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Show S. F. State faculty wants better conditions V'" ft X-itff SI By Terry Newfarmer Staff Writer The viewpoint of the striking instructors of San Francisco State College was explained Monday by Norman Wallen, professor of education at San Francisco State University. He spoke at the meeting of the American Association of University Professors and again at a public discussion in the Union Den. He said "There is more to this than just siding with the students." He explained that the strike is also an attempt to gain better working conditions and a voice in the decision making process. Four hundred out of the 1,200 teachers at the school are currently on strike. He pointed to California Gov. Ronald Reagan and the State Board of Trustees, which controls the 18 state colleges in California, as the main sources of the problem at San Francisco State. He said "They are completely unresponsive to requirements for change coming from student or faculty." Adequate Building As an example, he cited the attempts to build an adequate student union on the campus. After an effort to obtain state funds failed, the students organized and worked out their own bond issue so the building could be financed with student funds, he said. The building was designed, and the entire proposal was sent forward for approval. The board disapproved it on the grounds "it doesn't fit into the existing architecture of the campus." Wallen said the existing architecture is much like the University's Annex. Prof. Wallen criticized the mass media as giving a distorted view of San Francisco State activities. He said acting president, S. I. Hayakawa, has been given a false "hero" image, and that student demands are shown as unreasonable and based on recent issues. However, Hayakawa is deemed "inadequate" by most of the faculty, and "he was appointed because he would follow the desires of the Board of Trustees," said Prof. Wallen. He cited Hayakawa's policies such as the school's "free speech platform" could be used by faculty only after the topic had been approved, instructors were required to be in class at the appointed time, and any faculty meeting had to be approved. Prof. Wallen said when a faculty meeting wasn't approved, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) came into the picture. "AFT was not well-loved, but there was no one else." He said the faculty found itself in a simi'ar situation at Columbia interposed between 'he militant students and the police. The strike was called to get the police off campus, get the Board of Trustees to negotiate with the students, gain faculty voice in college affairs, and achieve advances in salary and working conditions. Prof. Wallen argued that student demands are reasonable in light of the school's present situation. "The blacks worked for a black studies program for two years and time and time again they have been shot down," he said. Some classes were tried, but there was no department or major in the field. He believes the current demands in this area are reasonable. He Dointed out that San Francisco has S- F. State striking teacher, Norman Wallen, said there is more to the San Francisco situation than siding with students. large numbers of minority groups, but very little representation of these groups exist on the campus. Minority Croup Thus, he said, "The demand that all minority group applicants be admitted to the school is not so extreme because the junior colleges already work on this basis, and most of these people are not interested in attending the school." He said the demand for a black studies department with the curriculum, teaching and administration controlled by blacks is not unreasonable because of the need for relevancy in such courses. As for firing an administrator.he said, "We all have visions of them knocking at our doors saying 'you're next,' but we find that when you give them a lot of power the first thing they do is ask our advice." Prof. Wallen is currently on a tour of the Rocky Mountain states in an effort to gain financial and opinion support for the San Francisco State strike. |