_Editorial_
GTFs need support
in bargaining talks
\s thf talks between the Graduate Teaching I el
lovvs Federation anti the University head into vet an
other round. Ihi; • ontroversy is still far from resolved
\fter a mediation session Wednesday. ('.Ill- ad
ministrators were pleased, hut said the\ still had not
gotten «\ hat I hey w anted
The whole issue began in the spring when negoti
alums started ovei a new contrail \lter six months
nothing has happened and nothing has been solved
\ou the (H l l- is considering picketing the campus
and a (ITT strike is not out of the question
file i out rov ers\ lotuses on two issues wage in
t reases and health benefits. Hir (i l l s want a > pen ent
increase ea«:h yejii lor the next two rears I he I niver
sit\ is offering a n percent increase total lot the next
two ye,IIS
The health benefit issue is more i oniplex (i I Ts are
not included in University lacnlu health insurance
programs Until this year, tills could purchase slu
dent health insurance on a mouth-to-month basis, as
opposed to a one time payment
I he University wants to do awa\ with the monthl\
payment program (i l l f wants some type of insurance
benefits
Oil this, and the wage increase, we side with the
GTFF.
GTFs are some of the most overworked and under
paid people in the world In addition to attending
si hooi. they have to teach, research, advise and grade
papers in literally hundreds of University classes. For
this they make a total of $460.53 a month.
The University has screamed it has no money to
fulfill the (TITs' demands Perhaps. But certainly there
was money in the Oregon State System of Higher Edu
cation budget at one time t- for instance, before the
renovation of McMorran House. The $100,000 spent to
repair the mansion would have gone a long way to
ward helping theGTFs.
A f> percent wage int reuse over two years is no in
crease at all With inflation running at over 4 percent a
year, a .» percent increase per year is a reduction, not a
raise.
On the subject of health benefits. $409.5it barely
covers the rent, let alone health insurance payments
(ills are teachers, they are faculty members, they
should be treated as such
Any state system administrator who denies the
(il l I their wage increase and benefits should take a
look .it the I'niyersity s classes Between 25 and 40
peri ent ol the classes are taught by CiTI's
It the (nil dei ides t< ■ strike, the l 'ni versify will be
\ irtually paraly zed
\obods wants a strike. It would be unfair to the
students who shell out hard-earned money for tuition
The\ pa\ lor a quality education, they should get noth
ing les-- II the University doesn't help the (il l s, the
quality of edui at ion w ill nosed i\ e
Support the (i l l' I
'5QRPY,,, W£ SIMPLY
QOHT HAVE THE FUN PS
TO ALLOW PAYROLL
v DEDUCTIONS FOR , J
\ HEALTH INSURANCE!
5NI f
COUt^f
COOCaM
v X.
juifFie *
600^1
Education summit hasn't produced much
(ieorge Bush li.is labeled himself every
thing from the "environmental president"
to the "drug-fighting president" and finallv
the VtliK .ition president
We saw him Blunder on the environmen
tal issue (remember the IVi/t/ez?), and the
jur\ is still out on his drug plan Now it's
time for Bush's educational policy to come
under fire
This Wednesday. Bush opened an edu
i ation summit with governors from around
the country It's too early to tell what if
anything will come out of this confer
ence hut the preliminary word is that Bush
is going to have a hard time getting the gov
ernors to swallow his education reform
pa< huge
We believe Hush is sincere in trying to
change America's educational system This
summit is thu lirst between .1 president am!
tlir statu governors His administration cer
tainly has experience in education Drug
czar William Bennett was Reagan's Reloca
tion Secretary and the current secretary.
l.auro Cavazos, is widely respec ted
But at tions speak loudet than words
'I he t nited States educ ational svstem is hill
ing apart Drug use is rampant in grade
sc hools and high sc Ijools. standards for
tea< liing have fallen, and drop-out rates in
crease daily.
So far, .dl we've heard is rhetoric The
only concrete proposal on the table is lor
parents to send their children to any public
school they choose.
This plan, backed by the Bush adminis
tration. has gotten good reviews from some
of the governors at the conference. But so far
it has not gotten the support such a wide
ranging plan needs to succeed.
While Bush has focused on grade and
high schools, the governors have asked fm
more emphasis on pre-school programs
Bush's reply has been "let’s just t onceutrnte
on one thing at a time.”
I’redic tably. some of the governors have
used the summit to link the education prob
lem with other topics, such as defense
spending. Some governors, most notabh
Mario (amnio of New York have suggested
si lapping a tew missile programs and tran
ferrtng the innnev to the education budget
(food idea
Proposals are nice Plans are even bettei
Hut unless action is taken, all that's left are
u ords and si raps of pa[>er
Read our lips (ieorge we want a bettei
edui ation system
.Letters.
Not enough
I would tike lu draw atten
tinn In thi' inadrt|uato nfler the
f'niversitv lias made for tlit*
now rontr.ii t with the (iraduate
Teaching I allows federation
I realize the f’nivorsitv is op
orating under a i ondition ol
limited financial resources licit
then? are mam deserving areas
w hit li i mild bonefil from addi
tional funding, and the setting
of priorities among these areas
is a diffn nit task. However it
appears the important e ot (il l s
lets not lieen ret Ogni/.ed
It is well known that the fac
ultv here are paid tpiite a hit
less than at mam comparable
institutions, and this is also
true ol (JTFs This l'niversit\
cannot attract the best facultv
or graduate students with just a
beautiful environment ami the
potentiality ol high quality
within om individual pro
grams
It shows .1 liii h oi under
standing ol how to build for the
future to otter the (Il l s .in in
i lease in pa\ th.it is half the
pen outage ot inflation <)ne
loaf ot bread i osts the same
whelhei one is earning S-t.000
or $ 10.000. hut it is ot course,
a much higher proportion ol
the lower salar\
Our president. Mvles Brand
wants to stress the continua
tion of quality m rescan h and
undergraduate education "(
1)1)1 Sept IK) Do the people
in positions ol setting financial
priorities understand the criti
cal role the tITI's play in the
undergraduate educ ation at this
mm ersity?
If they do, and we are all tril
ls striving for "A Degree ot Kx
* t'Heiu c." 1 believe th<>\
rt'c\.ilu.itf |heir positions
cerning the University';,
pol l ior the l .11 s
must
utn
sup*
\ it tor Niansure
Musi« (.It
Back to school
^ mi know that school's hai k
m session when the number ol
runners increases a hundred
fold, you can't find an empty
booth at Tavlor's on Friday or
Saturday night; and yet one
more reactionary tirade by )on
Wollander appears in ODE'.s
letters section Can William
Moore and I .on Parkman be far
behind?
Hut. interesting as it yv,iS
W'ollander's "responsible list"
(ODE. Sept 1!T>) left out a few
important ideas Nowhere did
he mention bi« timber corpora
lions th.it art' given "our" for
ests to r.i|)r .is they please: nor
i him lies that pay no taxes vet
receive polite and lire protec
lion, or groups like’ the Israelis
or the (white) South Airmans,
who are not even I S i itizens,
vet have millions of American
buc ks piled up on their door
steps so that they c an more elfi
c ieiitlv keep their "undesir
ab'les" in line
Let's t.K c i! Wollander the
ditlerence between a "lilM-i.it
and ,i "conservative" is solelv
defined In whit h spot ial inter
est group thev bat k That is (,ne
of the reasons why so main >>t
us rejec t either label
Hill Smi*«*
Stall
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