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
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kitchen, (lining and living
facilities; updating utilities;
moving a salmon stream; and
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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
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150 to 240, Kudy said. Another
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faculty, bringing the total
number of full-time researchers
to three.
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