Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1986)
FREE wMippino CHARGER ★ c o u p o N Waterpipes • Posters Tobacco • Scales BUY 1 GET 1 FREE* 57 W. 6K0ADWAY * AM Odyssey Glass Products (IS yn. m mm) Lncnn J BAZAR * itm ■ OM IV IM c o u p o N bb /-uiiy unt mcc ru^icn* GRAND OPENING! New tanning center 4 more WOLFF systems! Oregon West - fitness BUY NOW! *2.00 Morning Tanning special 6 am-noon m«mto«rfiip not required BEST HOURS • RRST PRICCS 6am • 11pm 7 Day* a Waak 147S Franklin Bhrd. Across from Campus HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE A MEATHEAD AFTER EATING A LOUSY BURGER? Well, come to Spagetti Warehouse and find your noodle! ALL YOU CAN EAT SPAGETTI DINNER Including crisp salad, homemade bread. Ice cream, and a beverage of your choice ^$A95 Graphic Services... The quality you want at a price you can afford Grape boycott recalls memories of 1970s protests at University By Stephen Maher Of d» bMnU The current grape boycott and visit by Osar Chavez is not the first time the issue has touched base at the University and in Eugene. Sparked by the lack of a con tract between farm workers and grape growers, a national boycott of non-United Farm Workers lettuce and grapes erupted in 1973. At the Univer sity the EMU’s policy of buying non-UFW lettuce sparked pro test activities and heated maneuverings between the ad ministration and students. University President Robert Clark and EMU Director Richard Reynolds insisted that the University buy both UFW and non-UFW lettuce and let students decide which one they preferred Students countered that farm workers were living in poverty and. to buy non-union lettuce perpetuated the problem. "President (Mark's position was 'freedom of choice.' ” said Bill Lutz. Clergy and l-aity Con cerned development director, who was a student organizer at the time. "Our position was that UFW didn’t have a choice — you either worked under miserable conditions or you didn't work at all." in response, students set up their own food stands on the EMU terrace outside the Fishbowl and urged students to boycott EMU food services. "It was something that anyone who went into the EMU saw," said Herb Everett, a Eugene printer who was a stu dent at the time and a volunteer with the UEW. "It was like Saturday Market. A lot of the (present day) organizations got their financial starts there." Lutz said. "We ended up sending the UFW a couple thousand dollars, raised people's consciousness and cost the EMU $150,000." Lutz said. ‘We ended up sen ding the UFW a cou ple thousand dollars, raised peo ple’s consciousness and cost the EMU $150,000. ’ — Bill Lutz Everett'* wife. Nancy Bray, also was involved in boycott ac tivities and remembers all the work that went into keeping the tables going. "People would have to get up in the middle of the night to make sandwiches and pick up juice.” Bray said. The administration countered the student move by contacting the Environmental Health Department, who consequently revoked the boycotter’s food license. But the student pro testers continued the food sales, and no charges were ever filed by the state. Lutz recalled one incident when a health department of ficial visited the terrace. “The EMU manager called the health department on us. and he came and found a few minor things. And then he went into the EMU and came out with a big list of violations." Lutz said. Also at the forefront of the protest activities were the so called “lettuce Trials" of 1974. In February of that year. 75 chanting fro-UFW demonstrators appeared at a luncheon for the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Organization in the EMU Ballroom and disrupted the featured speaker, Newsweek columnist Shana Alexander. A couple of days later, two of the protesters were cited under the Student Conduct Code for SY’S PIZZA FRII DELIVERY AND STORK TAKE OUT COUPON ? o u p o N Order any size pizza, choice of regular or Extra Thick Crust or Oeep Dish Sicilian and receive $1 OFF ANY SIZE PIZZA PLUS 2 FREE SOFT DRINKS c o u p 0 N STORE HOURS 1« 30 Mtdn.gM Monday Friday 3 30pm Midnight Satw/day and Sunday DELIVERY HOURS *iprr. Midmghl Monday Sunday 1211 Aktor on Campus • German a u TO SE Ft VIC E VW’S MERCEDES BMW’S DATSUN TOYOTA tor cm Sine# 1963" 2025 FranUn BM Eug*n* Or* 97403 Bur Ph 342-2912 disrupting a University event. ‘‘The University, through the Student Conduct Board, said it was disruptive. So they tried them,” Everett said. The "lettuce Trial” was ac tually a hearing before the three-member Student Court. And after seven hours the two students were acquitted. “There were about 300 students there — the place was packed.” said Michael Golds tein, a Eugene attorney who defended the students as a University law student at the hearing. “We brought a member of the UFW executive committee to testify, which didn’t please the administration at all,” Everett said. "It was a big victory for the movement at the time.” The second Lettuce Trial” occurred in May of 1974. The Student Conduct Office charged fiye students with "misuse of University property” for using EMU tables on the terrace. The second hearing also ended in acquittal, but this time the court condemned the administration for a "politically motivated" hearing. In 1975, students took over the old EMU television lounge and set up a concession. “The weather turned bad so they decided to take over the room and turn it into a boycott room." Goldstein said. “The administration was very reluctant to throw us out because of the support from the students," Everett said. A student referendum on the lettuce issue in 1974 revealed that 71.4 percent of the students supported the EMU boycott. The boycott also extended to the community with Safeway stores as one of the targets. “We had a good boycott of the stores — and had sizable rallies," Bray said. “We'd have several people, and we'd go up and say. ‘We’re asking you not to shop at Safeway.' and we'd tell them of other stores.” "We had a pretty good suc cess rate at getting people to get back in their cars and leave." she added. By 1975. the tide had turned in favor of the UFW. The California Legislature passed the Agricultural I.abor Relations Act. giving farm workers the right to hold free elections on unionization, and the UFW began winning contracts with growers. In Eugene the boycott efforts also wound down. "It seemed like there was no longer a need for us to be doing what we were doing." Bray said. "1 guess it was mostly the passage of the act." “As an organizer, the farm worker movement developed a lot of the methodology used to day and set a standard for grass roots organizing." Lutz said. WtCruU • Resumes • Flyers • Menus • Newsletters FAST!! Op«n 7 Day*
