Oregon daily
em era la
University sets
public hearing on
rule banning alcohol
See page 9
Tuesday, November 8, 1983
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 46
Students form peace circle
A peace parade kicked off this week's "week of
education," attracting about 100 marchers and several
counter-protesters.
The paraders gathered at the University Bookstore
and marched down 13th Ave. to the EMU courtyard to the
beat of drums and chants. They carried signs calling for
an end to the arms race and towed a "dragon " float.
As the parade made its way through campus,
onlookers lined both sides of the street and a crowd of
more than 100 gathered to watch the procession pass the
free speech area to the EMU courtyard.
At the free speech area, counter-protesters met the
paraders, chanting "freeze today, fry tommorrow" and
"peace through strength," advocating the continued
construction of nuclear weapons.
The protesters remained there for about half an hour.
The parade inaugurated a week of activities co
sponsored by Students for a Nuclear Free Future and the
Faculty Arms Control Group. The events are part of a na
tionwide event occurring in more than 700 campuses and
cities.
Photo by Brian Erb
J
Board members meet 'informally'
By Jim Moore
Of the Emerald
Five student members of the EMU Board
met at a campus-area apartment Sunday
night to discuss the status of "Footnotes”
and OSPIRG as well as the formation of
specific guidelines regarding EMU lease
holders.
The members did not vote on any issues,
but decided to recommend to the board
House Committee that OSPIRG not be
charged rent and that Footnotes should pay
for its space in the building.
The group decided to compare the rent
and occupied space of Scoters, a hair
styling business located near Footnotes, to
the student service business to determine
what might be a fair amount of rent to
charge.
The board also discussed whether state
law required them to put space up for open
bid when a contract expired. The connec
tion between state law and leases remained
unclear so the group decided to make no
decisions or recommendations Sunday to
carry to the Board.
Each member agreed to further research
the current rental practices and bring per
sonal recommendations to the next House
Committee meeting.
The board members concluded the
meeting by establishing the agenda for the
next House Committee meeting.
Also emerging from the meeting is a
question of whether the meeting violated
Oregon public meetings statutes.
"The Oregon form of government re
quires an informed public aware of the
deliberations and decisions of governing
bodies and the information upon which
such decisions were made," according to
the statutes. "It is the intent of ORS 192.610
to 192.690 that decisions of governing
bodies be arrived at openly."
A governing body is "the members of any
public body which consists of two or more
members, with the authority to make deci
sions for or recommendations to a public
body on policy or administratation," accor
ding to the statutes.
Further, "Meeting means the convening
of a governing body of a public body for
which a quorum is required in order to
make a decision or to deliberate toward a
decision on any matter. .
Another statute pertinent to the issue
states: "No special meeting shall be held
without at least 24 hours notice to the
members of the governing body, the news
media which have requested notice and the
general public..."
Dan Cohen, chair of the EMU Board and
the original host of Sunday's meeting, says
the members did not consider the discus
sion a meeting because only five members
of the 11-person EMU Board were invited.
"I certainly did not consider it a meeting
when I invited the people over," Cohen
said.
However, a note posted above Cohen's
desk in the ASUO Executive Suite Friday in
vited five board members and "anyone else
who's interested" to an "informal meeting"
to be held in Cohen's apartment "to
discuss OSPIRC and Footnotes."
The question of whether the board
members technically violated the open
meeting laws is unclear even to experts.
The uncertain interpretation centers on
whether the group constituted a quorum of
some form.
Board member Marc Spence, who also at
tended the meeting, said they were careful
to restrict Sunday's attendance to five
members because it would not constitute
quorum of the EMU Board.
However, the business discussed had
been assigned to a subcommittee of the
board's House Committee.
The final make-up of the sub-committee
has not been determined, Spence said. But
the House Committee is composed of four
members and can be expanded to five to in
clude the chair if the chair so decides, he
said.
But board and house committee member
Frank Geltner, the assistant director of
University programs, said he thought the
members invited to the meeting composed
the subcommittee.
Three of the four members of the House
Committee as well as Cohen were at the
Sunday meeting.
If a majority of the committee or subcom
mittee was present and discussed business
pertinent to either committee, the
members violated the law, according to
John Reuling of the attorney general's
office.
Because the number of members on each
committee is undetermined, the question
of a quorum being present is ambiguous.
However, it appears the members violated
the spirit of the law, according to Dave Ben
nett of the Oregon Newspaper Publisher's
Association.
But Spence says, "We weren't intending
to violate even the spirit of the law, but
rather accomplish some goals."
Panel stresses
island's history
in judging policy
By Melissa Martin
Of Iht Emerald
People must understand Grenada's
history if they want to correctly judge Pres.
Ronald Reagan's Caribbean policy, agreed
members of a newly-formed faculty group
opposed to U.S. action in the island na
tion.
“There has always been a fear in Grenada
of U.S. invasion," said Ed Ferguson, Oregon
State University history professor and one
of the panel members in Monday's discus
sion sponsored by Faculty Against Interven
tion in Central America.
Three weeks ago no one knew how to
pronounce the name of the tiny nation,
which measures 13 miles in length and has
a population of 1 (0,000, Ferguson said.
U.S. marines moved into Grenada after its
leader Maurice Bishop was assassinated
and his government overthrown.
In just three years, the Bishop govern
ment had reduced unemployment in
Grenada from 49 to 13 percent, increased
health care programs, provided housing
loans for working people with small in
comes, created social security for the aged,
and done away with racism toward blacks.
saiu rerguwn.
"Women had equality and absence of
sexual harassment for the first time in
Grenada," he said.
But the United States always was oppos
ed to Bishop, Ferguson said. Americans
suppor’TTTd Tilt' i'U!I'Wpf'UKtdtorship-of Sir
Eric Garry that was set up after Grenada's
1974 independence from Britain, he said.
During Garry's regime, elections were rig
ged, the economy stagnated and the army
— called "Green Beasts" by the people —
terrorized the Grenadian population.
Finally, the New Jewel Movement, a
group of middle-class black youths led by
Bishop, "formed an armed ring" and staged
a bloodless coup in 1979, Ferguson said.
"But it was not a utopia," Ferguson said
of Bishop's new government. Serious pro
blems remained, including slow elections, a
stifled press and political prisoners.
"The United States didn't want a repeti
tion of Cuba. It was a long-standing policy
in the United States to reverse that revolu
tion," Ferguson said. The administration
refused to provide arms to Grenada and
tried to block loans from Britain and the in
ternational monetary fund, he added.
"The events last week gave the United
States the opportunity to carry out a
scenario that had actually been in the
books for several years," Ferguson said.
That scenario was a picture the United
States painted in 1981. The administration
planned to rescue Americans in Grenada
and replace Bishop's revolutionary govern
ment with a "democracy," Ferguson said.
But the United States couldn't complete
the plan because Bishop was a popular
leader who was supported by the surroun
ding Carribbean countries, he said.
"Why did the United States wait until
Oct. 25 to carry out the invasion?" Ferguson
asked rhetorically.
He gave a possible answer: When Bishop
was killed Oct. 19, support for the revolu
tionary government decreased and the
doors opened for the administration to
follow through with a plan it had rehearsed
years ago.
People must also realize the United States
used Grenada as a public opinion vehicle to
see if similar action could be taken in
Nicaragua, panel member and Sociology
Prof. Joan Acker said.
U.S. involvement in Nicaraguan politics
could be dangerous for this country, she
added.
"I think the American people need to
realize we would be getting into a long,
bloody, disgraceful war if we get into the
Nicaragua revolution. They are better
prepared than Grenada," Acker said.