Wednesday, January 20
Eugene, Oregon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 82
emerald
Atiyeh asks SUAB to ‘light a fire’
By Dana Claussen
Ot m» Emfttd
Salem — Gov Vic Atiyeh challenged students to
make their views on higher education known and offer
substantive suggestions in a private meeting Tuesday
with the Student University Affairs Board
If I can't light a fire at my end, I'd like you to light a
fire at your end," said Atiyeh, nervously puffing on a
cigarette He was talking about his confessed lack of
ability to get certain views across to higher education
officials and legislators
More than 80-precent of the state s higher education
budget will be saved, he emphasized, adding that the
ingenuity with which the resource administrators have
maintained service should serve as an example for
belt-tightening college administrators
The often-critical SUAB members were not con
vinced higher education will not be hurt badly, despite
Atiyeh's assurances that he values "a high level of
education "
Having been chairer of the Senate Education Com
mittee, Atiyeh said he was not approaching the subject
blindly
"Although they (budget cuts) will not, by themselves,
have a college declare exigency, they carry a great
potential for exigency I know that," he said, adding that
institutions may spend the money they are allocated as
they see fit
"I've heard things like they may close the law school
I don't know where this comes from. That to me is purely
and simply dumb," Atiyeh said He said he feels the
same way about rumors regarding possible closure of
the music school
"What are the alternatives?" quipped Lisa Davis
Perry, director of SUAB's Information and Grievance
Center.
"You have 90 percent of your budget left — why the
trauma?” Atiyeh asked later.
He implied that cuts of 10 to 15-percent should not be
difficult and emphasized that he does not believe any of
the state's colleges need to be closed.
The current situation stems largely from the fact that
higher education officials failed to act as he asked them
to in mid-1980, he said. He told the Board, Chancellor
Roy Lieuellan, and college presidents then the state
was headed for hard economic times, Atiyeh said.
Yet Atiyeh said he doesn’t want to lay blame. He
wants to indicate he feels higher education could do a
better job with less money "I'd like a legacy of high
quality of education," he emphasized
Human resource program changes made starting in
1979 prevented that area from being an overwhelming
concern of the Legislature now, as higher education is,
Atiyeh said.
SUAB members were most concerned, however,
about rising tuition rates, whether they will continue to
go up, and by how much.
SUAB member Dave Bauer told Atiyeh “tuition is just
going up incredibly” and that the money “isn’t there'
for as many students to afford to attend college
“Diminishing returns" from higher tuition not making
up for enrollment drops is becoming the current situa
tion, Bauer said More and more students will go out of
state for their education, with California being a prime
target, he said.
The University could end up as a school for the
economic elite of Lane County and Oregon if tuition
continues to climb, said Dan Allen.
Universities are not unique in that talented faculty
members get hired away by private industry, Atiyeh
said. Talented state government employees and of
ficials are also hired away, and that isn’t new, he said
Atiyeh told SUAB that he appreciates their position,
but says he must deal with the overall situation
He is not supporting a progressive corporate income
tax because the effects on job creation would outweigh
the effects of the revenue raised or saved from other
sources.
The ASUO is supporting a multi-faceted plan of a
progressive corporate income tax, a revised property
tax relief program and cutting duplication of programs
in the higher education, said Dave Berns, an ASUO
legislative assistant invited to the meeting by SUAB.
SUAB members also asked that Atiyeh make his
support of higher education more obvious to the public
and media.
Tuition could fall
by $12 next year
SALEM — A legislative budget
committee Tuesday located an
extra $3 million that may allow
state colleges and universities
to reduce tuition by $12 a term
in the next school year
The Joint Ways and Means
subcommittee was told the
money essentially amounts to
overpayments to the state res
toration fund, a self-insurance
program
The committee didn't vote on
the idea, but several members
said they would use part of the
$3 million to reduce tuition and
decrease the need to cut col
lege and university staffs
The subcommittee has tenta
tively decided to cut the higher
education budget by $10 3 mil
lion to help balance the state
budget
William T Lemman, higher
education vice chancellor, said
lowering tuition by $12 per term
would cost $1 4 million
The lawmakers continued a
debate over what instructions
the Legislature should give
higher education officials about
consolidating programs
Rep Vera Katz, D-Portland,
said she wouldn't support tak
ing money from the restoration
fund without assurances that
the state Board of Higher
Education would develop a
consolidation plan
"I am very reluctant to delay
it, to delay it until 1983-85," Katz
said
She said she was concerned
that repeated state budget trou
bles would find the committee
again considering salary cuts
for professors because the
higher education system had
not rebuilt its program machin
ery
Chancellor Roy E Lieuallen
repeated his objection to having
a major policy change for higher
education contained in a bud
get report He said he would
prefer broader discussion by
the Legislature
Gov Vic Atiyeh has recom
mended that professors and
other higher education em
ployees take unpaid leaves of
absence of up to three weeks, a
proposal that has run into
strong legislative opposition
Sen Frank Roberts, D-Port
land, said that option should be
a last resort
Rep Tony Van Vliet, R-Cor
vallis, an Oregon State Univer
sity professor, said that even
mentioning the possibility of pay
cuts will lower morale and spur
professors to find better-paying
jobs He said Oregon professors
recently have quit to take jobs
elsewhere paying 50 to 100
percent more
Sen Jim Gardner, D-Port
land, subcommittee chairman,
said the committee won't take
final action on budget language
until legislative revenue com
mittees decide what money can
be raised to avoid deeper bud
get cuts.
Photo by Duano Schrag
Different line of thought
Dorm resident* Jean Chapin (left) and
Frank Shaw (right) decided last week to make
their voices heard on campus. Their medium Is
a “clothesline" strung from Chapin’s room on
the third floor of Carson hall to Shaw’s room In
DeCou hall, some 200 feet away. Messages
painted onto dissected bed sheets are hung on
the line and put then out for public view.
Shaw and Chapin point out that this Is only a
prototype, and they plan a more sophisticated
version with real pulleys and string that won’t
stretch.
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