Bringing them back alive
Graphic by Barbara Paca
Helpers aid adventurers
By Carol Morton
OfMtCmtnM
Floodlights pierced the darkness
hovering over water opposite a wall of
rock, spotlighting a rescue attempt
Volunteers of Eugene Mountain
Rescue had to work hard to save a
kayaker who tried to negotiate the
middle fork of the Willamette River
above Westfir The man's kayak —
along with two others — had capsized
in the high water, which churned
brown with huge standing waves
The two other kayakers floated
safely out at the bottom of the canyon
The third, the unfortunate center of the
rescue team's attention, had washed
up at the base of a cliff
EMR volunteers spent most of the
night struggling up the back of the
cliff, a difficult climb From the top of
the precipice, they carefully lowered a
man to the victim The rescuer put the
victim in a harness, and others raised
him to the top of the wall, finally
helping him down the backside
"They either overestimated their
ability or underestimated the river,"
says Jim Blanchard, an EMR member
and former EMR vice president “It's a
wonder they survived "
The night's work done. Blanchard
changed and arrived on campus in
time to teach his morning class
Approximately 30 regular EMR
members work at the University or
other full-time jobs until a phone call
from the sheriff requests the expertise
of mountain climbers, cross-country
skiers, and other technically trained
rescuers
"The prime responsibility of EMR is
rescue in technical terrain," which
includes cliffs or other inaccessible
areas. Blanchard says
"Every mission is different,' he says
Rescues can take place in rugged
wilderness, on major peaks or
"high-angle cliff evacuations "
In a typical search and rescue, a
coordinated team of volunteers
searches for a lost hiker or skier
Immediately after locating someone
who has been injured or lost, he or she
is stabilized with first-aid and warmth
The crew then evacuates the victim
— a difficult process that may involve
an 800-foot vertical cliff or a dark trail
Time becomes a critical element in a
rescue, especially during winter's
extreme temperatures and short days,
Blanchard says
From the time a cross-country skier
gets injured, the entire operation — the
call to the sheriff's office, the calls
mobilizing rescue workers, the
transportation time to the trail head,
skiing to the victim, giving first aid,
preparing transport out of the
wilderness, and helping the victim out
— may easily take 24 hours before the
victim makes it home or to the hospital
EMR has enough local manpower
and enough demand for services to
maintain equipment and schedule
regular practices, Blanchard says An
unusually competent and cooperative
sheriff's department helps make it one
of the state s most efficient units he
adds
EMR volunteers subject themselves
to substantial personal costs and risks,
Blanchard says "The injury and
fatality figures among rescue workers
are high "
Witnesses to an emergency should
not hesitate to go for help
particularly if they are unsure of their
rescue skills or if crude methods may
further endanger the victim he says
Rescues requiring EMR's
professional response are not
necessarily life and death situations.
Blanchard says
An incident a few years ago
temporarily changed the meaning of
the acronym EMR to "Eugene Mutton
Rescue," he says A rescuer "valiantly
repelled" down a cliff to save a sheep
stuck at the bottom Just as the
rescuer got there, the sheep gathered
the nerve to make a critical leap to
safety and survived
Minorities hold few top jobs nationwide
Progress slow for women in administration
By Steve Sechrist
Of the Emerald
Reflecting a national trend, women and minorities
at the University still hold only a small percentage of top
administrative positions
According to a study published by the College and
University Personnel Association, women and minority
group members held only one in five of the top admin
istrative jobs at public colleges during the academic
year 1978-1979
Figures compiled by the University’s academic
affairs office come close to the national rate Only six of
the more than 30 top administrative jobs at the
University are held by women or minorities Two of the
nine professional schools — law and health, physical
education and recreation — are headed by a minority or
a woman faculty member
Women who hold top administrative posts say they
feel women and minorities have made progress in
gaining administrative positions at the University
Joanne Carlson, associate provost for academic
affairs, acknowledges that the number of women and
minorities in upper-level positions is small, but she says
the study ignores the gains made at lower levels of
administration
In “middle management” jobs such as assistant
and associate dean, associate provost, and program
director, women and minorities have made better
headway, she says
These positions play an important role in running
departments and influencing their bosses' decisions,
she contends.
Bean McFadden, University affirmative action dir
ector, agrees that the progress of women at these lower
levelsis “so very much better” than a few years ago.
Some women at lower administrative jobs aren't
Page 8
sure this is the case.
While the ranks may be growing, that doesn’t mean
those people are on a track to higher positions, says
Alison Baker, associate dean of the arts and sciences
college
Upper ranks of the administration, especially col
lege presidents, usually come from the liberal arts
faculty, not the middle-management jobs, she says
"These are dead-end jobs, and we realize they are
dead-end jobs," Baker says
Because there are so few women and minorities in
the liberal arts faculty, the chances are slim of a woman
president ever coming from within the University, she
‘Two women deans in the 100-year
history of the University is not a
significant track record. ’
says
Katherine Eaton, head of the Bureau of Govern
ment Research and Service library, says she is "unsa
tisfied" with the number of women in the University's
administration During the 1978-79 academic year,
Eaton chaired an American Association of University
Professor’s committee on the status of women faculty
members
“Only two women deans in the 100-year history of
the University is not a significant track record in my
mind," Eaton says
Carlson says University administrators are con
cerned about hiring women and minorities for adminis
trative slots, but budget problems may inhibit the
process, because fewer jobs are likely to become
available.
Part of the reason for few job openings is a low
turnover rate, says EMU Director Adell McMillan
"In my area, student affairs, many people have
been in their jobs for five or six years," McMillan says
Eaton says administrators have not done a very
good job helping women within the University rise in the
administrative ranks And even with tight finances,
some money should go to this cause, she says
“You're talking about the upward mobility of a
whole class of people — women and minorities — who
have not had the opportunity to have administrative
experience," Eaton says
Minorities hold even fewer administrative positions
than women Derrick Bell, University law school dean, is
the only minority member in one of the top jobs iden
tified in the national study
Carlson says one problem is that the number of
qualified and interested minorities is very small, relative
to the number of white males
“You have to get a ball rolling,” says Carlson, who
says she hopes the hiring of Bell as law school dean
may help
Celeste Ulrich, dean of health, physical education
and recreation and the only woman dean of a profes
sional school at the University, says when she was hired
three years ago, her sex was not a consideration of her
interviewers, as far as she could tell
Ulrich says she sees part of her job to be "breaking
ground” for future top-level women administrators She
admits she is very conscious about succeeding as an
administrator in order to help potential women deans.
Ulrich says she's also concerned about the impact
of budget problems "When the crunch comes, the
people you let go are the least experienced — who turn
out to be women and minorities, for the most part " And
that, in turn, threatens the progress made up to this
point, she says.
Tuesday, March 2,1982