean
keeping the $49-per-term surcharge
imposed for this winter and spring terms).
• $2.98 million gained from a 1.5
percent reduction in the
Full-Time-Equivalent of all classified staff
and faculty. The board says this would
require equal a four-day layoff for
12-month personnel, with a slightly shorter
layoff for 9-month personnel.
• $3 37 million worth of program
reductions (which actually were prepared
in case of budget problems last fall and
already are in place)
• $1 million in summer session and
“other program” cuts. This cut would
delete all state support of summer term, so
students would have to shoulder 100
percent of the cost of that term, meaning
another tuition increase. Students have, in
the past, paid 94 percent of the cost of
their summer education
• $2.8 million gained from changes in
debt service requirements and debt serving
earnings that can be applied to the
operating budget (this requires no cuts, but
is only a transferring of money from one
area to another)
Package 2 has only one item: a 6.5
percent Full-Time Equivalent reduction in
the salaries of all classified staff,
administrators and faculty. Added to the
1.5 percent reduction in Package 1, the
total time 12-month staff would be layed off
is 20 days. Nine-month employees would
be layed off 16 days.
By Ann Portal
Graphic by Max DeRungs
__
It’s Simple...Higher
Education Needs
Your Help
Volunteer to Lobby for the Support
of Higher Education
As a student at the University of Oregon,
you have an investment in your future
Don’t let that investment slip away
because of proposed budget cuts in
higher education. By volunteering as a
legislative lobbyist for the ASUO, you can
play an influential role in decisions con
cerning higher education during the
Oregon legislature’s special session.
By being an ASUO lobbyist in Salem once
a week, you’re not only aiding the fight for
higher education funding, but you’re
receiving valuable experience in govern
ment procedures
V77777?
So don’t let your investment go to waste
Higher education needs your help
For more information, contact John
Stewart, ASUO Vice President, at
686-3724, or drop by the ASUO offices,
Suite 4 in the EMU.
| Focus on Jewish Culture
Art and Community: Focus on
Jewish Culture is a series of
public events in conjunction
with the current exhibition
Danzig 1939: Treasures of a
Destroyed Community, at the
University of Oregon Museum
of Art. Events are coordinated
by the Russian and East Eu
ropean Studies Center.
The Significance of the Danzig
Collection. VIVIAN MANN.
Curator of the Exhibition. Mon
day. January 18, 7:30 p.m. Erb
Memorial Union. Room 167, UO.
Art, Ritual, and Community.
Tuesday, January 19, 7:30 p.m.
Lawrence Hall, Room 107, UO.
Panel with University faculty
and local artists.
Jews in Diaspora. Wednesday,
January 20, 7:30 p.m. Temple
Beth Isreal, 2550 Portland St.
Two distinguished films: Danzig
1939 and the Academy Award
winning Number Our Days.
SPONSORS: University of Oregon School
of Architecture and Allied Am, )e«vi>h
Student Union. Cultural Forum. Campus
Interfaith Ministry Museum of Art Eugene
community Temple Beth Isreal. Council of
Jewish Life. Hadasiah These events are
Danzig and Its Jewish Popula
tion Between Two World Wars.
Roger Chickering, Professor of
History. Thursday, January 21,
7:30 p.m. Erb Memorial Union,
Room 167, UO.
Image Before My Eyes. Satur
day, January 30, 8 p.m. Temple
Beth Isreal, 2550 Portland St. A
film concerning life in Jewish
Poland before World War II.
Kapeiye. Wednesday, February
10, 8 p.m. Temple Beth Isreal,
2550 Portland St. admission
$2.50 (no advance tickets). Con
cert of East European Jewish
folk music by the acclaimed
traditional klezmer band from
New York.
Events are free of charge, with
the exception of the Kapeiye
concert, and open to the public.
For more information, contact
Mark Levy, (503) 683-2215 or
686-5053.
mad#* possible by grants from the Oregon
Committee for the Humanities (an affiliate of
the National Endowment for the Humani
ties). the Oregon Arts Commission, the
National Endowment for the Arts, and the
Dorot Foundation
HOW TO
PAY FOR
MEDICAL
SCHOOL
A Get yourself accepted by
an accredited Medical or
Osteopathic school
O See Craig Ostrem at the
EMU TODAY from 9 a m. to 4
pm
C Make your appointment
to see if you qualify for a
Naval Commission.
D After qualifying, go to
Med school with tuition and
fees, books and supplies,
plus a little spending money
($530 per month).
E For more information, go
to step (B)
LET US PAY
YOUR WAY!
To the Faculty of the University of Oregon.:
Chancellor LAeuallen has failed,, the State Board of Higher
Education has failed, Governor Atiyeh has failed—all those to
whom Oregon had entrusted the care of its colleges and universities.
Now it ts the legislature's turn. tVe, the U. of O. Federation of
Teachers (AFT 3209, AFL-CIO), urge you to join with public
employees' unions and other groups in taking our case directly to the
legislators.
Don t yield to the temptation to play "beggar-thy-neighbor’ about
how cuts should be made, across-the-board or selectively? Salary cuts
or program reductions? The faculty was not consulted about such
plans, nor will be consulted until collective bargaining comes to
our campus. IVhat we can do now is to write to our legislators
today and urge them to find new revenues for higher education and
human resources. kVe can urge them to stop the Atiyeh-fostered
drift ofstate revenues away from state purposes (higher ed, human
resources) toward local government (schools, property-tax relief).
Oregon doesn V need a sales-tax, it needs only a state government
with the courage to base taxes on ability to pay. IVe need, for
example, a graduated corporate tax; and we need to recover for
public purposes some of the estimated t600 million which,
following the Reagan tax cuts, Oregonians will not pay in federal
taxes.
Voices have been sounded in the legislature against the Atiyeh
"re-election budget-cuts. ” Let’s support them. IVrite to your
legislators today.
Executive Committee, U. of O. F. T.
Tom Brady (Hst), pres.
Cheyney Ryan (Phil), v.-pres.
Bill Cadbury (Speech), sec.
Leila IVrathall (LERC), treas.
EDUCATION STUDENTS:
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