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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 12, 1982)
Wednesday May 12, 1982 Eugene, Oregon Volume 83 Number 150 Olum forms force to combat racism By Ann Portal Of &*• Bmwmk) A faculty/student task force has been formed to study recent racial harassment problems on campus, University Pres Paul Olum announced Tuesday. Several incidents of harassment, ranging from graf fiti and racist remarks to "somebody feeling pushed,” have occurred at the University in the past few months, Olum said He declined to identify specific episodes of harass ment. Olum attributed the incidents in part to the current national mood Similar and more serious instances of racial harassment have been reported all over the country, he said, pointing out that racial harassment violates both University policy and a new state law "We thought it was important to take some kind of action Any kind of racism is utterly unac ceptable," Olum said Members of the task force include Diane Reinhard, assis tant education college dean and task force chairer, English Prof Edwin Coleman; Susanne Endow, property control man ager in the business office; Bar bara Nicholls, Counselor of Student Athletes; Law Prof. Wil liam Randolph; Psychology Prof Myron Rothbart and Biology Prof. George Strei singer Alan Contreras, ASUO Vice President of Program Adminis tration, is the student member of the committee Turning to other topics during his monthly press conference, Olum said University admission applications are running well behind last year That may be because students are applying to fewer schools, he said. Also, entering freshmen may not think they need to apply as early, because of declining enrollment and less crowding in the dormi tories "Everyone is expecting a sig nificantly lower entering class," Olum said Responding to a question about the effectiveness of recent higher education lobby ing at the Legislature, Olum said he thought there was an "enor mous difference” in the attitude of legislators during the special session compared to attitudes during the previous session. Community support in the Eugene area also seems to be increasing, he said. But that increased support may not have much direct effect at the University, he said, because the Legislature awards higher education a lump sum each biennium. special session, the withholding of raises for faculty, does not seem to have caused many faculty to leave, Olum said. “We think we're in pretty good shape for next year. We haven’t had a mass exodus at all. The thing that we worry about is so many people have offers — or offers of offers,” he said. The University is the only We thought it was important to take some kind of action.' The University must lobby for both this campus and higher education in general, Olum said. Battles between the Legis lature and the State Board of Higher Education and its staff also may not represent the problems of individual institu tions, he said, noting that so far higher education hasn't achieved the results it would like during recent legislative ses sions. One indirect result of the higher education institution in Oregon that he knows of not giving at least a 4-percent salary increase, Olum said. That in crease at the University would cost about $1 million, he said, adding “frankly, we don't have the money.” Olum criticized a report is sued last month by the Oregon Educational Coordinating Com mission as having errors about national and University data and incorrectly interpreting infor mation. The OECC report reviewed the 1982-83 budget requested by the State Board of Higher Education and criticized a number of higher education is sues, such as admission and grading standards, tuition levels, intercollegiate athletic funding and remedial course policies. “There are things that con cern me a lot in the coordinating commission’s report. (The commission) ought to be com ing out much more strongly as a group in support of higher education,” Olum said. University personnel in the student services office are preparing a detailed rebuttal to some of the commission’s find ings, he said. However, Olum said the com mission's criticism of how the state board has made cuts in the higher education budget are “serious and important and need to be considered.” Even within the state system there was “serious disa greement” on how the last round of cuts should have been made, he said. Breezy jazz quartet cools warm afternoon Four Jazz musicians entertained lounging students yes terday afternoon In front of the EMU as the temperature reached a balmy 68. Temperatures In the sixties are expected again today. Photo by Erich Boeketheide / LTD lays off 19 workers By Marian Green Oltha Emerald Nineteen Lane Transit District em ployees will become victims of budget reductions June 6 when the district lays them off, according to an LTD represen tative. On June 6, 10 bus drivers, three main tenance workers and five management employees will be out of work. In addi tion, the district will lay off one informa tion clerk June 1, says Ed Bergeron, LTD marketing representative. Bergeron says the lay-offs are a result of the reduced budget planned for the 1982-83 fiscal year. LTD's projected $7 million budget for 1982-83 is $1 million less than the 1980-81 $8 million budget and $400,000 less than the present year’s $7.4 million budget. Unionized employees will be laid off on a seniority basis, and management per sonnel will be laid off according to need, he says. The personnel reductions are accom panied by service cutbacks, he says. “Most of the cutbacks are ones that are cut back anyway in the summer,” he says. Further reductions will come this sum mer in late evening runs and Saturday service, “where people weren't riding much anyway," Bergeron says. But he acknowledges that “it’s going to be harder to take the bus to the show.” In the University area, those routes include early morning runs on the Amazon, U of O/Laurel Hill and U of O buses. For detailed information on the service reductions, call 687-5555. In the past, LTD would use the lax time created by slower summer months for special workshops in areas such as defensive driving, he says. This summer, budget reductions will force elimination of that practice, he says.
