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.