Oregon daily _ ,
emerald
Thursday, July 1,1982
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 4, Number 3
Speaker fights subtle sexual harassment
Photo by Mark Pynoa
Helen Remick, director of the affirmative action office at the University of Washing
ton. detailed the subtle and not-so-subtte side of sexual harassment.
Proposed 5% sales tax
could yield $1 billion
By Cort Fernald
Of EataraW
The conviction is growing among
state legistators and economists that
the best means to correct Oregon's
revenue problems is to implement a
sales tax. An advisory panel has
recommended a five percent sales tax
to Gov. Vic Atiyeh and a government
office is presently analyzing what
affect a sales tax would have for state
revenues
The affect of a sales tax — a five
percent sales tax — would be to "raise
quite a lot of money," according to
James Tattersall, head of the Univer
sity's economics department.
The Legislative Office of Revenue,
which studies the impact and alterna
tives of state revenue decisions, has
estimated that $200-240 million a year
per percentage point would be raised
by a sales tax By that office's best
estimate a five percent sales tax
would realize over $1 billion annually
for Oregon
However, sales tax has been tradi
tionally unpopular with the state’s
voters The last time a sales tax
appeared on the Oregon ballot it was
defeated seven to one This re
sistance to sales tax goes back to the
1950s when an equitable income and
property tax was devised by the
Legislature in lieu of a sales tax.
Although, the recourse to sales tax
has never been eliminated by the
Legislature
Randall Eberts, assistant professor
of economics at the University, look
ing at the situation from an econ
omist's point of view, thinks that
because of the longstanding voter
resistance to sales tax there is a fairly
low likelihood of a sales tax becoming
implemented
"Sales tax has been batted around
the Legislature," says Eberts, "but it
hasn’t appeared yet."
The sales tax plan is being engin
eered in the House by Tony Van Vliet,
R -Corvallis, with the backing of most
Republicans
The central argument against sales
tax was that it was a regressive tax,
inequitable in that it impacted more on
people of low income
Representative Margie Hendriksen,
D-Eugene, is opposed to a sales tax,
agreeing with the criticism it's regres
sive "How you get it and who you get
it from is important,” Hendricksen
says
There are three major tax sources
for state governments: income tax,
property tax, and sales tax Most
states have all three tax options
Oregon differs in that it relies primarily
on income and property taxes as
revenue sources. In times of a strong
national and state economy these two
revenue sources are sufficient.
Oregon's economy was in a “boom”
period during the '50s when these tax
packages were designed
Sales tax revenues are more stable,
less likely to fluctuate, than other
revenue sources. Income and
property taxes are directly affected by
the economic conditions of the state.
Eberts and Tattersalt agree that the
state needs a broader tax base than
the base it has now.
By Harry Estove
Of Wm Emarstd
If a male professor sits beside a female
student and strikes up a friendly con
versation, that can be interpreted as the
beginning of a "romantic encounter.”
On the other hand, if a male professor,
walking by a woman, reaches out and
grabs her breast, that can be interpreted
as sexual harassment. And at the
University of Washington, the professor
could lose his job.
Speaking to a small EMU audience,
Helen Remick, the affirmative action
director for the University of Washington,
gave several examples of sexual
harassment — subtle and not-so-subtle
— that her office has been trying to
combat.
In one extreme case a tenured profes
sor was fired for "dropping his drawers"
around female staff, placing his tongue
in his secretary’s ear, and other acts of
sexual harassment, Remick said. In other
cases, faculty were reprimanded for
asking for sexual attention or sexual
affairs in return for softer grading or
other favors.
The University of Washington has had
a policy for the last three years that
makes any act of sexual harassment
subject to discipline, either by a re
primand, a suspension or, in the one
case, termination.
So far "several hundred" people have
used the office to register complaints
about faculty, Remick said. In every
case, a woman complained of sexual
harassment by a male faculty member.
And in every case but one, the faculty
member admitted to the act, Remick
said, although there were often ques
tions on the interpretation of the act.
"The definition of sexual harassment
can be very broad,” Remick said.
“Federal guidelines define sexual
harassment as any behavior that the
recipient feels is sexual harassment.”
Some of the incidents Remick dealt
with and classified as sexual harassment
included:
• A professor showing up drunk at a
woman's home, asking to come in, say
ing "my wife doesn't understand me.”
• A man inviting one of his secretaries
into his office and telling the woman his
sexual fantasies.
• A work-study student losing her job
immediately after she declined to go on a
camping trip with her superviser The
superviser told her his office had run out
of funds.
Remick's office has two methods of
dealing with complaints of sexual
harassment, a formal one and an in
formal one.
Under the informal method, the of
fender is made aware of the complaint
and asked to stop his behavior. In some
cases the department head is alerted.
Under the other method, the woman
files a formal complaint against the of
fender and disciplinary steps are taken.
So far the formal method has only been
used twice, Remick said. Once, a
professor was fired and once a professor
was asked to take a short leave of
absence.
More women than ever before are in
school and in the work force, Remick
said. "The rules have changed in ways
that are very, very difficult to un
derstand.”
Remick’s talk was part of a sexual
harassment conference sponsored by
the Women's Referral and Resource
Service, the ASUO, the Office of Student
Advocacy, Women in Transition and the
Gay Peoples' Alliance.
unancellor ‘Bud’ Davis
officially takes command
By Dabble Howtett
Of Sw EmaraW
Everytime the man is in Oregon, his
deep tan and sun-silvered hair seem to
poke fun at the rain-soaked state. But
William Bud' Davis' "homespun" atti
tude. replete with a-hands-deep-in
pocket, head-bent-down-slightly stance,
and even his trace of a southwestern
accent lend to the man's sincerity.
The golden boy looks exhibited by
Davis are something of a misnomer, he’s
not too slick, but then again he's not the
"laid back" type. He spins tales about
his losing season as head football coach
at the University of Colorado. He
compares an early spring tour of four
Oregon institutions with being a “baton
in a sprint" relay.
Today is his first official day as
Chancellor Davis, head of Oregon's sys
tem of higher education. One might say
the baton has been passed from ex
Chancellor Roy Lieuallen to Davis, and
Davis is prepared to run with it
The analogies may be athletic, but
there's the misnomer again. Where
Lieuallen is considered by some as a
luke-warm advocate of academia, Davis
is purported to be one of its staunchest
supporters.
The most recent visit Davis paid in
Emerald Photo
William ‘Bud' Davis
Oregon was to the State Board of Higher
Education’s June meeting. Davis sat in
the back of the room among the institu
tion presidents and made no official
comments. However, during a break in
the afternoon session, outside of the
meeting room, he made a few comments.
“Oregon is the worst of the bad,"
Davis said of higher education s fiscal
problems in this state. "It's not belt
tightening anymore.”
Davis also talked about institutions
within the state system, specifically the
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