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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1982)
Krs F rances Schoen-Newspape U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra r tu g e n c , Oregon &7403 Kermit quits School tax status stirs debate Page 13 Page 2 PORTLAND OBSERVER January 28, 1982 Volume X II, Number 16 250 Per Copy USPS 9J9-MO-855 Reagan's first year: Racism prevails President Ronald Reagan says he is •’opposed at every fiber o f my be ing to discrimination." Yet his first year in office has seen a reversal o f civil rights policies o f his predeces sors, attacks on laws and court deci sions built over the past twenty years, dism antling o f government agencies charged with enforcing mi nority rights, and an increase in se crecy and intelligence activity. The Administration’s response to criticism o f its civil rights policy is that they will enforce civil rights laws without undue government in terference. Among the actions the adminis tration has taken or proposed are: I ) School desegregation: The A d m in is tra tio n opposes the long series o f Supreme Court decisions on school desegregation. On N o vember 19th, Attorney General Rcy- nolds announced that the Justice Department will no longer attempt to desegregate entire school districts but w ill focus on specific schools -where there is evidence o f state-en forced segregation. 2) C ivil Rights Commission: Last fa ll Reagan term in ated chairm an A rthu r J. Flem m ing, wo had been critical o f the A dm inistration, and nominated Clarence M. Pendleton, a San Diego Black who opposes af firmative action. The Commission is advisory only. 3) A ffirm a tiv e A ctio n : The A d ministration has announced that it will seek a reversal o f the Weber de cision. This Supreme Court decision upheld the constitutionality o f a vol untary managem ent/labor training program to help Blacks (who were under-represented in the company) to obtain skilled jobs. In response to a question at a De cember 17th news conference, Rea gan, who was u n fa m ilia r w ith the decision and his Attorney General’s opposition to it, said he approved as long as it was volun tary. He later said he believed the Weber case had been ’ ’ w ro n g fu lly d ec id e d " and agreed w ith Reynolds* statement that placing the rights o f groups above the rights o f in d ivid u als is "a t war with the American ideal o f equal opportunity for each person." 4) Voting R ights: Reagan has agreed to a ten-year extension o f the Voting Rights Act but wants the act amended to make it easier for politi cal jurisdictions to become exempt and to make it necessary fo r the government to prove not only that the right to vote was denied but that there was intention to discriminate. 5) E q u a l E m p lo ym en t O p p o r tunity Commission: When Reagan appoints two new commissioners his appointees will be in con tro l. A l ready the G eneral C ounsel, who generally selects the cases the com mission will pursue, has been ta lk ing about moving away from class action suits. The Commission is re sponsible for the adm inistration o f fair employment laws. 6) Private Schools Case: The In ternal Revenue Service announced that it would revoke the 12-year-old policy o f w ithholding tax-exem pt status from private schO' >s that dis criminate. There was sc i ch pro test that Reagan announced that he will ask Congress to provide legisla tion forbidding tax exemptions to schools that discrim inate. He said he is opposed to 1RS "determ ining national social law all by itself," ig noring a series o f court decisions up holding that policy. 7, Class action vs. individual: The Reagan philosophy opposing gov ernment regulation to achieve social goals foretells a move away fro m class action suits to cases on behalf o f individuals. Since the late 1960s it has been apparent th a t court p ro ceedings on behalf o f individuals are too slow and costly to have an im pact on the system. The class action suit on behalf o f all persons in the aggrieved class carries the threat that government can withhold funds for school districts and other public bodies, and can award settlements in the m illions o f dollars to th o u sands o f victims o f racism. The Reagan adm inistration is at tempting to reduce the entire area o f civil rights to a question o f individu al rights, therefore removing the op portunity for strong civil rights en forcem ent and a system atic a p proach to ending discrimination. RONALD REAGAN Boise building offered for Tubman site The P o rtla n d School Board agreed to disagree a w hile longer over the site o f the Tubman Middle School. D r. James Fenwick, Interim Su perintendent, recommended that the school be housed in the Boise school building. Boise is the only school in the area that serves siudenis through the eighth grade. Fenwick selected Boise because it is within the attendance area o f the students it is to serve, it is large enough to house 730 students, and renovation will be slightly less costly than at Eliot. Questions that need to be asked regarding the Boise site include: • How will the assignment o f 130 upper grade students from Boise. along with a projected 400 students from King, Humboldt and Eliot, al low for the enrollm ent o f students from other parts o f the city in the magnet program? The district has long claimed that white students will riot attend Boise, but w ill (do ) a t tend Eliot. •W h at are the population projec tions in coming years when students who are now in lower grades opt to attend Tubman rather than busing to other schools? •T h e form er school superinten dent and certain board members have claimed 600 to be the largest acceptable enrollment for a middle school. Tubm an would open with 750 or more. • Is there adequate space for a gym, playing fields and other space required by middle schools? •W h e re w ould Boise's low er grade students be assigned? H u m boldt is so badly overcrowded that part o f its students will be assigned to Beach. King also is fu ll. W ill neighborhood students be heavily recruited out to avoid o ve r cro w d in g , or w ill the pre-school programs be eliminated? • I f a m a jo r consideration is to save the E lio t p ro g ram , how w ill that program be affected by a major transfer o f Boise students to it? •T h e Jefferson attendance area already has a far larger student pop ulation than can be housed at Jef ferson. How will the establishment o f Tubm an at Boise affect J effer son’ s enrollment? W ill undue pres sure be app lied to force students into other high schools? •H a s the district abandoned all consideration o f integrated (or de segregated) education? I f the ele m en tary, m id d le school and high school are to be m a jo rity B la ck , does the district have a commitment to assign Black principals and ad ministrators to these schools? •S h o uld the com m unity retain a K-8 school to provide an option for students who do not function well in the middle school setting or prefer a smaller school? •Boise was recently remodeled to provide space for a pre-school and full-day kindergarten program. Was (Please turn to page II col. 4) PCC considers Adams building for campus by Catherine Siegner Jannifer Brown, 4, triaa her hand at painting while attending Jeannette Fagan School of Early Learning. Jennifer la the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Brown. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Negotiations arc now underway for a possible trade o f Po rtlan d Community College’s Cascade cam pus on N. Killingsworth for Adams High School, closed last year after school district budget problems. " It 's very, very pie in the sky at this point," said Dr. John Anthony, president o f P C C ’ s Sylvania campus, and one o f the community college’s negotiating team. "There's been no o ffic ia l action on the part o f our board; I'm only authorized Io just sit down and discuss it." Cramped for space, the Cascade facility has been unable to offer the kind o f courses that need more room, such as auto body, small en gine repair and diesel mechanics, said Cascade campus Executive Dean Jim Van Dyke. "W h en we opened 10 years ago, we had rented a fac ility on U nion Avenue that o ffe re d auto body, small engine re p a ir, diesel mechanics and aviation mechanics out at the a irp o rt," he added. " W e moved them to Rock Creek (P C C ’s suburban SW P o rtla n d cam pus). W e would be able to have such courses— maybe not the same ones— but there’ d be room at Adams.” Space is the m ajor consideration fo r any trad e, according to Anthony. " I t would almost double our space. The labs are impressive. We could make [our courses] totally com prehensive and not have stu dents moving around from Sylvania to Cascade to Rock C reek.” Cascade currently offers a variety o f vocatio n al courses fo r which either a certificate or an associate degree are granted. They include: Educational para- professional (handicapped aide); interpreter for the deaf; electronic servicing technology (radio and T V re p air); com m ercial a rt; o p tical technology (eith er dispensing or manufacturing eyeglasses); general secretary and general o ffice clerk; nursing assistant and a course for recertifying RNs; human services program; accounting and business m anagem ent; com puter field servicing (fo r repairing $40-60.000 computers), and transfer programs in 24 areas that prepare students to enter fo u r-year in stitutions at the (Please turn to page I ! col. I) Behind the Libyan 'hit squad' rumors_______________________ W ith the Libyan hit squad sce n ario now largely fo rg o tten , the worrisome question remains as Io why President Reagan decided to put the country on a collision course with Col. Khadafy. The explanation must be cither that Washington is thrashing about b lin d ly , or that there was some method to the madness. I f we dis miss the former possibility, we still are left with the question o f what was the m ethod— or the message. And to find a plausible answer to this we must grope in the sometimes arcane language of overt diplomacy, a language which is often spoken in coded signals. In this case, it ap pears that the signals were directed not only at Libya, to cool its sup port of international terrorism, but perhaps also at Israel, to preempt a possible attack on Libya by staging a loud but only rhetorical U .S . a t tack. Israel now has good cause, from its perspective, to fear the course of political trends in (he M ideast. It fears that Washington may be ready to sacrifice it for the sake o f acco modation with the Arabs. The hope Israel had for the C am p D avid peace process has turned into cha grin as the Saudi-sponsored peace plan has moved onto center stage. The mood in Israel is aggressive, evident in the unexpected decision to annex the Golan Heights. In fact, the quick and provocative annexation o f the Golan Heights at a time when the U.S. is preoccupied with Poland may have served as a substitute measure for an attack on Libya. The reports that Israel was the origin o f the Libyan hit squad intelligence suggests that Libya may have been targeted for the next Is raeli strike. Buy why Libya? The spectre that haunts Israel is that Egypt’s new president, Hosni M u b a ra k , might become as unex pectedly reconciled to Egypt’s arch- foe M uam m ar K hadafy as A nw ar Sadat became unexpectedly recon ciled with Menachem Begin. There arc signs, even if faint, that M ubar ak is beginning to inch away from Sadat’ s Cam p David policies and get closer to other A rab countries. He is constrained from overt moves only by the April, 1982, deadline for the return o f the Sinai from Israel An Israeli strike at Libya's cities, all on the M ed iterran ean coast, would have created no great d if f i culties for Israel’s superbly effective air force. Coming just at the time o f the Fez meeting o f m oderate and radical A rab states to consider the Fahd peace p la n , it could have blown that plan to bits and shat tered any impending Egyptian-Lib yan rapprochement. But then the U.S. seized the in iti ative and launched its all-out cam paign against L ib y a , essentially forestalling a possible Israeli cam paign. I f the message to K hadafy was to stop fom enting tro u b le in other countries, the coded message to Israel may have been to desist front launching an a ir strike that could scuttle current U .S. policies in the Mideast. The U .S . has three p aram ount aims in the M ideast: to assure a stable supply and price o f oil; to ex clude Soviet power and influence from the region; and to bring about peace between Israel and the Arabs. Ever since the N ixon A d m in is tra tion launched the step-by-step diplo macy to bring about an Israel-Egypt ceasefire in 1974, the three aims have become part o f a single policy package. U ntil late November, the package seemed to be moving neatly along. The O P E C meeting in G eneva, a day after the President’ s A W A C S victory in the Senate, agreed on an O P E C -w id e single price for o il. That was the best news the President could have gotten in his fight to dampen in flatio n and get the U .S . economy moving again. The Soviets were still supplying arms to various Mideast countries, but even the most pro-Soviet ones, like S y ria , Ira q , and L ib ya were seeking new relationships w ith Western countries which were their best and often only customers for oil. And while the Camp David peace process seemed at a dead-end, a close relative, the plan put forth by Prince Fahd o f Saudi A ra b ia , for the first time contained an implicit (Please turn to page I / col. 31
