Eugenean joins in Italian anti-missile fast
By Michele Matassa
Of the Emerald
“It was awful to be in Italy and not be
able to eat all that good pasta." said
peace activist Charles Gray during a
Monday press conference in Eugene
Gray returned Saturday night from
Comiso, Italy, where he and nine other
international representatives fasted for
12 days to protest a proposed NATO
cruise-missile base
The proposed base is crucial because
West Germany said it would accept a
base if another European country did
first, Gray said
The cruise missiles would make a nu
clear freeze impossible because they fly
below radar screens, he added
“The Soviet Union would be much
more unlikely to go for a freeze if there
was a weapon which was unverifiable in
the hands of its opponent," Gray said
Gray's wife, Dorothy Granada, was
attending a meeting of Clergy and Laity
Concerned in New York when the in
tended U S delegate to Comiso can
celled Granada was asked to go but.
because she didn't have a passport,
Gray went in her place
The hunger-strikers, representing
seven countries, set three goals — the
main goal being one hour of prime-time
national television exposure — and
decided to survive on nothing but spring
water until their demands were met. Gray
said
The other two goals were meeting with
Italian president Alessandro Pertini and
the seven leaders of Italy's parliamentary
parties
The group, which was organized by
local opposition including the former
mayor of Comiso, achieved its three
goals within two or three weeks. Gray
said
"I’ve never been involved in a fast that
was that successful in terms of gaining
its demands," said Gray, who has par
ticipated in several hunger strikes this
year totaling 45 days.
Gray who lost 15 pounds during his
Comiso fast, said he thought of his par
ticipation as a "support strike" and that
he "would stay until the end if the
demands were gained within a tew
weeks" but wouldn't stay until death
"I don’t especially like to fast, but I'm
willing to do it if it'll produce some
results," said Gray While he fasted he
felt a closeness with the many people
who go hungry because of the arms
race, he said
Wearing a button saying Bread not
Bombs," Gray spoke of how the strike
began quietly, generating little reaction,
but gained momentum as letters and
cablegrams from all over the world ap
plied pressure to Italian officials
Gray said many Italians strongly op
pose the base because it would make
Comiso a war target, would use valuable
agricultural land and would invite drug
and prostitution markets when 3,000 to
5,000 U S service personnel move in Of
18 000 Comiso voters, 12.000 signed a
petition protesting the base, he said
Gray described the last day of the fast
as a "cliffhanger" because the group
wasn’t certain until the last minute that
their demands would be met
On the morning of the strike’s twelfth
day a television station granted the
group a satisfactory spot of 25 prime
time minutes but not until that afternoon
did a cable from the president confirm
the other two demands, Gray said
"It was a very victorious mood we all
had on that twelfth day," he said
Gray had to fly back to the United
states before the group met with Pertini
and the party leaders but did participate
in a segment of the television program,
he said
Gray hasn't heard the outcome of the
meeting with the president but says its
purpose was to get credibility for the
movement Italy’s president doesn't hold
much political power, so the meeting
itself couldn't produce much action, he
said
Meetings with the party leaders are
scheduled within the next two weeks,
Gray added
Fast for Life, a San Fransisco-based
peace organization, will hold a major
international strike in August of next year
if NATO doesn't concede before then,
according to Gray
University emphasizes recruiting
By Frank Shaw
Of the Emerald
The number of students
graduating from high school each
year is declining, and as a result
the University can expect declining
enrollment during the next few
years
That means the University must
turn its attention to the recruitment
and retention of quality students,
says Gerry Moseley, associate
provost for student affairs
Admissions director Jim Buch
says his department has made only
a tew changes in its recruiting
practices
The admissions staff is sending
letters to all students who gave the
University their Scholastic Aptitude
Test scores, buying names of
students who scored well on SAT
and PSAT tests in the Western
states and obtaining names from
the state education department
By the time the process is com
pleted, admissions will have con
tacted more than 30,000 students
through the mail, Buch says
Besides recruiting by mail, the
admissions staff makes recruiting
trips throughout Oregon and other
ITT
states, including Alaska and
Hawaii, contacting about 12,000
high school students
Admissions staff also are work
ing on some new ideas, including
using the faculty and staff to help
recruit new students
We asked faculty to provide us
with the names and addresses of
students they think should go to
the University," Buch says
The University is "more
aggressively looking for the same
kind of students," he adds
This student is curious, well-mo
tivated and well-prepared in oral
and verbal skills
The Student Recruiting Program
also is new
This program consists of 32
University students who will
introduce high school students to
the University
Moseley says students will be the
University's best recruiters
"They (the prospective students)
want to hear it from the person who
is in the system,” he says
"If you're buying a used car, you
want to here about the car from the
previous owner You don't want to
hear from a used car salesman
Moseley says the perceptions of
some Oregonians contribute to the
University recruiting problems
The University is known nation
ally and internationally as a high
guality institution but is not seen
that way in the state, he says.
Moseley suggests making the
students aware of the guality
education they receive here
When they go home for the
holidays they'll tell their parents
how happy they are, and their par
ents will tell their neighbors, and so
on," he says.
Buch says the general public still
sees the University in the same
light as they did in the 1960s
They think the typical student is
a hippie-Marxist ready for revolu
tion That’s not the type of student I
see on campus," he says
To combat the problem, "we
have to be more attentive as to how
Oregonians perceive us," Buch
says
Both Buch and Moseley stress
the importance of a total University
effort in attracting and keeping
new students
Getting students is not just an
admissions effort,'’ Buch says
And if it is then it's doomed to
failure "
Housing drops plan
to raise dorm deposit
Because of difficult economic times for students
the Housing department has dropped plans to raise
residence hall deposits for next year, said University
housing director Dan Williams at Monday's Residence
Hall Governance Committee meeting
Many students receiving financial aid or Social
Security might not be able to pay the proposed $250
deposit for fall term dorm reservations, Williams said
The increase from the $40 deposit would have
reduced the no-show rate for dorm rooms during fall
term, he said
Next year residents will be able to receive the
name and address of their roommate, their room
assignments and campus addresses during the sum
mer, Williams said
The RHGC also discussed a new alcohol policy
proposed by the Bean Complex Area Standards Board
that would allow students 21 or older to transport
alcohol through halls and stairwells, which current
regulations prohibit Students, resident assistants and
area directors have expressed fears of such a policy
contributing to noise and conduct problems, said Dick
Romm, director of residence life and an RHGC
member
The policy will give legal-age residents more
freedom and responsibility but won't cause such
problems, said Pat Hanlan, Bean standards board
president Williams sought RHGC input before he
recommends a policy to University Pres Paul Olum
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