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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 17, 1984)
Ducks tab new ‘voice’ See Page 3 Oregon doily emerald Tuesday, July 17, 1984 Eugene, Oregon Volume 86, Number 9 Davis selected as OSL chair By Julie Shippen Of the Emerald ASUO Pres. Julie Davis was elected to serve as chair of the Oregon Student Lobby board of directors for 1984-85 at the organization’s monthly meeting held Satur day in Salem. Davis, who became involved in the OSL as chair of the Incidental Fee Committee last year, express ed enthusiasm about the appointment. “I’m very excited,” she said. “It’s a real opportunity to accomplish some things during the next year. There’s a good group of people on the Board this year, too. They’re very interested in OSL and in making it work.” And other people are just as enthusiastic. “I think she (Davis) is a very competent person. . . one who will provide real leadership for the Oregon Student Lobby,” said Myrnie Daut, legislative research assistant for OSL. As OSL Board Chair, Davis will be responsible for facilitating group meetings, setting agendas and serving as a public representative of the OSL and the state’s stu dent body in general, Daut said. “There’s a certain amount of responsibility in acting as spokesperson for the student body in the state,” Daut said. Davis’ primary goal for the coming year is to “make OSL a viable lobbying organiza tion,” she said, which can be achieved by increasing cam pus awareness of the group. As in the past, OSL will be working to secure more money for higher education, Davis said. The organization, which successfully lobbied for the recent modified tui tion freeze, hopes to help defeat Ballot Measure 2, which would limit the state’s property tax and threaten the financial well-being of higher education as a result, she said. “This measure would spell disaster for all the in stitutions across the state,” Davis said. ‘‘Whatever the state scrimps on now, they’ll pay dearly for later. The state has really deferred putting money into education. The fact remains they’ve reached the point of no return where they must put money into education or live with the consequences. Our job is to convince the voters of Oregon that the need is critical.” Other OSL appointments included Mike Witteman, a student at Oregon State University, who was also named vice chair at the meeting. A Portland State University student, David Cress, will serve as secretary treasurer for the next year. Opinion defines IFC roles By Julie Shippen Of the Emerald Incidental fee committees at universities statewide may be required to eliminate or reassign the advisory powers of non-student com mittee members as the result of a recent opinion handed down by the state attorney general. The request for an official opinion on fee committee functions was initiated by University student Alan Contreras, whose interest in the issue was sparked by an article in The Oregonian about the closure of Portland State University fee committee meetings ta the public and press. “That seemed to me to be in controversy with the public meeting, law,” Contreras said. He first contacted University Pres. Paul Olum about re questing an opinion from the attorney general. Contreras said Olum “correctly” declined to make that request as the issues weren’t pertinent to the structure and policies of the University’s Incidental Fee Committee. Contreras then approached State Sen. Margie Hendriksen, who presented Attorney General Dave Frohnmayer with specific questions and re quested an opinion. Frohnmayer gave a one-word reply of “yes” in response a question on whether or not student government committees were subject to the Public Meetings Law, which requires any group reporting to the State Board of Higher Education to hold open meetings. However, the second inquiry for a definition of a “recognized student government” and the status of voting non-student members, was not as easy to answer. According to the opinion, the attorney general was “unaware of any statute or rule that prescribes the form for a ‘recognized student government,’ but presumably a ‘recognized stu dent government’ exists at each institution under a charter or constitution.” That charter or constitution may assign the authority to make recommendations to various student groups, the opinion stated. In short, the attorney general saw “no reason why a student government should be prohibited from appointing any number of voting or non voting non -students to its advisory committees. ...” With rega d to the position of non-student fee committee members, such as administrative per sonnel, the opinion recognized “a serious legal question, however, if an incidental fee committee including any voting non-student members made a recommendation directly to the board. . . . ” For example, the influence of the voting non student members could potentially override that of the voting student members, even if there was Emerald photo Alan Contreras only one non-student serving on the committee. According to the opinion, “that member’s vote could result in a fee recommendation to the board where the student members were equally divided.” Contreras believes non-students do not belong on fee committees in any form. “My opinion is that a body that has non students on it has no business making student recommendations,” Contreras said. “If you start putting non-students on fee committees, you’re short-circuiting the legal process and you’ve cheated the students.” Country Fair shines in sun Clouds of dust arose from the main stage area as hundreds of dancers swayed and whirled to the rhythmic beating of african drums at the Oregon Country Fair this weekend. The dancers seemed to feed on the hot sun, while those less resistant to the weather wandered beneath the shade of maple trees, sampling from the variety of available foods, or tar rying at one of the cooler stages that featured many different forms of entertainment. There were jugglers and gyp sies, bubble blowers and puppet shows, and music of all sorts, from the harsh blasts of the cir cus parade's brass band, to the lilting melodies of a hammer dulcimer. Breakdancing made its fair debut this year. The dancers performed on large pieces of cardboard in the midway. Photo by Michael Clapp * See related story page 8