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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2005)
Grant gives museum funds to provide dasses to public BY HALEY GORDON DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER Visiting the newly renovated Jor dan Schnitzer Museum of Art this term will include more than a tour. The renovation, which nearly doubled the building’s original size, included spaces for community and student education. A $17,000 grant from the Oregon Community Foundation has filled a new art studio with tools, tables and supplies for classes and workshops. The studio will provide “hands-on experience relating to the exhibits upstairs,” museum spokeswoman Katie Sproles said. Visitors will be able to check out six new “art packs” that will have material and activities relating to the current exhibit. The grant will also provide scholarships for people to take classes in the studio, making it more accessible, Sproles said. Museum Educator for University and Community Audiences Becky Tonkin said the grant money goes toward several events and programs. In addition to museum tours ending in the studio, the museum will also hold eight-week long classes relating to the museum and the exhibits. The classes will be broken into sections for chil dren and adults, with subject mat ter and inspiration coming from the pieces on display. The money will also be used for outreach programs. The museum will create art kits for schools on a variety of subjects from Japanese art and culture to photography, Tonkin said. These kits are either taken to the schools for free or for a fee. The extra space will also give the museum a place to hold teacher workshops, family days and free days for people to come in and do art projects, Tonkin said. The Oregon Community Founda tion is a non-profit organization that builds an endowment from private donors and splits it into grants and scholarships. A group of board and community members decides which applications best meet the need for grants. Created in 1973, the OCF has assets worth $500 million, according to its Web site, www.ocfl.org. “We get 250 applications each grant cycle, two cycles a year,” Se nior Program Officer Jeff Anderson said. “We award 90 to 100 grants each cycle, so it’s pretty competitive. We look for proposals with cultural opportunities for the community. ” The group also visited the muse um before awarding the grant. “Connecting educational institute with the broader community was a real strength of this proposal,” An derson said. The money for the grant came from the Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Hayes Sr. Fund and the Edna L. Holmes Fund. The museum will re-open Jan. 23 with an Andy Warhol exhibit. Stu dio classes start Jan. 26 for children, teens and adults. Tuition: Tax system decreases flexibility Continued from page 1 Monroe said the University would like to have state funding back in the 30 percent range but the situation is not going to im prove much in the short term. A rise to 30 percent would mean more than doubling state funding in its current state. “Every year the University raises tuition, it does so reluctantly,” Mon roe said. Martha Pitts, the director of ad missions at the University, said the rise in tuition may discourage stu dents from submitting an applica tion. However, Pitts said the Univer sity is still able to offer financial aid and points to an increase in Pell Grants as a method for students to afford a University education. “1 think the University has made some educational decisions that shows students that this is a good decision, including students’ ability to lower tuition by taking evening classes, a lower teacher-to-student ratio and strong research pro grams,” Pitts said. Although the University is begin ning to place caps on how many students it can accept, Pitts said even in the University’s most selec tive year, there is still an 85 percent rate of enrollment at the University to those who apply. “We worry that students see the higher requirements and count themselves out,” Pitts said. She advised prospective students to sub mit a second essay explaining any extenuating circumstances that may have affected high school grades. As for the University and its en rollment in future years, Pitts said caps will be kept for the next few years, provided the state budget re mains the same. For the state’s biggest schools — the University, Portland State Uni versity and Oregon State Universi ty — the decrease in state support and increase in tuition has not de terred students, and the applicant pool continues to grow. Yet for smaller Universities like Southern Oregon University, Eastern Oregon University and Western Oregon University, the pressure is on for them to keep pace with the larger schools. However, they have more difficulty convincing students to enroll and pay the higher tuition costs, said Bob Kieran, the Director of Institutional Research at the Ore gon University System. “Enrollment has gone up and state funding has gone down,” Kieran said. “Universities have to act like businesses. They can’t take unfettered growth while there’s less money.” Kieran said the rising tuition combined with lower state spend ing on education has created a catch-22. The amount given to the state university system is calculat ed on a projected enrollment basis. But with the state spending budget for the university system going down, there’s less of that central money to split up among the uni versities which invariably leaves students to foot more of the bill than in previous years. This in turn may deter students from pursuing a college education. Kieran said state spending is in come tax based. While most states have “greater flexibility” due to sales tax, Oregon does not have ad ditional tax revenue to add into state programs. “It’s less stable if it’s income tax based,” Kieran said. “Unemployed people don’t pay taxes and this is a time when we need (that money) most. That’s at a state level so it af fects everything.” Kieran said each university is fac ing different issues, but smaller Uni versities also have an uphill battle in other aspects. “I’d say (smaller universities) have a smaller margin from which they can draw resources,” Kieran said. “The bigger universities have more flexibility with larger founda tions. When they get tight, they have an alumni they can tap.” Research analyst Monroe said it’s important for the state to display its commitment to education. “The reduction in state support is disturbing and so far we’ve been able to hold our own,” Monroe said. anthonylucero@ dailyemerald, com PERCENT OF UNIVERSITY FUNDING FOR UNIVERSITY FROM STATE AND TUITION UO therapy groups provide confidential support for students The Counseling and Testing Center will host a new group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students BY AMANDA BOLSINGER NEWS REPORTER College years can often be tumul tuous ones for young adults. Many stu dents are living on their own for the first time and facing new life situations. Others feel isolated and alone, strug gling with different problems. To combat this, the University Counseling and Testing Center hosts several therapy groups each year, ranging from specific groups, such as one serving students who are bipolar, to much broader groups, such as a group for women. This term the center is adding a new one for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. However, the group is not simply a support group for LGBT students, but rather a therapy group for students exploring different personal relationship and identity issues. “These groups are a great oppor tunity to have a discussion support ed by a counselor,” said Chicora Martin, director of LGBT Education al and Support Services. “The groups will be a really supportive environment for students. ” The groups are confidential, private therapy sessions that often offer more for the individual than one-on-one therapy sessions, said Sue Orchard, who is leading the LGBT group. In the group setting, students can discuss dif ferent issues with other students going through similar situations. Having a close group also allows for a bigger support net. For students struggling with similar problems or feeling like nobody else understands them, it is of ten beneficial to hear about other peo ple’s experiences, Orchard said. “The groups are for students look ing to get counseling in a very safe, car ing environment,” Orchard said. The LGBT group has not been formed yet, but Martin said a couple of students have already contacted her for information about the group. “They were finding out if it was a safe place,” Martin said. “Now they are really looking forward to it.” The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, TLans gender Queer Alliance, a student-fee funded ASUO group, did not contact the UCTC about hosting the group and is not directly associated with the group. The UCTC is constantly devel oping new and different groups based on the different needs of stu dents, Martin said. The groups are only available to University students and are free. “It’s a really great opportunity to have available on campus,” Martin said. “The groups are something that students can make of it what they want and need.” The LBGT process group is tenta tively planned to meet on Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the coun seling center. Interested students should contact the UCTC at 346-3227 for more information. abolsinger@dailyemerald.com Suicide: Bill introduction is on hold to guard students Continued from page 1 the proposed four mandatory meetings with a University psychologist or psy chiatrist. Students are considered high risk if they have reported they’re suici dal, have the means to commit suicide, have a family history of suicide or have tried to commit suicide before. Ryan said students occasionally need help and are unwilling to accept it, estimating the University sees few er than one case each year. He said he feels the bill’s concerns are legiti mate but are ones the University has already addressed. “What we’re trying to do is find our way toward something that will allow us to prompt that student to ac cept help,” Ryan said. “It would not be the option we would immediately leap to.” The bill also states the decision of whether to let a student stay at school should be based solely on judgments made by a psychologist or psychiatrist. In addition, the bill mandates students be “treated in the strictest privacy.” Ryan said while the administration would make the final decision on whether to remove a student from school, his or Holmes’ recommenda tion would heavily influence that deci sion. Also, he said a student’s privacy is already protected by industry ethics and federal law. Whittenburg said he proposed the bill out of concern University officials might err on the side of “too much judgment on people’s lives rather than too little.” Vice President for Student Affairs Anne Leavitt said in November that students who show suicidal behaviors but refuse help place the entire cam pus community in distress. “A student who is threatening sui cide every night actually is creating a crisis in the community around them,” she said. “It holds the com munity hostage.” Holmes said the updated policy will better protect the entire University population, which outweighs concern for a student who is suicidal, disrup tive and refusing services. “We need to tell those students you can’t stay here, be in school and do that,” she said. “It’s not good for any body else and it’s not a solution." However, Whittenburg said he felt placing the campus community over the student “was not a very human way to look at things. ” Morrisette said he will wait to in troduce the bill until he has received more input from the Oregon Student Association and has had a chance to review a draft of the University’s pro posed policy. Morrisette must intro duce the bill by the end of February, he said. “I’m going to wait,” Morrisette said. “I’m not going to introduce a bill based on something that isn’t a problem and have a big war in my hands. ” ASUO President and Oregon Stu dent Association Chairman Adam Petkun said he has mixed feelings about mandating leave for suicidal students, but was “not sure state ac tion is needed.” karahansen@ daily emerald, com News editor Jared Paben contributed to this report
