DPS
continued from page 1
DPS and its representation on cam
pus — is DPS an enforcement
agency qualified to use the red and
blue lights, or is it simply a campus
security organization hired to keep
the peace?
The answer depends on who is
asked, and how they interpret the
terms “police officer” or “peace of
ficer.”
“We’re considered a criminal jus
tice law enforcement agency,” Pub
lic Safety Sergeant Marte Martinez
said. “Oregon Revised Statute 352
285 authorizes [state university]
employees as public safety, called
peace officers.”
The State Board of Higher Educa
tion could commission college
public safety officers to become
“peace officers,” Martinez said.
However, no DPS employees
have received that designation and
Fitzpatrick and law enforcement of
ficials said that even commissioned
DPS officers would not be classi
fied as “peace officers.”
“We are not trying to represent
ourselves as police officers [and]
we are not considered peace offi
cers,” he said.
Sources outside the department
said that the DPS is strictly a cam
pus security organization whose of
ficers are not certified as peace offi
cers.
Though the DPS wasn’t notified
of a violation when the vehicle
lights were installed, the issue is
not a new one for the department’s
staff.
“There have been some ques
tions about the lights,” Martinez
said. “But nothing has come out of
it.”
While Eugene Police Department
officers stated they are aware of the
issue, they aren’t likely to take ac
tion.
“We’re not going to write them a
ticket,” EPD spokeswoman Jan
Powers said. “I believe it’s up to the
University to resolve it and the state
that mandates it to correct it.”
DPS is using red and blue emergency lights in violation of the following Oregon
codesand statutes, according to area law enforcement agencies:
Oregon Driver Manual Code
- Red Lights: Red lights or flashing red lights that can be seen from the front are
to be used only on fire department vehicles, police vehicles, ambulances, school
buses, worker transportation buses, church buses, vehicles escorting funeral
processions, tow vehicles and vehicles used by Oregon Department of Trans
portation Motor Carrier Division.
- Blue Lights: Blue lights are permitted only on police vehicles or fire depart
ment emergency response vehicles.
Oregon Revised Statutes
-816.350 Prohibited Lights (4): Vehicles operated by a police officer and used for
law enforcement may be equipped with any type of police lights, but only such
vehicles may be equipped with blue lights.
Enrollment
continued from page 1
challenging course work while
maintaining a GPA of 3.6 or above,
is one of those scholarships. In the
case of JulieAnna Little, it did ex
actly what it is supposed to do —
keep a smart high school graduate
within the state.
Little, a freshman pre-journal
ism major from Sisters, said she
had considered some universities
in Southern California, but ulti
mately, the University’s reputable
School of Journalism and Commu
nication, in addition to the proxim
ity and affordability of the Univer
sity, swayed her to apply.
“I wanted to be close to home
and it’s cheaper to go here,” she
said.
The University is not the only in
stitution in the state that has seen
more students across its campus.
Enrollment is up at almost all Ore
gon University System institutions,
including Oregon State University,
where officials are expecting a stu
.
dent body of about 17,000, the
largest that school has seen in al
most 20 years.
“This will be our fourth year in
which our enrollment has gone
up,” said Andrew Hashimoto,
OSU’s vice provost for academic af
fairs. “We’ve put in a lot of effort in
both recruiting and retention of stu
dents.”
OSU’s enrollment had plummet
ed to a 30-year-low of 13,784 just
four years ago.
Hashimoto said he credits the
rise in enrollment to improved ori
entation programs, recruiting and
retention.
The increase in enrollment at in
stitutions across the state came as
no surprise to Oregon University
System spokesman Bob Bruce.
“We had anticipated that there
would be an increase in enrollment
this fall,” he said. “Most Oregon
universities have been [making]
good recruiting and retainment ef
forts.”
He also said that one of the rea
sons universities in the state are en
rolling more students is that more
high school graduates and their
families are placing a greater value
on higher education.
But while university officials
across Oregon seem to welcome
more students with excitement
about the growth of their respective
institutions, some are looking at the
growth with skepticism and con
cerns about the quality of educa
tion.
While the number of students at
the University has risen, the num
ber of faculty members has re
mained virtually unchanged.
At OSU, additional classes were
added to the original curriculum to
accommodate the rising number of
students, Hashimoto said. Howev
er, he said that the institution won’t
receive additional funds until next
year.
“The funds follow the students,”
he said, adding that he’s not con
vinced that the rise in enrollment
comes at the cost of quality of edu
cation.
He said most faculty members
are aware of the importance enroll
ment numbers play in university
funding and many restructure their
lectures to accommodate more stu
dents in bigger classrooms.
Buch said he doesn’t think that
an increase in the number of stu
dents pursuing a higher education
means the quality of education or
the value of a degree has to suffer.
He said a higher education has sim
ply become more important in suc
ceeding in today’s workforce, and
students are merely trying to set
themselves up for success.
“I think the folks who are con
cerned about that should take a
look at what labor-workforce de
mands are,” he said. “I don’t be
lieve we are going to have a situa
tion where we are going to have too
many educated people.”
Karen Sprague, vice provost for
undergraduate affairs, said as long
as the number of faculty members
increases as student enrollment
reaches new heights, the quality of
a higher education does not neces
sarily have to degenerate.
Sprague said that while earning
a degree continues to require stu
dents to work hard, she doesn’t
think that the rising number of de
grees awarded has to come at the
cost of degrees losing their value.
“I don't think it matters how
many people complete that work,”
she said. “But you can’t just keep
making classes bigger and bigger
and bigger.”
Jonna Lynn Mehrens, an unde
cided sophomore thinking about
majoring in sociology, said bigger
classes and an increase in the num
ber of students do not concern her.
“I kind of like bigger classes,” she
said.
Mehrens said when the time to
make a decision about where to go
to college rolled around, she didn’t
have to think very hard when she
sent her application to the Univer
sity.
“It was the only place I applied,”
she said.
The Portland native said she had
only heard good things about the
University from her older sister and
had always planned on pursuing a
higher education at the University.
...celebrates the opening of three new offices this year by inviting undergraduates from the University of Oregon to participate in our annual,
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Please submit the following no later than Tuesday, October 17th
• A one page resume with a separate sheet listing three references of your choice
• A five hundred word essay detailing the three most important ingredients for success
Interviews will be held on the week of November 6th through the 10th with the winners being announced in the Oregon Daily Emerald on Friday
the 17th of November. For any questions please do not hesitate to contact Scott Giffin, Director of Human Resources at 949-756-0800 or at
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010065
Please send applications to:
Attn: Pace Setters Gub
550 Kearny, Suite 520
San Francisco, CA 94108