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
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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