Thursday, May 27,1982
Eugana, Oragon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 161
emerald
ASUO court finds four officials guilty
By Dane Claussen
and Rich Burr
OlIhuCmmmM
Three newly elected Incidental Fee
Committee members and an EMU Board
member may be removed from office if
the ASUO constitution committee
upholds election violation sanctions im
posed by an ASUO elections court Wed
nesday
The court upheld and took action on
three complaints filed by former ASUO
presidential candidate Jeffrey Houston
against the Students for a Progressive
Agenda SPA is a coalition that cam
paigned for a number of candidates in
the recent ASUO elections.
Karsten Rasmussen, who heads the
constitution committee is postponing
enforcement of the decision until Satur
day when the committee will decide
whether to hear an appeal
If the committee agrees to hear an
appeal and upholds the sanction of
removing from office all SPA candidates
elected in the April ASUO elections, IFC
members Jeff Nudeiman, Dianne Ritter
band-Mason, and Mary Alice Holmes,
and EMU Board member Mary Hotchkiss
may be forced to gfve up their new posi
tions.
Holmes, a sophomore in psychology,
was elected as summer chairer of the IFC
Tuesday, her first day in office.
Major questions facing the committee
will be whether an elections court can
remove students from an office ones
they have taken it, and if replacements
would come from former candidates or
be appointed by ASUO Pres. C.J. Balfe
If the four are removed and replaced
by non-SPA candidates receiving the
next highest numbers of votes, the new
IFC officials would be Devin Wate, a
business sophomore; Gordon Mallon, a
law student; Mark Spence, a junior in
political science and international
studies. The new EM'J board member
would be Steve Pesante, a law student.
Regardless of whether the IFC and
EMU Board members can be removed
from office, SPA presidential candidate
Kevin Kouns and vice presidential can
didate Ken Packman probably will face
25 hours of "community service.”
Houston charged the SPA with poster
rules violations, use of the ASUO-funded
SEARCH office, and threats, harass
ment, and intimidation His complaints
were only three of more than 20 filed by
and against various candidates.
Although all but one of the complaints
were withdrawn or dismissed before the
court’s second session, Houston’s corn
plants were withdrawn too late.
Houston attempted to withdraw his
complaints to save time, but he had
already testified at the first elections
court hearing, said court member Cathi
Bulone.
Kouns said that both the allegations
and the court's findings are “absurd"
and that the “corrupt” actions by the
court and Gus Palmitessa, ASUO elec
tions director, have "discredited them
selves” and the process.
“If there's any way I can file a civil suit
for harassment, libel, and defamation of
character, I will do so,” he said.
"I’m not sure whether to be angry or
laugh hysterically.” Kouns said.
"It’s an opinion that's completely
off-base,” Packman said of the court
opinion, adding that the SPA will appeal.
Kouns' and Packman's sanctions were
not strict enough, Houston said. Mone
tary fines should have been levied and
they should be taken to the student
conduct court, he said.
The former candidates had mixed
reactions.
"The reason I ran for the IFC was
because I thought I could do a good
job," Nudelman said, adding that he
accepted SPA support but did not take
an active part in its campaign efforts.
Nudelman said that he isn't mad, and
doesn’t regret his association with SPA.
“I really think I'm getting a bum deal,” he
said.
Hotchkiss also said the charges were
“absurd."
“The only violation that had any per
tinence to me was the financial
statement," she said. “The rest of the
allegations did not concern me at all.”
"I guess I’m happy,” Mallon said about
possible IFC membership. Wate and
Spence said they would not comment
until after the constitution committee
made its decision.
Holmes, Ritterband-Mason, Pesante,
and Palmitessa were unavailable for
comment Wednesday afternoon.
In other business, the Court ruled that
Palmitessa was within his authority to
place on the ballot a non-binding ques
tion about incidental fee support of the
Emerald.
Students grill Olum during convocation
Photo by Bob Baker
Sharon Claeysens, a sociology GTF, asked University Pres. Paul Olum to reaffirm
his committment to hiring and retaining minorities at Wednesday’s student
convocation.
EMU opens for night owls "II
The EMU will be open until 1 a m
for the six days preceding finals week,
EMU Director Adell MacMillan said
Wednesday
Citing a need for additional late
night study areas June 1-6, ASUO
officials arranged the extra time and
free coffee with funding provided by
Ray Hawk, University vice president
for administration and finance
The EMU is regularly open until
11:30 p.m
"The credit for this one goes to
Adam Rittenberg," ASUO Pres C.J.
Baife said about ASUO staff efforts on
Ms behalf
Baife said that attempts were made
to keep open various other buildings
on campus, but that most administra
tors were opposed to the plan
"It's surprising how much fear there
is about vandalism" among deans, he
said
“Students should utilize it {the
EMU) so that we can do it again in the
future every term," Baife said
By Ann Portal
OtttM Emtrald
Computer science over-crowding,
minority hiring policies and the Universi
ty’s image problem were the main con
cerns brought up Wednesday at Univer
sity Pres. Paul Olum’s spring convoca
tion with students
Less than 30 students attended the
meeting, but discussions between Olum
and students — occasionally punctuated
by comments from other University ad
ministrators — lasted more than an hour.
Brian Devine, a junior majoring in
computer science, questioned Olum at
length on what is being done to handle
the explosion of interest in computer
science.
Of the 800 to 900 incoming freshmen
who have indicated they want to be
computer science majors, only 300 ac
tually can be let in. Devine said, asking
whether the University was turning away
those potential computer science
majors.
“It doesn't seem like an issue you can
just put off and say ‘O K. — I know there’s
a problem,’ *’ he said.
Devine was especially concerned
about the recent resignations of three
computer science faculty. He also crit
icized maintaining liberal arts and
humanities departments at the cost of
“ruining something students really
want.”
Olum responded that steps are being
taken to aid computer science. A minor
that will allow students to take 20 to 24
hours of computer science is being
developed to relieve the pressure from
incoming freshmen, the number of com
puter science majors will be increased
from 320 to about 480 next year, new
computer equipment is being added and
the three faculty all are being replaced. A
new position also is being added.
“We're paying as much as this Univer
sity can afford to support computer
science," said Provost Richard Hill.
“You cannot ask us to destroy the rest of
the University simply to solve the
particular problem of about 1,000
students.” The market for computer
science faculty is among the most com
petitive academic market in the United
States right now, he said.
Olum also spoke about the resigna
tions of University faculty outside the
computer science department. Busi
ness, economics and law school faculty
also have resigned he said, but "not in
very massive or even large” numbers.
Rumors are circulating that more
graduate teaching fellows and fewer
faculty are being used to teach classes,
but actually the GTF-faculty ratio is
down, Olum said.
Sharon Ciaeyssens, a graduate teach
ing fellow in the sociology department,
asked Olum to reaffirm his commitment
to hiring and retaining minority faculty.
She complained specifically about the
history department's failure to appoint
Barbara Green, a black woman who is
currently a visiting professor in the his
tory department, to a two-year assistant
professor position that was filled this
spring.
Tyrone Tillery, an assistant professor
at Wayne State University, has accepted
the position as a one-year visiting
professor, with the option to stay.
Ciaeyssens said there are only three
black women faculty members on cam
pus and she said she felt that was a
detriment to her education.
A faculty committee already is inves
tigating the procedure used to fill the
history department position, Olum said,
adding that "it’s a rough argument” to
debate whether a minority man or a
minority woman should be hired for a job.
Another student asked about the
University's image and what students
could be doing to help.
Until recently, it seemed students were
proud of the University, Olum said. But
rumors and myths spread quickly, he
said, adding "maybe we should get a big
neon board in the middle of the Univer
sity saying how good we are.”
Curt Simic, University Relations direc
tor, said the University is making pro
gress, but the image problem is a long
term one with no short or-eAcsy solutions.