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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1982)
Wednesday, May 5, 1982 Eugene, Oregon Oregon daily Volume 83 Number 145 emerald GTFs refuse to renegotiate oav raise By Debbie Hewlett Of ttf tmarmtd If the University plans to reduce costs for Graduate Teaching Fellows, it won't be done by deferring a pay raise scheduled for July 1, 1982 Brenda Cochrane, Pres, of the Graduate Teaching Fellow's Federation told Shirley Menaker, the University’s contract admin istrator tor the renegotiation, that the GTFF membership turned thumbs down the University s request to re-open the contract to discuss deferring a scheduled 5.5 percent pay raise The University had proposed that the increase would be delayed six months and that a 1 percent increase scheduled for May of 1983 would be upped to 2 percent The members concluded balloting Tuesday afternoon, voting 74 to 49 not to renegotiate those points "I think one of the main reasons people voted no' is that there's a real feeling the University would not be able to guarantee there would be no lay-offs," Cochrane said Menaker said that the GTFF decision may not be the best thing the union could have done “I'm dissapointed. I'd hoped It would r r'.' ,->v ' A have been far less painful if we had taken the deferral route," Menaker said. Cochrane said that the GTFs had a different point of view.' There was a feeling that we would re-open and renegotiate and then be asked to re-open and renegotiate again," Cochrane said. Menaker told the GTFs at a meeting earlier this month that the University had the choice of deferring the pay increase or laying off GTFs After a ‘ Deans' Council” meeting Tuesday, Menaker said that most of the Deans "were all sorry about the vote.” She also said that the plan to deal with the cut involved “sharing out the 3.2 percent decrease among all GTFs." Menaker said that rather than laying off GTFs, the time allottments would be reduced "We re not letting positions go," said Menaker. The GTFF had suggested that appointments which had run out could reman unfilled to compensate for the 3.2 percent cut. ' There was also a feeling that there were other ways to reduce the GTF payroll with out firing," said Cochrane. Menaker said that there are two reasons for maintaining the current number of GTF appointments. ■ -1 Student loans available if banks will cooperate By Ann Port*! Ottha Bmaratd A new federal loan program should be available to students and their parents by July, but only if state financial aid officials can convince banks to offer the loans. Final regulations for the PLUS loan program received the U.S. Department of Education's stamp of approval last month Theoretically, that means the loans will soon be available to independent students and graduate students and the parents of dependent students. Yet banks in many states are skeptical about accepting the new loan program, according to Jeff Lee, Executive Direc tor of the Oregon State Scholarship Commission Lee points to the Colorado PLUS program, which would be ready to go if it could just find a tender. He says he hopes the PLUS program will be accepted by tenders in Oregon, who so far have indicated more interest in extending the loans to parents than students One thing that may change the banks' reluctance is if Pres Reagan accom plishes his goal of eliminating graduate students from the Guaranteed Student Loan program That doesn’t seem very likely, Lee says, but Reagan's financial aid cute last summer and winter didn't seem likely — and they passed Lee says the scholarship commission has had ''excellent cooperation" from Oregon banks in the past and he says many seem to feel an obligation to provide loans for students. That may encourage them to offer PLUS loans to graduate students who are shut out of the GSL program, he says Of course, there's still toe chance that GSLs won't be available to graduate students and no bank in Oregon will offer PLUS loans, which would prevent graduate students from getting lows at student interest rates "There many times is quite a gap between what is tegatiy available to students and what is really available to students,' Lee says The new PLUS program is supposed to supplement the Guaranteed Student Loan program The title ‘PLUS" is not an acronym; it indicates a loan in addi tion to a GO PLUS loans carry a 14-percer.t interest rate Unlike GSLs, on which the government pays the interest until the student graduates, interest on PLUS loans begins accruing as soon as the student gets the loan Students do not begin repaying the loans until they leave school, but parents who borrow must begin repay ing 60 days after the loan is made. Also unlike the new GSL requirements, parents applying for a PLUS loan are not reqired to fill out a need” analysis In addition to amounts borrowed through GSLs, parents can borrow up to $3,000 a year or a total of $15,000 for each dependent grad uate student Graduate students and their parents can borrow up to $5,000 a year or a total of $25,000. Independent undergrad uate student’s PLUS loan and GSL combined may not exceed $2,500 a year or a cumulative total of $12,500 Lee says toe 14-percent interest rate may scare away some parents Also, poor credit ratings will prevent others from obtaining toe loans "It's certainly not as good as toe various types of student aid programs we’ve had." he says. "But it does give access to toe people who might not have access otherwise ” it tenders are located. PLUS forms and applications should be available by late June or early July, Lee says Photo by Mark Pynes GTFF president Brenda Cochrane Informs Shirley Menaker, the University’s contract administrator, of the membership’s vote against renegotiation. Of those areas that the University would lose funding, entitlement is of the most concern, Menaker said. Without the numbers of GTFs enrolling for courses at the University, the funding the University receives from the state would decline because entitlement is based on the number of students enrolled. Menaker said that the average number of hours that would be cut from appointments would be 2.75 for a .15 FTE and 5 for a .30 FTE. (1.0 FTE is considered full-time.) British lose warship; Harrier jet shot down FALKLAND ISLANDS (AP) - An Argentine jet fighter blasted a missile into the British destroyer HMS Sheffield Tuesday and as many as 30 of the 270 crewmen were feared dead as they abandoned the blazing hulk, the British Defense Ministry announced Although the ministry did not say the ship sank, it reported the crew was ordered overboard "when there was no longer any hope of saving the ship." The counterblow came as Argentine rescue craft continued searching for sur vivors from the cruiser General Belgrano, sunk in the frigid waters of the South Atlantic on Sunday by a British submarine. Argentina announced that at least 680 crewmen have been rescued, leaving about 360 sailors still missing. British Defense Ministry spokesman Ian McDonald said the 3,660-ton Sheffield was struck by a missile and caught fire, “which spread out of control." McDonald also announced that a British Harrier jet was shot down and the pilot killed during a raid on the airfield at Stanley, the Falklands capital British Defense Minister John Nott told the House of Commons the aim of the latest bombing raid on the Stanley airfield was "to render the airstrip unusable for light supply, communications and ground attack aircraft operating within the Falkland Islands themselves " In other developments in the rapidly escalating conflict, the United States announced that some of its 75 personnel were being evacuated from the U S. Embassy in Buenos Aires because of Argentine fury at U S support for Britain, and the British government reported “no progress" in efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. British news media said the seven-year old Sheffield, one of the most modern warships in the Royal Navy, sank after being hit by a missile fired from a French made Etendard fighter-bomber from a distance of more than 20 miles. The reports said the Argentine pilot of the land-based jet fired two missiles, one missing and the other scoring a direct hit on the Sheffield’s control room. McDonald said all the destroyer’s sur vivors were picked up. The Sheffield was in the British battle fleet of at least 27 warships and more than 40 requisitioned civilian vessels enforcing a 200-mile blockade around the disputed Falkland Islands, which were seized April 2 by Argentina. Argentina’s military government did not immediately issue a report on the sinking of the Sheffield, but claimed two out of three Harrier jets attacking a dirt runway at Goose Green, 40 miles west of Stanley, were shot down. It made no mention of a raid on the main Falklands airfield at Stanley. Both the Stanley and Goose Green air strips were pummeled by British warplanes Sunday in the first major strike of the air-sea offensive launched by Britain to recapture the archipelago, 250 miles off Argentina's southern coast. Britain said the Sheffield was inside the blockade zone when it was hit but gave no precise location. Argentina, accusing Britain of "treacherous” behavior, said the cruiser General Belgrano was 36 miles outside the 200-mile zone when it was tom apart by torpedoes McDonald’s statement said the Harrier was shot down in a follow-up raid on the Stanley airfield after a Vulcan bomber had again blasted the runway. A Vulcan, flying from Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic and refueled three times in flight, had staged the first attack Sunday. The U S. Embassy in Buenos Aires said a small number of non-essential personnel and some dependents of diplomats will leave Argentina temporarily for Montevid eo, Uruguay, "in view of the tragic conflict in the South Atlantic and the unsettled conditions it has created.”
