OCR Text |
Show Co MEE mt CI DESERET NEWS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH mr.,,4".'!":01.11"..11..."Prt. Ill":it e - r:!i A It''''' t '14111Nr-- if The Board of Regents carries a heavy responsibility, part of which is spelled out in Section 2 of the Higher Education Act of 1969: "It efficient and more economical system of high quality public higher education through centralized direction and master planning providing for avoidance of unnecessary duplication within the system, for the systematic and orderly development of facilities and quality programs, for coordination and consolidation, and for systematic development of the role or roles of each institution within the system consistent with the historical heritage and tradition of each institution." In making its decision, the board should ask some hard questions and That should be a fair test, since the V.A. system is the largest single medical system in the nation directed from a central source. Recently, the National Academy of Sciences took a long look at V.A. hospitals and came up with these conclusions: Surgery in psychiatric hospitals is poor that the NAS report recommended eliminating it. Many patients could be treated just as effectively, and more cheaply, as out They didn't need hospitalization at all. Many lio do need hospitalization So - Afterthoughts . . . Manhattan is an island inhabited people from the ;ticks trying to achieve enough fame and fortune so that they ean afford to) retire to a house in the sticks. Except for an linmowt al few, the "poetic heenso." usually expires 50 years III the poet's death; you could no more, for instance, get today's youth to read Tennyson than to wear crinolines. Perhaps the worst, and surely the most deficient, definition in the whole field of economics is that of money as "a which totally medium of exchange' of the ignores the vast human dynamics by sul ojeet Sidney 1 JP4 t )I grr-.'"- ,t , 76- .- N, yttl, - ta ,r a.141, ,...,v, jore.74.004, - a- - ct 0,14 14- PSI li to'''l ,1 .1,14 i , . A :4 ;4 i ';1,, b --- vie' k4-1 7 ots---- 4 '11 4N L9Nt J ';,44:c,,,, - 21 ,, . , ,,,,, ..vi..z.... t'' )0,,,,... It44,1 , , '''''Nt7:12.10144 NA .,,44,,, e' 41r IP, 1111, .7 0' 4rW444,:ltlit'ts i...,,,c,.. i k 1, s' 4, .10 dt 1 , ) ,Nt '47, - ( v .....01: f.111ft001No..0...,.4.4 , - - I - - . r I 4, VA ,.. T 'i4 1- 6'4 , 14. ' of ti.'s I ri 1 ,t . 1 come up with some honest answers. How will the decision affect other schools in the Utah system? Are the proposed programs included in any master plan? Will theymake teacher education more efficient and more economical? Will they duplicate already established programs? Is graduate dc. gree capability consistent with the established roles of these institutions? On all these points, there is ample room for doubting the advisability of the proposed ehanoes. Does the state really need two (or even one) additional graduate schools when it already has three urtivZrsifieS? If the programs are approved, won't this be a action that opens the way for similar degrees in other disciplines? In terms of ability to pay, Utah is long on students and short on resources. Its people pay more per taxpayer for higher education than the people of almost any other state. Even so, when the money is divided among the states high proportion of college students, the amount appropriated per student is among the lowest in the nation. state is to have the quality higher education the Legislature has charged the Board of Regents to provide. the very most prudent and productive fiscal policies must be , l'"1bAt 4 i I, t- I ,, - s ' ,, ',,'- - ,--,, , ' - -' ...., -- ' -' , . :. ' ,A, , .,. .. 1 '' ' - ' .,,,11, ,::' ' ,,, - '," ' '1' - 1 , '' . ,, ,, it , , -' , s ,. I , , 4, ;- - " . 1 1,- -- '', , ' ' -- -- - . - ' ';'.' ..' . k .,;,...f'.7.', '., , 4,..,;,... . .iv! , . - t j L.,eso:w,..,1,..,,,.,,,,g...askooma.imo , ' 1;!.5'"' , ,. ,....,, ' , .. i't,..A IN THE MIND'S EYE . . Photo and text by David Bly for Deseret News .,,, ,,,,,,,41t - ' ' ,r. , .' ' .1 : .,,,f , 4 ' s , "' '' ' s, 4 0.th , : ., ' A . -- 4 '''' 4- ( 4 , ; f ,4 ,t, , e,',, ' , r , ' ' :' ' '' :a. - " ., ',kr .' S' 4 k,' , ,, ' ,g ,, ' ' '' " ' , '''' f''''''"--2.- Life would be drab without problems and grief: it's the valleys that make the mountains impressive. fol- lowed. terms of the WSC and but regarding every Not only in SUSC proposal, request made by any Utah school for additional programs, the regents must put need and financial ability ahead of partisan desire. In Utah there is no other way. The regents should turn down the requests. Then the Legislature, where the proposal first surfaced. should abide by that decision. WSC-SUS- C are kept much longer than medically necessary. Expensive specialized facilities that are under-useare maintained by many V.A. hospitals and duplicate similar under-usefacilities in nearby civilian hospitals. Psychiatric patients are being given too many drugs, sometimes of the wrong type. d d What to do: Close the most wasteful V.A. hospitals, the report advises, and end unnecessary construction of others. Supervision of the entire system should be improved, the report concludes. That isn't likely to happen, however, as veterans retain as much political clout as they now have. And that's the important lesson to learn about a program of national health. care. Politics and medicine just don't mix efficiently. its long Keep this agency small After four years of undeserved obscurity, the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment is coming out of the dark and into the limelight. Unfortunately, the OTA is getting attention not because of its accomplishments but as a result of a squabble over N.vhether or not Sen. Edward Kennedy is using his post as chairman of the agency's board to further his own political and legislative goals. Beyond this dispute, howeN;er, is a deeper and more fundamental split over what role the OTA should play in providing Congress with analyses of technology. Two factions within the OTA hoard, Congressional Quarterly reports. are at odds over II wee fundamental questions: Whether oTA should concentrate It 4 44141r 1 Example of the V.A. hospitals Before the federal government gets any further into the health care business. it might be instructive to find out just how it has handled its own Veterans Ad m ini st ration hospitals. S., k, to"- 1 1 If the system of the purpose of this act to afford the people of the State of Utah a more is - - "tipann, -- 1,1.6 , Why Utah should reject this college proposal 110 - .,0 Nammit 11 ........ 1 St We stand for the ConsKtution of the United States with its three departments of government, each fully independent in its own field y w P t MONDAY, JHLY 4, 1977 The Utah Board of Regents needs to re!y on objective data., not desire, when it decides whether Master of Education degrees should be offered at Weber State College and Southern Utah State College. If the board does so, we're confident the plan will and should be rejected as a costly duplication of educational effort. The decision is expected when the regents meet July 13. The board will be under heavy political pressure, perhaps particularly from the Ogden area, to rule in favor of the schools.' But the decision should be based on demonstrated need and sound fiscal policy, not the persuasive and persistent advocacy of area supporters. Even if the need were clear which it is not the decision should be established that the proposed program is both the most efficient and most economical way to meet it. I I studies or should primarily on long-terrespond more quickly to perceived needs for analysis by congressional committees. flow much the studies should deal with policy questions and whether or not they should draw conclusions. llow much of the OTA work should be done in house and how much by outside consultants. Actually, these questions should be much easier to resolve than the convoluted squabble involving personality conflicts and petty rivalries that centers on Sew Kennedy. First, there are plenty of other scientists engaged in basic research. But the OTA has a corner on giving Congress unbiased scientific,. analysis. Consequently, the OTA ou'ght to confine itself to ierving the lawmakers in the same sort of way the Library of Congress does. Second, though finding facts and making value judgments aren't entirely alien to each other, there isn't a direct relationship between the two functions. either. The OTA should concentrate on what science does best. and let Congress formulate policy on the basis of the technological data provided by the agency. 'I'hird, by all means the agency should farm out as nmch work as possible to consultants not involved with the federal establishment. Whenever Washington gets into the act. there's a well known tendency for simple lit tie programs to balloon into something increasingly complex and costly. If there's anything Americans don't need, it's for tile OTA to become another exercise in federal - Harris t Congress meddles with states' rights 11 1,7 1411 By James J. Kilpatrick ment and practices; firearms safety; vehicle condition and operation; building and site design; equipment; and condition and density of use." The committee report gives only lip service to the thought that these are primarily state Let me return, if I may. to the pending Youth Camp Safety Act. The bill came out of the House Education and Labor Committee by a 25-- 7 vote on May 13; it now rests in House Rules, awaiting a green light to send it to the floor. The bill is a fundamenand the tally bad bill adverb merits emphasis. Our structure of government rests upon two fundamental principles. One is the separation of powers, which has no bearing here. The other is federalism, which is directly at issue. but This misguided bill would create a new Office of Youth Camp Safety within the Department and of Health. Education Welfare. The director of this office. with the assistance of an advisory council, would promulgate rules and regulations having the force and effect of law. The director's authority would include, but it would -not be limited to: personnel director for qualifications and staff; ratio Of staff to campers; sanitation and public health; personal health, first aid and medical services; food handling, mass feeding and cleanliness., water supply and waste disposal; water safety. including use of lakes and rivers; swimming and boating equip responsibilities. The general idea is that the states are to be encouraged to enact their own laws embodying at least the minimum standards laid down by the federal office. But (and this is the first hooker). any state that failed or refused to enact such legislation would be federally controlled anyhow; and (this is the second hooker) even those states that did comply would remain subject to continuing federal jurisdiction and monitoring. The bill includes all the usual trimmings: inspectors, reports, forms, statistical data, fines of $500 to $1.000 a day for rights of appeal in the federal courts. and so forth. return to the main point The bill falls into a pattern that crops up with ominous frequency in Washingtoe. To : The wrong-heade- d theory behind this pattern is that uniformity is good. diversity is bad; federal control is superior, state regulation is inadequate; Congress understands the needs of the people, the state legislatures do not. iNe sec this pattern in pending proposals for a federal insurance law. We see it in President Carter's instant registration bilL We lt SYDNY HARRIS r116)1' C'es1 have seen it in such areas as occupational safety, clean air standards, and in hundreds of programs requiring matching funds for federal grants in aid. Through this insidious process, the states systematically are reduced to little more than administrative agencies for the exercise of federal power. It was never meant to be this way. The Tenth Amendment, that great key to the house of our fathers, sets forth the Arricrican plan in words that are too plain to be misunderstood and too precious to be corrupted: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution. nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Surely the power to regu- late youth camps could not reasonably be numbered among the powers delegated to Congress by the Constitution. It is among the powers reserved to the states "respectively." Only six states. in the exercise of their own legislative judgment, have seen fit to adopt regulatory laws for youth camps. summer camp can be a for young people. In a good camp. they learn the old for values example, and individual initiative. It might be helpful. metaphorically speaking, to send the sponsors of this bill to a political summer camp. They have lost old values. or never learned them. and need to get back on the trail. A splendid experience Israel needs real peace The Christian Science Monitor News Service JERUSALEM, ISRAEL Israeli officials wonder whether last week's U.S. State Department statement on the Middle East reflects a basic change of 'whey or is only a tactical M At its face value. the statement, in Israeli eyes. was harsh on Israel Did the Stale Department I ntend to soften this apparent stand on the eve of or during I sra e i 1riI1iC Minister Menahem Begin's talks with President Carter in Washington in late July? (Jr did the statement bespeak the Carter administration's real intentions toward Israel cen at the risk of confrontation with Israel's inends in the U.S. Congress' Officials la r dld not conceal their coiwern at the insk, tence in the statement that Israel must withdraw froni the. West Bank of the Jordan as well as Sinai and the Golan 11 (sight s in any settlement with the Arabs. The State Department put out the statement in the first place because of U.S. concern at declarations by Mr. Begin and his foreign minister, Nloshe Davan. indicating that the new Israeli government did not include the West Bank in the territories from which Israel might Ind! back. The Israeli foreign ministry late June 28 issued an official statement that "everything" was negotiable and that nothing was excluded in advance. It was not the demand for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank that caused most dismay in Jerusalem. Rather it was the apparent U.S. concept of the kind (if peace Israel could expect in exchange for withdrawal. NW Israeli officials are reading ioto the Stale Depialutk ing nient statcnient I away by the Carter administration from "real peace" and a moving toward the more equivocal Arab position. The State Depart ment statement refers to "difficult compromises" on both sides and speaks of "steps towards wirimilizing relations with Israel." This is far short of the kind of peace for which Israel would be willing to make difficult compromises and eVCri heavy sacrifices. Much depends on what is Iniderstood by "normalizing, relations." Israel means by it. an official here said. a situation in which Israel is no longer forced to keep an air force as big as that of a major N AT( power or as many tanks as have all West European count ries together. A mere removal of the state of war would not achieve this ohiective. It rather would force Israel to go on arming and in case ot war it would stand behind 11111C11 less defensible borders than now - - I How to get poor quick i 1 A front-pag- e story in the Wall Street Journal not long ago reported that some 1,200 pilots for United Air Lines may have lost upward of $40 million of their g investment program." savings in a And perhaps twice that amount may have been forfeited by other investors. W. C. Fields' famous apothegm, "You can't cheat an honest man," has a corollary that is less widely.. known that you can't mulct a man who isn't greedy. A man who is greedy is nearly as vulnerable to fraud as one who is dishonest. These thousands of investors were putting their d savings into what they felt were "guaranteed" 11 per eent interest returns, a couple of years back, when the average interest rate was about half that. How can anyone over the age of 12 not know that if you want to double the interest you get on your money, you are lucky if you are only quadrupling your risk? And not merely the risk of the interest, but risk of return of principle as well. One pilot put as much as 100,000 smackers into the scheme, and now is quoted as saying. "I know 111 never see that money again." Sorry as we might feel for him, it is hard to resist the conclusion that he eagerly conspired in his own debacle. About the same time that the pilots were flying so a lawyer I maybe three years ago high fiscally know tried to interest me in some of those then -attractive" Real Estate Investment Trusts that offered a happy tax haven, lots of "leverage," and every promise of a big return. I mulled the matter over, decided that it seemed a little dubious even if technically legal, and declined not without a tinge of envy at the offer courteously those swashbucklers who were going to do so well with their money. I am just not the type to get mixed up in that. Well, everybody knows what happened. Virtue was triumphant, and was indeed its own reward. The lawyer and his likes got burned badly, while my $16.50 remained snuggling warmly in an account that brought me half of what they promised and a zillion times more than they got. It is greedy people who get taken as much as crooked ones. if you are not satisfied with what is decent and adequate at the time, if you want to cut corners and take fliers. you are far more likely to get stung than rich. It is the people who run the schemes who get rich, and retire to inextraditable islands, not the slavering suckers who can't hand over their earnings fast enough. Not often does prudence pay, at least so stories: dramatically. We hear all the but the stories are buried in shame, except when 1,200 airline pilots go up in smoke at "high-yieldin- hard-earne- - Once. f (,rS DOUG SnEYD k!,' ik',., ),'''' t'''' A: , Communist Party et Can 67'11.1 ,0 t'r !ts" -- ...F.:), . '4;.4,1,:,i,:r. lik., () f I '' I 71 ' -,,,- 1 ,7 t : de,L.i." -4, s,,, . v q,,,,9 Y,,,4 - c, 4 !. , 6. 1 1., ,, i 5.- h. 4 ,, - .,. I .. ar-b-t, 1 i I - "Not only will an oil pipeline destroy our people's lifestyle, threaten environment and endanger wildlife, but it will also cross the sites of our proposed labor camps." I I I 1'1 - Y.r..',41 C r , -,' 1 -- 3,10 k,r,,i4 ..--- (8's, ,.., . y ) 4 N, :,: 1 li ,.,1 i I |