OSU plans to cut jobs, programs due to shortfall
■Administrators say the budget
moves stem from a slowing
economy and rising costs
By John Liebhardt
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon State University admin
istrators are making plans to cut
jobs and academic programs be
cause of a projected $19 million
shortfall in its operating budget.
Justin Geddes, OSU’s student
body president, said OSU’s budget
woes have forced a select committee
of administrators and department
heads to submit details of cost-cut
ting plans to offset the shortfall.
“ This is the most serious thing the
University has gone through in a long
time,” Geddes, the only student rep
resentative of that committee, said.
The 17-member group, known as
the President’s Cabinet, will pres
ent preliminary findings to OSU
faculty and staff Monday. OSU
President Paul Risser must approve
the proposal by Dec." 15.
OSU administration officials did
not return calls to explain the rea
son for the shortfall, but The Ore
gonian reported that the adminis
tration is blaming a slowing
economy and rising costs.
Faculty and staff at the 17,500 stu
dent university are anxiously await
ing the cabinet’s findings to see
where cuts will be made. “Right now,
it is too early to tell,” said Doug Der
ryberry, president of the OSU branch
of the American Association of Uni
versity Professors. “I am sure they are
going to cut jobs, which will be a bad
thing. But it is too early to tell. ”
The announcement from Corval
lis took University of Oregon offi
cials by surprise.
“I was shocked by the report,” said
University President Dave Frohnmay
er. “I heard an indication (of the short
fall) earlier this week, but I did not
think it would be of this dimension. ’ ’
Frohnmayer was also quick to
point out that the University of Ore
gon, which has a similar enroll
ment as OSU, is operating on a bal
anced budget for the next two
years. An extra number of adminis
trators at OSU may have led to the
budget difference at the two
schools, Frohnmayer said.
“I do not know the entire story at
OSU,” he said. “We have a very
lean administrative structure com
pared to what I have heard is more
(departments) at OSU.”
Geddes admitted that cutting
programs and layers of administra
tion at OSU will be a very difficult
task. “We don’t want to take a
peanut butter approach to the cuts,
we don’t want to cut from every
thing,” he said, noting cuts could
come from reducing layers of ad
ministrators and perhaps combin
ing similar academic programs.
Geddes admitted that he will at
tempt to block any tuition hikes,
China Blue, University Bookstore
working out insurance conflict
■The 13th Avenue restaurant
faces difficulties that have left it
closed indefinitely
By Brook Reinhard
Oregon Daily Emerald
Students may be wondering why
China Blue, a longtime fixture near
campus, has been closed for the
past several weeks. The restaurant
won’t be reopening until they can
meet demands made by their land
lord, the University Bookstore. Chi
na Blue must meet city code and
comply with requests made by the
bookstore’s insurance company, but
the restaurant believes the difficul
ties may not end there.
China Blue leases the upper floor
of the building adjacent to the
bookstore, which owns both build
ings. The restaurant drew attention
to itself after grease backed up the
plumbing system and caused
sewage facilities to overflow. The
owners are now getting the neces
sary permits needed for the book
store’s insurance company to con
tinue coverage.
Difficulties started a year ago
with a grease fire at the restaurant.
Although the fire was quickly put
out by the building’s sprinkler
system, no one could find the
sprinkler shutoff, said Tai Tsui, an
unofficial spokesman for China
Blue. Tsui is married to the co
owner of China Blue. English is
his third language, and, in spite of
minor difficulties with it, he often
acts as an interpreter for his wife,
Liyun Tsui, and the other co-own
er, Tom Cao.
Tsui estimates that between 40
and 45 gallons of water soaked
through the floor of the restaurant,
causing more than $120,000 in dam
age, $93,000 of which was covered
by China Blue’s insurance company.
The bookstore’s insurance cover
age expires Oct. 21. China Blue and
the bookstore have separate insur
ance policies, but the company that
insures the bookstore has certain re
quirements for the insurance cover
age of its other tenants. China Blue’s
former insurance company was not
one of the 1,600 companies recog
nized by the state of Oregon. Since
the fire, China Blue has contracted
out new insurance, Tsui said.
The bookstore, an independent
non-profit corporation, has repeat
edly said insurance coverage is the
main difficulty. According to the
lease, which runs through August
2005, the bookstore is responsible
for fire insurance coverage. The
pressure for China Blue to be in
sured has come from the book
store’s insurance agency.
“The biggest problem (with Chi
na Blue) is their insurability,” book
store General Manager Jim
Williams said. He added that the
bookstore has had other problems
with the restaurant. “They’ve had
an operation that’s unsafe. The
whole thing has happened because
of them, not us.”
The bookstore started noticing
problems when their other tenants
began having difficulty with their
sewer systems.
“We had a series of small
mishaps that let us know there was
a problem,” said bookstore con
troller Rhonda Stoltz. The book
store alerted the city about China
Blue’s difficulties. “We had to work
with city officials (to get China Blue
to comply),” she said.
Before the restaurant can reopen,
a new grease trap must also be in
stalled. It is required under the
city’s plumbing code and by the
Lane County health code, said Bill
Lemons, commercial code analyst
for the city of Eugene. A permit to
install a grease trap was issued by
to China Blue on Oct. 12.
Installing the grease trap hasn’t
been the only point of conflict, Tsui
said. Several weeks ago, he said
that Stoltz called him up and de
manded that the bookstore be al
lowed to contract out kitchen
cleaning for China Blue. “Rhonda
said to me, ‘If you don’t let us clean
the grease traps every week, we’ll
cancel the lease,”’ Tsui said.
Stoltz did have a conversation
with Tsui, but disputes some of the
details, such as requiring cleaning
every week.
“We’re having some difficulty
with communication. They haven’t
been emptying the (existing) grease
trap,” Stoltz said. The lease be
tween the bookstore and China
Blue does not require a weekly
cleanup, but Eugene’s city code
does say that grease traps must be
maintained regularly.
“Our insurance company will
not insure us if China-Blue doesn’t
comply,” she said.
Tsui said that conflicts between
the bookstore and restaurant may
continue.
“The bookstore hired a lawyer
and said the lease was in default,”
Tsui said. He also said he has heard
rumors the bookstore planned to
use the space for other purposes.
“Initially we got along pretty
good. After they lost their ware
house, they needed space. They
hired a lawyer to study the lease,
(who said) the lease was in de
fault,” Tsui said. He added that Chi
na Blue is doing their best to com
ply with demands made and has
hired a lawyer to represent them.
The lawyer for the restaurant de
clined to comment because negoti
ations are still in progress.
Williams denied that the bookstore
was trying to push China Blue out or
that it had other plans for the space.
“We’re trying to protect the inter
ests of students, faculty and staff.”
Williams said.
Brook Reinhard is a community reporter for
the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached
atbrookreinhard@dailyemerald.com.
News briefs
Alumni receive
top honors
The Alumni department will pres
ent three University graduates with
honors at its seventh annual Profile
in Achievement awards banquet to
day. Gail Fullerton, Class of ’55, Lyle
Hohnke, Class of ’70 and William
Sullivan, Class of’79, will receive the
Alumni Fellows Awards, the highest
alumni award given by the College of
Arts and Sciences.
Fullerton was the first person to
receive a Ph.D. from the University
sociology department and went on
to teach at Drake University and
Florida State University before join
ing San Jose State University.
Hohhke received a master’s degree
and a Ph.D. in biology and later went
to work for Pfizer Central Research
and the University of Connecticut
Health Center, becoming the vice
president for research. Presently,
Hohnke works in the venture capital
field as a partner with Javelin Capital
Fund, based in Birmingham, Ala.
William Sullivan received a
master’s degree in German and is
a travel writer who primarily
writes about the state of Oregon.
He is known for his hiking guides
and his travel journal, “Listening
for Coyote,” published in 2000 by
Oregon State University press.
enrollment caps or funding cuts for
diversity programs. Anything else,
he said, is fair game. “We will look
at every single program and every
single department on campus. We
will also look at reducing a layer of
administrators,” he said.
KATI
GOLF CLUB
iU "pincit
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g 822-3220
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Adding to OSU’s budget woes is
a call by Gov. John Kitzhaber to
withhold 2 percent of general funds
to all state agencies.
John Liebhardt is the higher education editor
for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be
reached at johnliebhardt@dailyemerald.com.
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