University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Associated Students of the University of Montana Montana Kaimin, 1898-present (ASUM) 11-3-1978 Montana Kaimin, November 3, 1978 Associated Students of the University of Montana Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/studentnewspaper Recommended Citation Associated Students of the University of Montana, "Montana Kaimin, November 3, 1978" (1978). Montana Kaimin, 1898-present. 6765. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/studentnewspaper/6765 This Newspaper is brought to you for free and open access by the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM) at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Montana Kaimin, 1898-present by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Pettit: unit closure MONTANA no option if levy fails By TOM HARVEY a proposed role and scope state­ Montana Kalmln Raportar ment for the university system in his remarks. He acknowledged Closing Montana Tech, Western that UM is not the only campus in Montana College or Northern the system where faculty have KAIMIN criticized the 53-page document. Montana College would not be an option if the six-mill levy fails, The role and scope statement is Lawrence Pettit said here yester­ supposed to define the course Friday, November 3, 1978 Missoula, M ont., Vol. 81, No. 24 day. each unit in the system will follow At a press conference in the in the future. University Center, Pettit, com­ Pettit said he had talked with missioner of higher education, faculty and students on several Current energy policies pose said closing any of the smaller campuses, and had reduced units of the six-unit university animosity toward the document. system would be unlikely because He said the draft proposal would economic risk, says Lovins of bond debts, contract be modified. obligations or economic reper­ On another matter, Bowers said investment; this ties up investment if a solar system saved $300 in gas By LAUREL STEWART cussions in a community. the Council of Presidents will capital in one project for a period in a year, the homeowner would Montana Kalinin Raportar It would be a mistake to vote discuss his proposal to change the of years, concentrates risk and pay $300 per year on the loan. against the levy, Pettit said, student-faculty ratio for graduate causes consumers to eventually Lovins said utility companies are An overcommitment of capital to because “if it were defeated it students from 12 to 1 to 10 to 1. pay for the investment through finding that these loans are a less centralized power plants would be would plunge the state into Bowers has said before that higher utility rates. He added that expensive way of meeting energy a “serious economic risk” and chaos." Money for higher educa­ graduate programs are more cost­ this “stagnation” of capital needs than investing in further could lead to “skyrocketing" utility tion would then have to come from ly and that any budget formula aggravates unemployment.” hard technology, and that this prices, Amory Lovins, energy the general fund, meaning cut­ should account for that cost. He He expressed skepticism about reduces the need for utility rate expert and inventor of the term backs in other state agencies, he contends that using a 10-1 ratio current levels of energy invest­ increases. “soft technology,” said yesterday. said. would be a more accurate way of ment and said he repeatedly hears Lovins added that these loans Lovins, British representative of Deficits could not be made up accounting for that high cost. the justification, “ 'We don't need, also provide equitable access to Friends of the Earth, spoke to through cuts in the university UM would benefit more from this but those poor people over there capital, that they allow capital to about 50 people at a breakfast system or by raising student fees, proposal than would other units, do.’ ” turnover more rapidly, and that given by the Headwaters Alliance he added. because of its larger graduate “As I go around the country, I they are “an example of the very for representatives of the Missoula The six-mill levy, listed as enrollment. Pettit said he endorsed find that we’re all going to sell to constructive role that community business community. Referendum 75 on the ballot, is a the proposal. each other, in a big circle,” he said Institutions can play” in changing Lovins is critical of many of the broad-based property tax which The change would require the wryly. energy policy. economic aspects of hard provides about 15 percent of the Board of Regents' approval, technology, which he said em­ To illustrate the concentrations He said local governments can total university system budget. although that would not bind the bodies a policy of "strength of capital in hard technology, play an important part in the Voters have approved it every 10 Legislature to use the ratio in through exhaustion." He said it Lovins pointed out that half the transition to soft technologies by years since 1948. computing the university system leads to a massive, inefficient and capital cost of the proposed clearing away institutional barriers But in 10 years a lot can happen. allocation. inequitable use of resources, and Colstrip 3 and 4 generating units — inequitable access to capital, The university system received as such will be economically would amount to $1,000 per Mon­ • Cont. on p. 8. 34 percent of the state general On another topic, Pettit said he impossible to sustain. tana citizen: enough, he added, to fund in 1965, Pettit said, but now it thought schools would have to Lovins calls “soft technology," a outfit every house in Montana with receives only 19 percent. change to meet the demands of an technology based on the use of alternative energy systems. "We just don't have any fat in the increasing number of older and renewable resources, decen­ Lovins said "conservation loans" VOTE! university system,” Pettit said. part-time students. tralized energy production and have been mandated in three Can’t figure out who to “We’ve been in a bare bones, hold- He said the regents have asked conservation. “Hard technology" states and implemented by a vote for? Maybe the Mon­ the-line existence for too long." the Legislature to fund Continuing is based on traditional energy considerable number of utilities in tana Review can help you. Budget deficits could not be Education programs, many of production. response to this situation. He Turn to page 13. made up by students, he said, which are aimed at those groups of He pointed out that the cen­ explained that some utility com­ Absentee ballots for Mis­ because they have already been hit students. tralization of hard technology is panies now offer loans at a low rate soula County only may be by two tuition increases in the last Legislators underestimate the inefficient, since a considerable of interest to private citizens for picked up at the courthouse four years. number of adults who use the amount of energy is lost over long alternative energy systems. The until 5 p.m. today. They must But Pettit is optimistic that the transmission distances. loan is paid back according to how be returned by 8 p.m. Tues­ programs, Pettit said, and need to levy will pass, as is University of distinguish between general kinds He explained that centralized much the new system saves in day. Montana President Richard of educational programs and power plants require a huge initial utility bills; thus, Lovins explained, Bowers, who also appeared at the seminars aimed at specific groups. conference. Some legislators have criticized Bowers said he believes the levy the programs, saying they are Biking it for 28,478 miles has broad support, and predicted it aimed at professionals who hope would pass in Missoula county, to increase their earning power. By GEORGE HARDEEN invited into the homes of strangers colorful characters he met in one of three counties which turned Pettit said he guessed the Montana Kalinin Raportar because of his unusual mode of Australia was a man named Peter. down the levyln 1968. proposal might not pass the transportation. Peter claimed to have "fought in Emphasizing that the .levy is not Legislature, but said the regents In about the same time it takes to In Australia, he said, a hotel five armies, killed 3,000 men, was a new tax, Pettit said he hoped have to keep trying. acquire a college education, Lloyd owner let him stay for free “for as hung heavy, could talk 40 feet voters would not be swayed to vote The proposal, if accepted by the Sumner was learning about the long as I wished” in exchange for underwater with a mango in his against it by "Proposition 13fever” regents, would mean about I4full- world. one slide show. mouth and kept a bucket of or the desire to reduce taxes. time equivalent faculty positions Sumner, author of “The Long Sumner said he didn't carry • Cont. on p. 8. Pettit also discussed the draft of would be added to UM. Ride,” left his native Virginia, much food with him but “ate what where he produced computer art, the locals ate,” He said he always to ride his bicycle “Maria” 28,478 ate what he was offered even if he miles across five continents. didn’t always know what it was. “Don't EVER let anyone tell you One meal he said he would have it’s a small world,” he told about refused if it had been offered was a 175 people in the Women’s Center Cambodian delicacy.