Oregon daily
emerald
Holiday closures
Classes will meet as usual but some University offices
will be closed today in observance of Washington's Birthday.
The Registrar's office and the Financial aid office will be
closed, and the printing department will offer no customer
services. The health center and the department of public safe
ty will provide full service.
The library and the EMU will be open for regular hours.
Since today is an official state holiday for classified staff,
offices that will remain open will operate with skeletal staffs
Monday, February 21, 1983
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 84, Number 104
2001: The University’s future
By Sandy Johnstone
Of the Emerald
Computers for everyone and library books on
microfiche are in store for students in the year 2001,
according to the crystal ball University administrators
and faculty are consulting.
The predictions, culled from interviews, may be
pure speculation and wishful thinking, many cautioned.
But based on their ideas, here are the predictions for
the University in 2001.
Prediction 1 — Computers will play a greater role in
everyday University life
"Students will use computers for everything," says
Peter von Hippel, head of the chemistry department
“The computer is a a wonderful tool. It is a research tool
and an aid for thinking."
“Computers will be like typewriters are today,"
adds Paul Holbo, vice president for academic affairs.
But according to Art Farley, head of the computer
science department, computer literacy will increase,
and the computer science department will have to
follow suit by teaching at a higher level. What the
University teaches now will be taught in high school, he
says.
Computers can’t do all the work though.
"There is no evidence writing ability will become
universal because of technology,” says George
Wickes, head of the English department. "Every
student may have a word processor, but they will still
have to write. The average student will still be allergic to
words.”
Prediction 2 — Regardless of how far science
progress, professors will remain a classroom fixture.
"There is a personal quality to the best of learning,”
says Richard Hill, vice provost for academic affairs. "I’d
hate to see that disappear. I don't think it will.”
Hill says computers can do certain things well but
can’s replicate the interaction between professors and
students cannot be replicated by computers.
Von Hippel agrees.
"We will use mechanical aids as much as possi
ble,” he says. “Time will be used more intelligently —
computers will decrease the drudgery. But I would not
want to dehumanize education toward 1984 We would
lose creativity and lose individuality."
The faculty may be involved in different activities,
says Larry Pierce, the chancellor's special assistant for
strategic planning Pierce says faculty Will need to be
more involved in recruiting and counseling.
“Faculty are not usually very good at that," he says.
"They are not trained in it.”
Prediction 3 — Students will be better prepared for
college.
The state system already is moving toward tougher
admissions standards, with proposed changes requir
ing high schogl students to have four years of English,
three years of math, two years of science, three years of
social science and two years of other college prepara
tory courses.
“Admissions requirements will go up,” says
University Pres Paul Olum.
He expects to see a foreign language requirement
for admission. "Students will live up to the expectations
we have of them."
And expectations will increase during the time
students are here. "The era of the easy A will be over,"
says von Hippel.
Prediction 4 — A smaller number of students of
typical college age — 18 to 24 years old — will be
enrolled in the state system.
"The average age of students will continue to
increase,” says von Hippel. He says more part-time
students will enroll, and more students will take time off
between high school and university.
Holbo says demographics show fewer people in the
college-age group attending universities until 1996,
when a slight increase should occur. Instead, universi
ties will have to cater to different groups such as
professionals, military personnel and special interest
groups, he says.
Prediction 5 — Libraries will be less book-oriented.
“Books will be available on microfiche," says
University Archivist Keith Richard. “There will probably
still be books, though.”
Pierce says traditional libraries may become
extinct.
"We will no longer be able to afford to fill buildings
with books,” he says.
Prediction 6 — New science disciplines will arise
because of advances in those fields.
"Departments tied to technology will change a
great deal," says Wickes.
Hill says "exciting" developments among disci
plines will "tend to break down department organiza
tion.”
Von Hippel looks for advances in cell biology and
solutions to energy problems. “We are in the middle of a
revolution of molecular and cell biology," he adds.
Prediction 7 — The humanities, arts and social
sciences will remain an important part of the college
curriculum, despite scientific progress.
"As we get more used to technology, there will be a
terrific demand for philosophy, humanities and lan
guages," says Pierce. "People will come back to the
universities to develop their minds."
Holbo says the high technological level of society
will give people more free time for arts and
entertainment.
Graphic by Shawn Bird
Prediction 8 — More emphasis will be placed on
Asian Studies and International Studier
'“There will be more awareness of international
factors," says Holbo.
Richard says the country in general will need to
look beyond its own borders.
"As a nation we have to be more literate in other
languages and cultures," says Richard. "We have to
look at the world without being so insulated."
Prediction 9 — More programs will take five years to
complete.
"The level of material is so extensive that it will be
impossible to do in a four-year period,” says Pierce.
In fact, some colleges, such as education, are
considering changing to a five-year program.
Uncle Sam withholds aid to draft resisters
By Aleta Zak
Of th* Emerald
A new law requiring students to prove they
have registered for the draft before receiving
federal loans and grants is already causing confu
sion in the University financial aid office.
The law, which takes effect July 1, will require
the financial aid office to verify selective service
registration records for every eligible student of
draft age. Any student who cannot prove he has
registered will not receive aid he may have already
been awarded.
"It’s definitely going to cause us more work,”
says Ed Vignoul, financial aid director. “Right now
we’re just not sure how much we’ll be affected."
Vignoul says his department is trying to decide
how to enforce the new ruling. All students, in
cluding women and men under age 18, will probably
have to submit an extra form stating whether they
have registered for the draft, says Vignoul.
Those who have registered must then supply
the financial aid office with a copy of the letter they
received from the selective service department veri
fying their registration.
Although the federal education department
will determine the official rules for enforcement of
the law, financial aid offices at individual schools
are allowed to submit comments on the proposed
guidelines.
University financial aid staff members will
meet today to discuss how the department will res
pond to the law. Vignoul says he expects to receive
word of the official rules in mid-March.
Vignoul refuses to give his personal opinion of
the law, but he says he is resigned to working with
it. “I really tried to see both sides of it, but I’m just
not going to get into a philosophical discussion
about it,” says Vignoul. “The law is passed, and
what we have to do now is make some constructive
comments (on) how we are going to implement it.”
The selective service-financial aid law may
have passed last fall, but controversy surrounding it
still lives on. Some anti-draft groups, like Students
Opposed to Registration of the Draft and the cam
pus American Civil Liberties Union, see the law as
discriminatory and a government intrusion into
private life.
“The rationale for the law is that if you get
benefits from this society, you have to be willing to
spill your blood for it," says Ron Phillips, a SORD
member and a staff worker for the Coalition Oppos
ed to Registration of the Draft. Phillips says any
student who chooses not to register for the draft
will be forced to incriminate himself if he wants
financial aid.
Doug Marker, director of the campus ALCU,
agrees with Phillips. “This law is going to be a
disaster,” says Marker. “It will hurt a lot of peoples’
chances for getting financial aid. It’s a complete in
trusion of government into the lives of all these
people.”
But just how many students will be affected by
the law?
Col. Robert Ball, director of the Oregon selec
tive service, says the registration compliance rate
for males born between 1960 and 1963 is about 95
percent. Nearly 80 percent of those bom in 1964
have registered, but Ball says he expects the
percentage to increase during the next few months
as more precise statistics are compiled.
“The law is a means to encourage young men
to comply with the federal draft legislation,” says
Ball. "You can’t drive a car without a license. It’s the
same principle.”