Oregon daily emerald., January 19, 1987, Image 1

DeFazio looks toward
new year in Congress
See Page 5
Oregon Daily
Emerald
Monday. January Hi. 1087
Kugt»nt\ Oregon
Volume 88, Number 8L!
State Board decides
to replace quarters
with semester system
By Chris Norred
Of the Kmrrald
The University will change its academic calendar
to an early semester schedule beginning in the fall of
1990.
All public, four-year colleges and universities in
Oregon, except the Oregon Health Sciences University,
also will change to the semester system in 1900. the
State Board of Higher Education decided Friday.
I he State Board voted 7-3. with one abstention, in
favor of the switch to semesters after hearing nearly
four hours of comment and discussion at its meeting in
Corvallis.
The State Board's executive staff recommended the
switch and gave a presentation outlining tin; pros and
cons of semesters versus quarters.
Testimony from representatives of each State
System institution showed that opinions were divided
among faculty, students and administrators throughout
the system.
Ernest Ettlich, the interim president at Southern
Oregon State College, told the State Board that faculty
and students at SOSC do not support the change to an
early semester calendar.
But Ettlich said “the value of the calendar change
is not so much in the mechanics of the calendar. . the
importance I think is in the curricular reform.” He urg
ed the board not to hurry the changeover and to allow
time for administrators to design curricula that would
use the advantages of a semester system.
University President Paul Olum told the State
Board that faculty here support the semester system by
a 2-1 margin.
All other reasons (tor supporting the semester
system) should be forgotten compared with the
academic one,” Olum said. ‘Tve taught under both
systems, and I feel strongly that at the college and
university level we ought to be able to teach academic
subjects at some reasonable level of intellectual depth,
and there is simply no time to do it in the time we have
in the quarter system.
“The end of the term is partly taken up with
preparing for final examinations, and there is not so
much you can do then but review. More importantly,
the beginning of the term is taken up with the fact that
you have distribution of students who often come from
different backgrounds or different prerequisites, and it
takes time to get everybody together and get into the
subject.” Olum said. “The opportunity to get a whole
class together and to teach at some sufficient level of
deep understanding is just that much better in the
semester system.”
State Board member and Eugene businessman John
Alltucker said he was unalterably opposed to a
semester calendar. In a strong statement of opposition.
Alltucker said he was concerned that colleges and
universities may become “training schools” that force
students to specialize in a particular, narrow field of
study. “Do we want to turn out graduates who know
Turn to Semester, Page 6
1
I
<f'3> •
Marching for peace
More than 800 people turned out for a peace march from South Eugene High School to the
Unit Center on Friday in celebration of Martin Luther King /r. ’s birthday. The event was part of a
weeklong celebration highlighted by today’s national remembrance of the slain civil rights
leader. King would have been 58 last Thursday.
Photo by John Giustina
See related photos. Page 8
Bill would create new loan program
The state Treasury Department introduced a hill
calling for the creation of a new educational loan pro
gram Friday in the state Senate.
Senate Hill tr>7 calls for the State Scholarship Com
mission to establish an "alternative educational loan
program whereby students, or parents of those
students, in eligible post-secondary educational in
stitutions may obtain loans to meet college expenses."
State Scholarship Commission Director Jeff Lee
said students at all institutions in the state, both public
and private, would he eligible for the new loan pro
gram. In addition, the loan would be available to eligi
ble Oregon residents attending out-of-state schools.
I he State Scholarship Commission would
guarantee tin; loans, using funds gained from revenue
bonds issued in consultation with state Treasurer Hill
Rutherford.
" The state treasurer has been working on this for
awhile." l.ee said. "It's part of a larger package. He’s
talking about not only loans to students but loans for
economic development as well.”
The loan program, called Financing Oregon Col
lege and University Students, would provide students
with loans not to exceed the cost of education, minus
"•her financial aid received, or $10,000, whichever is
less,” during a single academic year.
Students would be limited to borrowing $40,000
total.
Repayment of the FOCUS loans would be similar to
repayment ol Parental Loans for Undergraduate
Students.
i he interest rate on the FOCUS loans would beset
periodically by the state Scholarship Commission, and
interest would accrue on the loans from the date ol
disbursement. Repayment ol principle and interest on
I'OCUS loans made to parents would begin within tit)
days of disbursement, but FOCUS loans made to
students would require repayment of interest to begin
within t>() days and repayment of principle to begin
within four years or (it) days after the student leaves
school.
Budget leaves University $2.3 million short
By Chris Norred
Of the Kmerald
Cov. Neil Goldschmidt’s recommend
ed budget for higher education could
leave the University looking for ways to
make up $2.2 million in its operating
budget next year unless some relief is
gained from the Legislature, said Bill
Lem man. executive vice chancellor of
higher education.
Lemman and Chancellor William
Davis presented an analysis of the gover
nor's recommended budget at the mon
thly State Board of Higher Education
meeting Friday in Corvallis.
Extreme enrollment increases at the
University and Western Oregon State
College this fall prompted the State
Board to request more money from the
state Ceneral Fund for “corridor of
enrollment adjustments” at the two
schools.
But these adjustments were not in
cluded in the governor's budget that was
released last week, and according to
Ralph Sunderland, director of the
University Office of Management and
Budget, “We’ll he pretty hard up against
the wall if we don’t get some relief.”
The University will be forced to dig in
to savings and deplete inventories of
equipment and instruction materials
next year if it doesn't get more money
from the Legislature. Sunderland said.
The University will need about $3.9
million added to its operating budget
next year to hire additional instructors
and meet other needs required hv the in
creased number of students, Sunderland
said.
Of that $3.9 million, about $1.7
million will be covered with tin; tuition
paid by the extra students. However,
$2.3 million will be required from the
state General Fund if the state is to con
tinue funding higher education at its
current percentage level. Sunderland
said. WOSC will need about $300,()()()
more from the General Fund to maintain
its current level.
The corridor of enrollment funding
policy was adopted by the State Board in
1075. and is designed to eliminate
budget adjustments for minor changes in
enrollment. The policy basically pro
vides funding for a range in which a
school’s enrollment can fluctuate
without a change in that school's budget
allocation from the (amend l-'und.
The range of enrollment is arrived at
by averaging a school’s enrollment dur
ing tin; past three years and allowing for
a fluctuation of plus or minus 500
students.
Currently, tin? state (amoral I’und pro
vides the l Jniversity with enough money
Turn to Budget, Page 7