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Wednesday, May 8, 2002
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 146
Qwest issues $450,000 refund to OUS
■Oregon universities receive
a refund after arguing they were
overbilled for multiple-line service
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
Qwest Communications will give
the Oregon University System
$450,000 in May for overbilling
and “shortchanging” schools that
use an elaborate telephone service
to consolidate phone lines.
Qwest, a multimedia network and
telephone company, originally gave a
$60,000 refund to the University in Sep
tember 2000 because the company over
billed the school for using a multiple
line circuit, ISDN PRI. But $60,000 was
well short of the refund estimate Qwest
marketers had calculated for OUS rep
resentatives by phone just months be
fore the refunds were issued, said Dave
Barta, manager of telecommunications
services for the University of Oregon.
“We caught this because we were be
ing vigilant,” Barta said. “We have
learned over the years that big corpora
tions make mistakes, and that’s really all
this was—boneheaded, but not evil.”
The University will use its share of
the additional refund, about $72,000, to
bolster telephone service and the cam
pus network facility, Barta said. The re
fund also covers OUS schools that
weren’t compensated after they also
were overbilled for using ISDN PRI
circuits, including Portland State
University, Oregon State Universi
ty and Oregon Health & Science
University. By May, Qwest will
have issued $510,000 in re
funds to OUS schools.
Refund Redial
• Qwest will pay the Oregon
University System an additional
$450,000 in May
• The University of Oregon to receive
$72,000—its second refund
• Oregon State University, Portland
State University arid Oregon Health
& Science University to receive tfieir
first refunds
$510,000 in refunds to OUS
SOURCE: Dave 8arta,
University telecommunications manager
Scott Abts Emerald
Qwest spokeswoman Mary
Healy said the company did
n’t miscalculate refunds foi
ISDN PRI customers — the com
pany adhered to Federal Communica
tions Commission guidelines.
“Basically, we used methodology
for determining basic lines, and oth
ers,” Healy said. “We submitted that
to the PUC, and PUC accepted it. So
we started making refunds. But some
ISDN PRI customers disagreed with
our methodology for determining the
rate of refunds.”
Those customers included Barta and
two other OUS telecommunications di
rectors, Tim Johnston and Shay Dakan.
They told the association that repre
sents OUS in its use of large telephone
services that Qwest wasn’t counting
ISDN PRI lines correctly. ISDN PRI cir
cuits enable customers to integrate the
equivalent of 23 analog lines into one
digital line that transmits voice and data
information. Qwest was suggesting a re
fund of $1,710.90 for each ISDN PRI de
vice, according to case records. But the
directors said the refund should be
$7,700 per ISDN PRI.
“We filed testimony very precisely
describing how the calculations
should be made and describing ISDN
PRI lines,” said Lisa Rackner, a Port
land attorney for Ater Wynne LLP
who represented the Telecommunica
tions Ratepayers Association for Cost
based and Equitable Rates, or TRAC
ER, in the case. “Both PUC and Qwest
agreed that was right.”
TRACER represents users of large
telephone services in Oregon and inter
venes in PUC proceedings when its cus
tomers are affected by rate changes. The
OUS refund, agreed to by Qwest and
PUC on Oct. 12, 2001, is about 70 per
cent of what TRACER wanted from
Qwest, Barta said. But he said it is a vic
tory nonetheless.
“It was a long fight, and it feels like the
good guys actually won one,” he said.
“That doesn’t happen often in this arena.”
E-mail reporter Eric Martin
at ericmartin@dailyemefald.com.
Candidate wants to increase student scholarships, faculty pay
■ Ron Saxton wants to make education
a priority in Oregon by keeping quality
students in-state and recruiting faculty
By Brook Reinhard
Oregon Daily Emerald
Ron Saxton draws his experience from 23
years as a lawyer and two years serving as the
chairman of the Portland Public School
Board. He graduated from Willamette Uni
versity in 1976 and received his law degree
from die University ofVirginia School of Law
in 1979. Saxton founded the Ater Wynne law
firm in 1988 and was elected in 1997 to serve
on the Portland Public School Board. He and
his wife Lynne live in Portland.
Q: Why should students take an interest
in this primary election?
A: The person elected governor this year,
if they’re re-elected, will be governor until
2011. The window in which students are
going to both be finishing their education
and entering the workforce is going to be
under the leadership of the next governor.
So I can’t think of anybody who should care
more about it than current students.
Q: Would you back initiatives to raise tu
ition at Oregon universities beyond the 3
percent a year cap?
A: I don’t have a yes-or-no answer to that
because the challenge is that we want to
keep the university system as affordable as
we can for students — I’m the first in my
family to ever have a college education, and I
understand how critical it is to succeed in life;
and I don’t want to do anything that interferes
with access to it. On the other hand, we have
to find ways to finance the education system. I
don’t want to first look at raising tuition. I
want to look at how we can have a better in
vestment of state funds in higher education
and how we can deal with some of the cost is
sues. So, I don’t start out saying, “Let’s raise
tuition,” but I also can’t completely rule it out.
Q: Do you support higher pay for
university faculty?
A: Yes. I think this is a matter of being com
petitive. Oregon needs to be attracting and
keeping the best faculty. A lot of wonderful
faculty members stay in our system because
they like being in Oregon, but you can’t build
a system based on people who take less pay
because they like it here. We have to make our
pay scale for our university employees at all
levels competitive with other states.
Turn to Saxton, page 8
Governor Race
This is the last in a six-part series
featuring the leading gubernatorial
candidates in Oregon’s May 21
primary election.
Democrats
April 29: Jim Hill
April 30: Ted Kulongoski
May 1: Bev Stein
Republicans
Monday: Kevin L. Mannix
Tuesday: Jack Roberts
Today: Ron Saxton
Frohnmayer
gives awards
to professors
■Three University professors are surprised
with distinguished teaching awards, which
include a crystal apple and $2,000 dollar raise
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
University President Dave Frohnmayer made sur
prise visits to the classrooms and offices of three pro
fessors Tuesday to present them with distinguished
teaching awards.
The awards are presented annually to faculty who
show auspicious beginnings in their careers and to ex
perienced professors with an illustrious teaching record.
The chosen professors also get a $2,000 raise.
“I was sitting in my office, tapping away at my com
puter,” said Joanna Lambert, an assistant anthropology
professor who received a 2002 Ersted Award for Distin
guished Teaching. “They knocked on my door and came
in. And President Frohnmayer had a nice little speech
that he gave, and he presented me with a crystal apple.
It was very cool.”
Lambert said she heard through the grapevine she
might be up for an award but “thought it was a huge
long shot and had to put it out of my mind entirely.” The
three-year assistant professor said she is preparing for a
trip to Africa on Friday to study the behavior
of primates.
Assistant history professor Carlos Aguirre was deliv
ering a lecture to his 10 a.m. Latin American history
class when Frohnmayer and other Johnson Hall admin
istrators entered to present the award to Aguirre.
“My students started paying more attention than
before,” said Aguirre, who has taught Latin American
studies at the University since 1996. “They seemed to be
very happy, and they applauded.
“I think this shows to a certain extent beyond my mer
its that students are interested in Latin America,” he
added. “I take it as a recognition of the presence of Latin
American studies and faculty here at our university.”
Associate chemistry professor Michael Haley
received the 2002 Thomas F. Herman Faculty
Achievement Award for Distinguished Teaching, an
award given to an educator with a long-standing
record of solid teaching. Haley has taught chemistry
courses at the University for nine years.
Provost John Moseley said students nominated
professors for the awards, and a committee of students
and faculty selected the recipients several weeks ago.
Moseley went with Frohnmayer and others to present
the awards.
“It’s not a lot of money, but it’s a really nice recogni
tion that we value quality teaching,” Moseley said.
E-mail reporter Eric Martin at ericmartin@dailyemerald.com.