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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1986)
An alternative to the bar scene? See Page 6 Oregon Daily Emerald Thursday, May H. l?»8f> Eugene, Oregon Volume 87, Number 148 Packwood committee approves tax exemption Congress will vote on GTFs’ tuition waiver By Chris Norred <M ll»«* Knw*r«M After three weeks of heated controver sy over graduate, teaching fellows' tui tion waiver tax; the Senate l-inuncHtaim mittee approved a tax bill this week that reinstates the exemption of tuition Wafydft'fjrbm taxation - ' The provision reinstating the exemp tion will closely resemble the exemption that expired January f| an aide to Sen Huh Back wood. R-Ore. said, Pack wood is chairman of the Finance Comrhittoe and chief author of the tax hill, Hut Bill Lemman, vice chancellor of the Oregon State System of Higher Hducalioh. said he and his staff are discussing "whether to continue withholding taxes on tuition waivers from dTFs* paychecks. If passed and signed into law. the tax exemption would la; retroactive to lanuary . but enactment of the law cannot be expected until this summer. "Nothing has happened yet," lamiman r said, referring to.the political process awaiting the bill before* it will become law, .■ “We have to decide,'based on that set <»f facts, ‘ whether it’s proper or ap propriate to continue withholding.'’ I-omman said. Me did not speculate on what the eventual decision might Ihc The State System began withholding the tax in mid-April to comply with the l|.IS lax Code. The section of the code that made tuition waivers tax exempt ex pired (anuary 1 this year University (|TFs claimed that the deci sion to begin withholding the tax was a mistake and that other states were not withholding it while awaiting Congres sional action to reinstate the exemption. Lamman said Oregon's decision to withhold the tax and the ensuing con troversy that was brought to Packwood's attention may have been partially responsible for the reinstatement of the exemption. Huf someCTFs believe I^mman is try ing to take undue credit for the exemp tion's reinstatement. "The (OSSHK) administration has wanted to believe that (the exemption reinstatement) was not going to hap pen,” said Chuck Hunt, president of the CTF Federation union local. "We have been guaranteed (by Packwood s office) for months that their position was in support of reinstatement of the exemption." he added. bemman and his staff contacted Pack wood’s office before deciding to withhold the lax and were told that Packwood was aware of the problem and that it would be considered by the Finance Committee in due course, lam ina n said. An aide at Packwood's office said there was no way to predict the Finance Committee's dec ision on the exemption Chuck Hunt provision, but Packwood expressed con fidence that the tuition waiver provision would be passed as part of the House and Senate tax bills. IFC cuts Commentator’s funding by one-quarter Rob Young By Stan Nelson Iff I hr Knwrald The Incidental Fee Committee on Wednesday voted to appropriate $4.7:19 for the Oregon Commentator for the up coming year, ending a twn-and a-half month battle over its means of funding. The 1FC originally recommended placing funding for the Commentator on the general election ballot February 18. hut the Constitution Court ruled that it could not be placed on the ballot against its will. Representatives of the Commentator had requested $8,300. the same amount the paper received last year, with the provision that a refundable subscription lie given to students who do not wish to mad the paper. "We fulfill our rol« on campus.” said Commentator production editor Rob Young. "Our very existence is setting a precedent.” The paper serves a vital purpose in discussing issues not ad dressed in other publications, he added. A motion to fund the Commentator for $0,050 failed by a 2-.'t vote. The ASUO recommended that the Commentator be funded for $3,428 for the 1980-87 school year. The lesser amount was partially because the Com mentator is not an Affirmative Action employer, said ASUO assistant finance coordinator Mary Kay Menard. Excessive student criticism of the publication was also a consideration in the funding decision. The Commentator has received 10 times the number of stu dent complaints that all other student organizations combined have received. IPG chairman james Randall said. But if the paper did not receive criticism, it would not be doing its job, Commentator executive editor Thomas Mann said. The paper is an opinion journal, and it should speak out against the status quo. he said. When the opinions amount to name calling and petty squabbles, the paper is no longer furthering discussion or debate, said Donna Lawrence, Student Senate chairwoman. She likened the Commentator to the right-wing equivalent of the National Enquirer. The paper should try to raise more of Continued on Page 3 J University Assembly discusses new G.P.A requirement By Craig l-oughridge Of the Kmuralri The University Assembly discussed raising (he grade point average require ment for entering freshmen students from a 2.75 to a 3.0 for guaranteed ad mission to the University at its meeting Wednesday. At the request of University President Paul Olum. assembly representatives provided ideas about raising the G.P. A. requirement. Olum will present the ideas to the State Hoard of Higher Educa tion for discussion. Olum said that during a time of pro jected decline in University enrollment, the number of students entering the University increased. The University had about 15.400 students in fall term 1983. and now has about 16.400. University enrollment should top the 17,000 mark by next fall, according to projected fall figures. Thu primary reason for the new G.P. A. requirement would be to limit the number of newly admitted students and hopefully stabili/.e enrollment at about 17.000. Olum said. The University is approaching the limit of its capacity, according to Univer sity faculty and administrators, and it will soon tie difficult to accommodate any more students. "It's hard to know what we'd do without a new building program and some changes,” Olum said. The University is very close to capaci ty. said Provost Richard Hill. With the additional students expected in the fall, the University will have to add more night and afternoon classes, he said. "We don't have the ability to add more (students) without the quality of this in stitution going down." Hill said. Olum anti other administrators hope that raising the University's G.P.A. re quirement would boost the number of new student applications the University receives, giving the University the op portunity to admit only the most promis ing students. Olum used the University of Washington and the University of California at Berkeley as examples of what a higher G.P.A. requirement might attain. "The best schools are the ones that are the most over-applied,” Olum said. Photo bv Muhael Wilhelm University faculty members discussed increasing the C.P.A. requirement for entering freshmen from 2.75 to 3.0 at a Wednesday assembly meeting. < In other business, the University Assembly decided to postpone until |une the vote on a proposal to extend the deadline for1 dropping and adding classes from 10 days to 20 davs. Student Senator Randy MacDdnald motioned for the postponement, saying he wanted a postponement of the vot,e because of intense faculty opposition to . ■ the proposal. If the assembly had voted on the pro posal Wednesday, there would have been “no way it could have passed," said MacDonald, the proposal's sponsor.