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