Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1997)
HOLIDAY SUPPLEMENT A Season for Giving As the holiday break approaches, this is the perfect time to be thinking about buying stuff and giving it to others SECTION B SPORTS Tremendous opportunity Excited to be playing in the Las Vegas Bowl, the seniors on the Oregon footbal team have one last chancefor redemption PAGE 9A I WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1997 n TODAY At 12p.m. outside Johnson Hall, stu dents will rally against corporate influence. WEATHER Today Cloudy High 45. Low 35. Thursday Partly cloudy High 45. Low 33 It’s official, Ducks going to Las Vegas Oregon’s wait pays off as the Ducks get the bowl berth they were bolding out for By Ryan Frank Sports Editor No more waiting. No more wondering. It’s finally official. As expected, the Oregon Ducks accepted the Las Vegas Bowl selection committee’s of fer on Tuesday to play No. 23 Air Force in the Dec. 20 game at 3 p.m. The selection committee’s decision ends more than a week of speculation that Oregon could have gone to one of three bowl games, the other two being the Insight.com Bowl and the Sports Humanitarian Bowl. The bowl is the Ducks’ sixth postseason game in the last six seasons, and they now have not gone more than one season without a bowl appearance since 1989. “This is a wonderful opportunity for the University of Oregon, again for our fine foot ball team and the great job they've done this year to have one more chance to play against a quality opponent in the Air Force Acade my," Oregon athletic director Bill Moos said at a 5 p.m. press conference Tuesday. "It should be a wonderful experience and another chance to showcase the University of Oregon, not just on the West Coast but na tionally,” he said. Iowa was the other team the selection com mittee was seriously considering, but be cause of final exams that go until Dec. 19 and a conference contract with the Sun Bowl, the Hawkeyes could not commit to the bowl. Oregon could have taken the at-large bid to the Sports Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, last week, but Moos said the Las Ve gas Bowl presented a number of positive op tions that the Humanitarian Bowl did not. Moos mentioned the top 25 opponent in Air Force (10-2) in the Las Vegas Bowl, the date of the bowl, the bowl's close proximity to the Ducks’ Southern California alumni base and the large number of Oregon play ers from the Southern California area as rea sons for holding out for the bowl. Turn to BOWL, Page 3A It should fxj a ivonderjid experience and another chance to showcase the University... » Bill Moos UO Athletic Director Miner called to meeting with Clinton Miner was chosen to represent Oregon today at the Youth, Racism and Student Activism Conference in Akron, Ohio By Doug living Student Activities Editor The White House called ASUO President Bill Miner last week. “Hello Mr. Miner,” the message said. “I'm inviting you to a meeting with the president. Please give me a call back.” “At first I thought it was a joke,” Miner said. “It sounded like one of my friends." He called his friends — they didn’t know what he was talking about. He called the White House — they knew exactly what he was talking about. Miner had been chosen to represent Ore gon at the Youth, Racism and Student Ac tivism Conference. Miner will meet with President Clinton and representatives from every state today in Akron, Ohio. The conference will bring together stu dent leaders to talk about racism on campus and how to deal with it. Miner said he ex pects part of the four-hour meeting to be a round-table discussion and part to be small group discussions. C-Span will broadcast the conference live from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. “Hopefully, we have the kind of influence to alleviate the problems we’ll hear about,” Miner said. “We sit here in Eugene and think we’re a progressive campus, but obvi ously we sit in a little bubble. It’s the people that we don’t see or hear about that we know exist.” Miner hasn’t prepared a speech yet for the meeting — he planned to outline a few statements during his plane trip yesterday. He also had to write history and political science papers and study for a quiz. He plans to bring up racism that targets international students — a problem that’s too common at the University, he said. “Not only is it students making comments to them because they don’t have a command of the language,” he said, “also it’s profes sors just not giving the help of a normal stu Turn to MINER, Page 3A Window wonders kmtm M. WENDY FULLER/Emerald These colorful window decals, called “Mandalas, ” are made by Bryon Alien arid Melissa Verbena ofMandala Arts. The Winter Craft Fair continues in the EMU Fir Room today. New program looks to help troubled youth University students involved in the Friends of Detention program tutor youth at a local detention facility By Michael Burnham Community Reporter A local community project that uses Uni versity and high school volunteers to help troubled adolescents will officially kick off Thursday morning at the Skipworth Juvenile Detention Center. But some volunteer efforts are already underway and are showing some positive results. The project, known as "Friends of Deten tion,” was the brainchild of Ann Aiken, ju venile court judge for Lane County. Judge Aiken originally approached the University and area high schools in order to gain sup port and volunteers to staff the program prior to the school year, but the project is yet to be gin because of the lengthy background checks required of volunteers working in the facility. Aiken said she created the program be cause juveniles (12- to 16-year-olds) at Skip worth sometimes suffer from a lack of com munity services and resources, such as mentors, adequate clothing, books and sport ing goods. Juveniles are usually sent to the facility because they have committed seri ous or violent crimes. Aiken said sometimes the youths stay at the facility for 30 to 60 days, but added that the length of stay for each individual varies. Her goal for the project is to use student vol unteers to increase the educational opportu nities and community support for the youth at Skipworth. She originally approached Associate Profes sor Dan Close of the College of Education in September to organize the project at the Univer sity level. Close is currently using volunteers from his Education 311 class to serve as volun teers, mentors and organizers for goods drives. Although the program has not been offi cially launched, about 10 students from Close’s class are already working as mentors within the facility. Aiken added that University students are proving to be a resource because some of the Turn to YOUTH, Page 3A