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Perspectives
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Holly Sanders
L
CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
Business influence could sink university system
The growing
ties between
business and
education are
combining
with
decreasing
corporate tax
revenues to
hurt students
Molly Ivins is fond
of reminding
people that in
Texas, “busi
ness” is pronounced “bid
ness.” Here in Oregon, we
have our own way of pro
nouncing the word — say it
with me, now — “educa
tion.”
Big business has always
tried to influence higher edu
cation. In Oregon, though, a
combination of shady poli
tics, misguided policy and
inattention to history threat
ens to let big business swal
low the Oregon University
Jeff
Shaw
system
whole.
Want
shady poli
tics? How
about this:
The Oregon
Business
Council
and the As
sociated
Oregon In
dustries crafted a bill, SB
919, designed to implement
pro-business policy changes
in OUS. Herb Ashkenasy,
president of the OUS board,
is also a board member of As
sociated Oregon Industries.
Essentially, he lobbied him
self to accept his own vision
for higher education reform.
It isn’t just Ashkenasy.
When Gov. John Kitzhaber
formulated his task force on
higher education in 1997. he
appointed Duncan Wyse,
president of the Oregon Busi
ness Council, to staff it. Not
surprisingly, Wyse stacked
the task force with corporate
types like Tom Imeson of the
Fortune 500 company Pacifi
Corp and Don Van Luvanee,
CEO of Electro Scientific In
dustries. As Ed Dennis of the
Oregon Student Association
has said, the task force is
composed of “business lead
ers who are proud that they
don’t know anything about
higher education — it’s just a
disaster.”
The disaster manifests it
self in a few ways. First, stu
dents get fewer and fewer op
tions for educational
opportunities. SB 919 estab
lishes a set of “performance
indicators” which are “cus
tomer-driven” — and no, the
customer isn’t you. It’sPaci
fiCorp, Electro Scientific In
dustries and other employ
ers. So university services, as
a result of SB 919, are to be
evaluated and funded based
on how well they meet the
needs of business. The impli
cation? If business doesn’t
make a profit based on your
degree program, your degree
program is in danger.
Some might not see the
problem with this at first.
Everyone wants a job, they
might say. Shouldn’t we be
asking how university cours
es might help us achieve this
goal?
There’s certainly nothing
wrong with wanting to find a
job, but there are a lot of rea
sons this shouldn’t be our
only calculus.
Most important, Oregon
business doesn’t really care if
you find a job or not. Busi
ness is about profit, not full
employment. It's not a coin
cidence that most of the edu
cation programs the Oregon
Business Council and Asso
ciated Oregon Industries
want to fund are high-tech
training programs. With few
qualified workers, high-tech
corporations have to pay the
workers available a living
wage.
That’s why the industry
sponsored SB 504 pushed
through $5 million in fund
ing for high-tech education:
pushing down wages in
creases profit margins. That’s
why Ashkenasy et al. are in
filtrating the higher educa
tion system. No longer do
they have to spend private
funds on training; with their
newfound influence, they
can get the taxpayer to pick
up the tab.
And bear the burden of a
failing education system.
New Jersey has already tried
a remarkably similar experi
ment in higher education un
der Gov. Christine Todd
Whitman. The results?
In New Jersey’s four-year
colleges and universities, tu
ition and fees have gone up
22 percent and are scheduled
to see additional increases of
between 10 and 14 percent
by the end of 1998, according
to Professor Steven Shalom
of William Patterson Univer
sity.
Sound familiar?
If it doesn’t, this should:
Whitman bragged in 1997
that she had “cut a host of
business taxes to create a
more favorable climate for
business expansion.” In her
State of the State Address,
she bragged about a number
of higher education institu
tions partnering up with in
dustry in a way New Jersey
had never seen.
This is just what Chancel
lor Joe Cox of OUS means
when he brags that Oregon’s
changes will force colleges to
“direct the delivery of educa
tional services toward targets
set by industry.”
The consequences: “The
colleges point out that they
have been forced to raise tu
ition to make up for inade
quate funding from Trenton,
which has been covering an
increasingly smaller share of
their budgets,” Shalom
writes.
Here’s the upshot: Our tax
revenues are enough to pay
for meaningful and fulfilling
education if businesses pay
their fair share. But they
don’t want to pay their fair
share. They’d rather use
someone else’s tax money to
eliminate their own training
expenses. And if decreasing
tax revenues means eliminat
ing programs, which pro
grams do you think get the
axe? Programs business can
use? Or programs students
want?
With business leaders in
such positions of influence,
we shouldn’t be surprised
what the answer is. Ivins
might call this “bidness as
usual.”
Jeff Shaw is a columnistfor the
Emerald. His work appears on
alternate Wednesdays. His
views do not necessarily repre
sent those of the newspaper.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Minority faculty
The Oregon Students of Color Coalition recently indi
cated that the Department of Special Education and Com
munity Resources in the College of Education has no
tenured or tenured-track professors of color. We are writ
ing to indicate that of the 10 tenured or tenured-track pro
fessors in our department, two professors are of color. We
ask that the coalition check the accuracy of its statistics be
fore making statements of such importance and provide a
correction to its report. We agree that the University must
strive to increase the diversity of its student body and fac
ulty and instruction and curriculum. Our department
places high value on student, staff and faculty applicants
from diverse backgrounds, and many of our faculty con
duct research and teach course work that addresses diver
sity issues and concerns.
George Sugai
Edward Kameenui
Professors, Special Education
Support farmworkers
Farmworkers in Oregon don’t enjoy rights many of us
take for granted, such as paid breaks and overtime pay.
Farmworkers who dare speak out about substandard liv
ing and working conditions are subject to firing, eviction
from company-owned housing and even physical vio
lence. At Coleman Farms in St. Paul, Ore., Gabriel Solis
has been fired, and he and his family are being evicted
from the trailer where they live for supporting his union,
Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN). So
lis, after 18 years working for the Colemans, was making
$7 an hour, working 12-14 hour shifts six days a week
with no benefits when he was fired. Last year the Cole
mans had to pay out a large settlement to workers who
sued them for the bad conditions in their labor camp.
Now, the Colemans are trying to make an example out of
Solis to send the message that if you speak out about prob
lems on the farm, you’ll be fired and evicted, too.
The Colemans are banking on the fact that consumers
will continue to buy the products they and other NORPAC
Food growers produce in spite of their mistreatment of
farmworkers. As long as consumers buy NORPAC's
FLAV-R-PAC brand frozen fruits and vegetables and Gar
denburgers, which are distributed by NORPAC’s sales and
distribution arm, the Colemans feel they have free reign to
do as they please on the farm.
But things aren't going well for the Colemans. Their
phone has been ringing off the hook with calls from farm
worker supporters nationwide demanding the reinstate
ment of Solis and pledges of increased boycott activism
until the Colemans finally sit down and negotiate with
PCUN, Oregon’s farmworker union. Due to public pres
sure, they’ve had to back off their demands for Solis, his
wife and their four children to vacate their trailer with
only a week’s notice. But more pressure is needed.
NORPAC and Gardenburger products are currently be
ing sold at the University. It’s time for the University to
stop selling these products. Currently, over 100 stores and
five universities nationwide have committed to no longer
selling FLAV-R-PAC or Gardenburger products. Garden
burger, by doing business with NORP AC Food Sales, the
sales and distribution arm of NORP AC, is subsidizing the
Colemans and all other NORP AC growers’ sales and dis
tribution costs. Furthermore, Gardenburger has gone on
record claiming conditions for farmworkers “weren't that
bad.” Tell that to Solis.
Erik Nicholson
Campaign Coordinator, PCUN