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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1982)
Win number one Page 9 Oregon daily _ emerald Monday, November 22, 1982 r Eugene. Oregon Volume 84, Number 57 State board, task force mull entrance standards By Debbie Howlett Of the Emerald Oregon high school students will probably be required to meet new ad missions standards at state colleges and universities, but a time schedule for implementation is still up in the air At a State Board of Higher Education meeting Friday on the Portland State University campus, the chancellor's office and a state board task force agreed to nearly identical course requirements, but did not agree on which high school class should have to meet the new guidelines first Joyce Benjamin, representing the task force and a member of the state Board of Education, asked that most of the requirements become effective in 1986 with additional requirements in foreign language and visual/perform ing arts becoming effective in 1988 The chancellor's office made a case for primary implementation in 1985 with the additional requirements taking ef fect in 1988 Benjamin suggested that parents and schools be given the opportunity to discuss the requirements Alluding to Chancellor Bud Davis' recent move to Oregon, Benjamin said We Oregon ians like to talk a lot about things." Davis said he sees some urgency" in implementing the requirements so the state system does not "lose a whole generation of students " Both groups recommended the fol lowing requirements: •Four years of english • Three years of mathematics (the task force recommended a stipulation for an exception to require only two years of math for students in accelerat ed programs). •Three years of social sciences •Two years of science The task force recommended further requirements of two years of a foreign language and one year of visual per forming arts The chancellor s office asked for a two year requirement of "other college prep," which could in clude foreign language, computer science or additional amounts of the other requirements The time line for implementing the requirements was not the only recom mendation to come under fire The increase of minimum high school grade point averages at the University and Oregon State University this year also brought some discussion Davis recommended that minimum GPAs be reduced from 2 75 to 2 50 with implementation of the new course requirements The suggestion brought dissent from the board's vice chairer, Loren Wyss. and board member Louis Perry Wyss said he was frankly dis appointed' the board was back to this argument again ’ The board also asked Bill •Cemman, vice chancellor for administration about the status of the governor's bud get recommendation for the higher education budget Lemman said, based on information he had. the governor has limited his recommendations to funding base budgets with little or no program im provement " "On that basis, we asked the gover nor to reconsider those recommenda tions We had a very good and cordial reception by the governor " Retailers accuse SOSC An angry group of Ashland business owners told the State Board of Higher Education Friday that if Southern Oregon State College doesn't stop tak ing their tourist trade they'd all end up broke by next summer." "We do not have the luxury to keep on talking while being stabbed in the back at the same time." said Leo Jan sen. a small business owner from Ash land In addressing the board, the men said the school garnered $400,000 by housing "non-students" in the dorms and providing meals, liquor and enter tainment. The group also said the school would make nearly $500,000 this year "That money should be spent Continued on Page 3 Students no longer rest on eve of aptitude tests By Sandy Johnstone Of Itie Emerald In the "good ole days" students could relax the night before the Scholastic Aptitude Test because they were assured by educators that the test was supposed to measure skills ac quired over many years. Modern research has shattered an other myth — and students are starting to hit the books before taking exams like the Law School Admissions Test, Graduate Record Examination and the Graduate Management Aptitude Test. "Studying is very effective," says Dave Hubin, director of the University Learning Resources Center "Now there is an increasing awareness you can prepare.” Hubin quotes statistics from the Federal Trade Commission that con clude there is an average improvement of 31 points for math skills and 29 points for verbal skills on tests scored between 200 and 800 for students who take a preparatory course Hubin says this difference could de termine which graduate school a student gets accepted at. About 600 people a year take advan tage of classes offered by the LRC in preparing for the GMAT, required for admission into graduate progams in business, the LSAT, required by law schools for admission, and the GRE, the general test used by most graduate schools Hubin says the biggest mistake students make is not becoming familiar with the test's form He says students should take the complete practice test included in the registration packet "It is critical to be familiar with the specific format and structure of the test," says Hubin Students also should review concepts, especially in math or grammar, that may be rusty, he says. In the LRC workshops, students review sample questions, discuss stra tegies for answering them and take practice tests. These tecnmques enable students to know how to time themselves, when to skip questions and when to guess. In that way the test scores are more representative of the students’ skills, he says However, commercial courses and books may not be as effective because of the filtering process the information runs through, says Hubin. Authors take the test and project what they think will be included, Hubin says. He says it's better to get as much information as possible from the testing service in the form of sample tests and other information. Hubin also says the cost of commer cial courses may be prohibitive since they range from $95 to $400 while the course offered by the LRC costs $30 for University students and $40 for non-students. City council plays Hult Center name game Debate over the naming of Eugene's performing arts center continues tonight at a 7:30 p.m. cify council meeting. By Marian Green Of the Emerald The Eugene City Council will play the name game again at tonight’s council meeting — and already the resolution prepared for the 7:30 p m session has come under question. On the advice of the city attorney s office, the council decided last week to hold a public hearing on its Sept. 23 resolution, which named the performing arts center after longtime community leaders Mils and Jewel Hult, who donated $3 million to the center. But- the council is not expected to reverse that decision, and the wording of the proposed resolution has raised some hackles and questions. The resolution states, "Having con sidered the testimony presented at that hearing, the Council specifically finds that the findings and actions taken with respect to the adoption of Resolution No. 3718 (the Sept. 23 resolution naming the center) were and remain valid, appro priate, and in conformity with prior ac cepted policies.” “Apparently they've already heard testimony," says Tom Heusal, a member of Citizens for Open Government. CFOG, a 17-member citizens group, filed a lawsuit Nov. 8 under the Oregon Public Meetings Law, protesting the council’s naming of the performing arts center. The council voted to call the perform ing arts center Hult Center for the Per forming Arts at a $10-a-plate recognition dinner/council meeting Sept. 23, the eve of the center’s grand opening "They sure don't have a flair for dealing with the open meetings law,” says Heusal. "If they go by the wording of (tonight’s) resolution, they're using for tunetellers as well as attorneys in han dling this.” Although council member Mark Lind berg says the council doesn't always follow the prepared resolution, "I agree that it looks as though the cards are not looking very favorable toward a name change." Council member Cynthia Wooten says she initially was "taken aback” by the resolution's wording, but "they have to put something on the agenda.” Wooten says she'd be "very sur prised” if the name is changed. "It’s a very, very difficult issue. I think the Hults’ donation really is attached to the name. It would just be somewhat irresponsible not to accept that money."
