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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1982)
Green advocates uniting programs Vincson Green By Rich Burr Of th* Emaratd Uniting ASUO-funded programs may be the only way to weather hard financial times, says Vincson Green, ASUO vice president of program development. If enrollment drops under 14,500, programs would face across-the-board budget cuts, according to David Gibson, ASUO vice president for administration and finance If that happens some programs may have to band together into one group to avoid extinction, says Green "We would try to save the program any way we could first," he says "Some of these groups say they have different interests, and it would be kind of hard to figure out some ways to combine these groups if that problem does arise And we may eventually have to do that " The primary solution to fiscal instability may be a new Program Development Council, Green says Green will meet with program directors, starting Thursday, to iron out difficulties and exchange ideas By forming this council, I think that we're going to keep programs that are not as strong and that might fall out because of budget cuts or something like that,” Green says. "We would keep them together because we re going to be emphasizing fundraising." One example of successful fundraising was the ASUO Street Fair The fair made about $1500, the same netted by two street fairs last year The council may produce tne same resuns uuesi speakers and workshops will address the council on methods of cutting waste and raising money, Green says. “I think it (the council) has a large amount of potential,” he says The council also will help get the programs to work with the ASUO, Green says As former director of the Black Student Union, Green says disgruntled programs sometimes end up working outside the ASUO instead of trying to be a positive influence inside it "I’m a living example of that,” Green says “I thought last year, They can't do anything for me.' But now that I'm over here, I see that with this council we re trying to form there are a lot of things the programs and ASUO can do together "And that's one of the reasons I'm over here today,” he says ”1 thought it was one of the best ideas I’d ever heard ." The office of program development is branching into the goals process of the Incidental Fee Committee Programs must have goals approved before they can receive funding Green will work with Gibson in the goals process "Since we re working with the programs one-on one, we're just about basically together all the time,” he says. “We thought that it would be good for this office to have just a slight hand in it because eventually, maybe, it should be our puppy ” Foreign language mastery gives grads job-hunting edge By Sandy Johnstone Of the Emerald Oregon's future may be in tertwined with foreign lan guages — more than 25 per cent of the state's personal income comes from interna tional trade — yet the vast majority of University students graduate without fluency in a foreign language "It's very shortsighted on the students' parts not to take a foreign language,'' says Randi Birn, head of the romance languages depart ment "Some students are go ing to find they aren’t going to be able to get the jobs they want without having a foreign language ” Why the apparent disinter est in learning a valuable skill? Clarence Thurber, international studies director, says the "melting pot" theory has discouraged people from keeping up on a foreign lan guage People want to blend into the country and become American, not retain a foreign identity which a language reinforces, he says Also, Oregon is thought of as "progressive," and some students may believe that learning a foreign language is a frill not necessarily related to getting jobs, Thurber says ' However, the evidence is to the contrary,'' he says “If we re going to put a major ef fort into the export market we re going to have to speak their language.” And just knowing a foreign language isn't enough, Thurber adds “Language ability is the tip of the iceberg We need to train people in foreign cultures and send them over to do bu siness with travel agents over there and know how to pene trate those markets," he says “We can’t have trade with out a knowledge of language and the culture," agrees Peter Gontrum, head of the Ger manic languages department “More cultural awareness will bring greater successs in im plementing foreign trade ” But, the problem doesn't start in the universities Oregon high schools lag far behind other states in lan guage preparation, according to the Oregon Commission on Foreign Language and Inter national Studies Less than 40 percent of col lege-bound high school sen iors in the state have had two years or more of a foreign lan guage compared with 75 5 percent in 12 Western states and 72.9 percent nationwide, reports the commission The commission's report spurred the high schools into requiring a global studies class. "This will stimulate global awareness and strengthen foreign lan guages," says Gontrum "There is a trend among some of the best universities to include two years of a foreign language as an entrance requirement or make accep tance conditional without it,” says Thurber "I doubt if it would be done here by our selves It would have to be the state system But an effort will probably be made in the form of faculty legislation along those lines " "The concern of a number of people is not whether we can fill University classes but that if Oregon's destiny is in international trade then we need languages," says Ste phen Kohl, head of the East Asian studies department "It makes a lot of sense ( to enroll in Japanese)," says Kohl "Enrollment, particularly in Japanese, has been sky rocketing University enroll ment may be down, but Japanese is up Enrollment in Japanese has risen from 108 in 1972 to al most 300 in 1981, and Chinese has jumped from 128 to 250 in the same period "One of the biggest prob Photo by Mark Pynes Randi Birn, head of the romance languages department, says many students find it an advantage to know a foreign language lems is that it is hard for students to get any back ground in Japanese before they get here," says Kohl 'Even at the University level only UO has a four-year de gree and program And we are moving into a situation where these lan guages will be very important, but there will be a limited number of places for people to get the type of education they need," he adds "Certainly there is a certain amount of student lore that Asian languages are exotic and difficult, but I don't think they are more difficult than other languages," says Kohl "There are more problems, not bigger problems and they are all manageable for anyone reasonably intelligent The problem is turning attitudes around " Fulbright scholars face tough competition By Land du Pont Of ttw Emerald The University's Fulbright program ranks with other major U S universities in the number of scholarships it receives, and this year should be no exception, according to the University's Fulbright program director Five University students and three alumni are currently studying overseas for a year under the Fulbright program That number is a good reflection on the University, according to Tom Mills. Ful bright coordinator and director of inter national services "We do very well among U S Page 8 Section A schools,” Mills says "The University of Washington, which is larger than we are, got one Fulbright last year " "Wonderful We had five " Competition for Fulbright scholarships is intense — last year 2,811 students applied for 516 grants Study in certain countries is even more popular; some 487 students applied for 22 grants to the United Kingdom Demand for some countries — Iceland. Korea and Poland for instance — is not as high Applicants submit a one-page proposal for a year of study A University committee screens the applications and forwards successful proposals to the institute of International Education in New York, which coordinates the pro gram internationally “Those who are accepted are recognized internationally as outstand ing scholars,” Mills says “They have great expertise in their field of study “ Students who are accepted tend to follow two general courses, according to Mills Some choose to spend their year intensively studying a country's culture and language Others plan their program around resources such as laboratories or archives available only in the host country The scholarship provides transporta tion money, tuition and a living stipend for a year of study No matter which path students follow, the Fulbright can have practical career advantages "The Fulbright is a very major asset," Mills says "It is something personnel managers see that can open the door at job interviews " "The purpose is to strengthen good relations between countries." says Mills "Fulbright scholars are informal ambas sadors ' ’ Applications for 1983-84 Fulbright Scholarships are due by Oct 15 Pro spective Fulbright scholars must have a bachelor's degree by the beginning date of the grant and be proficient in the country's language Wednesday, October 6,1982
