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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1985)
® Long-time Duck returns to water Oregon daily emerald Wednesday, March 6, 1985 Eugene, Oregon Volume 86, Number 113 Fee committee takes heat for rethinking ASUO vote By Julie Shippen Of the Kmerald A Monday vote by the Incidental Fee Com mittee to reconsider the ASUO Executive’s 1985-86 budget has come under sharp attack from members of both groups who said the uiotion is the result of one 1FC member’s “petty personal politics.” IFC members Lori Lieberman and Mary Kay Menard, who respectively abstained and voted against the recall, said they believe a recent political development swayed IFC member Adam Apalategui to move that certain line items of the Executive’s budget be reconsidered. Apalategui, however, said that the charges are untrue and that he moved for the recall because the separate amounts passed in last Wednesday’s IFC hearing are either unjustifiably excessive or could be funded in a manner more beneficial to students. The specific items to be reconsidered include the Executive's $30,000 stipend allocation, a $4,000 allocation for the ASUO's annual Women’s Symposium, and a $3,000 reserve for future legal costs of the continuing South African divestiture lawsuit, in which the ASUO is a major plaintiff. Apalategui said that he and other members of the committee seek the recall of the first item because the ASUO stipend amounts are much higher than those of other programs — as much as three times — and should be readjusted to reflect the amount of time spent at work. The reasons for reconsidering the second and third items, he said, is that $4,000 for a sym posium is excessive and that money for the South African lawsuit appeal should come from an "overrealized income" account and not directly out of students' pockets. By taking funds needed for the lawsuit from the other account — an accumulation of past stu dent fees gone unused — future students’ in cidental fees would be freed for other purposes, Apalategui added. But ASUO Vice President Marc Spence and Finance Coordinator John Dreeszen, who assembled the ASUO’s budget requests and made funding recommendations to the IFC, said the IFC’s action is "untenable" as the entire $75,392 budget originally passed with surprising ease. “I think it’s solid and realistic,” Dreeszen said. "I don’t see any reason why they would have a problem with it (the budget). 1 think Adam's decision was politically motivated,” he added. "It’s so ‘Adam.’ ” “I believe (IFC) members are mingling their personal political aspirations with their respon sibilities on the fee committee,” Spence said. Another ASUO member, however, who would comment only anonymously, does not believe Apalategui is or was acting in the students' interests regarding the Executive's budget. The ASUO member claimed that Apalategui and other IFC members passed the ASUO’s budget thinking they might be directly involved in that office next year. But rumors of a new ticket for the office — Gay and Lesbian Alliance co director Lynn Pinkney and Dreeszen — discouraged Apalategui from running for the position, the source said, which ultimately caus ed him and possibly others to reconsider certain items of a budget they no longer had a personal stake in. But Apalategui said he had no intentions of running for the ASUO Executive before or after the initial hearing, and that he and other IFC members simply wished to reconsider a decision they were uncomfortable with now. "People reconsider for a number of reasons, one to raise funds and one to cut,” Apalategui said. "Basically the bottom line is that I changed my mind. That’s not the first time I’ve questioned decisions after we’ve made them.” ”1 don't want to cripple the Executive. I don’t care who is in there,” he added. Lieberman said that while the IFC members who favor the recall have valid reasons for doing so, Adam’s motion is inconsistent with his treat ment of other programs that have gone through the hearing process. “Adam’s reasons may be valid, but they’re clouded by a lot of bitterness,” Lieberman said.. "I had the definite sense that Adam’s votes were politically motivated because he had or has plans to run for the ASUO presidency.” ASUO Budget Director Keven Lewis said, however, the IFC’s recall of the symposium and lawsuit funds comes as no surprise as certain members argued against parts of those items dur ing the original hearing. But Lewis could not speculate as to why the committee is recalling the Executive’s stipends. In the mood to get involved Two members of the University Song and Dance Team ham it up at the ASUO Program Fair, held yester day in the EMU. The group performed “In The Mood’’ and “Puttin’ on the Ritz’’ during the fair, which was designed to of fer students information and an easy way to get involv ed in the more than 70 campus programs available. Photo by Karen Stallwood Liddy gets mixed ratings on campus By Paul Ertelt Of the Emerald Colin Cooper, coordinator of contem porary issues for the EMU Cultural Forum, believes that bringing G. Gordon Liddy to campus is in keeping with the tradition and purpose of the forum. Liddy, who spent 4Vi years in prison for his part in the Watergate break-in. will speak in the EMU Ballroom on “Government: Perception vs. Reality” tonight at 7:30. Cooper says neither he nor the forum endorses Liddy’s views, but he believes students should hear what Liddy has to say. Liddy represents a view that is still prevalent in our government, Cooper says. "We do not try to justify G. Gordon Liddy, but we do try to justify his presence on campus,” Cooper says. Also, speakers on campus tend to be liberal, so Liddy offers some balance, he says. Liddy, a former FBI agent, held a variety of posts in the Nixon administra tion before becoming a counsel for the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) in 1972. Liddy was assigned to the “plumbers.” a political espionage group headed by presidential assistant Bud Krogh. The Watergate break-in, which Liddy helped organize, was only part of a series of covert operations intended to destroy the Democratic opposition. Unlike others involved in the break-in and subsequent cover-up, Liddy stead fastly refused to testify in the Watergate investigations. Because of this, he served more time in prison than any other Watergate figure. Liddy’s 20-year sentence was com muted to eight years by President Jimmy Carter. After his release in September 1977, Liddy still refused to discuss Watergate but said he would do it again. “When the Prince approaches his lieutenant,” he told reporters at the time, “the proper response of the lieute nant to the Prince is ‘Fiat voluntas tua’ (thy will be done).” Liddy gained notoriety again in 1980 with the publication of his autobiography, “Will.” The book’s revelations caused many to conclude that he was a dangerous fanatic. As a child growing up in New Jersey, Liddy concluded that the only way to overcome fear was to face it. In order to overcome his fear of rats, the young Lid dy roasted one and ate it. The book also revealed many details of his work during the Watergate era. When Liddy learned that columnist Jack Anderson had exposed and endangered a CIA operative, he offered to assassinate Anderson. His superiors declined the offer. Liddy is now one of the most sought after speakers in the country and makes more than 200 appearances each year. Cooper says the Cultural Foruiri office has received mostly positive responses to Liddy’s appearance. Many who disagree with Liddy say they believe it is good that he is speaking on campus. Cooper says. Some students have objected to Liddy’s appearance, including Dave Herman, director of Catalyst Films. “Here is a guy who was up to his neck in Nixon’s Watergate crap, and he’s go ing to lecture students on the govern ment?” Herman asks. ‘‘Simply that he broke the law is not my major beef with him,” he says. “My major beef with him is that he is un American, and he stands against the values that this country was founded on,” Herman says. “People who support the democratic process are more patriotic than those like G. Gordon Liddy, who in the name of patriotism subvert it,” he says. “The problem is they are spending a lot of money to bring someone who 1 don’t believe is worth anything,” says Adam Apalategui, Incidental Fee Com mittee member. The forum, an 1FC funded group, spent $4,000 to bring Lid dy to the University, but they expect to Continued on Page 5A