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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1986)
Students protest herbicide use in controlling weeds on campus By Paul Sturtz CM the Emerald Spending the day sitting under a campus tree may pose a health hazard after herbicides were sprayed around the base of as many as 200 trees on campus during spring break to control weeds. The herbicide, which goes by the trade name of Roundup, may cause adverse health effects ranging from eye and skin irritation to cancer in the long-term, says Brett Fisher, director of the Survival Center. The spraying went unnoticed until a half Photo b» |im» Marks A group of University students placed signs on trees in the Collier House area Monday to call attention to an herbicide sprayed around trees over spring break. The group says the her bicide poses a health hazard, . •, dozen students noticed rings of dead grass around trees Thursday and quickly put up posters saying: "Danger — Herbicides in Use. Please don’t eat by. sit by or touch this tree.” But the posters were taken down by the University Physical Plant Friday morning before people could see the warning signs. Fisher says. Fisher then called a press conference Mon day to release research gathered by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, a Eugene group. The coalition claims the herbicide may cause genetic mutations and that it lingers on grass for a few weeks. Monsanto Corporation,.the nianufac: turer Of Roundup, refuses to release, test data on the chemical. • •• • , -. "If Roundup rs safe,'what do they have to hide?*’. Fisher says, lie.' says,- he - knows, .the ’ Physical Plant has a duty to maintain the.campus'. landscape, but he belieyes there are- less'harmful ways of killing weeds iii:uninowable' areas by'us- .’ i ng weedeaters or. bark mulch,'. •;; > y ; . ; Tim King,' the Physical Plant's landscape maintenance supervisor, says'only about 10 .per cent of the campus trees were sprayed, mostly around Susan Campbell Mali-and Hendricks Hall. . The-herbicide should he looked at iii relative terms. King says. ‘‘I'm notinterested in the emo tional side l m interested in the facts 'Wft feel any good . Roundup, provides outweighs the problems.” • .* .. •.-. • • . ,r • •Rou ndu p’s -labej hid icates there iS ho danger. - King sayss and the Departmont of AgricuIture and Oregon State University research confirms this. "If there-was any chance'of endangering the public, we wouldn't be iisirtg if.” King says..,.,. . He says any trace* of-Hbundup should have been gone' by the' time schoolI started. King says the University will discontinue the spraying, if he ‘is presented ...with scientific^ evidence ‘ detailing the' herbicide’s harmful effects. °. . ' Construction to begin at marine institute By Andrew LaMar Of the Emerald The University’s marine in- . stitute, located eight mile& south of Coos Bay in Charleston, will undergo renovation and the construction of new buildings to replace its outdated facilities starting this' week. An official ground-breaking' ! ceremony to .mark (he "occasion will .be held; today on'- the Charleston campus and. will-in-' elude a speech by University’ President Pa.ul_O.lum: . : ‘. Currently, students use “very outdated” facilities." said- Paul Rudy", director of the institute that was built primarily during the 1930s."' ‘ \ ‘-Our old buildings are falling THE EMU CULTURAL FORUM IN COOPERATION WITH THE UcfQ DANCE COMPANY PRESENTS' JOE GOODE J down literally and are alihost impossible Id Heat and keep clean, " Ru,dy. .'said ... The buildings were last renovated in \the_1950s .Ij _ .•* ; il-. .._ j "The' floors (pf classrooms) . vibrate so much when people •walk that .its hard to keep the microscppes in focus;V he said. Rudy- said . Sen, Mark llat : field, R-0re.. helped get the Na • t i on a |(ice a n it: a nd A l - • mospheric Administration ; (NOAA) to completely fund the .project: The NOAA allocated $3:1 million for the project in fiscal year ,1984 and $650,000 for it in 1985. > . > ’’It was Senator.Hatfield who was responsible for getting the ’ funds,”.Olum said. "There's no question that it, was Hatfield’s project frpm.the beginning.” Rudy said the renovation will /. increase the quality of learning VI Encore performance Comedian StnneyBurke,returned to the University Monday armed with a bagful of taunts for Ronald ' - Reagan, fraternities, the space shuttle, yuppies and other, target's:: X ’. Burke, who lives in Berkeley but tours the country extensively, alternated ridiculing the crowd gathered in the EMI! Courtyard with serious exhortations for ~; students to, get involvtid politically. ■ • ” !'The time has come to decide if (Attorney General) Ed Moose- is going to break into your house or ; somebody you like. ”Burke said. Burke outlined his,vision of a world out of control, one filled with insane nuclear scientists, urinalvsis testing at the University Bookstore and a Polyp Libera tion Front that would get Reagan where the ' 'assassins failed. " iMter. Burke used a couple walking by to illustrate his contempt for a government out of control. “No holding hands in zone three. ” he called after the pair who tried to evade his glance. Photo by Jamos Marks at the institute. ; •'"The research will improve in both quantity and quality." Kudy said. "We're about doubl ing to tripling the size of the research space,*1 The first part of the project in cludes constructing four new buildings for classrooms, stu dent dormitorins, research laboratories and aquariums: constructing a building with |S Corn*/ OlhSMdjord roM from th« now Sacrod Hoart addition ' Phone 343-6234 mooaaoooaa >/ n wwuwuuuuQOff^HIbOO APiJiiMG Mjypjzur oaoaaaoaoaaoaaoaaaaaaaaaao *r* Special Peking Dinmr For 2 or More offer good Mon.-Thur. Includes Egg Flowers. Velvet soup Appetizers Fried Wonton Fried Shrimps Mar Far Chicken Entree Chicken Almond Sub Gum Chow Mem Pineapple Sweet & Sour Pork Barbecue Pork Fried Rice Tea or Coffee & Fortune Cookies Now Serving Beer, Wine Try our Special Lunch M-F SAVE *2.00 $395 perus Reg. *6.00 par parton & Cocktails $-|95 (open 7 days a week from 11 30 to 10 00 p m ) kitchen, (lining and living facilities; updating utilities; moving a salmon stream; and landscaping This part of the project should bo completed hv September. Rudy said. The second part, which should be completed by |une 1987, includes building faculty housing and graduate student dormitories and renovating existing structures, he said. The construction is taking place on about 3 acres of tbe 107-acre campus. The institute will be able to increase its student enrollment, which includes graduate and undergraduate students, from 150 to 240, Kudy said. Another researcher will lie added to the faculty, bringing the total number of full-time researchers to three. ^CAMPUS AREAv Haiti Tai£m Perm Special $30.00 (int ludr% i ul jnd ttylrl 792 E. 11th • 485 6363 OH** pood thfOuqh >d#fch