Friday, April 9, 1992
Eugene, Oregon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 127
r
Mark Hatfield
Easy pace of ‘Meet Mark’ session
fuses with hard talk on arms issues
Lone TV cameraman catches him on film as
he exits his car, parked at the entrance of Red
Lion Inn off 1-5 in north Springfield
It's a sunny Wednesday afternoon and the
"Meet Mark" session is scheduled in a
downstairs room at the Rodeway Inn res
taurant The room is occupied by 70 chairs
which have gold seats, and backs of rust, gold
and black vertical stripes One minute before
the meeting’s start the room is nearly full Two
Register-Guard reporters, one front row and
center, the elder reporter chatting with two or
three on the side A KVAL camera on a tripod in
the rear
Room fills quickly to SRO KEZI, sets up a
camera in the front, near the podium A
Springfield News intern paces in with a leather
photographer s case and sits down next to me
Audience in frenzied talk, subsiding quickly as
if for E F Hutton when Mark walks in the room
Sen Mark Hatfield, chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, talks momentarily
to several people and then sits down up front
John Thomas, president of the Springfield
Chamber of Commerce, checks the micro
phone before introducing the senator
Hatfield, says Thomas, had a few minutes
free in his schedule on the way from the
southern Oregon coast to Portland Thomas
inadvertently calls him "Packwood "
Snickered embarrassment from audience and
red face from Thomas, who goes on to say he
knew both Hatfield and Packwood when he
was attending Willamette University
Thomas tells a story he remembers about
Hatfield, when Hatfield's tooth fell out before a
speech at a cocktail party. Thomas finishes his
intro, loud applause for Hatfield.
Hatfield corrects Thomas: His tooth did fall
out but it was at a presidential prayer breakfast,
not a cocktail party The audince shares the
joke and sees Hatfield's face turn red from
humor
Mood does a 180 when Hatfield begins his
remarks by talking about the U S. economy
and its impact on the timber industry and says,
"Housing is our number one social problem.”
Oregon is "first in the trough” of an economic
downturn and the last out of the trough, he
says
Timber contracts are coming due, creating a
crisis, he says Options are to default or modify
the contracts Extending the deadlines "didn’t
have the greatest appeal to me, we should do
our best to see the performance of contract.”
Instead, he proposed a 44 percent rollback
in the cost of the contracts, so the contract
figures are more related to the current market
value This would give "incentive to crank up
some of the shutdowns ’ of lumber mills and
increase cash flow into Oregon's counties, he
says. "Everyone would benefit ”
Everyone didn't think so. Idaho timber in
dustry opposed the roll backs, he says,
although now there is a growing consensus
within the industry to support the idea
"If you can find any three timber operators
agreeing on anything, you have a miracle in the
making."
Unless recovery can come soon to the
Continued on Page 3
Mark Hatfield
By Ron Hunt
Photo by David Corey
Group calls for computer buying plan
By Ann Portal
Of th* Emtwk)
No one is monitoring purchases of computer
equipment in campus departments, members of the
Long-Range Planning Committee realized earlier this
week
"Can't you see in 10 years everyone with their own
computer person and their own equipment?" asked
English Prof Barbara Mossberg
‘Can’t you see in 10
years everyone
with. . . their own
equipment?’
At a meeting Wednesday, committee members
discussed the need for a committee to coordinate the
purchase of micro and mini-computers, which already
have been installed in a number of University depart
ments and schools, including education, psychology,
architecture and community service and public affairs
That doesn't mean there isn’t a justifiable need for
computers in nearly every department, pointed out Dan
Williams, University housing director It just means the
purchase and use of those computers should be coor
dinated in some way
The committee also discussed planning for the
growth of the computer science department. Of 1,200
students who applied to enter the University in the fall,
10 percent indicated they intend to be computer
science majors, reported Bob Albrecht, vice provost for
academic affairs and chairer of the Long-Range
Planning Committee
The computer science department already is limit
ing enrollment by increasing the admission requir
ements for the undergraduate degree program. Even
with its present enrollment levels, the department is
having problems meeting the course demands of
majors, much less serving non-computer science
students who would like a background in computers.
And computer majors find lines of students waiting
to use terminals at the computer center around the
clock. Many students who can get terminals only at 3 or
4 a.m. soon will be shut out when the computer center
begins closing from midnight to 4 a.m. to save money.
The computer science situation is an example of a
‘ growth problem” that planning committee members
have identified as one of five concerns they hope to deal
with Suggestions and proposals will be presented to
the faculty before the end of spring term.
During its past two meetings, the committee has
shifted gears and begun discussing specific areas that
need attention at the University In addition to problems
of resources needed for growing programs, the com
mittee is discussing coordinating existing programs,
creating new programs that involve several depart
ments, creating new degree programs, and reorganiz
ing existing programs
Wednesday, the committee also talked about the
status of remedial courses at the University During the
last legislative session, the Legislature ordered state
colleges and universities to make all remedial courses
self-supporting. A $93 fee for remedial writing courses
— Writing 040, 049 and 091 through 093 — began this
year, and remedial math fees are being discussed.
However, the need for such courses continues to
increase, to the point where about one-half of all
entering freshmen now must begin in the remedial math
course, said mathematics Prof. Charles Curtis.
He suggested the University begin letting high
schools know the remedial courses probably will be
The computer
science department
is already limiting
enrollment.
phased out during the next few years.
"We have an incredible number of students who
come to the University unprepared — certainly in
writing,’’ agreed CSPA Prof. Ed Weeks.
Committee members agreed to ask the Academic
Council of the State System of Higher Education to
discuss the problem That council, composed of higher
education vice presidents, probably will be only the first
step toward getting the word to high school students
that admission standards are going to get tougher in the
next four or five years, Curtis said.