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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1985)
Oregon daily emerald Kicking success around See Sidelines Wednesday, May 15, 1985 Eugene, Oregon Volume 86, Number 154 University’s enrollment of minorities is ‘too low’ By Scott McFetridge Of the Emerald Although minority enrollment at the University has increased slightly in the last three years, programs must be modified to ensure that more minority students enroll at the University, a higher education official said Tuesday. There were six more black students and 134 more Hispanic students enrolled at the University in the fall of 1984 than in the fall of 1982, but these numbers are still too low, said James Payne, a student services assistant for the state's higher education system. Blacks make up 1.8 percent of the state population, but only 1.2 percent of the state system enrollment. Hispanics ac count for 3.3 percent of the state popula tion, but only 1.2 percent of the state system enrollment. The state system needs to find out why so few minority students are enrolled at state institutions and reassess its minori ty recruitment efforts, Payne said. The schools need to personally contact minority students and encourage them to consider state schools, he said. Wayne Nishimura, head of University minority recruitment, agrees with Payne that more should be done to attract minority students, but he believes that, considering the small funds available, the Office of Admissions and Records has done an admirable job of recruiting minorities. ‘‘We are doing more with our money than any other institution in the state system.” Nishimura said. “I know they aren’t recruiting as much as I am.” Nishimura said he spends seven weeks on the road every year recruiting students and makes a point to visit high schools with high minority enrollments. He also spends two weeks in areas of Los Angeles with a high minority popula tion, Nishimura said. The small number of minority students at state institutions is an “in dication of the lack of commitment by the state in general towards implementa tions” of more progressive programs, Nishimura said. David Sarju, director of the Black Stu Photo by Dean Guernsey In one effort to attract minority students to the University, history Professor David Anthony addressed about 125 black high school students from around the state Tuesday in the EMU. dent Union, said the University is not doing enough to enroll minority students. Minority enrollment has drop ped since the late 1960s when there was pressure for greater civil rights, Sarju said. Blacks won’t want to attend the University if there is only a small black enrollment, Sarju said. “A lot of black students want to leave here because there are so few blacks and no effort to change that,” Sarju said. ‘‘It’s going to take student effort to change that movement.” Sandinistas pose no threat to U.S. security, minister says By Paul Ertelt Or the Emerald The only threat the San dinista government poses to other nations is the “threat of a good example,” a Nicaraguan official said in 150 Geology Tuesday night. Francisco Campbell, minister-counselor at the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington, D.C., criticized U.S. policy towards Nicaragua, particularly the recently impos ed trade embargo, and said that his country posed no threat to the United States. But peasants in other Cen tral American countries may witness the social progress in Nicaragua and seek to emulate the Nicaraguan Revolution that overthrew the Somoza govern ment in 1979, Campbell said. Campbell said his govern ment has made a “profound transformation” since that revolution, bettering the lot of the peasants through education, agrarian reform and health im provements. But the present U.S. administration wants to overthrow that government, he said. “We reject the assertion that our effort to build a just society is somehow a threat to the security of the United States of America,” he said. Campbell said the United States needs to respect the right of other na tions to determine their own form of government. Campbell said the Nicaraguan government is will ing to resolve its differences with the United States, but the Reagan administration has not cooperated. “The U.S. administration is not interested in a peaceful resolution to the problems of Central America,” he said. “The administration is in terested in a policy, in the words of the president, ‘to make the Sandinista government say uncle.’ ” Campbell cited the mining of Nicaraguan harbors, the breaking-off of talks between the two countries and, most recently, the trade embargo as examples of that policy. "The trade embargo is an Francisco Campbell act of war,” Campbell said. "It is similar to the mining of the Nicaraguan harbors. It is viola tion of the U.N. charter; it is in violation of the OAS charter; it is violation of international law.” In the short run, the em bargo will affect the private sec tor most, he said, noting that 60 percent of Nicaragua's economy and 75 percent of its industrial capacity are in private hands. Cattle ranchers and banana growers, and to a lesser extent, cotton and coffee producers would feel the effects the most, he said. But Campbell was con fident that alternative markets would be found as they were in 1982 when the United States lowered the quota on Nicaraguan sugar from 58,000 tons to 6,000 tons. About 17 percent of Nicaraguan exports went to the United States before the em bargo, down from about 50 per cent before the revolution, he said. Although most of the au dience appeared sympathetic with Campbell and his message, he was challenged by several of the questioners in a discussion period following his talk. ASUO President Julie Davis asked Campbell to comment on the timing of Nicaraguan Presi dent Daniel Ortega’s visit to the Soviet Union, immediately after Congress voted down aid to the Contras. That visit has angered many members of Congress who had voted against the aid. Campbell said the meeting was scheduled earlier at the funeral of Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko. Nicaragua follows a policy of non-alignment, and Ortega would be happy to meet with President Reagan, too, he said. "Why, if you say you believe in political plurality, do you censor the press?” one man asked. Campbell said Nicaragua is "under a state of national emergency” and censorship would end as soon as the coun try’s civil war ends. Campbell’s talk was spon sored by the Council for Human Rights in Latin America, ASUO and others. IFC debates override of ASUO athletics veto By Mary Lichtenwalner Of the EmeraJd The Incidental Fee Committee tabled a decision Tuesday on whether or not the fate of the athletic department’s budget should be sent to the state Board of Higher Education. The IFC will hold until Monday a motion to override an ASUO veto of the department’s 1985-86 allocated budget of $773,009, giving the ASUO Executive a chance to negotiate a different contract if necessary. “The ASUO should have to make a decision if they don’t come up with a ‘Plan B’ (renegotiations). They should decide whether or not they want to take a chance with the state board,” said Lori Lieberman, IFC member. Assistant athletics director Chris Voelz said renegotiations of the budget are impossible and did not deny her intentions to “go over the IFC” if the committee does not override the veto of the athletics budget. If the IFC does not override the veto and Voelz refuses fur ther negotiations with the ASUO, the budget could end up in the state board’s hands. ASUO Finance Coordinator John Dreeszen told the IFC that the athletic department is “backing (the IFC) into a wall” by refusing to negotiate further. The IFC agreed to table the motion after discussion reveal ed committee members’ disfavor of the override. “The whole reason I would vote not to override the veto would be to give (the ASUO) a shot at it,’’ Lieberman said. The ASUO “seems to think they can give the AD less money, not give up the ‘OO’ seating in Mac Court and not raise ticket prices, which 1 think is impossible, but I’m will ing to put some trust in that,” she said. IFC member Adam Apalategui said he would not vote to override the veto. “I’m willing to take a chance with the state board. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but (athletic funding) is too much for the students to bear,” he said. “The AD certainly believes they need more money; however, I believe students are paying all they can.” The department’s contract includes a provision converting the “OO” student seating section of Mac Court into general admission seats. While referring to the ASUO Executive’s opposition to the issue, Voelz said that if the seating had been filled at the games this year, “I would have been a little more sensitive to that issue.” Dreeszen said that although the 4,000 student seats available are never filled, the “OO” section is “the most sought-after” area by students. “That’s the first we’ve ever heard of it,” Voelz said.