Interest flourishes in Bend
for four-year degree option
By Scott McFatridge
CM Mm KawraU
A winter drive across the Cascade Range can
be difficult, but it's a drive hundreds of Central
Oregon students attending Willamette Valley col
leges and universities must make every time they
want to drive home. Although there are eight
state colleges and universities In the State System
of Higher Education, none of them are located in
Central Oregon.
A group comprised of Central Oregon
political, education and business leaders are
working to change this situation, and they are
confident that eventually a four-year college will
be built in their area, said Frederick Boyle, presi
dent of Central Oregon Community College In
Bend.
"The time is coming when this part of the
state needs the opportunities and services of a
four-year college," Boyle said in a telephone in
terview Wednesday.
Backers of the proposed state college have
assumed that it would be built on the existing
COCC campus.
Since coming to Bend 18 years ago. Boyle
said he has seen the area transform from almost
total dependence on logging and farming to an
area with a much wider range of interests. But
without a bachelor-degree-granting college, the
region has a difficult time attracting new
businesses, he said.
Backers of a new Central Oregon college
don’t want to have an adverse effect on the cur
rent state system institutions, yet no one should.
overlook the need for the college, Boyle said.
"I think the four-year colleges and univer
sities will look with favor on this idea.” Boyle ^
said. But it will take a “quantum leap” before the a
state system agrees to spend the substantial funds
necessary for a new college, he said.
Frank MacMurray, a Redmond attorney and
member of Central Oregon Citizens Group for
Higher Education, said it could be years before a
college is built, but eventually it must happen. (
Before any construction can begin, studies must
be commissioned to look at the feasibility, fun
ding, and financing of a college, he said,
“We want to do what’s really in the region’s
best interest.” MacMurray said. ”We want to add
something to the education system or not do it at
all.”
Although a new college could be years in the
future. Boyle said he hopes a consortium with
state colleges and universities could be formed
that would bring bachelor degree programs to
(XXX. This would mean that students could at
tend the Bend community college but receive cer
tain degrees from one of the state colleges,
Because it is currently against state law to
switch to a four-year college from a community
college, the COCX Board of Directors must get the
approval of the state Legislature before making
any changes.
Backers of the proposed college spoke to.'
legislators last month in Salem, but it was too late
.in the current session to do anything more than
lay groundwork for the next session.
Ex-convict talks of prison:
Conflicts with socialization
By Paul Ertell
Olltw Sm*r*ld
Humans are creatures of habit, says Arturo
Zamudio, and breaking the chains of habit can
free ex-convicts from the cycle that returns many
of them to prison.
Zamudio. prison project coordinator for the .
• Eugene Chicano Affairs .Center, has had first
hand experience with the problem of readjusting
• to life outside of prison wails. Zamudio. 42.
.estimates he has spent a total of 15 years behind
' bars in .California and Oregon.
Providing economic opportunity .and raising
convicts' self esteem are key elements in chang
ing habits, of thinking and living, he says. The
project, attempts to do this through counseling
and by helping convicts find jobs and adequate
. housing.
• • "Some people, with the kind of support we
give, won't make it." he says. "But some will.”
Life and attitudes are so different between
prison and the outside that newly .released
prisoners experience a form of “culture shock,"
0 Zamudio says. Inside, prisoners must maintain a
tough, defensive facade to protect themselves.
* but the same behavior could cause problems on
the outside, he says:
"The mental change is very difficult, because
you're working with two types of attitudes —
how you're expected to act inside of the walls of
the house and how society expects you to act once
you’re released," he says.
The penal system does little to help the new
ly released prisoners fend for themselves.
Zamudio says. When a prisonor is released from
the Oregon State Penitentiary, he is given a one
way bus ticket and a promise of $76 worth of food
stamps, he says, but most have never received the
training needed to survive in a competitive job
market.
Ruben Sholander, director of the center, says
most crimes have economic roots.
"We feel that most people, if given economic
opportunities and educational opportunities,
won't go the way of jails and prisons," he says.
"We don't think that jails and. prisons are
necessary, except for .the most..violent and
dangerous offenders.’’ ' • •
The project becomes involved with.inmates
before they are released, and project members
make monthly visits to OSP to talk with soon-to
be released inmates. This allows inmates to
establish goals for themselves, which is impor
tant in building theif self esteem. Zamudio says-.
The project also serves as a iiason between .
ex-convicts and. the • community and helps
educate the public about the needs of individuals
who have been locked up. Zamudio says.
"The public doesn’t give any acknowledge
ment to the penitentiary system at all/’ he says.
"They act as though they just want to stick their
heads in the sand and hope it goes away at'some
time, not realizing that 90 percent of everyone
that goes into prison will, someday be released,,
some perhaps in much worse shape than when
they went in.”
But keeping ex-convicts from returning to
prison is in the public’s best interest, Zamudio \
says. He estimates that keeping a person in prison
for a year costs taxpayers about $25,000.
Zamudio says the Eugene-based, project,
which is funded by a grant from the McKenzie
River Gathering, is a model he hopes will be
emulated in other parts of the state. Zamudio,
Sholander, and Paul Armendarez, OSP inmate
and president of the Chicano Culture Club at
OSP. will talk about the prison problem at a
forum tonight sponsored by Clergy and Laity
Concerned.
“Getting Out and Staying Out: Obstacles to
Breaking the Prison Cycle" will be presented at
the Central Presbyterian Church, 1475 Ferry St.,
at 7 p.m.
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