I
Decaying buildings
in need of dentistry
Universities are like teeth; if they go too long without
care or maintenance they begin to decay. And once they
begin to deteriorate, repairs or replacements are like most
dental bills — unaffordable
Recently, the State Board of Higher Education woke up
with a pain in its palate, and placed physical renovation near
the top of its multi-million dollar capital construction priority
list. This puts the importance of new paint right up there with
new computers.
It was a smart move by the board, applauded loudest by
workers at our own physical plant no doubt. For too long
these maintenance workers have been rendered nearly
helpless by steady incursions into their operating and supply
budget.
When the Emerald performed a check-up on the
University's physical health last year, the results were scary:
Window sills were rotting because the state system wouldn’t
spring for new paint; floors in Gerlinger hall were in danger of
collapsing (the University's response was to prohibit jumping
in P.E. classes, because it couldn't afford to replace the
floor); and the University's green lawns were still brown and
patchy from a dry summer and an even drier watering
budget
University vice president Ray Hawk voiced the problem
succinctly. “When push comes to shove, the presidents
would always cut the physical plant.”
Now the state board is realizing that consistently shov
ing money away from the repairs budget in times of monetary
crisis tends to backfire. Replacing rotten window sills in an
entire building costs a lot more than a fresh coat of paint
every year.
The state board's realization is simultaneous with a
national awareness that the country is wearing out and we’re
not spending enough money to repair the damage. Over
shadowing that is the simple but hair-raising fact that we
don’t have the money to replace what crumbles.
The results are discouraging and sometimes tragic.
Parks grow into weed fields, lives are lost and businesses
destroyed when a neglected dam collapses.
The Oregon Legislature should approve the $6 million
that the state board has requested for “rehabilitation,
remodeling and renovation” within the state system. It will be
money well spent. If the money isn’t approved, perhaps we
should call the dentist anyway — and send the Legislature
the bill.
opinion
letters
Baffled
As someone who thoroughly
enjoyed "Look Homeward An
gel," I was a good deal baffled
by the Emerald's review How
ever, I don't want to make this
seem like I'm baffled by the
Emerald baffling me
Let’s face it, the Emerald is a
rag To simplistically say that it
is not believable that Eugene
Gant is so thorougly oppressed
by his mother, Eliza, is to un
derstand very little of the sym
bolic subtleties of the people
being portrayed
Unlike the television pro
gramming Mr Siegle is so surely
accustomed to. plays do not
often hand you the story in a
nice neat little package
If you were unable to feel the
dominance of Eliza Gant, were
not able to sense her narcissism
and her ability to break other
human beings, you've got to be
numb.
As for dull sets well,
buddy, the theatre is not the
same as your Star War's bred
preferences obviously call for
But then, it's not as if the Emer
ald fits my tastes in newspapers
Derm/a Mohatl
Eugana
Nepotism
The stories on “Faculty cou
ples" by Joan Nyland in the July
20 edition of the Emerald were
interesting and informative One
of Nyland's articles focused on
a proposed University policy
statement which would prohibit
nepotism.
It was reported that this new
regulation may be formally
adopted by Oct. 1. Its intent is to
prohibit "nepotism" in the em
ployment sector at the Universi
ty. "Nepotism" was defined as
"the exercise of preferential
selection practices based upon
family relationships rather than
upon merit.”
Apparently several years of
study by the University’s Com
mittee on Equal Employment
Opportunity have been devoted
to the formulation of this policy
which will emphasize the
principle of hiring on the basis
of qualifications for the job in
question.
This is all highly commenda
ble, of course But, I note that
there will be "exceptions for
special cases of employment
without a job search
Now it is certainly reasonable
to allow for the occasional con
sideration of exceptions! cir
cumstances which might permit
setting aside the anti-nepotism
regulation. I would just hope
that the exceptions provision
does not represent a "Catch
22" mechanism subtly designed
to legitimize arbitrary non
compliance with defensible Af
firmative Action guidelines per
taining to fair personal search
procedures,
The human temptation to set
aside rules governing fairplay
when it is to our personal ad
vantage to do so Is one that we
must monitor vigilantly And un
iversities — even liberal ones —
are by no means immune to the
politics of personal conven
ience.
Ronald J. Rousseve
Counselor Education
Enrollment
Your recent article on state
system admissions for fall may
have been unintentionally con
fusing to your readers.
First, the article gave the im
pression that statistics provided
by individual institutions
regarding admissions changes
differ from those displayed in my
report.
The reason for the differ
ences reported in your article is
simply that my report was based
on admisssions as of June 11,
1982 and the figures given to
you via telephone by the institu
tions were based on admissions
as of a later date
Second, I was incorrectly
quoted as saying my report can
be misleading The report is not
misleading What I said, in fact,
was that admissions data can be
misleading to someone who
does not understand new ad
missions in the context of total
fall enrollment.
While percentage changes in
new admissions may appear
large, the resulting changes in
total enrollment would be con
siderably smaller.
Third, the comments in the
article regarding the Oregon
Institute of Technology are in
correct or, at least, incomplete
Official admissions reports from
OIT do show a decline in ad
missions, contrary to what was
reported However, the OIT Ad
missions Office staff member
who spoke with the ODE
reporter (the staff member, in
cidently, was not the person to
whom the comments were at
tributed) explained to the
reporter that admissions are
about the same as last year if
you subtract admissions data
from both 1981 and 1982 on
programs that were eliminated
as a result of budgets cuts.
Nevertheless, the official ad
missions reports from OIT —
which do not make any adjust
ments for program reductions —
were entirely consistent with my
report.
The essential point of the
article was in my view accurate
and informative: The economy
and uncertainty about financial
aid do appear to be among the
major factors affecting fall ad
misssions. However, your
readers would have been even
better served by an article that
did not present confusing and
conflicting statistics without an
adequate explanation of the
discrepancies.
Susan F. Weeks
Coordinator of
Planning Studios
Oregon State System of
Higher Education
Quacks
During the recent uproar over
the KWAX budget I have heard
several people pronounce the
station's call letters "kay—
wax "
It seems probable to me that
the intended pronunciation in
choosing those call letters was
"quacks" to go with the duck
totem Certainly that was the
most common pronunciation for
many years, and remains a more
euphonius, appropriate, and
appealing way of referring to the
station.
Rory Funke
Library
Oregon daily _ _
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