Wet, wild
fun in the
waves.
See Sidelines
Oregon daily
emera
Wednesday, November 14, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 86, Number 54
Students face increased stress
Inability to cope led to Feher’s action
By Michael Doke
Of the Emerald
Monday's sniper attack at Autzen
Stadium by Michael Evan Feher, which
ended in his suicide, the death of a
former University- track star and the
wounding of a University wrestler, has
left the community asking why the inci
dent happened.
“The campus reaction is dismay and
guilt,’’ said Shirley Wilson, acting dean
of students at the University.
“Everybody fee|s guilty because they
missed clues,” Wilson said.
Jim Stewart, president of the Delta Tau
Delta house where Feher was a.member,
said fraternity members knew' Feher yvas
having problems when he tried to kill
himself in July by slashing his wrist *at
Autzen Stadium.
"But we thought everything was all
right after he had counseling over the
summer.” Stewart said. "We just swept
signs of anymore trouble under the
carpet. YVe Convinced ourselves that
nothing” more would happen.”
Feher shot and killed Chris
Brathwaite. 35, during the siege and
wounded wrestler Rick O'Shea. 22..
An autopsy shows Brathwaite died
from a single gunshot wound that
entered his side and lodged in his heart,
said Sgt. Eric Mellgren of the Eugene
Police Department. O'Shea, a senior
from Harrisburg, was shot in the
shoulder and buttocks at the onset of the
incident, about 8:30 a m. He remained in
Sacred Heart General Hospital in good
r
condition Tuesday.
Feher’s body was found by police tac
tical squad members just after noon in
the south-side bleachers near the top of
the stadium. He had sustained a self
inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Stewart said Feher had normal pro
blems — ‘‘problems with studies, pro
blems with women, problems that you
and I could deal with.”
‘‘Michael was obviously a disturbed
person trying to cope,” Wilson said.
"He wasn’t admittingthat things were as
bad as they were for him. He gave the ap
pearance of being fine r— being one of the
boys — but inside he wasn't coping.”
And all of this unvented pressure pro
bably lead to Feher’s actions Monday,
she said.
Feher’s personal problems are not rare
to students, .Wilson said. The stress
students feel is the same as the stress
many feel.
“Students’ problems are the same as
others'. There are problems with
finances, with families and with social
relations. Social relations are a key factor
on how people decide who they are and
if they care about others,” Wilson said.
■‘‘And students have the added pro
blem of succeeding academically,” she
said.
College students often feel they do not
live up to the potential they had while in
high school, she said. Students find col
lege very competitive and often are
alienated and overwhelmed by the size
of the University.
1
Local police, women’s service
urge victims to report attacks
By Diana Elliott
Of the Emerald
In the wake of at least one rape on
campus and rumors of several others,
Eugene Police and the Women's
Referral and Resource Service are urg
ing people to report any trouble they
see.
“We’re encouraging women who
have been harassed, sexually abused
or raped to report it to us,” says Sgt.
Chuck Tilby of the Eugene Police
Department.
“They don’t have to give names if
they don’t want to, and they certainly
won’t have to testify,” Tilby says.
“We just need the information for a
data base.
“There’s a very small percentage of
rapes being reported so the informa
tion we have to go on is inadequate,
and that makes it very difficult to
determine a pattern.”
Police urge people who know of
friends and acquaintances who have
been attacked to report information
too.
“If a third party calls with informa
tion, we’ll except it as fact,” says
Tilby. “Certainly first person infor
mation is more complete, but we want
anyone with ‘info’ to call.
“Our goal is to minimize the
negative impact of the ordeal for the
women,” Tilby says. “The real pur
pose is to convict the guilty, not to
make any kind of a value judgment
about the woman.”
Although the police have been
criticized in the past for being insen
sitive to the victim. Tilby says that is
changing now.
“A lot of inroads are being made in
law enforcement,” says Tilby. “We
try to minimize the trauma of the
event as much as possible.”
Not only do reported rapes provide
police with clues to find a rapist, but
they also give insight to the degree of
the problem.
“We want to be able to relay to the
community the accurate picture of
what’s going on,” Tilby says.
Tilby is concerned because he has
heard of as many as six unreported
rapes that may have occurred on cam
pus within the last several weeks.
Meanwhile, Laura Romano, of
WRRS, says she has heard of at least
15 that have gone unreported this
term.
“I don’t think the rumors of several
unreported rapes can be written off as
third person hearsay," Chris Gon
zalez, also with WRRS. “It doesn’t
matter that we don’t have names.
There's more going on out there than
we’re hearing about.”
To report any information, call the
service at 686-3327, Campus Security
at 686-5444, the Eugene Police
Department emergency line,
687-5111, or Rape Crisis Network’s
24-hour line, 485-6700.
Shirley Wilson
Feher’s suicide “points out that when
we get depressed, we absolutely lose our
perspective,” Wilson said. “We need to
have a perspective.”
People seriously depressed generally
show a change in behavior, she said.
People draw away from friendships,
don’t go to classes, become involved
with drugs, drink too much alcohol, and
sleep too much, she said.
“They begin to avoid their respon
sibilities, and these patterns cause
natural consequences.” Wilson said.
The University offers many programs
to help with the problems of stress, in
cluding the Counseling Center, the
Crisis Center and their 24-hour crisis in
tervention hotline (686-4488). as well as
the DeBusk Center and the Academic
Advising and Student Services Center,
Wilson said.
® jgi teg
Friends are another excellent resource
to help the depressed retain their
perspective, she said. If the individual
refuses treatment, it would be wise for a
friend to visit a counselor and get tips on
how to best help, she said.
“But I have no idea if anything would
have worked with Michael; he was too
covered up.” Wilson admitted.
“We always take someone seriously if
they call themselves suicidal, and that
should go for students, too,” Wilson
said. “Take them seriously, stay up all
night with them if you have to, talk to
them. And the next day help them get on
the road to perspective about their
problem.
“We have a lot of people still here
because of this kind of support.”
Oxfam leads fast for food
By Lori Stephens
Of the Emerald
This Thursday, people throughout the
United States will be asked to give up
one or all of their meals as part of Oxfam
America’s “Fast For A World Harvest.”
The money that would have gone for
food that day will instead be donated to
Oxfam to support the ongoing self-help
development projects in impoverished
countries.
This is the 11th annual Oxfam fast.
Participants are encouraged to eat light
ly, fast completely or eliminate a certain
type of food such as meat or “junk
food.” Organizers of the fast hope to give'
Americans an opportunity to empathize
with those who face constant hunger.
Throughout the country, students,
community members, churches, and
campus and city organizations are ex
pected to take part in the fast. In many
cities, a “break-fast” will be offered so
fasters may gather and eat a simple din
ner. Funds raised by the dinners will be
donated directly to Oxfam America.
In Eugene, the Council For Human
Rights in Latin America and other local
groups are sponsoring a dinner on
Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at the CHRLA
headquarters, 1236 Kincaid St.
Becky Smith, a CHRLA organizer, says
one purpose of the fast and the dinner is
to promote social awareness. “Fasting
for a day puts you in touch with the fact
that we’re making a personal commit
ment to people who go hungry.”
Oxfam was founded in England in
1942 as the Oxford Committee on
Famine Relief. In 1970, Oxfam America
was established in Boston and is now
one of the six autonomous Oxfam centers
around the world.
As a non-profit organization, it is
funded entirely by contributions from in
dividuals and accepts no government
aid.
Donations are used to fund large-scale
projects primarily in Africa, Latin
America and Asia. Local people are pro
vided with tools, seeds, training for
long-term development and emergency
relief in times of disaster.
Last year, more than 2,400 groups par
ticipated in the fast, raising $475,000.
This year, Oxfam workers hope to focus
attention on the famine in Ethiopia and
on the 12 drought-stricken countries in
Africa.
Jack Kapuscinski, also a coordinator
for CHRLA, says the proceeds raised by
the benefit supper will be targeted to
people in Ethiopia and El Salvador.
Bread For The World, Citizen Action
for Lasting Security, and Clergy and Lai
ty Concerned are also involved in the
fast.
Suzanne Bader, current president of
the International Studies Association,
has participated in Oxfam projects for
the last two years. She helped coordinate
a Mount McKinley climbing expedition
to raise money, introduced Oxfam to the
business community in San Francisco,
and is starting an African relief cam
paign on campus this year.
“The people in these countries are not
helpless,” she says. “Some organiza
tions promote the stereotype that they
are weak and helpless and will die if we
don’t go in and give them food. Oxfam
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