University of Oregon
Eugurw. Omgon
An independent newspaper
Vofcjm* 97 Ium 99
WfPHtSDAY f l 8flUAR> ?1 1996
INOEX
E<fton*l 2
Maw* Maine 4
Stranpw Fteaon 4
Soort* »
amu*** to
Cub—ora 11
TODAY
High school Undent*
from the area mil be cm
campus today to take
part bi the University i
debate tournament
INSIDE
Ijacmsse. sorter, siting. rugh\ and wW/rv
bail thn kj keep fighting far higher gmtusd
ldine Counts Commtssumer candidate
Mm Osanka makrs his case far office
*4 <0
WEATHER
'iKmrrt today
High 45 i5
(10 receives
donation lor
scholarships I
■ CHARITY: The $700,000 donation was
the largest ol its kind ever to the
Presidential Scholarship Fund
By Jmrmnt Schmitt
Students from dragon's small timber commu
oitiaM ant receiving a helping hand Imauw of a
racent $700,000 donation by a Douglas County
resident, which eventually will be used to sup
(»ort up to nine presidential scholarships a year
immimmgNHi Minnie Churchill split her
donation into two part*, giving
th» University $300,000 in CMB
and the rest »n a tm*t fund. Th*
c**h portion of th* donation t*
the largest ever far presidential
scholarship* and increased the
University's total endowment
for scholarships of that type by
30 percent, according to a news release
The Presidential Scholanhtp Pmgnun provides
scholarship* to 200 Oregon high school graduates
attending the University at any tine tune There
are 50 new scholarships awarded each year
The renewable scholarship is awarded for aca
demic achievement and leadership The appli
cant* (Must have a CPA of at least :s 25. but the
average high school CPA for the 1995-06 reel pi
eats was 3.94.
Churchill. 8*i grew up on a farm in ( atueia and
■
1820s When Churchill was 15. her mother died,
and Churchill was unable to finish her schooling
because she was needed to take tare of the house
and her younger sibling*
“There was no opportunity or money to go to
college ' Churchill said
Churchill recently sold 250 acres of timber land
t« Douglas County after her husband. Leroy, died
last year The couple had no children, to
Chun hill decided to use the money to help atu
dents in financ ial need attend college
Churchill had no previous connection with the
Turn to CHARITY Page 5
Is he dateable?
To amt a data. «yan Uafcnaon a buamaaa admntMfatton tuna* chows h* dancing aMr
*V to Mtottafia 0** who had rmt cftotca o* th/aa abtaoodtod compatitofi Tha avaoi was
•pomotad by Alpha Ch. Omaya housa. and tha monay raaad wm ba donated to baitafad
woman * ttmtfn and to ch*t»an *tth cysflc ttyoM
_J
OPEU again
negotiating
to increase
employee pay
■ STRIKE: A new bill
causes the Board of
Higher Education to
mediate with union
members directly
By Ragina Brown
**unw f'A* wwn M*rxww
The Oregon l*ubllr timpbrn*
Union and the Oregon Slain
Board of Higher Education have
»«t»i«l vet another series of
salary negotiations Bui tmnnui
of a bill ;iauni m tail springs
legislative session. thin limn ihe
board wilt negotiate direr 11y
with its employees
"It was • major now step for
Ihn system." Chancellor |o* Cox
raid
OKU members wnnl on
strtkn loMt May after inguiMUiint
with the state failed to give I hem
« *> 5 pen no! pay Increase
Both side* mm loot Friday at
an Oregon Slate System of High
er Edut at ion board meeting to
evaluate a joint viaion >l*le
MM. in which they express
desire to work together to
<*• hinve common gu*f*
When nngottatum* began last
October. OPEU employnea who
work within the University
asked lor a pay lau reate said
feff Set-kaix. an < )»*F! ’ negotiator
from Oregon State University,
who is serving as chairman of
collective bargaining The union
i* asking for a pay increase of
I S pen ent by April I. |fMM> and
another J percent increase by
April 1, IW7, he said
Of*KU members now suffer
from « pay frees*, which has
Tom to STRIKE Png* 5
Tax victims begin to repair damage from Measure 5 fallout
A Tkm-hm
Owvvuw
• Twmt
Impacts soa
I
■ BUDGET: Oregon
schools and universities
re-evaluate structures after
period of downsizing
By Smo Romo!
'Os/W f OkaaScr'
Ballot Mmuui* S. the lu lire
nation tew of 1*90. hit Ita fine!
round thi* last legislative
«on end left Oregonian* with a
nasty aftertaste
Not only has the slate provid
ed lee* funding for higher edu
cation. but it ha* alto forced
several institution* to downsute
and raetructure their system* to
make due with the decreased
revenue
Measure ) also affected pri
mary (Ik 12) education and sev
eral social support services in
the state, which are funded by
property taunt
Despite cuts in the tax rate,
property assessments rose dras
tically during the next few yean
(1995 property assessments
were not available). This failed
to give many Oregon home own
ers the financial break they had
anticipated
In an article published in The
Orvgontan in 1993. Mari Parker,
who owns s 2.000-square-foot
house in Laurelhurst. saw his
property taxes Increese by 87
percent in two years. In 1990-91,
bis house was assessed at
$7 J.200. which mown! • tax bill
of I1.1M The mxt year. lb»
assessment row to JlM.OOO. lor
a tax bill of $3,110
Although the tax rata
dropped. his tax bill increased
However this tin reaxe to
assessment value* failed to com
pensate for tha (General Fund'*
Mtuuia) losses
In order for univerittie* and
collage* to survive. tha *chool*
have had to eliminate several key
program*, drastically increase
tuition, recruit more out -of-state
student*, and cap tha salaries of
almost all tha departments with
in tha system.
These ware dona in three phaa
a* tinea tha massura t inception.
Overall, (he flrtt phase created
a revenue loss of $132 million
On* major loaa to I he state's uni*
veraiiy system waa the tormina
lion of OStl'i veterinarv modi
cinaa program In addition, the
Univanity nearly loot it* School
of Law bacauaa of ravenua
decrease*
"The bisgest effect |of llallol
Measure 5|wa* the huge mere**
ea in tuition Istatewidel.'* said
Weldon Ihrig. vice chancellor for
finance and administration for
the Oregon Slat# System of High
er Education "We have also had
to drastically increase the num
ber of out-of-state students to
make up for the downfall. We
Turn to BUDGET Pag* $