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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1987)
Inside: •Writing with Kesey, Page 5 •Touring Eugene, Page 11 •Sky pilot, Page 12 ri Oregon Daily_ - Emerald Wednesday. October 21, 1987 Eugene. Oregon Volume 89. Number 35 Conservationists file suit over spotted owl habitats By Andrew LaMar Emerald Reporter Twelve conservation groups filed a lawsuit Monday after noon against the Bureau of l.and Management to stop the cutting of old-growth timber in Oregon. The lawsuit's primary con cern is the protection of the nor thern spotted owl, according to plaintiff representatives who held a press conference Tues day morning. The BLM is a subdivision of the Department of the Interior, headed by Donald Hodel. BLM officials were not available for comment Tuesday. The lawsuit was filed in Portland in U.S. District Court. Wendell Wood, the educa tional programs coordinator for the Oregon Natural Kesourc.es Council, said conservationists “seek to require the Bureau of l.aud Management to prepare a full environmental impact state ment to disclose the adverse economic and environmental effects of old-growth cutting in the BLM's 289 identified spot ted owl management areas." Between 1979 and 1983 the BLM drafted a 10-year plan for each of its seven western Oregon districts. Included in the plan were environmental impact statements that warned the logging of old-growth forest would decrease the number of spotted owls in the area. Since then, several organiza tions have studied the spotted owl and published new infor mation about their habitat, laist February the BLM state director reviewed the studies and issued a document assessing the new information, but it did not discuss much of the new infor mation. according to the lawsuit's plaintiffs In April, the BLM state direc tor issued a notice stating the Bl.M did not find the new infor mation on the spotted owl significant, and it would con tinue logging old-growth timber at the current rate. "The BI.M's documents in dicate that if the present level of old-growth logging continues, in only four more years we will have precluded any exisiting options for survival of the species." Wood said. The BLM currently controls 412,000 acres of old-growth forest and cuts it at an average of 15,000 acres a year, he added. Since April, the plaintiffs twice have requested the In terior Hoard of Land Appeals halt sales of old-growth timber within 2.1 miles of any of the owls' habitats to preserve the species. The board rejected both requests, saying the plaintiffs failed to show cutting the old growth would result in ir reparable injury. The 12 groups filing the suit are the Central Oregon Audubon Society. Headwaters, the kalmiopsis Audubon Socie ty. the laine County Audubon Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Oregon Naturul Resources Council, the Portland Audubon Society, the Salem Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the Siskiyou Audubon Society, The Wilderness Society, and the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society. Experts judge University By Mike Drummond Emerald Associate Editor One of the givens of college life mandates that students receive evaluations for academic performance; the University is no exception. Every 10 years the Universi ty opens its departmental doors to outside scrutiny through an accreditation review, inviting a handful of regional educators and ad ministrators to appraise the institutions virtues and foibles Early last spring l :i representative* from the Nor thwest Association of Schools and Colleges paid a three-day visit to this campus and evaluated the University's strengths and weaknesses. Members of this year's review team included the president of Montana State University, a graduate school dean from the University of Utah and Stan ford University's dean of stu dent affairs, among others When last accredited in 1977, the University faced deep budget cuts To adjust to this situation, the t'177 evaluation team recommend ed the campus consider “selective program reduc lions or outright elimina tions" of some courses In addition, it cited pro blems with the “mission'' and “coherence" of the School of Community Servic e and Public Affairs, and described the academic advis ing and registration pro cedures as “uneven and ACCREDITATION - REPORT - U D ■ generally less than satisfactory." The 1987 accreditation review found that over the l«»*»t decade the University made strides in the two former areas; however, the latter recommendation s h a v e received low priority For example, }n the early 19B0s the University, bending under the weight of stale mandated budget restraints, cut several superfluous pro grams and closed the School of Community Service and Public Affairs and the School of l.ibrarianship. In contrast, however, academic advising and registration procedures have changed little since the last accreditation report The 1987 evaluation team again noted the University's (*r«ptiu b> lorr«iM K«lh advising and registration shortcomings, along with a host of other areas needing improvement. Hut it also praised certain aspects of the University. Concerning the Univer sity’s faults, common themes found throughout the lfiH7 evaluation report cited a luck of access for the mobility impaired. chronic: "space crisis" in several depart ments. particularly the library, and an excess reliance on Graduate Teaching I-' e I I o w s for course instruction. Alison liaker, executive assistant tn University Presi dent Paul Olum. discussed these and other findings of the report in a recent interview. Turn to Review, Page 3 University organizations wage battle for AIDS education By Kelvin Wee Emerald Reporter The issue of AIDS prevention has been the focus of many educational cam paigns at the University. In the last year, the University has witnessed the birth of the University's AIDS Task Force, the University's Laurene Shields (Educational AIDS Task Force, and the inclusion of the disease into the cur riculum of many community education classes. According to Dr. lames lackson. direc tor of the University's Student Health Center, there are many ways students can get information arid education on AIDS However, few students are using these services He said although AIDS educ ation on campus has helped increase student con sciousness about the disease, many students still don't take it as seriously as they should. "I think that students need to realize that AIDS is everyone’s problem, and not just for those in the high-risk groups," he said. "I don’t think the message has really sunk in yet and unfortunately, it may take a tragedy of someone close before students realize that it is a problem.’’ Jackson believes the issue isn’t that the University cannot provide the informa tion on AIDS, but that students have not been sincerely receptive to the education. He said the health center is always on the lookout for good brochures on AIDS and safe sex because these are the most helpful, non-threatening ways to get in formation across. "Students can pick these brochures up at the health (.enter and read them in the privacy of their homes or rooms without anyone knowing." he said. The health center also offers several programs that are available to students looking for more in-depth information about the disease. These students can visit the Health Education Resource Room staffed by peer health student advisers or see health care providers at the center who can give information on AIDS. Jackson said. He added the positive side of AIDS education at the University is more students are becoming active in educa tion. and he believes student govern ment should be commended for its work on the issue. Tim Regan. ASIJO University Affairs coordinator, said although students have been receptive to information, their response to the issue has been slow. He explained the success of the Con dom Awareness Day sponsored by the Peer Health Advisors last year was one way to Judge how receptive students were to the illness and how it affected their lives. "Many people just took the condoms Cin Chubb and flyers we handed out. but very few actually stopped to ask us questions." he said. "Hut I feel that it's a start that they are beginning to take the information with them." Kagan, who is the University's Educa tional AIDS Task Force chairman, said many students avoid attending public lectures on AIDS because they fear being Turn to Aids, Page 4
