University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Emerald
An independent newspaper
Volume 98, Issue 34
MONDAY, OCTOBER 21,1996
INDEX
Opinion
News Digest
News
Sports
Classifieds
Crossword 11
C\J CO rf o
TODAY
Senator Ron Wyden will
speak at 3:00 p. m. in the
EMU Fir Room to encour
age students to vote in the
Nov. 5th election.
INSIDE
Women’s volleyball beats out Oregon State in
five-game Civil War
University library system offers discussion series
on technology and the workplace
WEATHER
Light rain.
High 60. Low 50.
OSPIRG members clean river
■ STREAMWALK: Native plants also
brought back to the Willamette’s
banks at this year’s clean-up
By Kristin Bailey
Student Activities Editor
Armed with trash bags, clippers and a
lot of water-proof clothing, OSPIRG volun
teers took to the river Saturday in their sec
ond annual Streamwalk Project at Alton
Baker Park.
“The river bank needs some work,” Uni
versity Streamwalk Organizer Kristin Lee
said. “There’s lots and lots of trash that ac
cumulates with city life. And [last] Febru
ary’s floods carried stuff downstream.”
OSPIRG members from both the Univer
sity and Lane Community College also
worked on removing invasive plants and
non-native species — such as scotchb
room, Himalayan blackberries and ivy —
from areas along the river bank at Alton
Baker Park.
“We’re trying to preserve and renew the
native habitat here,” LCC Streamwalk Or
ganizer Amy Carlson said. “Scotchbroom
was brought into Oregon for road stabiliza
tion. But between the birds and people
carrying it on their shoes and clothes, it
has spread everywhere. We’re trying to
prioritize some areas [at Alton Baker Park]
with native habitat. In spring, native
species will hopefully have a chance to
compete.”.
The volunteers organized Streamwalk
in conjunction with a local environmental
education group called Nearby Nature and
Alton Baker Park officials.
“Streamwalk is basically about restora
tion,” Streamwalk Project Leader Michael
Rounds said. “A lot of these people out
here are environmental studies majors just
trying to keep Alton Baker Park nice so
hikers and bikers don’t see a lot of trash.
The idea is also to get to a point where na
tive species can get a foothold and fight.”
OSPIRG volunteers Aaron Foster (left) and Gil Koresh remove non-lndigenous plants
from the forest floor during the second annual Streamwalk project.
Volunteers armed with clippers cut
away at some of the invasive plants. Al
though the fight against the obtrusive
plants will be an on-going battle, Rounds
said he hopes the work will be worth the
trouble.
“We’re just trying to even up the odds,”
he said.
Community members also pitched in to
help OSPIRG. Local donors provided the
group with juice, bagels and some money.
“It was thrown together real quick,” LCC
Streamwalk Coordinator Trevor Russell.
“We’re pretty happy. We got a lot of good
support.”
Student organizer Amy Carlson removes
scotchbroom from Alton Baker Park dur
ing Saturday’s Streamwalk.
Photos by ANDREW BRACKENSICK/EmeraJd
Help available
for all eating
disorders
■ SERVICES: Counseling Center and
Health Center offer necessary
support and information to people
dealing with food issues
By Angie Suchy
Student Activities Reporter
Recording thoughts in a journal may not
seem therapeutic to some, but it’s just one
way to recognize negative thoughts that go
hand in hand with disordered eating.
Free services available on campus sug
gest a variety of methods — journal writing,
setting small goals, talking about image
problems and meeting with other students
with the same problems — to help individ
uals gradually overcome their disordered
eating patterns.
“We help women get
back in touch with eat
ing in response to
hunger,” said Britta
Dinsmore, psychology
doctorate student and
eating disorder special
ist. “And to accomplish
this, women have to
move at their own
pace.”
University students
with disordered eating
typically know they
have a bad approach to
food and go to either the
University Counseling
Center or the University
Health Center to seek
help, Dinsmore said. But
Disorders
■ FRIDAY:
Recognizing &
understanding
eating disorders
■ TODAY:
Getting Help
■ TUESDAY:
Preventing
Eating Disorders
many students with disordered eating pat
terns first go to the health center due to
physical ailments that are a result of an eat
ing problem. Signs may include dizziness,
inability to concentrate, preoccupation
Turn to SERVICES, Page 6
Activists will talk tonight about stopping sweatshop conditions
■ STRUGGLE: Speakers hope
to bring attention to the
problems of unfair pay and
working situations
By Angie Suchy
Student Activities Reporter
Global sweatshops may be the
current media buzz, but four
Latin American activists say they
want to divert attention to stop
ping the sweatshops and striving
for economic justice.
Tonight three women activists
from the Authentic Workers’
Front will discuss their struggle
for unionizing without the control
of the Mexican government. Each
of the women collaborate in edu
cational programs and organiza
tional work to strive toward fair
wages for workers.
“It’s peculiar that it takes some
thing like Kathy Lee Gifford’s
clothing line under fire to make
sweatshops a media phenome
non,” said Geof Gamer, member
of the steering committee of The
Committee in Solidarity with the
Central American People. “It’s
important that attention is drawn
to people like those speaking who
are working to change the sweat
shops.”
The speeches tonight will all be
centered on the theme “Same
Struggle: Fair Wages in Mexico
and the U.S.” The speeches will
highlight how sweatshops are not
limited to foreign countries and
how sweatshop conditions can be
changed. .
Garner, who has traveled to
Central America and seen sweat
shops, said poor working condi
tions are universal. Raising the
minimum wage in the United
States and establishing a “work
ing wage” in countries in need of
wage standards are crucial steps
toward the economic justice the
women will be speaking about, he
said.
Another Latin American ac
tivist speaking on campus this
week is Guatemalan activist Fran
cisco Cali. His lecture, “Human
Rights in Guatemala,” will focus
on the state of post-war
Guatemala. Cali is with the Center
for Human Rights Legal Action,
and has worked to call attention
to the human rights violations
against Guatemala’s indigenous
population.
Cali currently works with the
Center for Human Rights Legal
Action on projects such as work
ing with elected indigenous may
ors to apply indigenous law to
conflict resolution. He will also
speak about current democratic
activists in Guatemala and how
peace negotiations are helping
end the country’s 35-year war.
“None of these speakers will be
saying we’re ‘bad Americans’ be
cause we may buy goods pro
duced in sweatshops,” Garner
said. “They just want to increase
awareness about how people
work 15-hour days and lands are
taken to produce goods — injus
tices indeed.”
SPEAKERS THIS WEEK
■ TODAY: Three Latin American
Activists speak about sweatshops
at 7 p.m. in 100 Willamette Hall.*
Reception with the three activists
from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the
Willamette Hall Atrium.
■ WEDNESDAY: Guatemalan
activist Francisco Cali will be in
the ASUO Multicultural Center
at 3 p.m.
■ THURSDAY: Francisco Cali will
speak at 7 p.m. in 100 Willamette
Hall.*
*CISCAP will provide child care in
30 Pacific Hall during these
speeches.