Oregon daily _ _
emerald
Oregon
outflanks
Taiwan
See Page 8
Tuesday, November 9, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 84, Number 48
Ralph Nader
Corporate values
rule, Nader says
By Richard Burr
Of tt» Emfrrakf
Students need to reorient their thinking away from
corporate values dominating the University, consumer
activist Ralph Nader said Monday.
“Corporate values shape our life and we don't realize it,"
Nader said before a capacity crowd in the EMU Ballroom.
Cultural Forum, Survival Center, Oregon Student Public
Interest Research Group. ASUO Executive and Save Our
Ecosystems sponsored the speech
Many students view the University as a "glorified trade
school" that will get them a job, Nader said The University is,
however, a place to develop citizenship skills, he said
The University was noted for promoting consumer
concerns and other causes during the late 1960s and early
1970s, Nader said
OSPIRG was the first PIRG formed in the nation, and is an
example of the rejuvenation, Nader said PIRGS help students
develop citizenship skills and give them experience, he said
Students in other countries are fighting for their rights
while University students are more interested in pleasing
business recruiters, Nader said Interviewees should say to
interviewers they are concerned with corporate responsibility
to consumers and reporting business violations, he said
"Give them a message Nader said Otherwise,
they'll think you're an apathetic crowd "
One legislator who has helped the corporate corruption
has been Republican Sen Bob Packwood, Nader said at the
speech and at an earlier press conference
"He's been doing a lot of dirty work in Congress,” he said
at the press conference
Packwood has voted for big business, nuclear plants,
Senate salary increases and the Reagan tax cut, Nader said.
The senator is inaccessible to consumer groups but available
to big business interests, he added
Students need to develop independent, critical thinking,
which is the purpose of the university education, he added
"Students are bored with the faculty and the faculty is
bored with students," Nader said "You kind of bore each
other."
One reason is the method of teaching, he said Students
and faculty participate in the "consumption of the calendar,”
promoted by the teaching process of "memor
ization-regurgitation-vegetation,” Nader said.
Students need to have more input about the types of
courses taught, he said A Curriculum Reform Committee
should be formed to promote classes that also will have an
effect on students’ lives, Nader said.
Courses on politics in nutrition or Bob Packwood, with
students being actively involved in the research, help in
vigorate the learning process, he added
The problems boil down to an inability of America to
discover fundamental solutions to its problems, Nader said.
Americans need to get involved to change this, he said.
"Do it, and end up with a better society, or don’t, and pay
the bill,” Nader said.
City cited in ‘naming’ suit
By Marian Green
Of ttorn EmtfiM
“There oughta be a law and there is."
That s the slogan of a 17-member citizens'
group that filed a lawsuit Monday in Lane County
Circuit Court that protests the way the Eugene
City Council changed the name of the city s $22 3
million performing arts complex
Citizens For Open Government alleges that
the council violated the Oregon Public Meetings
Law when it changed the name of the Eugene
Performing Arts Center to the Hult Center for the
Performing Arts
The council approved the resolution during a
$10-a-plate recognition dinner Sept 23, the eve of
the center's grand opening, to recognize a $3
million donation from local community leaders
Nils and Jewel Hult
"While we may not agree with the city council
upon the name chosen for the center, the basis
for this lawsuit is the process by which the name
was chosen, rather than a challenge to the name
actually decided upon, reads a statement signed
by CFOG members Rachele Raia, John Bauguess
and Morley Young, plaintiffs in the suit
It's basically a violation of the law, and we
want the city council to correct what they did,”
Bauguess said
The complaint calls for the city council's
action on Sept 23 to be declared void and for the
defendant to pay court and attorney fees
But council member Gretchen Miller, also a
Eugene attorney, said in a telephone interview
Monday that the suit serves no purpose but "to
embarrass the donor.”
"I think it’s real unfortunate that somebody
feels that they have to file a suit, but I don't have
any doubt that it (the council's action) was legal,"
said Miller, who didn't attend the Sept 23
dinner/meeting
Miller said the council’s action was "poorly
thought out. ”
“You can draw whatever conclusions you
want about the fact that I didn't attend the din
ner," she said The council made the decision
under harried conditions with little prior
knowledge, she added
‘ Nobody really knew much about it ahead of
time It happened in just a matter of a few days "
Nevertheless, the council complied with the
regulations stated in the Oregon Public Meetings
Law (ORS 192 610), Miller said
“I really don t think there's any illegality going
on," she said. "If there is any violation, it doesn’t
have any remedy."
Miller said the law, which states its intent is to
ensure that decisions of governing bodies be
arrived at openly,'’ does not provide for
mandatory reconsideration of the governing
body's action
Two ot the seven councilors who approved
the original name change would have to propose
and second a counter motion, and a majority of
the councilors would have to approve it. Miller
said
The complaint alleges that the council violat
ed the statute on three points:
• "The meeting was not open to the pub
lic in that open paying ticketholders were
allowed to attend
A doorperson was instructed to allow anyone
admi;tance to the dinner to hear the city council,
according to city officials But apparently no one
attended just for the council meeting
• “Defendant failed to give at least twenty
four hours notice of the meeting reasonably
calculated to give actual notice to the public and
to interested persons, as required by ORS
192.640."
• "The notice given by the defendant failed
to adequately inform news media, interested
persons and the general public of the anticipated
action to be taken by the city council."
The city manager’s office issued a meeting
notice, stating the time and place, on Sept. 22.
The notice said the meeting's agenda “in
cludes a special announcement and introduction
of a resolution concerning the Eugene Perfor
ming Arts Center.”
Civil rights going backwards;
activist puts blame on Reagan
By Sandy Johnstone
CM the Emerald
The United States is at a sig
nificant crossroads in civil
rights, according to Arthur
Flemming, former University
president and immediate past
president of the U S. Commis
sion on Civil Rights.
“This is the first time in three
decades we are moving
backwards in terms of being
helpful to the poor," Flemming
said on Monday.
Flemming said one indication
that the Reagan administration
is not a strong supporter of civil
rights is the fact that his is the
first administration since the
origin of the Commission on
Civil Rights 25 years ago to ini
tiate changes in the leadership.
Currently there are three posi
tions open for appointment, and
Pres. Ronald Reagan intends to
eventually replace all six
members, he said.
Flemming was removed from
his post as chairer of the
Commission by Reagan about a
year ago, just before he
released a highly critical
statement about the civil rights
policies of the Reagan admin
istration.
Besides serving on the Com
mission on Civil Rights from
1973 to 1981, Flemming has
been secretary of the
Department of Health, Educa
tion and Welfare, and president
of Ohio Wesleyan University
and Macallester College in
Minnesota.
One main problem facing the
United States is the regressive
movement, whose members will
‘‘do everything they can to
eliminate or weaken these laws
and court decisions" support
ing civil rights, Fleming said.
The methods legislators are
currently focusing on is placing
riders to appropriations bills
which limit agencies in their
abilities to fund some functions
dealing with civil rights, he said.
For example, a rider proposed
by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C.,
would make it impossible for the
Department of Education to
implement desegregation poli
cies defined in the Supreme
Court decision Brown vs. Board
of Education, Flemming said.
Another rider proposed by
Sen. Bennett Johnston, D-La.,
would limit the ability of the
courts to rule on desegregation
cases, he said. Both of these
riders were attached to
appropriations bills that passed
through the Senate.
Arthur Flemming
The passage of the John
ston-Helms amendments is a
“serious defeat for the civil
rights movement,” Flemming
said. He added he is afraid the
amendments might be
approved by the House in the
upcoming lame duck session or
in the next regular Congres
sional session.
Flemming is optimistic, how
ever, about the ability of people
at the grassroots level to over
come the legislative movement
to curb civil rights.
Flemming admitted grass
roots support for civil rights
needs stronger organiza
tion, however, and that the
complexity of issues such as the
Johnston-Helms riders are dif
ficult to explain.