University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
FINANCE
I
Programs profit
Three programsfaced the ASUO Programs
Finance Committee with their 1998-99
budgets; two left with budget increases
PAGE 3
BASKETBALL
Women’s race open
Stanford leads the Pac-10, but important losses
and crucialfuture games leave the rest of the
conference jockyingfor position
PAGE 5
TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1998
TODAY
The University be
gins charging $10
per transaction for
changing or drop
ping classes.
WEATHER
Today
Rain
High 50. Low 41.
Wednesday
Rain
High 50. Low 40.
They
can only
win with
international
support. ^
John Groves
CISCAP volunteer
WENDY FULLER/Emerald
Maura FurJ'ey
(left) andJen
ny Smith are
trying to raise
awareness of
the plight of
Chiapas in
Mexico. 'Ihe
vigil was held
Monday at
noon on the
comer of 13th
and Kincaid.
Vigil honors victims of Chiapas massacre
A Eugene
grass-roots
group wants
to end the
violence in
the southern
Mexican
state
By Michael Burnham
Community Reporter
A crowd of almost 40 people braved a
winter day and gathered for a vigil Monday
to acknowledge the recent massacre in
southern Mexico.
The vigil, which was organized by the
Committee in Solidarity with the Central
American People, a Eugene grass-roots or
ganization, was held at the corner of 13th
Avenue and Kincaid Street in recognition
of an "International Day of Action” aimed
at stopping U.S. military aid to Mexico.
“We’re calling for the demilitarization of
Chiapas,” said Scott Miksch, a CISCAP
staff member. Miksch said this could be ac
complished if the Mexican government
pulled its army out of Chiapas and if the
United States ended military aid to its war
torn southern neighbor.
“There is a definite connection between
U.S. military aid to Mexico and the recent
massacre in Chiapas,” he said. He added
that weapons used to prevent drug-traffick
ing are leaving government hands and are
being used by paramilitary groups such as
the one believed to be responsible for the
massacre.
The massacre occurred Dec. 22 in the vil
lage of Acteal, Chiapas, when attackers,
whom the Mexican government believed to
be paramilitary rebels from a neighboring
community, gunned down 45 unarmed
Tzotzil Indians with AK-47s.
The Indians were believed to have been
sympathetic to the Zapatistas, who are cur
rently involved in an anti-government
movement. The movement sprang up in
Turn to VIGIL, Page 3
MAH GARTON/Emerald
Military grant aids artificial intelligence research
A $1.1 million grant will enable
UO researchers to develop
problem-solving PCs
By Nicole Kristal
Higher Education Reporter
While some new forms of technology
have brought about such controversial pro
cedures as cloning, researchers at the Uni
versity have developed more practical
technological advancements through the
use of artificial intelligence.
The Computational Intelligence Re
search Laboratory has received a $1.1 mil
lion grant from the joint Defense Ad
vanced Research Projects Agency and Air
Force Laboratories Planning and Decision
Aids program to continue its research in
the field of artificial intelligence.
“We’re finding more effective ways to
exploit machines and solve harder and
harder problems,” senior research associ
ate Matthew Ginsberg said.
The laboratory aims at making schedul
ing and planning more efficient in corpo
rations and small businesses. One of the
institutions that benefits from these ad
vancements is the military.
“There is a tiny bit of trickiness in taking
defense department money,” Ginsberg
said.
The military can use the laboratory’s
technology to help build aircraft and move
troops in the Middle East more efficiently.
Ginsberg said he finds it fortunate that
the work supported by the defense depart
ment has a general-purpose application.
“If we were just moving troops, our
work couldn’t be used for important
peacetime applications,” Ginsberg said.
While it can take the military almost two
days to solve problems on production
lines, for example, the system developed
by the laboratory can produce an optimal
schedule in two and a half minutes.
“Our system can run on a PC,” laborato
Turn to GRANT, Page 4
Blood aid marrow needed
The ASUO, University Alumni Association
and the Lane Memorial Blood Bank are hold
ing a blood drive today and Wednesday in
the EMU Fir Room. The drive will be held
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Interested students, faculty and staff can
also register to be bone marrow donors at
the blood drive. The drive is in response to a
national shortage of minority donors.
After the forms are screened, the blood bank
will perform blood tests and tissue typing to
determine if a person is eligible to be put
into the National Marrow Donor Program
Registry on Feb. 3. This service is free for
minorities, but otherwise the fee is $20.