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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1997)
CONTACTING US NEWSROOM: ADDRESS: (541)346-5511 Oregon Daily Emerald E-MAIL: P.O.BOX 3159 ode@oregon uoregon .edu Eugene, Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: www.uoregon.edu/-ode EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbach NIGHT EDITOR Nicole Krueger wueuissttei Moving to Oregon requires adjusting to more than heavy rain and iveak coffee When I left San Francisco to move to Eugene, a co-worker said, “I just have one thing to say to you.” I assumed he was about to push his reti cent self aside and tell me how much he'd enjoyed working with me and how work and life, in general, would never be the same for him without me. I began to steel myself for his farewell tribute, sad to be leaving but anx ious to get going. “Gore-tex,” he said flatly. “Gore-tex?” A Hannah Dillon mantra for my jour ney? “You’ll need it in Oregon.” “Never,” I proclaimed, trying to lo cate a picture of Gore-tex in my head. "I may be moving to Ore gon, but I will not succumb to its fashion nor its culture, whatever that may be,” I said with a sneer and rolling of eyes. CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald Skim over letters that are still coming in to The Regis ter-Guard trying to maintain the 30-year war over the cross of Richard Hugo, a wonderful poet, wrote about the gray people and gray interior exterior landscapes of his Northwest. “In this photo, circa 1934 / you see the women of the St. James Lutheran / Wom ens Auxiliary / ... That gray / in the photo was actually their faces. / On gray days we reflected weather color. / Lutherans did that. It made us children of God.” The color of his words seeps in and settles like the gray-green bone-cold damp here. Still, the gray in Hugo's photo pervades this place in all sorts of ways. Snapshots: On a late spring afternoon, go sit out on the deck at the only close spot on the river available to eat and drink, the North Bank Restaurant. It is like being at a chamber of com merce after-work holiday party. Beefy men with loosened ties, “blond” bouffants in high heels still talking about work and, be fore the first couple of drinks, a jq, looking awkward togeth er without their office Two years later I sit at the L & L Market on an overcast autumn morning, cupping my shot in the dark. (I remember first being asked how I would like my cof fee at Full City Cafe. Strong, medium or light? Dumbfounded, I flashed back to the best cafe for forceful and flavorful coffee in all of San Francisco, as well as the best viewing of tattoos, scarifications and pierc ings, which happened to be next to my apartment in the lower Haight. Ordering a decaf, I was nearly blown out of the Horse shoe Cafe by a derisive, “There’s no decaf here." Since being in the nice Northwest, I have learned to order a shot of espresso in my java since “strong” here would be dish water at the Horseshoe). Having shed my finely weathered bomber jacket, snug 501s and gleaming black cowboy boots, I am now wrapped in a gray Henley, flannel, po lar fleece, baggy denim and oatmeal Wool rich socks stuffed in Timberline leather boots. I arrive at the L & L on my hybrid, metallic blue bike because I have not yet invested in a white sports utility vehicle so Northwestern exposure I can carefully place a “Celebrate Diversity” sticker on the center of its rear bumper. And in the back of my mind is a persistent niggle to take part in the Eugene communi ty at large, which might help to curb my sideline commentary about living here. The only thing that beckons, once in a while, is to become a Ricky, although I hear that they have lost their “subversive” edge since the fallout from their papal spoof in the parade a few years ago. Ho-hum. More advice on my move north. One of my older brothers, a writer-publisher, said, "Garrett Hongo.” His voice was reminiscent of when I was waiting to find out to which West African country the Peace Corps would be sending me. My brother tested, “What if they send you to ... Chad?" I replied that I might then have to reconsider their offer. I had no idea what and where Chad was, but given his authoritative inflection I knew it must be far from the beaches of Senegal, where I hoped to be posted. “He’s in Eugene?" At least I knew that much. My brother advised looking him up. He had an idea that Garrett was living as one who had been banished to the outback and that I, an outsider from a happening place, might be able to provide some relief to his exile. And with the bravado of a newcom er, I considered it, but then the rain set in for six months and I battled to keep afloat, here, in Eugene. Skinner Butte. See Oregon’s most wanted, who all fit the same description — scruffy white guys with names like Gurley Crumb. Recall the slap in the face Oregonians felt over Garrett Hongo’s revelations to the out side about living here. The OCA and West 11th Avenue. Hear people enthuse over Eugene’s “Eu geneness.” I don’t get the “ness,” but I think it has contributed to the University faculty salaries remaining historically low. It is fig ured that being in the Eugeneness of it all is nearly compensation enough. I own no Gore-tex. Not yet. You see, I was born and raised in the Pacific North west. This is my land. Its gray has pro pelled me out and I have carried it with me all over the world. Now, I have returned to it. I have come home, and I want it to be more than the place I once loved. Hannah Dillon is a columnist for the Emerald. Her work appears on alternate Fridays. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Must help hungry Few people realize that hunger and homelessness are serious is sues in America. For those of us who have enough food and a roof over our heads, it seems impossi ble that 10 percent of the United States relies on food stamps or that on any given day three mil lion Americans are homeless; 25 percent of these people are chil dren. However, even more unimaginable is the fact that the world produces 10 percent more food than is required to adequate ly feed the world’s entire popula tion. It has been estimated that if the federal assistance programs were fully funded, the hunger and homelessness problem would be solved within five years. If the world has more food than we need, then why isn’t the problem being solved? The an swer to this is that we, as the peo ple, need to be educated, and then we need to get involved. An opportunity is being provided for people to get involved during Na tional Hunger and Homelessness Week, Nov. 17 to 21. During this week, there will be shelter visits, information sessions, fasting and a sleep-out on the University campus in order to raise aware ness and involvement. The chance to learn and to be come an active part in the solu tion is being provided, so take ad vantage of it, help others and make a change. Carey Risch OSPIRG University funding Whether the current method of allocations to Oregon State Sys tem of Higher Education institu tions should be changed has been debated in these pages. However, readers have been given scant in formation about current budget allocations. As former chair of the Univer sity Senate’s budget committee, I have had a detailed look at the process. Let me just present some numbers. See what you think. The Chronicle of Higher Edu cation for Nov. 14 published the state allocations for schools in the United States and the changes over the last two years. The Oregon section reads like a good news/ bad news story. The good news is that all of higher ed ucation in Oregon got a 17 per cent increase in state support over two years. The bad news is that it didn't happen at the Uni versity of Oregon. Community colleges got an 18 percent increase in state support. At the six OSSHE schools, state support increased 29 per cent (SOU), 21 percent (PSU), 20 percent (EOU), 14 percent (OIT), 4 percent (UO) and 3 percent (WOU). The wide variation of state funding at state schools is attrib uted to the Basic Allocation Sys tem. This mathematical model attempts to account for the differ ences in educations costs for dif ferent types of students. I have looked at the model, and I have looked at the allocations, and I can’t reconcile the two. Changes in funding ought to be proportional to the changes in the students in the different cate gories. Yet, the model’s “cost” factors do not vary enough to ac count for the large disparities of funding for institutions. To ac count for the disparity between institutions, one would have to assume that some students are af forded cost factors that are 30 times greater than those afforded other students. In extreme cases, funding changes oppose the changes in student numbers. At the UO, the enrollment of Oregon residents and graduate students increased by 6 percent this year. Yet the fig ures supplied by OSSHE — the basis for the Chronicle article — show state allocations decreased over the same period. These allocation changes are cumulative. When I presided over our budget committee in 1993, the UO funding per resi dent and graduate student was roughly comparable across the OSSHE schools. Now, UO stu dents receive one-quarter less state support than cohorts at oth er OSSHE institutions. This trend cannot be explained by changes in the composition of the student body; during this time science and other high-cost majors at the University in creased. Don’t just take my word on the data; you can look it up yourself at the Web site coe.ilstu.edu. Be fore you ask if this is the alloca tion system you want, ask your self it this allocation makes sense to you. Paul Engelking Chemistry professor Park discussion University planning, public policy and management under graduates involved with a com munity development project held an event called Saturday in the Park on Nov. 15, America Re cycles Day. The event offered the commu nity a place to take recyclables, get recycling and public safety information and offer their ideas for the long-term use of the West University neighborhood park. It was a great success, and we would like to thank the follow ing for their donations, contribu tions and support: Bobby Lee, BRING (especially Sarah Grimm), Eugene Public Works, Starbucks, the Interfrater nity Council, Domino’s Pizza, Jabberwocky, the Alpha Omega house, EMU scheduling, KEZI, KVAL, the Eugene Police De partment, Central Presbyterian Church, Campus Recycling, Uni versity Office of Public Safety, Computer Systems West and the University Physical Plant. This is an example of stu dents, businesses, the city, Eu gene police, the University and others all working together to help out the community. Lance Joanis Planning, public policy and management
