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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