Runners
behind
bars
Turn to Page 3
Oregon daily
emerald
Thursday, November 3, 1983
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 44
Footnotes operation 6caught in political battle’
By |im Moore
Ol Ihf Emerald
he issue concerning
whether the University
Footnotes operation should
pay rent to the EMU is little
more than a political
smokescreen, says Foot
notes director Debbie Schwartz.
Schwartz says Student Projects, Inc., the
Footnotes business, is caught in the middle
of a political battle.
The reason Footnote's status is being
questioned, she says, is because some
students would like to force OSPIRG to pay
rent, so Footnotes, a nonprofit corporation
like OSPIRG, is being examined. The EMU
Board Ffouse Committee soon will address
the question.
Dan Cohen, chair of the EMU Board, and
committee member Marc Spence say there
is no attack on OSPIRG.
Questions came up at a Constitution
Court hearing earlier this term regarding
OSPIRG's nonprofit status so the Ffouse
Committee decided to look at all the
groups in the building. Spence says.
Cohen agrees the committee is looking at
all groups in the building, but he says the
inquiry began when two University
students asked him to determine OSPIRG’s
status.
However, Schwartz says this is the first
time to her knowledge that the question of
whether the 14 year-old Footnotes opera
tion should pay rent has come up
She also is upset tnat the Footnote's ques
tion is being tossed around when no one
trom the EMU Board has contacted her.
This increases her perception that Foot
notes is a political pawn, Schwartz says.
"Nobody has bothered to check us out
for nine years," she says. It seems more
than coincidence that the Footnote's status
is being bandied about, without official
notice, at the same time controversy is sur
rounding OSPIRG, she says.
oth Schwartz and the com
mittee members have
others supporting their
contentions.
OSPIRG spokesman
Daniel Malarkey says the
question of whether the consumer group
should pay rent is an attack. The group has
been on campus since 1970, it has never
paid rent, and it is not a retail sales institu
tion, he says.
Bill Hallmark, ASUO coordinator of pro
grams and finance, also says it appears the
issue is more centered on OSPIRC and
Footnotes is being pulled into the middle.
But ASUO Pres. Mary Hotchkiss
disagrees. It has been her intention to
review all the programs and their status and
connection to the ASUO since the Food-Op
store was forced to close this summer, she
says.
There is one point on which everyone
agrees: the connection between Footnotes
and ASUO is ambiguous.
"Originally it was set up as a foundation
tor the ASUO with profits to go to ASUO,"
Hotchkiss says. However, there has been
no update of that connection since 1974,
she says.
"I'm not sure how we can be categoriz
ed," Schwartz says. "We re not under the
umbrella of the ASUO and the EMU leaves
me alone."
Schwartz says she has worked for Foot
notes since 1978 and has never heard a
word from anyone in the building about
paying rent.
pence concedes that
groups like Footnotes and
OSPIRCi have been in the
building many years
without paying rent, but he
says that may reflect a lack
of action by previous committees rather
than an indication that those groups should
not pay rent.
Schwartz says she is not opposed to pay
ing rent if Footnotes is required Kb but sbf
would like to know the criteria used for
determining which building-users pay rent
and which don't.
Except for two general paragraphs in the
Internal Management Directive of the
Oregon State Department of Higher Educa
tion regarding use of state property, there
are no written guidelines to determine
which groups should pay and which
shouldn't.
The first paragraph says that institutions
in the State Department of Higher Educa
tion should not make buildings and
facilities available for private use, but that
the institution executive can make excep
tions if the "individual or organization fully
reimburses the institution for all ap
propriate costs."
The second paragraph states "spaces in
institutional buildings and structures shall
be made available on a continuing basis for
retail sales or services only when the institu
tion has established an educational pur
pose or need would be served by such
action."
Also, the space should be widely publiciz
ed and ' rental rates shall provide for rent
adequate to meet the Board's financial stan
dards for self-supporting or self-liquidating
enterprises, including provisions for real
estate taxes.”
Using such criteria, previous committees
have allowed Footnotes and OSPIRC to
maintain rent-free space.
Now the committee is trying to establish
some written guidelines of its own so there
will be no confusion in the future, Spence
says.
for rules more specific than the Board's
rules because the building has not housed
anything but ASUO programs or those
covered by state law, says EMU Director
Adell McMillan.
ASUO programs have not been charged
rent, but some tenants that receive student
fees, such as the Oregon Daily Emerald, do
pay rent.
"I'm leaning toward Footnotes paying
rent," Cohen says.
There has been
no need
Notes aid some, bother others
By Marianne Chin
. 0< the tmerald
P Copious note-taking and subsequent writer's cramp are not un
common in many University courses. And snoozing through class
doesn't make tor very good note-taking. ...
But there's an alternative. Student Protects, Inc., a note-taking
service for about TO of the larger University courses, gives students a
choice between taking notes for themselves or buying the typed
summaries. . . , „
Assigned student note-takers sit in on courses but are not t nroii
ed in them. The note-takers summarize and organize class lectures
and films and bring the summary to a typist within 48 hours alter the
class session. Footnote subscribers receive their notes four to live
davs after class sessions. „ , .
A Footnotes term subscription costs $9.95 for a T-day per week
. class and $8.95 for a 2-day per week class.
i But not all students - or professors - think Footnotes is such a
good idea, even though the notes are only intended to supplement
students' own class notes, says Director Debbie Schwartz.
"There are students who use the notes and don t go to class,
Schwartz says, voicing the main complaint of professors who are
against the service. , , „ . .
Some students decline to use the service. Senior |udi Ostrach,
who never has bought Footnotes, says students rely too muc h on
them. "They're an aid, not a substitute," Ostrach says.
Along with the question of whether Footnotes contribute to
students skipping classes, some professors and students are con
cerned with their accuracy. Some find them accurate, while others
have encountered mistakes. , ,
Professor lames'^Kemp tried the service last year and says he
"detected errors with the work. They (note-takers) try hard but in
evitably some inaccuracies crop up." . . _
Not all students or professors are unsatisfied with Footnotes,
'^'They're taken pretty well," says telecommunications major
Heidi Voet, who buys the notes when she misses a class. "The notes
I've used have been very similar to my own," Voet says.
"The Footnotes Seem pretty good if there's a good note-taker,
says Pamela Birrel, psychology professor.
Arrrrrgggghhhh!
It's Ben Gay time
It was a little give and take Wednesday afternoon on
the Intramurals field when the SAE fraternity and the Tri
Delt sorority pulled away with the 1983 tug-o-war titles.
"I think it's time for the Ben Gay," said the SAE anchor,
Phil Blythe, after his team out-tugged the Sigma Chi
fraternity.
"It was painful," said Gail Gate hell, the Tri-Delt's
anchor.
About 180 students competed in the tug-o-war spon
sored by Miller beer. Ten men's teams and eight women's
teams tugged for the right to meet teams from Oregon
State University at the Civil War football game Nov. 19.
"We never practice, but we always do real well," said
Tom Thompson, self-appointed captain of the SAE team.
Two years ago, in a similar contest, an SAE team beat
an OSU team for bragging rights in the state.
Sigma Chi and Kappa Sigma took second and third
respectively in the men’s division. Alpha Chi Omega was
second and Pi Beta Theta third in the women's division.
Photo by Ken Kromer