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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 24, 1982)
Oregon daily _ - emerald Willi BLOOfi coum TtXY? llfin1 j 4 £2v i Wednesday, November 24, 1982 Eugene, Oregon Volume 84, Number 59 E meratd Pt>ot© The University Small Business Association is trying to save the current. "unique" lighting fixtures on East 13th Avenue, which the city is trying to modernize At right, a sketch of the proposed style favored by the city. Group flares up over city proposal to replace outdated street lamps By David Brown Otth* Enmld What distinguishes East 13th Avenue from the rest of Eugene? Possibly its street lamps, says Jamie Doug las. board member of the University Small Business Association. The USBA is opposing the replacement of the city-owned street lights between Alder and Kincaid streets Under an incentive program offered by the Bon neville Power Administration through the Eugene Water and Electric Board, the city is considering converting the current incandescent lamp fixtures to accom modate sodium bulbs that emit more light for fewer dollars Sodium bulbs also cut down on contrast between shadows and lighted areas But the lowest wattage sodium bulb available is twice as bright as the current incandescent bulbs, creating more glare. Douglas says And the conversion would include a style change to a fixture called "American Revolution" that holds a single bright bulb Currently, four softer incandescent lamps that emit bluish light hang from cast-iron stems circling a center lamp The existing lamp posts, which were in stalled in 1910, are the unique characteristic identifying the shopping area. Douglas says The USBA's letter-head logo includes a sketch of the lamps As part of their effort, the USBA circulated a pe tition about the bulb proposal to area businesses, asking people if they favored the existing lighting structures or supported the proposed conversion All returns to date have been marked "I am in favor of keeping the existing lighting,” Douglas says Members of the USBA and West University Neigh bors have formed a Lighting Task Force to study the problem of the more expensive incandescent lamps The task force is negotiating various options with the Traffic Engineering Division of the city's public works department, Douglas says The USBA is considering sharing the maintenance cost for the existing lamps with the city to offset the extra cost of burning incandescent bulbs, she says Do differing degrees color job prospects? By Debbie Howlett Ol ttw Emaratd The difference between a degree in a liberal arts field and a degree from a professional school is a matter of em ployment — the student's — says James Reinmuth. dean of the business school at the University "Students now are 100 times more pragmatic Fifteen years ago, students were seeking causes. Now they're seek ing jobs," Reinmuth says Joe Hynes, associate dean of the arts and sciences college, isn't as sure the only way to a job is through a profes sional school While there is no outward sign of a raging debate or an inner struggle, the two men see the value in a degree from their respective fields Reinmuth defines the value as market value The best value in the educational mar ketplace is the one that current opinion says is the most valuable, he says A good example, he notes, is a business degree in today's market According to Reinmuth, a recent sur vey in the Wall Street Journal says that 10 years ago, businesses were hiring liberal arts students four to one over business school graduates Now, he says, that trend has been completely reversed, and busineses are hiring business majors over liberal arts students at the same four-to-one clip “They are saying two things: one, the whole nature of business requirements have changed and two, the require ments of business are such that it takes too long to pick them up on the job,” Reinmuth says. "What they're not saying is the liberal arts component is not im portant.” Hynes says the value of a liberal arts degree isn't "the dollar value” but the ability to reason logically and to think intelligently. "I wouldn’t say there are any disad vantages (to a liberal arts degree) I would not talk about disadvantages,” he says. "If you want to know can you set the table with it?’ — I'd say probably less today than the last 20 to 30 years ” As far as market value goes, Hynes says the "sellers" aren't the ones who make the decisions. "It's a buyer's market,” he says. "The tendency is for buyers to be very choosy." The real question to ask, Hynes says, is "can you spend professional training time creatively or are you limited to a narrow scope?" Reinmuth answers Hynes by looking at the change in the hiring practices of business. "The role of business education in 1958-60 was wrong," Reinmuth says. "There was too much how to' teaching, people wanted more of an intellectual content. We don't teach how-to, but we go give more liberal arts skills, humanis tic skills.” Ultimately, "business schools got their act together," Reinmuth says. Reinmuth says the evidence of the switch from "vo-tech" training to a more Continued on Page 2 Business picks up Those leaves piling up on lawns around campus are just part of a day's work for Public Works Department employees Bob Dutton (standing) and Don Malm (in cab). Today the crews begin a leaf-cleaning sweep between East 18th Avenue and Franklin Boulevard from Mill Street through the southern Fair mount neighborhood east of campus. After Thanksgiving weekend, the crews will double back on the far side of East 18th Avenue. Due to parking congestion around campus, they will return during Christmas vacation for a final clean-up. Photo by Bob Baker
