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Oregon daily
eme
Monday, Sept. 24, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 86, Number 17
Resigning student executives
cite elitist ASUO management
By JtiJie Shippen
Of the Emerald
Three influential members of
the ASLJO Executive have
resigned because, they say, they
Can’t work under Pres. Julie
Davis’ management.
Opinion differences regard
ing the group’s decision
making process, management
style and agenda goals for the
coming year are becoming too
large, and the gaps cannot be
bridged, the resigning members
claim.
However, executive members
staying on with the Davis ad
ministration cite expectations
unfairly carried over from the
Hotchkiss administration as im
portant factors in the resigna
tion announcements made in
the past two weeks by Sherri
Schultz, executive assistant,
Bill Snyder, student events
coordinator, and Scott Seibert,
state affairs coordinator.
After having worked for
former ASUO Pres. Mary Hotch
kiss last year, both Snyder and
Schultz were two of three
ASUO staff members rehired by
the Davis administration. Betsy
Boyd, who served as state af
fairs co-coordinator for the sum
mer session, was the third to
transfer from last year’s
executive.
Although Boyd says she was
able to make the adjustment,
she admits the atmosphere of
the Davis office is definitely dif
ferent from that of Hotchkiss’.
‘‘In terms of the way people
relate to each other, it’s very dif
ferent,” Boyd says. “From a
consensus perspective (where
decisions are reached by a ma
jority of opinion), there’s less
reliance on each other (now)
and decisions are being made
more by a few people than by
the group as a whole.”
Marcia Schmaedick, assistant
coordinator for University af
fairs this year, agrees in part
with Boyd.
“I don’t think she’s (Davis)
established consensus this year.
I think she’s still striving for
it,” Schmaedick says. “It’s a
fast-paced office; it’s unrealistic
. M » Y> Sherri Schultz *•**♦*'
♦ ...it
that the selection of Rasmussen
was unanimous and without
dispute among the five
members of the hiring
committee.
“It was never designed to be a
consensus-making decision.
That decision was made before
the Davis administration was
put together,” Davis says. “I
think the problem is more of
people being dissatisfied with
the decision rather than the
process.”
As for the method of agree
ment on matters in the office,
Davis agrees that her style is dif
ferent from Hotchkiss’.
"Sherri is committed to the
purest form of consensus,”
Davis says. “I would say that
I’m more comfortable with a
modified approach. It’s difficult
for 15 people to sit down and
make a decision together.”
John Dreeszen, ASUO finance
coordinator, also believes the
consensus theory is less prac
tical and says Davis has kept
him informed on matters that
concern his job.
“I like her style. It’s more
reflective of reality,” Dreeszen
says. “There are things I'd just
as soon not know about. I don’t
think she is trying to pull one
over or cover up anything.”
Spence believes Davis’ ap
proach to office management,
while more “autonomous” in
nature, is beneficial.
“Julie’s been out in the pro
fessional world and she behaves
in a more formal manner,”
Spence says. ”1 think there’s a
certain level of professionalism
in this office that hasn’t been
experienced in past years.”
Davis says the conflict thus
relates more to basic “dif
ferences in personalities” than
to problems with management
style.
“Sherri’s not really comfor
table unless she has a handle on
absolutely everything that goes
on in the office,” Davis says. “I
think many of their criticisms
are unjustified, and 1 think that
they have unrealistic
expectations.”
Seibert, who says his resigna
tion was due in part to other
time commitments, including
his position as president of
fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha,
agrees with Davis on this point.
“They (Schultz and Snyder)
still carried the agenda of a
prior administration and
weren’t willing to adjust to the
agenda of a new administra
tion,” Seibert says. “They
made life a hell of a lot harder
for Julie than it should have
been. ’ ’
Still, Seibert is critical of the
way Davis and Spence are
managing the office. “She’s
(Davis) trying to run an office
where people will like her and
agree with her,” Seibert says. “I
think it will present some dif
ficulties in getting the agenda
V.V.V.’CMrthuiAd on Page.UU
Scott Seibert
to touch on every base, but
ideally it’s important to try.
“Julie now knows that she
needs to review her policy,”
Schmaedick claims. She says
Davis is being diplomatic by not
“laying the guts of the office''
out on the table for everybody to
see.
Schultz disagrees, and says
she can’t work in the office
under such conditions.
“One of the reasons I’m leav
ing is that there are a whole lot
of secrets in the office and little
meetings going on between a
few people,” she says.
"Basically they don’t under
stand that the whole staff is in it
together and they have a right to
know what’s going on.”
Schultz cites the hiring of
new Legal Services Director
Karsten Rasmussen as one ex
ample of how Davis and ASUO
Vice Pres. Marc Spence are
sheltering information from the
executive staff.
Schultz says she found out
about the decision through out
side sources before it was men
tioned at a regular ASUO staff
meeting.
“(Last year) we all knew
about everything that was going
on, and we didn’t have to read
about it in the paper,’’ she says.
“1 shouldn’t have to be hearing
about this from someone out
side the office.”
Schultz also says the threats
of resignation by student
defenders of the Office of Stu
dent Advocacy, as well as the
rumor of a possible affirmative
action suit regarding the hiring,
weren’t discussed by the ex
ecutive at all.
“Even then they didn’t give
us the whole story, and they
were quite aware of what was
going on,” Schultz says.
‘‘When embarrassing or bad
things come up that they know
about, it’s always watered
down. I think the ramification
of it is that these people don’t
even trust their own staff.”
Davis, on the other hand,
believes the Rasmussen issue is
irrelevant to those outside of the
•official • hiriAgsJeflL’amh'atWv.
Out 2 Lunch at the faire
Last week University students were treated to
mediocre weather, endless registration lines and a
distressing absence of ‘ ‘for rent ’ ’ signs. But relief could
be found on 13th Avenue where the “Out 2 Lunch’’
jugglers wowed the crowd with their wacky humor and
zany juggling.
Photo by Steve Crowell
See related story Page 15
Work-study line still long
despite staff’s preparation
By Jolayne Houtz
Of the Emerald
Students eligible for work
study jobs waited in line for up
to six hours last week, despite
the efforts of a University Task
Force that met last year to find
solutions to the annual
problem.
“It’s ridiculous — they know
how many students are coming
through here,’’ said Susan
Mickel, a sophomore who un
successfully waited in line for a
work-study job last year also.
“It’s really frustrating to wait
for so long with no guarantee of
a job.”
Students are required to wait
in line for a validation of their
work-study eligibility before
they can look at the available
jobs and choose two. After
waiting in another line that con
trols how many students are
sent to each potential job, the
students finally go to an
interview.
But if the two jobs are already
filled or the applicant is not
hired, the student must go
through the entire process
again.*»>■»■***+■****»
“The point is, does it serve
the people that are supposed to
be served?” asks student ad
vocate Bill Kittredge. “In this
case, the answer is no.”
“Everyone is well-served but
the students, and coordination
is horrible or non-existent,”
between employment service
workers and the various depart
ments that could help match
students with jobs pertinent to
their majors, Kittredge says.
He cited one instance when
he tried to hire a second-year
law student for his staff and
discovered the notice had never
been posted in the law school.
After Kittredge posted it himself
and then hired a student, the
service called the student and
“told him he was required to go
through the line to get a work
study job, although he had
already gotten one on his own,”
Kittredge says.
“The kernel of the matter is
coordination of job positions
posted in the appropriate
places,” Kittredge says.
Although the task force,
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