Friday, February 26, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 110
emerald
Photo by Duane Schrag
Bart Hill was responsible for the funding and construction of
the Student Honoraries case.
Display of honor
A display case with the names of students honored by
national and local organizations has been added to the decor
at Oregon Hall
The case contains the names of University students
honored by groups like the Friars and the Druids, who
recognize students for outstanding scholastic achievement.
Signs by the students' names explain who can be part of the
honorary organizations
Bob Bowlin, the dean of students, first came up with the
idea for a new display "Not enough students were aware of
who was honored,” Bowlin says
Bowlin passed the idea on to Bart Hill, a University
sophomore majoring in biology Hill was responsible for
getting the funding and having the case made.
"I never really knew these organizations existed," Hill
says "Some people will qualify for them, and now they'll
know they can be a part if they want to."
The case was built by Tommy Griffin, a designer at the
University's art museum The signs were made by Tom Urban,
the EMU Craft Center coordinator.
The University Foundation paid half the $900 cost of the
case and signs, with the organizations contributing enough to
pay for the other half
Beside the case hang two plaques that list the names of
the Hunter Leader Scholarship winners. The plaques were
moved from the EMU because they have been vandalized
frequently
National
Security
Conference
j
The Special Report in today's
issue takes a look at a number of
national security-related topics,
including the civil war in El Sal
vador, the relationship beween
the superpowers and the possi
ble use of chemical warfare
The ASUO-sponsored Na
tional Security Conference
continues through Saturday
Institutes assist research
By Ann Portal
Of tfi# Emerald
Institutes that transcend the divisions
between science departments are the key to the
University's research success, a panel of scien
tists told visiting State Board of Higher Education
members Thursday.
When University representatives recently
traveled to Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis to tour
the building, one question kept coming up, said
Richard Hersh, graduate school dean. Hewlett
Packard personnel enviously asked, “How do you
get your people to work within institutes?"
“In some ways, it's because we’ve felt an
external invasion or a lack of support. We’ve done
it here because it’s a social form that’s been
created,” Hersh told the seven board members.
University interdisciplinary institutes include
the Chemical Physics Institute, the Institute of
Molecular Biology, the institute of Theoretical
Science and the Neuroscience Institute.
Chemistry Prof Virgil Boekelheide recounted
the history of institutes at the University, which he
said began forming 25 years ago to provide
research structures outside the rigid boundaries
of departments.
“If the department itself wouldn’t change,
then you had to work within it or around it," he
said.
“The key thing you need is some key in
dividuals who know how to do it,” Boekelheide
said. “It’s almost impossible to take a mediocre
department and gradually improve it.”
The other main ingredient for research
growth is, of course, money, he said.
Gov. Vic Atiyeh is unrealistic to suggest
taking $500,000 to create quality science pro
grams, Boekelheide said. A figure like $5 million
might help, he said, suggesting Atiyeh’s proposal
would be better put into existing programs.
John Moseley, director of the year-old
Chemical Physics Institute, pointed out that his
program of about 40 researchers and 30 em
ployees received $400,000 in start-up funds
through private funding, and hopes to receive
another $400,000 to continue the progress that’s
been made.
That’s nearly $1 million to start a “small
institute," Moseley said. “This puts Atiyeh’s
$500,000 in the proper perspective," he said
"You have to have the money upfront” to
provide laboratories, faculty salaries, spare time
for writing proposals, and cost-sharing money to
balance federal support, Moseley said.
Six science institute and architecture faculty
summarized their basic research for the board
and explained how it can be applied to current
issues, such as industrial safety, energy produc
tion and eye disease.
"You tell us so much that it makes it much
harder to make the decisions (about cuts),” said
board member Loren Wyss.
Education or job training?
By Harry Esteve
Of tht Emerald
Sometime during the past few
years, a line was drawn across
the curriculum at most major
universities, separating “a
liberal arts education" from
“professional training “
An ongoing philosophical
debate ensued on which side is
more important — and which
should be given the most
money
Thursday, a panel of five
University faculty rallied from
both sides of the line, and then
discussed ways of “integrating"
the two philosophies The pan
el's audience was members
from the State Board of Higher
Education, on campus as part of
an all-day review of the Univer
sity.
“We tend to look on educa
tion as training," said Robert
Berdahl, dean of the University
arts and sciences college Peo
ple see professional schools as
“the core" and liberal arts as
"the frosting on the cake.”
That's backwards, Berdahl
said. "Liberal arts is the cake."
Professional training helps
round out an education, he said
“I think the economy had led
to a heavier emphasis on being
trained," Berdahl said Then,
paraphrasing former University
Pres Bill Boyd, Berdahl said
education is “not for people's
first jobs, but second or third
jobs somewhere down the
road."
But colleges are not produc
ing enough specialists to meet
the demand for qualified
employees, said panelist Steve
Hedetniemi, head of the com
puter and information science
department.
Hedetniemi agreed with pan
elist Everette Dennis, journalism
school dean, that "we live in the
information age” and he
stressed a need for more funds
for computer programming
sequences.
By the year 2000, one million
skilled computer programmers
will be demanded in the national
job market, Hedetniemi said.
Currently U S. universities are
only turning out approximately
10,000 graduates each year, he
said
About 800 University students
wanted to take a CIS introduc
tory class this year and out of
those, 400 wanted to major in
computer science, he said
“That's a potential of 1,600
majors We can possibly handle
320 ”
Addressing the issue of inte
grating the professional com
puter science department with
the liberal arts side of the
University, Hedetniemi said he
would “challenge almost
anyone to name an area in
human activity that is not af
fected by computers.”
The most impassioned
defense of the humanities came
Graphic by Max DeRungs
from panelist Barbara Moss
berg, an assistant English
professor. College should
“teach students an apprecia
tion of the depth, scope and
possibilities of the human
mind,” Mossberg said.
Students should be taught
how to write and how to think,
above all else, she said. They
need to be able to decide for
themselves who to vote for and
why, and be able to analyze
complex social issues on their
own.
“Isn't this a requisite for a free
mind?” Mossberg asked
The panel discussion came
on the brink of a possible $15.7
million cut in the higher
education budget — cuts that
may seriously affect some
departments or schools at the
University None of the schools
and departments represented
on the panel were named in the
state board’s "hit list,” which
revealed schools and programs
being considered for cuts or
elimination.
That list has been discarded
by the board.