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Oregon daily
emerald
Thursday, November 8, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 86, Number 50
Assembly fails to decide Senate’s fate
By Michael Doke
Of the Emerald
The role, the usefulness and
the future of the University
Senate dominated University
Assembly discussion Wednes
day, as Senate Chair Kappy
Eaton had planned.
But of the entire Assembly
membership, which includes
every faculty member at the
University along with the 18
Student University Affairs
Board members, only about 50
showed to voice their concerns
about their own advisory body.
The sparse crowd heard Eaton
restate that the Senate issue is
not a new issue before the
Assembly. It was on the
Assembly floor a number of
times last year and was never
resolved.
In its current form, the
decade-old Senate considers
motions pending before the
Assembly, discusses them,
amends them and brings them
back to the larger body, Eaton
said.
Senate recommendations go
virtually ignored at Assembly,
however, she said.
“It’s a point of irritation. The
Assembly rarely listens to the
Senate,” Eaton says. "We ask
ourselves: ‘Why do we really
exist?’ ”
r
Counseling psychology Prof.
Ron Rousseve said Senate atten
dance and morale continues to
decline. “SUAB members, who
have been very responsible over
the past few years, may also
have their interests erode.”
Of the issues brought out dur
ing Assembly, the size of the
Senate and its ability to act as a
housekeeping agent between
different academic departments
emerged as chief concerns.
A straw vote taken by Univer
sity President Paul Olum show
ed a majority of the Assembly
feels the Senate would be more
effective if reduced from its cur
rent membership of 54 to 25 or
fewer members. The vote show
ed an interest in maintaining
the current one-third student
status in the Senate.
English Prof. Stanley Green
field said statements of student
representation produce a
student-against-faculty feeling
in Assembly.
“I find that disturbing. VVe
work for the University as a
whole in this Assembly,”
Greenfield said.
”1 hope we give students the
benefit of the doubt,” said
Rousseve. "They see
themselves as members of the
University community and not
a voting bloc against faculty.”
University President Paul Olum addresses a sparse University Assembly crowd Wednesdaydm
ing a discussion over the fate of the University Senate.
I he benate should become a
guardian of the legislative pro
cess of University governance,
said Gerry Moseley, associate
provost for student affairs.
Referring to a forthcoming
recommendation from the
governance committee, which
is chaired by architecture Prof.
George Hodge, Moseley said the
Senate can review Assembly
issues and oversee the
housekeeping of different
University departments.
The Hodge Committee, which
is more than two years old, has
designed a mechanism, called
the protest/no-protest route, for
motions to reach the Senate.
During a specified time period
an Assembly member disagree
ing with the motion can act on it
through the protest route,
Moseley said.
If the motion has not been
protested, the Senate can take
action.“Minor legislation could
be pagwwri without taking u»
Asserdbly Titrfe, fie’SaTd.
Paul Holbo. vice provost for
academic affairs, agreed with
the value of the protest/no
protest route. “Give the Senate
a set of useful functions as the
(Hodge) committee suggests. U
is a better approach than the
issue of power and representa
tion,” he said.
Economics Prof. Robert
Campbell said that the
Assembly is an old organization
and was effective when the
campus was smaller and more
liberal. “Maybe the old
<«jBgaaigat»«>n doesn’t work
anymore,” he said.
“And, remember, when we
are discussing the Senate, we
are discussing this body (the
Assembly),” he said.
Student to give insights
from recent Soviet tour
People of all nations — particularly
the United States and Soviet Union —
should demand participation and a
voice in foreign-affairs discussions,
says Matt Mosner, a third-year
University law student.
And they should learn to talk to
each other, says Mosner.
Matt Mosner
Mosner was involved in a debating
tour of the Soviet Union in May. He
says establishing person-to-person
contact, as well as government-to
government contact, is the best way
for citizens of all countries to become
informed.
“The bilateral competition of both
countries is overshadowing the
military and economic considerations
of the Third World," Mosner says.
"The Soviet Union, and to a very
great extent the United States, is so
fixated on the elements of this rivalry
that they have ignored the needs of
these other countries.”
Mosner, along with two other
Americans, toured the Soviet Union
for two and one-half weeks in a speak
ing series sponsored by the Speech
Communication Association of the
United States and the Student Coun
cil of the Soviet Union. Through these
programs, American speakers visit
the Soviet Union every other year,
and Soviet speakers visit this country
on the off years.
During his eight debates at four
Soviet universities in Moscow, Min
sk, Tbilisi and Tashkent, Mosner says
he found Soviet students unwilling to
focus too far beyond the problems of
the two superpowers.
He says the students have a great
deal of misinformation and are ig
norant about many issues within
Soviet foreign policy.
"They don’t know there are
100,000 Soviet troops in
Afghanistan,” he says.
But despite their lack of
knowledge, the Soviet students share
concerns felt in this country, namely
the potential of a nuclear war and the
need to improve U.S.-Soviet rela
tions, he says.
Mosner will talk about his Soviet
experiences tonight at 7:30 in the
EMU Forum Room. The program, titl
ed “Talking to the Russians,” is free.
Peace group toasts 51 s success
By Dan Coran
and Torkjell Djupedal
Of the Emerald
It was a big victory in a little way.
The lawn signs,; petition rosters,
phone calls, doorbells, speeches,
leaflets, rallies and presentations were
all behind them now. Huddled around a
small television set Tuesday night, 20 in
dividuals ate chocolate-chip ice cream
and savored the results of their efforts.
Ten months of hard work had come to
an end.
As the tide of Reaganism swept the
country on election night, Eugene
emerged as an island of opposition to
some of the president’s policies. The
projections indicated Measure 51 would
pass, and the small group in Ray Wolfe’s
living room was delighted.
“This is the beginning — maybe more
than the beginning — of a rising tide of
public opinion,” said Wolfe, a member
of the Alliance for Peace in Central
America, while other members joined
him at his house to watch the election
results.
“People want peace in Central
America — a negotiated peace as oppos
ed to one by arms,” Wolfe said.
By a margin of almost 2-to-l, Eugene
voters sent a clear message to the Reagan
administration: Stop military involve
ment in Central America.
A small fire burned in the fireplace.
Wine was on the table in the dining
room.
The television had been wheeled into
the center of the room, and in an effort to
find election returns among the frequent
commercial breaks, a woman in a blue
sweater flipped between television sta
tions. Warmed by cynical jokes, white
wine and pleasant conversation, the
group followed the favorable progress of
Measure 51 throughout the evening.
“I think it’s important for groups like
ours to keep working in ever-increasing
quantities to make government know
we’re here,” said Pat Dixon, a first-year
graduate student in international studies
and member of the group. “Just because
Reagan has been elected doesn’t mean he
has a free reign.
‘‘If elected representatives truly repre
sent the people, and if people showed
that they wanted a change in policy,
hopefully there would be some change,”
Dixon said. “If every city in the United
States passed measures like this, it
would spark some recognition of
disagreement.”
The small group in Wolfe’s living
room attracted more recognition than it
had thought. At 9:15 p.m., a KVAL-TV
camera crew knocked on the door for an
on-the-spot news story. As the night
went on, Wolfe was busy making official
statements to the media.
A retired chemistry professor from the
University, Wolfe is active, in the sanc
tuary movement, which gives shelter to
Central American families illegally liv
ing in the United States.
“We make communists in Central
America by opposing humanitarian
policies of change and reform,” he said.
“With education, people will become
aware that hunger and poverty are the
major reasons for revolution in the
region. Then the power of this ad
ministration on this issue will fall apart
like a house of cards.”
W'olfe is optimistic about the future. “I
hope this isn’t the end of Measure 51’s
effect,” he said. “I hope it will motivate
and interest people who before were
uninformed about the issue.”