Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1989)
—Editorial_ System without PSU will be overcrowded Depending on whom you talk to. <i proposal made last week to dose Portland State University is either a bold move or a foolish one. Last Thursday, the governor received a plan from the Oregon Council of the American Klectronic Assw i atiou. In it AEA-'Oregon called for closing PSU. with the University turning it into a satellite campus Ore gon State University would also gel into the act. t real ing another campus at or near the Oregon Graduate In stitute. Supposedly, doing this would strengthen higher education in the state by creating a Portland based i en ter for science and engineering education and research, to quote from the proposal PSt! officials, faculty and students are irate Ore gon State System of Higher Education Chancellor Thomas Bartlett has called the proposal • premature despite having said several times Oregon can't support three universities. Mouse Majority Loader David Mix (I)-Eugonnj has backed the plan. Gov. Neil Gold schmidt is uncommitted. To us, closing a campus — the second-largest uni versity in the state — at a time when the rest of Ore gon's colleges and universities are cutting back enroll ment is a bad idea. Attendance figures at the University have to be cut drastically over the next few years. Students who oth erwise are qualified are being denied an education. While students would still be able to attend college in Portland, it would be mostly for high-tech degrees. Liberal arts majors would flock somewhere else, either taking their resources and ability out of the state, or overcrowding the University and OSU. Portland contains nearly 60 percent of the state’s population. Not having a major university in the area is ludicrous. The AEA/Oregon proposal would polarize the state system into separate groups Portland and downstate, technical and liberal arts. No one will deny that higher education m uregon has a lot of problems Budget concerns are forcing ad ministration officials to make cuts in programs they would rather not have to make. Money is tight, and drastic decisions have to lx? made. But closing PSU is not the answer. Oregon schools are already turning away enough people. There is a danger of returning to the elitist attitude of the ltKtOs when higher education was considered a privilege re served for the wealthy and highly intelligent A college degree is no longer just helpful for job hunters; it's mandatory. No matter what the reasons to the contrary. PSU should stay open as is. Summit- Ags-nclr.' Di?a«S arms-control agreemerTtb. Review progress on strategic-arms treaty-' THK cwr v*vs to lmprrve ScVlet economy Summit Agenda: TJV* •» * UHMt hat ASUO shouldn't meet behind closed doors I hcri' s something insidious about gov rrnillg bodies meeting behind ( losed doors 1 hat s v\ li\ we re disappointed with a rei ent ai lion In the ASI ( ) I'Aei utiv e i..ist Thursdav. .it its vvceklv stall meet ing. the ASl'O was to discuss whether to support a grievance seeking to prohibit ( l.\ recruiting on campus This grievance had been presented b\ Shannon Oliver and Tim Hughes ol Student (Campaign tor Disarm.! men! at the statf meeting the week before, and Oliver and Hughes had been invited ha< k to hear Thursdav s deliberation Shortly belore the meeting however. Si ott Wyt koft ASI'() vie e president, moved to i lose the meeting, i ding the reservations some ASl’O members had over having their disi ussion monitored Alter objec lions i ante from Oliver. Hughes and the Oregon l)nil\ Dinrmlil (we were curious as to why ASl'O wanted to go secretive on this). Wvckoff pointed to an exc eption provided bv the Or egon I’ublic Meetings l.aw ( iertainlv ASl 'O does have legalities on its side; the ASl'O's ac tion isn't in violation ot the letter of the public meetings law. Hut it does brush against the spirit of that statute the law dec lares that the business ot state .tnd local governing bodies (including the ASl'()) is best condut ted in the open. Oliver and Hughes sav the\ wanted to attend the stall meeting not to interfere with the [iriH endings hut to simply listen. U u k ot! and the other ASUO members appeal to have believed that the presence ol outsiders would have muffled the Kxecutive's deliber ation on (!IA recruiting. II that’s the c ase, it savs something about the courage ol our stu dent leaders they should speak theii views, yes. hut thev should expect to he held ai i ountable for them as well. In the end. ASUO dei ided lint to en dorse St ill's grievance. Oliver said the l'Xei olive had some justifiable legal concerns that tune since been mended in a new griev ance. hut after the shabby treatment she re ceived. she won't go back to get ASUO’s of li( ial support. That's too bad. A student group such as SUI) should he able should want even to seek the support of all students of the llniversitv If ASUO represents all students, as it ostensibly does, it needs to welcome the ( oik erns placed before it Quite obvious ly. an open door is more welcoming than a closed one. -Letters— Mistake I w ish to point mil an editing iTrnr On the "Letters'1 ser lion in m\ letter "(deaner An (oni: \dv <i) iiinri* was m.n i male editing Non printed lull (SB lli tll) th.it would maket alitor nia -. automobile emission laws the toughest in llie nation That makes it sound like the lull Is aiming at California's weak statldartls Wli.it wasting inalh submitted was th.it (tali forma's are the toughest m the IS. and all other states would also have to ( omph w ith the standards making a national standard under SB It. to I’uneh \1oasser TO Social hub In response lo K.«*l 1 \ John son's It'iiiT |ODI Nov 7) I .on surprised .m .ilumiuis would make sue ii .i sli.illow observa lion The so i .died street peo pie transients .ire there for as mam reasons you have tor he inn ilit ic It's .1 six i.11 liuli Ini nian\ .inti personnlh I uni imiif apprehensive ot the rtiv mg packs o| lr.il Imi\s looking Idi tun lli.in I .mi nl ,m\ tr.m s li Mil \u mu' slit it 1111 li'cl uinvi'l i min' in .<n\ p.irt ut mu i ilv .mil besides who an- vuu In s,i\ who belongs In'ii' .uni who doesn't ■’ It voit .in' insulted by tin' t.n I lli.il pi'iiplc .isk vmi In sp.trt' sunn' change, maybe it's ,ilm>ut timi' to ilu something .iIkiuI tins problem 't on i ,m t pass In ilic "ugly pcupli'" Mini entire life It \mi really want tu be proud nt your com mu it it \ do some tlimg about tins problem, and earn vour pride as easily as these people may have lost theirs ( ind> Huibn'Klw Kugonc Getting better Thunks for vour front pagi* .irfii It- iiIhiuI lhi‘ Native Anion i .in Stiidont f’mon's full pow wou Nov ! I've complained in the past about your lai k of i.nveraK'- of Native Amerir an allairs but things seem to be improvinn Alter last spring’s Mar (aunt powwow vriu printed a won derltil picture on the Iron! pa^e. and last month vou ran a superli arlit It- about the Tl111y;11 dam e nroup that performed in the I Ml Uallronm It 's too bad that the I )m*i sits Week activities sponsored In the ASt't) ignore the Native Anierir an r omrminitv (longrat illations to the Emerald though lor covering events \\ hen they do happen |ell Harrison Student Relevance Kl Salvador Dot's tin* tupii seem moot, or inspire v.uvns ol boredom•' Well il shouldn't lor over night years the tiin t entral Amerii an nation has Iwcn selectively thrust in .tin) out of the Amrrii.aii news spot light During this time, the United States has poured nearly $-4 bil lion into the country, hoping to quell <i popular rebellion among its economically rfisen tr.mi (used majority The polii y has failed Land reform was promised, hut not delivered: two-thirds ol the population re main landless The prerequisites foi free elections were pledged, but not delivered The regime ol Presi dent Alfredo Christiani "won" the last ele< lion with less than -ill peri ent ot the eligible vote And lastly, the much touted improvement in the govern inent's human tights record has proved to lie a sham Death squads have killed tens ol thou sands whilt? the 1 S -trained Salvadoran air force has terror i/.ed the countryside with bombings, leaving over a mil lion homeless In the last vear. the situation has grown worse Since Chris tiani s ultra rightist AKLNA partv assumed power, human rights violations have est .dated dramaticallv With this as a bai kdrop. our fiends in Wash ington continue to pump ovei St million into HI Salvador e\ erv dav, making it the third largest rei ipient ol I S foreign aid in the world This polii \ has made the t'nited States an international pariah "(' S out ol LI Salva dor" may appear to be a worn out slogan, but it has more rele vance today than it ever had Christian (.outlier Lugene -Letters Policy I he Emerald will attempt to print all letters con taining comments on topics of interest to the Univer sity community. Comments must be factually accu rate and refrain from personal attacks on the character of others. Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is sub mitted.
