-$
A reason
to rejoice
PACE
18
Oregon daily
emerald
Monday, September 26, 1983
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 16
Higher education walks funding tightrope
By Doug Nash
Of the Emnild
As has been the case in the recent past,
the dollar sign remains both the big pro
blem and necessary solution in the minds
of higher education officials this year.
And the quality of Oregon’s university
system hinges directly on the Legislature's
attempts to find an answer to the property
tax dilemma, they say.
"The thing that affects the University
right now is the funding,” says John
Altucker, a State Board of Higher Education
member and a Eugene resident. "These are
difficult and troubled times because the
resources have shrunk and the need is still
there."
Alltucker, who heads the board's sub
committee on planning, instructed his col
leagues Friday to contemplate "why we
have public-supported higher education at
all.” The board can devise a flexible plan
when those reasons are agreed upon, he
said.
Until then, Alltucker urges decision
makers to "keep their imaginations open."
Educators this year will have to walk a fine
line between tightening their belts and
maintaining quality education.
Some facilities in poor condition at the
University and Oregon State University are
an example of needing to maintain quality,
says Board President Robert Ingalls.
"Some of the buildings are more than 50
years old and in need of repair," Ingalls
says.
Further, "we've received some money
but not enough," for university libraries
around the state, he says.
On the budget-trimming side, Ingalls says
the board will try to pinpoint weak courses
that could be eliminated from the state
system. He would not elaborate on which
courses.
In addition, the board's information
systems subcommittee currently is resear
ching a centralized computer system that
would integrate student information on
both the campus and state level. Such a
plan would drastically streamline the
university information process. Vice
Chancellor Bill Lemman says.
"The technology is here to support that
kind of integration," Lemman says.
Though he is not prepared to forecast the
future system's cost, Lemman estimates a
"seven-figure savings" when it is
implemented.
He emphasized, however, that any such
system would have to conform to each in
stitution's needs.
“We're not trying to design one rigid
system that everyone is squeezed into."
The plan would end the University's
arena scheduling process, Lemman adds.
"We would hope that the University
would be the first institution that would be
able to implement the (centralized) com
puter registration."
Otherwise, the semester system con
troversy, which was one of the biggest
questions the state board decided last year,
does not promise to continue into this
school. Biology Prof. Sanford Tepfer, whose
proposal for a University semester system
proved unsuccessful last winter, says the
state board is unwilling to allow one institu
tion to leave the quarter system.
"It isn't going to happen unless the whole
system goes to the semester system,"
•*
A country struggles
to find its reality
By Debbie Howlett
Of the Emerald
Emerald editor Debbie Howlett recently returned
from an 11-day trip to Nicaragua. This is the first in a five
part series.
Nicaragua is a country of struggle. It is a country
struggling to end a long history of guerilla wars. It is a
country struggling to heal and educate its population. But
most of all, Nicaragua is a country struggling to rid itself
of the United State's influence.
The endless rhetoric coming from Nicaragua's San
dinista leadership contains two wishes: a softly spoken
plea for peace, and tucked within the softness, a growling
demand for the United States to disentangle itself from
anti-Sandinista attacks.
If Nicaragua is a country in struggle, its capital,
Managua, is a city without a center. The buildings that
formed the city's center crumbled in the earthquake of
1972, and aside from a spray of tall grasses here and there,
The only building left undamaged from the 1972 ear
thquake, the 17-story Bank of America dwarfs every other
building in Managua. Several people have claimed the
building's obtrusiveness is a metaphor for U.S. presence
in Nicaragua and all of Central America, in addition to the
United States' seemingly unshakeable power.
That the Bank of America is an American bank is sym
bolic of the U.S. dollar's power in Nicaragua. With a legal
exchange rate of 28 Cordobas to the dollar, the desire for
U.S. dollars has driven the black market rates as high as 87
to one.
The Bank of America sits next to the newly rebuilt,
heavily guarded Council of State. But the proximity of the
state buildings is not a metaphor of close relations with
the United States, more than anything, it may stand as a
challenge.
Challenges between the United States and the San
dinistas are nothing new. The two governments have
been battling each other's influence in Nicaragua for
most of the buildings look as they did
immediately after the tremor.
Former Nicaragua Pres. Anastasio
Somoza, in what seems typical of his
regime, refused to rebuild Managua's
shaken center. And despite Sandinista
efforts to reconstruct what Somoza
left, Somoza's rule still permeates the
city — especially what was once the
center.
Somoza’s oppressive government
policies still emanate from the remain
ing rubble of the buildings, now oc
cupied by squatters. His mark still
touches a great number of the city
streets, which are paved with interlock
ing bricks known as "Somoza Stones."
nearly 6U years.
POLITICS IN PERSPECTIVE
In the late 1920s, Augusto Sandino
led a small force of followers in guerilla
attacks against U.S. Marines stationed
in Nicaragua. From dense jungle out
posts, Sandino vowed to stop his at
tacks only when the Marines left
Nicaragua. When the Marines cleared
out in 1933, Sandino came out of the
jungle to meet with General Anastasio
Somoza. Somoza had Sandino ex
ecuted. Following the execution,
Somoza took control of Nicaragua and
received support from the United
States.
The Somoza rule, handed down to
Somoza is a slow-healing cut in the Sandinista
government.
U.S. INVOLVEMENT
The United State's influence was, and still is, at least
as visible as Somoza's influence.
Gunboats off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts are cons
tant reminders of U.S. influence. Nicaraguans, understan
dably, are not receptive to the U.S. government, although
they distinguish U.S. citizens, with whom they are friend
ly, from the U.S. government.
An example of Nicaragua's opposition to U.S. actions
is contained in a line from their national anthem: We re
fighting against the Yankee, the enemy ot humanity."
But past U.S. influences are less tenable.
Somoza s sons and then his grandson, held Nicaragua un
til July 1979, when the Sandinistas overthrew Anastasio
Somoza II. The Somoza reign had been one of terror and
brutality.
The United States has dealt with ail of the Somozas in
much the same philosophical manner Franklin D.
Roosevelt had. “He's a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a
bitch," said Roosevelt of Anastasio Somoza I.
VOICES OF SUPPORT
What has happened in Nicaragua has been hailed by
most Nicaraguans as a revolution of political in
dependence and social growth.
Social growth is apparent in Nicaragua.
There have been advances in educating Nicaraguans.
A commonly quoted statistic cites a prerev
olution literacy rate of 20 percent, which increased to 80
percent through a massive literacy campaign started a
year after the revolution.
There have been advances in health care for the ma
jority of the population. The government has nationalized
some health care, providing public clinics without charge.
Because of that, 70 percent of the babies born in
Nicaragua now are delivered in hospitals. Before 1979, the
figure was 30 percent.
Despite the crowded,
sometimes unhealthy looking
conditions in the public
clinics, doctors and facilities
are at least available.
Political independence is
not as easy to define. While
the Sandinista government
says they are non-aligned
politically, allegations that
they are aligned with the
Soviet Union, largely through
Cuba, still are accepted in a
number of sectors.
The Sandinistas also have
promised to hold elections
before the end of 1985
(although the Sandinistas
reneged on a promise to hold
elections two years after the
revolution).
VOICES OF OPPOSITION
But there are other voices: an upper-middle class,
which is slowly shrinking in size; a number of Nicaraguan
Roman Catholics, who have joined dissenters in the
Catholic Church and Nicaraguan Archbishop Obando y
Bravo; and the counter-revolutionaries, "contras," one
group is led by a former, and popular, Sandinista leader.
While most Nicaraguans who support the current
regime eloquently voice Sandinista philosophy, some
anti-Sandinista citizens struggle with thoughts of
opposition.
A cab driver in a Managua market says he is not
satisfied with what his government calls progress. He is
worried that hir. young son will end up in the military
fighting a seemingly endless war. He also is concerned
because his food is rationed, and, even though he has
enough money, he can no longer purchase some goods.
The cab driver commends the United States' "covert"
aid, while in the same breath, he condemns Somoza. He
is not sure what type of government he wants, but he is
Continued on Page 5
Somoza stones.