Oregon daily _ _
emerald
Tuesday, December 7, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 84. Number 66
Loan defaulters
face garnishing
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government will garnish the
pay or pensions of 46.860 current or former employees if they do
not meet demands to repay $68 million in defaulted student loans.
Education Secretary T H Bell said Monday
Bell said it "is the beginning, the kickoff of a new game in
collecting on our loans." The deadbeats on the federal payroll are
among 800,000 ex-students who owe the government $1 1 billion in
loans
Bell found the defaulters by using a computer to check the
Social Security numbers and last names of 10 3 million past or
present civil servants and military employees against a list of
sfudent loan defaulters
The crackdown follows enactment two months ago of legisla
tion authored by Sen Charles H Percy. R-III thd? for the first time
gives the government the authority to garnish up to 15 percent of
the pay of student loan defaulters on its payroll
Percy, joining Bell at a news conference, said the large number
of defaulters in the government's employ "is really a slap in the face
to every taxpayer in the country "
Bell also noted the defaulters were cutting into the amount of
money available for loans to current students
The computer match showed 46,860 present or former federal
employees defaulted on 50,393 loans, some skipping out on more
than one loan
The loans, some dating back to the early 1960s. were made
under four heavily subsidized programs Federally Insured Student
Loans, Guaranteed Student Loans, National Direct Student Loans,
and National Defense Student Loans
The crackdown comes almost five years after a computer
match by President Jimmy Carter's administration uncovered
17,657 defaulters on the government payroll, most in the military
Education department officials say about half the military workers
and two-thirds of the civilians were convinced then to pay off the
debts
Bell said his department mailed letters Monday warning
defaulters to work out a payment schedule in 60 days or, in 60 more
days, face deductions of 15 percent of their biweekly paychecks
With a court order, federal prosecutors can garnish up to 25
percent of a federal worker's pay
Bell said he also will dock pensioners checks
"The federal government means to collect money that its
employees borrowed in good faith from citizens of this country," he
said
Percy said people who feel the action is "too tough" should
recall the case of a defaulter uncovered in a Senate hearing last
July He said the man, making $36,000 yearly in a federal job,
claimed "financial hardships" in refusing to repay a $4,000 loan but
was later found to have bought an $18,000 sports car
Pipe replacement tears Alder
Blend liberal portions of dirt and
gravel with Oregon precipitation and the
result is gritty mud Workers from the
Eugene Water and Electric Board will
serve up such a dish on Alder Street over
the next three months, says Tom Santee.
EWEB public information manager.
Crews began work excavating strips
of Alder Street last week
The reconstruction is scheduled to
follow a slow course down Alder from East
19th Avenue to 11th Avenue for most of
the winter "It's certainly going to be an
inconvenience," Santee says.
But such is the reality behind
turn-of-the-faucet water delivery.
Workers will reconnect water service
lines from a 70-year-old steel main ben
eath the shoulder of Alder to a cast-iron
main directly below the middle of Alder.
The steel main is reaching the end of its
useful life, Santee says.
The iron main was installed 10 years
ago to increase water flow to fire hydrants
It is a main of superior quality and capable
of supplying domestic service as well as
fire service, Santee says.
The gay experience: coming out in the 1980s
By Harry Esteve
Of the Emerald
Editor's Note: This is the second of a
three-part series dealing with sexual
attitudes, behaviors and problems on
campus
Before Debbie Kester came to the
University, she worked as a prep cook in
a restaurant in the Central Oregon town
of Bend
I was involved in a relationship with
another woman in the restaurant at the
time," Kester remembers. And that led to
her being laid off
She was told work had slowed down,
and she wouldn t be needed But a week
later the restaurant hired another prep
cook
Although that was not Kester s first
lesbian relationship, it was the first for
the Bend waitress with whom she had an
affair I think I was looked upon as
someone who had recruited her into that
lifestyle," Kester says
As a student, Kester has remained an
outspoken lesbian, although she has
tempered her openness with caution.
She says the University community is
"safe” for homosexuals of either sex
The University wasn’t safe for a young
gay man who was badly beaten last
Graphic by Shawn Bird
month by a group of men who didn't like
his sexual orientation, says David Funk,
director of the student-funded Gay and
Lesbian Alliance.
Although violence against gays is rare,
it does happen, Funk says.
"It's a real scary subject,” he says.
"Some people prefer not to think about
it But it's just something we have to live
with — just as women have to live with the
possibility of rape.”
For most people, the subject of homo
sexuality — like the subject of rape — is
uncomfortable at best. If it comes up in
conversation, it is usually in the form of a
joke. When it comes up in college sex
uality courses, students walk out of the
lecture.
But for a large portion of the American
population the subject of homosexuality
is a fact of life.
Sexuality studies conducted over the
past 30 years show an increase in
homosexual behavior, says University
psychology professor Harry Hoberman
In some studies, 50 percent of the men
answered "yes” to the question "Have
you ever been strongly attracted to peo
ple of the same sex?" Rates among
athletes were even higher, Hoberman
says.
In one of the most famous — and most
hotly contested — studies, sex re
searcher Albert Kinsey found 37 percent
of males had experienced at least one
homosexual contact to the point of or
gasm.
When these studies are brought up in
his class, Hoberman says the negative
response is intense "It's clear that peo
ple are very defensive "
Homosexuality rates are much higher
than most people think, but students
become uncomfortable when that's
pointed out to them, Hoberman says
Funk and other GALA members spend
much of their spare time participating in
panel discussions on homosexuality and
counseling other gays — ways they say
can help ease uncomfortable feelings
some people have about homosexuality
How are gays treated at the University?
“There’s an extreme range from open
'homophobia' — politely known as
bigotry — to open acceptance of the
homosexual lifestyle," Funk says. The
numbers of students falling on either end
seem to be equal, he says.
Funk says he hears rumors and stories
of violence against gays. The most visi
ble evidence of attitudes about gays
often appears as bathroom graffiti.
"I mean, I walk into the head down
stairs and I see 'kill fags' written on the
wall," Funk says. Although he doesn't
think the graffiti is a real reflection of
society’s beliefs, he says the messages
bother him.
But what bothers Funk most is how
poorly educated most people are about
homosexuals.
"So many people have absolutely no
information on the subject, which is
amazing when you consider how many
gay people there are out there "
No firm statistics on how many gay
people are enrolled at the University
Continued on Page 3