Summer
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Oregon daily
emerald
Thursday, July 5, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 86, Number 6
Refugees describe plight, seek asylum
By Paul Ertelt
Of the Emerald
Alfredo’s story provided a somber note
to what had been a festive mood at the
gathering in University Park Tuesday.
Through a translator, the young
Guatemalan refugee told a tale of govern
ment brutality in his country to the more
than 200 Eugeneans who gathered in the
park to take part in a “fiesta” and protest
U.S. policy in Central America.
Alfredo is in the country illegally,
since refugees from Guatamala and El
Salvador are not given political asylum
in the United States. If arrested by the
immigration service, he faces deporta
tion, and those aiding him could face
felony charges for harboring an illegal
alien.
Alfredo and his family are with the
“Sanctuary Caravan” on its way to Seat
tle where he hopes to find sanctuary in a
church. The caravan is sponsored by the
Interfaith Sanctuary Movement, a coali
tion of churches and other groups offer
ing sanctuary to the refugees.
Members of the movement say they
will continue to risk arrest because they
believe deportation would mean death to
the refugees. Mario, a former medical
student at the University of San Carlos in
Guatemala, is also traveling with the
caravan.
The folk music, socializing and
generally light atmosphere of the
“fiesta” came to an end when Alfredo
stepped up to the microphone to tell his
story.
While Alfredo and his parents watch
ed from a nearby field, Guatemalan
soldiers marched into his village. The
soldiers led his three older sisters, his
two brothers and four of his nieces and
nephews into a house and set it on fire,
he said.
All those inside, including his
17-hour-old niece, were burned to death.
All together, 14 members of his family
have been killed by the Guatemalan ar
my, Alfredo said.
“You ask yourselves why?” he said.
“We ask ourselves the same thing
why?”
But Alfredo does have a theory to why
his family has been singled out by the ar
my. His mother, his three sisters, and his
uncle were all Catholic lay workers, and
the government considers the church a
subversive organization, he said.
Alfredo fled his country with his preg
nant wife Maria and their daughter
Elizabet, who is now three years old.
Since last fall, Alfredo and his family
have lived in Tucson, Ariz., where their
daughter Anita was born three-and-a
half months ago.
In an interview Tuesday, Mario said
he left his country because he feared he
would be killed by government “death
squads.” As a student, Mario was in
volved in a theater and music group that
often performed in nearby villages.
But his group eventually took a
political turn, getting involved in pea
sant strikes and demonstrations. This in
volvement brought them to the attention
of the Guatemalan government, he said.
“Some of my friends were kidnapped
and assassinated by the death squads,”
Mario said. “Many of their bodies have
Photo by Michael Clapp
The band Sandunga plays songs
from Latin America while the fiesta
crowd eats watermelon and chili and
waits to hear the story of the
Guatemalan refugees.
been found, but others haven’t been
found anywhere.”
If he is deported, “Mario said, he pro
bably will be tortured and killed by the
government. But by staying in the
United States, he said, he hopes to
educate people about what is happening
in his country.
Mario maintains that he is a bona fide
political refugee and thus should be
allowed to stay in the United States.
‘‘The U.N. says that Guatemalan and
Salvadoran refugees have a right to
receive political asylum in any coun
try,” Mario said.
Mario rejects the assertion by the U.S.
immigration service that people are flee
ing Guatemala for economic and not
politcal reasons. He said his case is proof
to the contrary.
‘‘In Guatemala, I studied and I had
good grades,” he said. ‘‘I had a lot of in
terest in becoming a professional
doctor.”
U.S. military aid to Guatemala is part
of the reason for the situation there,
Mario said.
‘‘The government of Guatemala is kill
ing a lot of people, and it is doing it with
help of the American government.
‘‘The U.S. government has some of the
same interests as the Guatemalan
government,” he said. ‘‘There are a lot
of North American factories there
chemical factories, Coca Cola.”
The sanctuary network has operated
an ‘‘underground railroad” for almost
three years, carrying refugees to chur
ches throughout the country. But what
they once did in secret, they are now do
ing openly, trying to get as much
publicity as possible.
In each of the cities where the caravan
has stopped, the local media have given
extensive coverage, says Andrea
Stoutland of Seattle, who is serving as a
translator for the refugees. Since it left
Tucson, the caravan has stopped in
Phoenix; Los Angeles; Fresno, Calif.;
Davis, Calif.; and Ashland.
‘‘We’ve had press conferences up to
Photo by Michael Clapp
A Guatemalan couple wear handker
chiefs to hide their identities and
lessen the chance of reprisals on their
families back in Guatemala.
three times a day, and local television
has been covering almost every arrival,”
Stoutland said.
Because of the publicity, the immigra
tion service has decided not to arrest the
refugees, said Bill Cadbury, of the
Eugene Friends Meeting. His church is
giving sanctuary to nine Salvadorans.
At about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the
caravan pulled out of the park amid
cheers from the onlookers. About 25
cars, covered with American flags and
filled with sanctuary supporters, left
Eugene.
About 10 cars went all the way to
Portland.
Athletes may gain early registration slot
By Douglas Fyle
Of the Emerald
A proposal to give student-athletes a jump on
registration each term is under consideration by the
University. The controversial proposal is intended to
satisfy a new rule from the National Collegiate Athletic
Association requiring universities to certify that
student-athletes enroll in an average of 12 hours per
term in courses from “a specific baccalaureate degree
program.”
University Vice Pres, for Administration Dan
Williams said the proposal is controversial because
allowing athletes to register before other students
touches tender nerves, considering the difficulty all
students have getting the classes they need.
In addition, there is ‘‘a general attitude... that
student-athletes are already a privileged class,” he
said.
“That’s the political problem,” Williams said.
“Here we find the need to give some of our student
athletes an advantage over non-student-athletes
because of certain rules that the NCAA have
established.”
The NCAA rule, which goes into effect this fall,
will require athletes in their junior and senior years to
enroll in at least 12 hours per term that directly satisfy
the needs of a declared major, Williams said. Whether
hours taken to fulfill general University requirements
outside of a major can be counted under this rule is still
uncertain, Williams and Associate Director of Athletics
William Byrne agree.
The NCAA rule, while requiring student-athletes
to enroll in 12 credits toward their major, does not
specifically require that they register for classes early.
Rather, early registration was formally recommended
by Jim Ferguson, assistant director of athletics, in a
June 7 memorandum to Williams.
“My suggestion would be that all student-athletes
be permitted to register during the first registration
period. This should virtually assure enrollment in the
classes required,” Ferguson said in the memo.
“If a student-athlete... is not able to register early
or gain access to required classes, then there needs to be
provisions for them to gain entry into those classes.. . .
But I believe that early registration will solve nearly all
problems,” he said.
ASUO Pres. Julie Davis said she privately express
ed her concerns to Williams that Ferguson’s proposal
would make “some people more equal than others,”
and it may establish athletes as “a class of students”
who get special privileges.
The ASUO will send an official reply concerning
Ferguson’s proposal to Williams by Friday, Davis said.
Williams said Monday it was unlikely that all
student-athletes, about 400 in number, would be given
early registration, as proposed by Ferguson. He sug
gested instead that “they would only have to be allow
ed to register early for that class they absolutely have to
have (to fulfill the NCAA rule).. . . That may mean that
maybe 10 students (would register early), each for one
class. That’s a far cry from 400 students being allowed
to register early every quarter.”
Joseph Wade, director of academic advising, said
“it is not realistic” for. only a .few student-athletes to
register early and meet the NCAA rule.
“Students have to be prepared to take upper divi
sion courses,” Wade said. All athletes need to register
early to ensure they get preparatory as well as major
required courses, he added.
Peter Briggs, foreign student advisor, said that
foreign students who are not on immigration visas face
requirements similar to those athletes will face under
the new NCAA rule, but they are not being considered
for early registration.
Visas for foreign students stipulate that they be
“making progress toward a stated degree (with) an ex
pected completion date,” Briggs said. While foreign
students “don’t like the system” of open registration,
they don’t have trouble getting the classes they need in
the long run, he added.
Williams said the athletes’ predicament is dif
ferent, however, because it is the University, and not
just the student, who is required to assure the student is
making sufficient progress toward a major.
According to Registrar Herbert Chereck, very few
students have been allowed to register early in the past.
Spring term, only physically handicapped students
and students who volunteered to work the arena
registration process were allowed to register early,
Chereck said. Also, some other students may have
benefited when they registered by proxy because
legitimate University activities kept them out of Eugene
during registration, he said. These students numbered
no more than 303, according to a “packet puller tally”
provided by Chereck. .