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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1984)
Little brothers adjust to new surroundings See Page 3 Oregon daily emeral pSjfpfil m. Wednesday, October 3, 1984 Eugene, Oregon Volume 86, Number 24 Zajonc proposes funding for Oregon ports By Paul Ertelt Of the Emerald A plan to use port fees for developing Oregon port facilities would keep investment dollars in the state and create jobs for Oregonians, Rep. Donna Zajonc said Tuesday. Zajonc, R-Salem, announced her plan at a press conference in the Eugene Hilton. Zajonc is opposing former newsman Don Clark and Rep. Barbara Roberts, D-Port land, in the race for secretary of state. “If we are to accommodate increased interna tional trade opportunities, we must offer the best in international port facilities,” she said. Zajonc called international trade essential if Oregon is to diversify its economy and create new jobs. Fees collected from port facilities are put into the Common School Trust Fund. This money is then invested, with the interest distributed to the counties to support primary and secondary education. In 1977, the Legislature established the Port Revolving Fund, which is funded by general fund tax dollars, to finance port development. But Zajonc said this fund does not provide enough loan money for all the necessary port projects. Though accrued interest has swelled the fund to $6.2 million, most of that money has been r loaned out, leaving only about $400,000 to fund port projects, said Connie Chandler, an aide to Zajonc. Under Zajonc’s plan, port fees would create the principal of a revolving trust, with the money invested in Oregon ports instead of out-of-state bonds. “The real isssue here is the investment of Oregon dollars,” she said. "I would rather have the capital work here at home than export it to the East Coast.” Interest from the port fund would continue to be distributed to schools, and the fund would be managed by the Department of Economic Development. The creation of the trust would re quire the Legislature to make revisions in Oregon law. Zajonc said the money could be used to help many of the state's smaller ports, as well as the port of Portland. Under her plan, development priorities would be set to create the most jobs and to help projects that do not have other sources of funding. ARCO is prepared to create a new job site in Coos Bay and create 400 jobs if the necessary port facilities can be provided, Zajonc said. If Zajonc is elected, she claims she will use her position to assist the development of Oregon’s 23 ports. Donna Zajonc Native American powwow The Native American Student Union held its first powwow of the young school year at the Long House on campus Tuesday. Members, represen ting many tribes, gathered to elect officers and plan upcoming cultural events. Photo by Dean Guernsey University Senate still labors over its own identity and role By Michael Doke or the Emerald The interaction between the University Senate and the University Assembly last year was something akin to Abbott and Costello, says a University professor about the two decision making forums. The comical episode English Prof. Bill Strange refers to is the attempt by the Senate, the advising body to the larger Assembly, to abolish itself in February in favor of becoming a rules committee. The motion came about because the Senate’s advice was falling on deaf ears. Strange adds. The 54-member Senate meets on the last Wednesday of every month and the full Assembly meets one week later. The faculty and students who make up both bodies act as the University’s legislative force in the areas of courses, cur riculum, academic requirements and student conduct. “I like the idea of a University Senate,” says Strange, a third-term senator. But he questions whether there is “one example where the Univer sity Senate has made a difference.” “One time, which now amounts to ancient history, the Assembly listened to the Senate,” says math Prof. Lew Ward, another longtime senator. ”1 don’t think the faculty listens to what the Senate says anymore. “It’s irritating to spend time in the Senate — just spinning wheels — and then being ignored” at the Assembly, he says. The inability of the Senate to be heard at the Assembly, according to Chair Kappy Eaton, is two-fold. Faculty, both on the Senate and off, feel that there is no real Senate role, Eaton says. Though the body debates motions introduced into gover nance, 90 percent of these arguments are repeated in the Assembly, she says. The other problem, she adds, is a reluctance by the faculty to give the Senate power. But the Senate has more power than it uses, says Gerry Moseley, associate provost of student affairs. This power could be realized if the Senate were to become a pathway for decisions, he adds. Moseley sees the Senate as a central controll ing and channeling body for legislation. The Senate should give the faculty the ability to research issues, to talk with colleagues, and to have time to respond to motions so the time in the Assembly can be spent on more important mat ters, Moseley says. “The Senate could become more of a review body — a spillover between departments, for ex ample. Nobody does that now,” Moseley says. The Senate has the right to reach this goal, he says, “but the Senate is frustrated and this isn't happening. “There are those making decisions who shouldn’t while those who should make deci sions aren’t,” Moseley says. Michael Prothe, last year’s Student Universi ty Affairs Board chair, says the Senate is just too cumbersome. As the only students on the Senate, SUAB members represent the third problem of the Senate, according to some senators. As Strange pointed out at the first Senate meeting of the academic year last week: “We are not a faculty senate here because we have students who are senators. We are a university senate.” Strange says that having students in the Senate is not wrong, but the 18 student members meet away from the faculty at SUAB meetings. This creates a feeling of a “student senate,” he says. In turn, a feeling of student bloc voting is also present. Ward says, though, that the change of Senate effectiveness occurred with the entrance of students into the body in 1974 when the Faculty Senate was replaced by the University Senate. “But SUAB’s role is to represent student con stituents on campus,” Prothe says. The board also informs the faculty through surveys and research, he says. “And nothing is done behind closed doors,” Prothe says. “Anyone can come to our meetings.’’ This year’s SUAB chair, Sara Tenney, argues that SUAB members, who constitute one-third of Senate membership, have never voted in a bloc. At SUAB meetings, all points and sides of an issue are made clear, but positions on issues are not dictated, she says. Some people are “putting the blame of the Senate on students,” she says. Continued on Page 3