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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 24, 1982)
Monday, May 24,1982 Eugana, Oragon Oregon daily Volume 83 Number 158 emerald Photo by Erich Boeketheide We’ll sing in the sunshine It wasn't a traditional lawn party, but several hundred folk music enthusiasts gathered on the east lawn of the EMU Sunday afternoon to dance and listen to the 12th Annual Willamette Valley Folk Festival Beginning on Friday, the festival provided audiences with three sunny afternoons of free entertainment, including concerts, festival and country dancing Unpopular causes defended by ACLU By William Kogut (MVwfmnW “Racial insults are a form of protected speech.” Such a stand might be ex pected of a Strom Thurmond Few persons might think the above statement would reflect the views of the American Civil Liberties Union. But it does. “The ACLU tends to guard freedom of speech very jealously,” says Dave Fidanque, director of the local ACLU chapter. "If we (as a society) say racial epithets deserve an extra six months in jail, then next some other form of speech (will deserve added punishment).” Fidanque’s remarks refer specifically to the case of Ron Harrison, a black Eugene police officer. Harrison has alleged that in responding to a call to Eugenean Richard Lyle Staley's residence, Staley insulted him using racial epithets and slurs. Under a new Oregon law, such words constitute intimidation in the second degree. The ACLU became involved in Staley's defense at the last min ute. On Friday, Circuit Court Judge George Woodrich, in a civil action, found for Harrison on counts of racial harassment and outrageous conduct. Harri son was awarded general and punitive damages on both counts and attorney fees for a total of $6,750. Criminal pro secution of Harrison is pending “It was clear from officer Har rison’s testimony that only speech was involved, there was no physical threat,” Fidanque says. "Punishment should be based on acts only,” he con tends. When the racial harassment law was proposed in the Legis lature, the ACLU opposed it. Instead, it favored beefing up the state civil rights law. Fidanque realizes the ACLU’s position might alienate members of the union drawn from minorities, and that it might have an adverse effect on at tendance at the Lane County Chapter Annual Meeting set for 7:30 p.m. today in Harris Hall. But the ACLU has a reputation for not shying away from fight ing for what it believes is right, from taking on tough, “bor derline” cases. During the late ’70s, the union actively defended the right of neo-Nazis to march in Skokie, III., home of a large Jewish population. As a result, union membership dropped off dras tically. It has since recovered dramatically. A 100-member increase in Lane County membership — from 450 to 550 — over the last six months may be in some measure due to the opening of the local office. Since it set up shop, the Lane County office has received hundreds of requests for legal assistance. “I screen the requests,” Fidanque says. “Ones that seem to involve Continued on Page 3 Job outlook improving for graduates By Diane Winocur Ot tfw Emerald This article about the College of Arts and Sciences is the first in a five-part series examining career opportunities for Univer sity students. Although the University con tains the state's largest arts and sciences college, only 25 per cent of University students graduate with a traditional liberal-arts degree, according to Larry Smith, Career Planning and Placement Service director But career prospects are im proving for non-specialized graduates, Smith says Estimat ed increases in employment demand for liberal-arts majors through the 1980s range from good to excellent. The increasing demand for liberal-arts majors is a result of society "moving to a ser vice/industrial base and away from manufacturing industry," Smith says. Factors contributing to this shift include improved man ufacturing technology and the changing demographics of the American consumer, as the post-World War II baby-boom generation and its particular needs moves through society, he explains. Employment opportunities in the service areas are skyrock eting, providing many jobs na tionwide for liberal arts majors. Smith says Faster than any other industry, employment op portunities in careers such as health care, maintenance and repair, advertising and com munication are projected to grow from the 18 percent of the work force these jobs currently represent 40 to percent through the mid-1980s The general background of a liberal-arts education provides a graduate with a terrific advan tage in a rapidly changing busi ness world, says Arnuls Zweig, associate dean of the arts and sciences college “You've learned how to think critically and how to learn,’’ Zweig says. "Even if you can't use your college studies, skills acquired in your first job lay the foundation for your second and third jobs " Liberal-arts job opportunities may be improving, but both Zweig and Smith emphasize the importance of taking spe cialized courses, such as com Graphic by U Schatbuch Outlook for the ’80s puter science, to increase em ployment possibilities. “Graduates are more em ployable if they acquire exper tise in computer science, busi ness, accounting, economics, the hard sciences, or statistics," Smith says “Even companies with a policy of hiring liberal-arts majors can't always afford the training time ” Job prospects for graduates of most of the arts and sciences departments are projected by Federal Department of Labor statistics to be higher than the national average. Over the next decade, demand for mathematical tech nicians, political scientists, and sociologists will top the list of jobs increasing in demand, with percentages roughly three times the national average, ac cording to statistics. Careers expected to almost double the national average in clude medical doctors, com puter systems analysts, geologists and psychologists. A survey of University students who graduated in 1980 shows how many found em ployment and gives hope for liberal-arts majors. In a percentage ranking of each Univeristy major now employed full time, positions two through five were filled by history (99), computer science (95), political science (91), and mathematics (90). The field producing the most employed graduates was accounting Graduates in the hard sciences seem to be aware of the low demand for their skills, because of those surveyed, more biology, chemistry and math majors currently attend graduate schools than any other group. This also explains their low showing in the em ployment polls, Smith says. Computer science majors ranked highest among those who found jobs relating to their college studies. Liberal-arts graduates taking jobs least related to their areas of study tended to be in geo graphy, political science, psy chology, the Romance lan guages and sociology. A higher correlation between studies and job placement was found for economics, general science, German and math ematics students. Majors in biology, English, and geology were just as likely to find employment outside their field of study as they were to find jobs in their field. Yearly earnings was the final question posed to graduates. Those earning over $18,000 a year were roughly limited to computer science and chemistry graduates. Graduates falling mostly in the $9,000 to $17,999 range in cluded anthropology, geology, linguistics, philosophy and poli tical science.
