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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 1985)
editorial University athletics can ignore the IFC ASUO President Julie Davis vetoed the athletic depart ment’s fee allocation for 1985-86 on Friday. Davi$ is con cerned that the Incidental Fee Committee gave too much to the department and received little in return. (The depart ment received an 8 percent increase totaling $50,000 in their fee allocation, as well as 199 McArthur Court seats that had been reserved for students.) Even if the IFC decides to uphold Davis’ veto, the athletic department has little incen tive to participate in a budget renegotiation. Assistant athletics director Chris Voelz has already said she will disregard the veto. Voelz’s statement is a perfect ex ample of why students must have control of their incidental fees. Currently students do not. University students are allowed to set the incidental fee through the IFC. The seven-member committee, which was established in the early 1970s, conducts an annual budget process to determine fee allocations. The committee sends its budget recommendation to President Paul Olum, who passes his recommendation to the State Board of Higher Education. The board ultimately determines the fee allocation at the University, although it generally acquiesces to the University president’s decision. The state board has vetoed an IFC recommendation twice since the process began. The most recent veto came in 1980 when the state board agreed to grant the athletic department a 75 percent increase in their fee allocation. The IFC had recommended an in crease of 35 percent. university /\uiieuc uireuiur 0111 joyiiie tuny awmc that the state board ruled in favor of the department five years ago. (John Caine was athletic director at the time.) His unwillingness to renegotiate the department’s allocation demonstrates his confidence that the board would again rule in his favor in any funding controversy. The present system gives the athletic department very little incentive to respect any controversial IFC decision. Past experience has shown that the state board and the University president will support the athletic department $ over thofrG in a budget controversy. In order to remedy this situation, the student govern ments at Oregon’s seven major universities have worked m past years for the passage of state legislation that would give students control over the fee process. But state legislators have been reluctant to eliminate the state board’s control of the process. University administrators opposed legislation introduc ed in 1981 because they feared that students would not responsibly manage the fees. (At the same time, the athletic department had a $300,000 budget deficit.) As long as the state board controls incidental fees there will be little incentive for the athletic department to respect any final decision by the IFC. The overall IFC budget totals more than $2 million and the athletic department receives about 28 percent of this total. Unlike tuition, students should have the final say on their incidental fee assessment. The fee is intended to enhance a university education. And it is intended to be in dependent of the University administration’s control. It belongs to the students, but students do not control it. The incoming ASUO presidential administration should set the groundwork for the introduction of legisla tion, during the next legislative session, mandating student control of the incidental fee. It is high time that students control what is theirs. Until such a bill passes the Legislature, Bill Byrne and his suc cessors will continue to place IFC and ASUO recommenda tions in low regard. Oregon doily . _ emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403. The Emerald operates independently of the Universi ty with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press. General Staff Advertising Director Production Manager Classified Advertising Controller Susan Thelen Russell Steele Vince Adams Jean Ownbey Advertising Sales: Laura Buckley, Tim Clevenger, Jen nifer Fox, Michael Gray - Intern, Robin Joannides - Intern, Carlos Lamadrid - Intern, Marcia Leonard, Rick Martz, Nancy Nielsen, Brett Pickman, Tim Swillinger, Laura Willoughby - Intern, David Wood. Production: Kelly Cornyn, Stormi Dykes, Manuel Flores, Kathy Gallagher, Dean Guernsey, Jackson Haring, Susan Hawkins, Kirk Hirota, Grant Keltner, Rob Kraft, Ross Mar tin, Karin McKercher, Lauri Neely, Kelly Neff, KaraOberst, Curt Penrod, Michele Ross, Alyson Simmons, Peg Solonika, Karen Stallwood, Tim Swillinger, Colleen Tre maine, Hank Trotter, Mary VanCura. Violence The Commentator (April 22) carried a full page ad by the Col lege Republican National Fund soliciting money to support the Contras. Why should we find this so disturbing? In the first place, the fellow holding the machine gun in tends to use your money to fur ther his political ends through violence. He means to kill peo ple with your money. A dona tion then would be a private act of violence, making you a direct accomplice to any killing he does. We believe that human life is too sacred to be taken by private individuals without due pro cess of law. We should have no more right to act as private in dividuals to kill people outside our country than to kill our fellow citizens. If violent action against another country seems necessary and just, then we have the freedom to advocate war. But direct financing goes beyond mere advocacy. Acts of war ought to be reserved to Congress. Killing is too serious a business to be decided by people acting privately, outside the framework and safeguards of the law. Our Congress recently voted against supporting this war. But simply allowing private dona tions could be construed as an act of war. A government is responsible for the violent acts of its Editor Managing Editor News Editor Editorial Page Editor Photo Editor Sports Editor Sidelines Editor Friday Edition Editor Entertainment Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Administration Higher Education Politics ASUO Student Activities Community Features Michele Matassa Mike Sims Michael Kulaga Costas Christ, Dave Berns Brian Erb Brent De La Paz Sheila Landry Kim Carlson Michael Duncan Sheila Landry Jolayne Houtz Scott McFetridge Paul Ertelt Mary Lichtenwalner Diana Elliott Cynthia Whitfield Lori Steinhauer Reporters: Sean Axmaker, Kirsten Bolin, Michelle Brence, Robert Collias, Julie Freeman, Thomas Henderson, Robin Joannides, Allan Lazo, Adam Worcester. Photographers: Dean Guernsey, Kirk Hirota, Jim Marks, Ross Martin, Karen Stallwood, Hank Trotter. News and Editorial 686-5511 Display Advertising and Business 686-3712 Classified Advertising 686-4343 Production 686-4381 Circulation 686-5511 mnjou^ D&v/r/' lH4 BC*» im letters citizens. If the Nicaraguan government encouraged and permitted its people to privately finance kill squads to assassinate citizens in our own country, rest assured that we would hold that government accountable. Surely we are equally ac countable for our own citizens. W. f. Holly Philosophy Dept. The best As a part of the Black Arts Festival. Hayward Coleman is on the University campus. Mr. Coleman is a mime, a per former of internatonal reputa tion; one European newspaper calls him “the Nijinsky of mime,” he has studied with — and is highly respected by — the French master Marcel Marceau, and he is considered to be as good as Marceau — some say he’s better. Mr. Coleman has performed in the United States and throughout Europe. He incor porates many forms of dance and Hatha Yoga, in his art. He is one of the most impor tant black artist/performers this campus has been privileged to see. Hayward Coleman will be giving a performance in the Condon School gymnasium on Thursday, May 16, at 8 p.m. There is no admission charge. This promises to be one of the most exciting and fascinating events at the University this year; faculty, students and staff should not miss this chance to see something so unusual and very, very special. Michael Stamm Graduate Secretary, English Dept. Show support The EMU Cultural Forum has once again decided to spend the money allocated for its annual Willamette Valley Folk Festival, entirely upon performers from out of state, paying nothing to local artists. The implication is, of course, that local talent is second rate and unable to draw a substantial following, a charge that is demonstrably untrue, as we shall see. The 18 or so local groups selected for this year's festival were chosen from a field of nearly 70 entries, a fact that sug gests rather high standards for acceptance. Now, the cultural forum is quite right to bring in some national headliners and pay them more than lesser known groups; T Bone Burnett, and the New Songs group from Nicaragua are excellent choices for the festival, and I look forward to hearing them. But to bring in performers whose songs and whose presence speaks to our social and political conscience while at the same time providing nothing for the artists in our own community, is simply hypocrisy. Musicians do not expect to get rich, but we would like a token honorarium, however symbolic, in recognition of ser vices rendered. As the old saying puts it, ‘if you want to dance, you have to pay the Piper.” Students who pay for the event through incidental fees, and who find the cultural forum’s policy unfair, are urged to speak to or write the cultural forum on this issue. Support local music! Our sur vival depends on your patronage. Barney Lindsley Religious Studies - .. ——* Letters Policy The Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing fair comment on topics of interest to the University community. Letters to the editor must be limited to 250 words, typed, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is turned in. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style. Letters to the editor should be turned into the Emerald office, Suite 300, EMU.