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number
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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."