Memorial to be held
Sunday for professor
A memorial for Walter T. Martin, professor emeritus in sociology, will be held Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Gerlinger Lounge.
In 1947, Martin joined the University sociology department, which he chaired from 1957 to 1968. His research interests included demography and human ecology. He retired in 1980 and was active in the emeritus association, serving as president for one term.
Martin died March 13 of heart failure. He was 84.
England’s Eugene Memorial Chapel is in charge of the arrangements.
— Serena Markstrom
Change in football schedule decision sent to committee
After a heated discussion of whether regular season football games should be held during Dead Week and Finals Week, the University Senate decided in a 17 to 8 vote to refer the decision to the Intercollegiate Athletic Committee and to the Athletics Task Force.
University art history Professor Richard Sundt proposed a resolution during Wednesday’s Senate meeting that would have asked athletic schedulers to keep games out of Dead Week and Finals Week. But senators voiced mixed feelings about the resolution’s possible effectiveness and purpose. Sundt said the resolution promotes the idea that faculty control the University’s academic agenda rather than athletics assuming control over academic affairs.
“More and more, athletics is intruding in academics,” Sundt said.
Some senators voiced concern over why the resolution only referred to football, and others questioned whether the resolution was trying to help athletes or students.
“I was initially a big supporter of the resolution,” ASUO Student Senate Rep. Eric Bailey said. ” But I’m not sure who we are trying to accommodate with this resolution.”
English Professor James Earl said he supported the referral because it allowed for further discussion on the relationship between athletics and academics, which he said is frequently a complex issue.
“This is a major national issue, and discussion is very valuable,” Earl said. “I think not voting on the resolution now and referring it to the IAC and Athletics Task Force will make further discussion possible.”
— Katie Ellis
Senate ponders to share or not to share… office space
In a brief ASUO Student Senate meeting Wednesday, senators discussed moving the Senate office from its current location in Room 319 of the EMU to the ASUO Executive office, located in Suite 4 on the ground floor of the EMU.
The Senate and Executive have been sharing office supplies this year and Sen. Peter Watts said he believes the joining of the two offices would be a more effective use of space.
Sen. Eric Bailey said he is unsure if the Senate should be moved into the executive office because it could increase tension between the two branches of government in the future.
“It could be tense for a really right-wing Senate to share the same space with a highly left-wing executive,” he said.
Sen. Mary Elizabeth Madden said the two branches have shared the same office space in the past without conflict, and having the groups together could force them to interact with one another.
In other business, the Senate voted unanimously to transfer $3,651 from surplus for the International Student Association’s International Night, which will be held Sunday. The International Student Association also had two transfers within their budget of $40 from their conference line item to International Night and $675 transferred from their office management line item to International Night.
The senate voted unanimously to transfer $600 from the Japanese Student Organization’s food holding account into their food account for the group’s upcoming Sushi Night.
The Women’s Center previously submitted a request to the Senate for their upcoming Lesbopalooza event but failed to attend the meeting Wednesday.
— Danielle Gillespie