Inside:
•Studying predjudices, Page 5
•CTF tax waivers, Page 8
•New distance runner, Page 13
-r-yOregon Daily_ ,
Emerald
Monday, February 8, 1988
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 89, Number 95
Student activist party
joins campus politics
By |eff Morgan
Emerald Reporter
ASUO election season got an early start
this weekend with the formation of a new
student political party. Student Activist
Network.
In a prepared statement, SAN spokesman
Tim Hughes said, "The network has formed
in response to frustration of alternatives of
fered by student government both past and
present. We feel that no current political
party on campus adequately addresses the
diverse range of student needs. We are ap
palled at the naive arrogance displayed by
the current administration in its presump
tion that the average student is not concern
ed with minority issues or issues beyond
the boundaries of this campus."
SAN has not yet chosen its nominees for
ASUO offices and is only now forming its
election platform By the end of the month
they expect to have their platform set and
their endorsement committee selected.
Hughes, who also is co-director of the
Gay and Lesbian Alliance, claimed that
SAN is a broad-based coalition of represen
tatives from many different student unions
and political organizations. So far, SAN has
about 17 active members, the most active
being Hughes, last year’s Students’ for a
Progressive Agenda presidential candidate
Sarah Lachkar, and former SPA member
Angee Hill. Another member is Robert Ball,
who ran as vice presidential nominee of the
short-lived People's Choice party in last
year’s election with Phil Levinson.
Turn to Politics, Page 6
Lack of signatures kills proposals
By Betsy Clayton
Emerald Reporter
Backers of two initiatives that would
amend Eugene’s city charter said they did
not meet a Friday deadline to put their ur
ban renewal and riverfront rezoning
measures on the May 17 primary election
ballot.
Both groups intend to continue collecting
signatures and aim for later ballots. Peti
tions of at least 5.520 signatures from each
group must be submitted to the city within
100 days beginning on the day of the first
signature, the law states.
The next general election ballot is Nov. 8.
but a city ordinance gives the City Council
the option of scheduling earlier elections.
Catherine Lauris, an officer for the political
action committee Citizens for Fair Tax
Distribution, said the group will continue
collecting signatures in hopes of being plac
ed on a June ballot.
Citizens for Fair Tax Distribution has
been circulating a measure since the first
week of January that would require voter
approval of new urban renewal plans and
amendments to existing urban renewal
plans. Current city urban renewal projects
involve revitalization of downtown Eugene
and development of the Riverfront Research
Park.
"Our petition is simple and people are
Turn to Initiative, Page 6
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Prospective University students see what Oregon's got at the Oregon
Preview’s Information Fair in the EMU Saturday. More than 1.600 high
school students and their parents attended they day-long series of
events.
Future Ducks see campus
By Frank Byers
Emerald Contributor
More than 1,600 high school
students and their parents from as
far away as New Jersey converged on
the University Saturday for the 198H
University of Oregon Preview.
Oregon Preview is a program of
lectures and tours sponsored by the
admissions office to show off the
campus to prospective students.
“It’s really tough for high school
students to make up their minds
about exactly where thoy want to at
tend until they've had a chance to
get a flavor of the University,” said
Martha Pitts, associate director of
admissions.
About two-thirds of the visitors
were parents, according to Pitts,
who noted that college selection can
be a group process.
"Families feel like they get the in
dividual attention and the time to
talk to the people they need to in
order to make a decision about the
University," she said.
The day’s schedule consisted of
an opening address by University
President Paul Olum and Admis
sions Director Jim Buch, followed by
interest sessions in 57 academic
Turn to Preview, Page 4
Sister cities bring socialeconomic benefits to Eugene
By Andrew LaMar
Emerald Associate Editor
There are many social and
economic benefits from sister
city relationships, according to
local officials.
Perhaps that's why Eugene
has three sister cities and is
developing ties to two others
while Lane County tries to
develop a sister county
relationship.
For the past 10 years, Eugene
has actively maintained only
one sister city relationship —
with Kakegawa, Japan. But in
the last year, Eugene has begun
developing another relationship
with the Soviet city Irkutsk.
Two other relationships —
with Kathmandu, Nepal and
Chinju, South Korea — have
been dormant for more than a
decade. However, officials are
attempting to rekindle those
relationships as well.
Last August, a delegation
from the West German county
St. Wendel visited Lane County
and invited the county to
become its sister county. And
most recently, the mayor of
Chinhoyi. Zimbabwe, invited
Eugene to become its sister city.
"I'd like to think that (the
sister city programs are) expan
ding because Eugene is becom
ing more available and is
presenting itself in more of
an international man
said Mary Wright
McIntosh, the
city program
director lor
sister city rela
tionships. "1
think we are
becoming
known as a ci
ty that’s well
rounded, has
a good reputa
tion for taking
care of inter
national
delegations
and is in
terested in t,r*p'"‘
getting out- Lor”‘"
side of Eugene.”
Eugene benefits
primarily culturally
and socially from the ties,
McIntosh said. People who host
delegates from a sister city or
represent Eugene by traveling to
the foreign city often develop
lasting personal relationships
with the sister city's residents,
she said. They also learn a great
deal about the country's
culture.
But in a larger sense, all city
residents benefit culturally from
the relationships, she said.
Meeting foreigneres helps break
common American stereotypes
about them, she said.
“You find out that they’re
just people like you and me,"
McIntosh said.
Also, the relationships foster
greater cultural awareness, she
said. P’or instance,
children at Roosevelt
Middle School are
now taught
the traditional
Japanese coal
miner's dance
and area high
school
students may
learn
Japanese.
J i m
Dougher,
chairman of
the Eugene
Sister City
Commission,
■F said the relationships
are particularly beneficial for
children, broadening their
horizons and giving them a
sense of the international
community.
‘‘It certainly makes a dif
ference when all you know is
Eugene and Portland,” Dougher
said.
The relationships also benefit
Eugene economically. Each
year Kakegawa sends a delega
tion to Eugene and Eugene
sends a delegation to
Kakegawa.
McIntosh said the last delega
tion from Kakegawa had 30 peo
ple in it who spent a minimum
of $200 a day. They also spent a
night in the Hilton.
“They go to the bookstore
and clean it out; they go to the
5th Street Market and clean it
out." McIntosh said.
Kakegawa officials have in
vited a Eugene delegation to
visit in March to help celebrate
the opening of a bullet-train sta
tion. The Kakegawa mayor in
vited Eugene to exhibit goods
produced in the Eugene area at
the celebration.
About 20 local products will
be sent, according to Duff
Wilkins, director of the
Willamette Valley Trade Center,
Because of the size of the re
quest, the sister city program
had to refer the responsibility of
gathering and sending the
goods to the trade center and
the state international trade
Turn to City, Page 6