| opinion
Passive, ineffective
sums ASUO’s year
Today the ASUO presidency officially changes. Pres.
C. J. Balfe steps down and Mary Hotchkiss steps up.
With Hotchkiss will come a new style of governance.
At least we hope so.
During a recent interview, Balfe said the ASUO under
his direction “infiltrated" the University administration,
the community and the state this year. Although it’s hard
to understand exactly what he means by “infiltrate,” it’s
even harder to see the results.
Balfe cited attending city council meetings, getting
on the city’s mailing list, shaking hands with state
legislators and being chummy with University ad
ministrators as examples of infiltration.
Granted, ail of these gestures are a good start,
something that could and should have been accomplish
ed in the first month of his administration. But they are
simply the means to an end — the end being an effective
student body voice.
Instead, we have seen an academic year of staff
resignations, useless bureaucracy and an increase in the
ASUO Executive's budget.
The ASUO, despite Batfe’s apparent belief in
strength through change, suffered from 10 resignations
and one firing this year. Replacing some of these
qualified people was not an easy task and in at least one
case involved numerous trips to the Constitution
Committee.
At a time when many programs were receiving large
cutbacks, the ASUO increased its own budget, fattening
its advertising budget by nearly $8,000. There remains no
guarantee that the money will go toward promoting all
ASUO student programs, the stated reason for the
increase.
The Oregon Student Lobby Conference, which the
ASUO hosted in the fall, was a good beginning for organiz
ing student lobbying efforts this year in Salem. But it
didn’t have to end there.
Balfe admits that the ASUO did not spend enough
time in Salem this year. The ASUO and its program of
state affairs did not get students to participate in the lob
bying effort.
House members such as Rep. Mary Burrows, R
Eugene, and state board members such as Bob Ingalls
told us that students should be lobbying in Salem and
working through the constituencies of their parents. A
handful of student representatives having coffee with the
Oregon Student Lobbyists does not constitute a force.
The lobbying failure is probably due partly to Balfe's
belief that demonstrations and presidential activism,
such as Hotchkiss* recent participation in the POTC
demonstrations, is the wrong tactic for the student body
president. We disagree We like to see the student
political figurehead take an active part in campus poli
tics.
Balfe, like most elected officials leaving office,
knows that ‘the majority of the job is doing what students
expect of you, not what you want to do.” But that sounds
too much like a rationale for passive governing — going
through the motions and waiting for crises to be brought
to the Executive.
The Emerald continues to advocate an active ASUO
presidency which stirs student interest and speaks out to
students as well as administrators on matters of interest
to students; we await next year with some hope.
letters
Organize
No one likes to be under
paid. and it is right that faculty
salaries should be widely and
openly discussed Someone
must identify, however, the
hypocrisy of the local
American Association of
University Professors and its
officers on this issue. They
complain, in their current
newsletter and elsewhere, that
our saianes have declined
dramatically as against those
of faculty in the Eugene
schools and the community
colleges They even admit that
the latter's gams are direct
consequences of collective
bargaining Why do they not
draw the conclusion that the
faculty should organize?
The truth is that the local
AAUP is the most important
organized force against collec
tive bargaining on our campus.
Some years ago, when the
AAUP filed as chief petitioner
for our first campus branch
election, and then worked
against its success, its presi
dent confessed to me that
their object was mareiy to
heighten the AAUP's lagging
appeal to the younger faculty.
The dissembling of the current
leadership is thus not per
sonal but the continuation of a
long-term policy. It is quite at
odds with naticnal AAUP
policy, for the AAUP is now a
labor organization
Our salaries are low
because we will not organize.
The local AAUP has for years
talked about saianes and op
posed organization in the
name of a tattered myth called
governance.” which amounts
to the right to petition the ad
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ministration. The local AAUP
is thus an accomplice to the
present state of affairs; and
any faculty member who
listens to such a group, which
opposes the evident means
and cries about the unreached
end, deserves what she or he
gets. Or less.
In a modern university,
under the business principles
of “sound management," the
value of anyone or anything,
from management's point of
view, is its price. Our prices
(salaries) may be low, but they
reflect directly the value our
managers assign to us. No
moaning about “governance"
will affect this transformation,
through management, of the
University in the image of the
business corporation. We
must use the instrument ap
propriate to the situation in
which we find ourselves,
organization. If we do not use
it. if we follow the University’s
AAUP, we shall get precisely
what we deserve. Or less.
Thomas Brady
protasso,, history
El Salvador
On Tuesday May 17, Oregon
t “came the first state in the
country to formally ask the
federal government to stop
military aid to the ruling junta
in El Salvador.
Senate Joint Memorial 6,
sponsored by Margie Hen
drickson of Eugene, asks that
the federal government place
a moratorium on all military
aid to the government of El
Salvador until there is
substantial and widely
verifiable proof that their cur
rent policy of violent suppres
sion of fundamental civil liber
ties and human rights has
been terminated.
The memorial passed the
State Senate by a vote of 29-1
and the House by a vote of
40-19 Such strong bi-partisan
support is a strong expression
of the fact that the American
public is extremely hesitant to
support a regime with no
regard for even the most basic
of human rights.
The staff and supporters of
the Eugene Council for Human
Rights in Latin America, who
participated in a concentrated
lobbying effort, applaud the
Oregon Legislature and hope
that similar legislation will be
taken up in other states.
Help stop the more than
8,000 yearly killings of inno
cent civilians, help stop the
$205 million in military aid that
Reagan wants to send to El
Salvador this year, write to
Washington and urge your
representative to take action
on Senate Joint Memorial 6.
Jim Middaugh
Eugene Council for
Human Rights
in Latin America
Misguided
I am always amazed by let
ters like the one submitted by
Brandon Shepard in the May
18 Emerald. In one paragraph
he said we should have “nuk
ed” North Vietnam, while in
the next he said the United
States has a “humanitarian du
ty” to save people from
communism.
Shepard must believe that it
is humanitarian to kill helpless
civilians of a communist coun
try in order to protect human
rights. Such nearsighted con
clusions ignore the complexi
ty of the issues involved.
In regard to Central
America, I will accept the no
tion that communist govern
ments often repress human
rights. However, heavy-handed
efforts by the United States in
the last 90 years to shove non
communist governments
down the throats of Latin
Americans have been
unsuccessful.
It is a violation of human
rights when Washington
decides which national faction
is "good" and then supplies
arms, undertakes covert ac
tions and supports dictators
to enforce our misguided
foreign policy. Such methods
have not worked and will not
work. The United States must
seek different ways of ensur
ing human rights in Latin
America.
Martin Jaqua
law
‘Cutesy’
Regarding the May 19
headline “University alum to
give artsy talk." How cutesy!
Caroiy Steward
secretary, physical plant