STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Greeks win awards
Both the Interfraternity Council and
Panhellenic Council performed well at a
recent conference in Chicago
PAGE 3
SPORTS
The home stret
Oregon track and cross
country> coach Bill Dellinger
finishes his career this year
PAGE 5
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1998
r
TODAY
The Pacific Rim
Gamelan will
perform at 8 p.m
in Beall Concert
Hall.
WEATHER
Today
Mostly cloudy
High SO. Low 35.
Wednesday
Showers
1 ligh 53. Low 33.
Council seeks outside help for celebration
If no non-projit group wants to
help run the Eugene Celebration,
the event may not occur this fall
By Tricia Duryee
Community Reporter
Uncertainty continues to threaten the Eu
gene Celebration after a proposal was passed
by the City Council Monday night asking for
proposals from private non-profit groups in
terested in taking over the celebration.
In a 6 to 1 vote, the council decided to con
tinue the celebration if, and only if, a reason
able and affordable way could be found to
manage it. The council will take suggestions
from qualifying community organizations
willing to take on the responsibility of fund
ing or partially funding the event in Septem
ber and in future years.
If a non-profit group does not step for
ward, the city will then have to decide
whether to fund the event independently.
Lounciiwoman Hetty
Taylor was the only one
who voted against the pro
posal and was in favor of
making this year’s celebra
tion a sure thing. “I think
we should still commit to
this year,” Taylor said.
However, after Mayor
Jim torrey received a letter ot resignation
from three members of the celebration’s
steering committee, he even questioned
whether the event should happen this year.
"It may be in the best interest to not hold
the celebration this year," said Torrey. He
added that the three former committee mem
bers would likely agree with him.
The mayor was interested in seeing what
proposals would come about from qualified
non-profit organizations. Qualified organi
zations include groups with the necessary
resources and experience in running events.
During the meeting, the council looked at
three options. One was for the celebration to
continue as a city-managed event, the sec
ond was forevent management to shift from
the city to a qualified non-profit group and
the third was for the celebration to get no city
support, which would most likely end the
event.
City Council member Scott Meisner said
the problem was finding money to pay for
the event. "It is not whether or not we want
to continue this — no one disagrees that we
want it — but it is whether we can do it
through direct subsidy," Meisner said.
The council didn’t completely disregard
the option to fund the celebration this year;
however, members were concerned that the
costs would overrun again, as it did by
$100,000 this past year.
As of now, the celebration is budgeted up
until June for this September’s event. How
ever, Jim Johnson, a City Council staff mem
ber, said it would be hard to finalize plans
with such an uncertain future.
‘The Downward Spiral’
AMANDA COWAN/Emerald
Rinchen Yoezer climbs the big spiral staircase in the Knight Library to do some studying.
Local group
is opposed
to war in Iraq
A community alliance held
a press conference downtown
to voice support for a peaceful
resolution to the Iraqi conflict
By Michael Burnham
Community Editor
On the same day President Clinton of
fered tentative support of a U.N. deal with
Iraq to inspect all weapons sites, Eugene res
idents and University faculty voiced oppo
sition to military intervention in Iraq. Some
were also skeptical the situation would end
without further problems.
Clinton’s announcement that the United
States supports the U.N.-negotiated agree
ment came after more titan two days of ne
gotiations between U.N. Secretary General
Kofi Annan and Iraqi officials. The agree
ment would give the U.N. Special Commis
sion full access to all Iraqi weapons inspec
tions sites.
The agreement was reached Sunday in
what some have labeled a “last-minute” at
tempt by the U.N. and Iraq to thwart a mili
tary strike by U.S.-led U.N. forces.
But as Clinton expressed limited support
for the agreement, he said that all U.S. mili
tary forces would remain in the Middle East
Turn to IRAQ, Page 4
Human rights activist to present lecture on published memoirs
Randall Robinson has worked
to change human rights policies
in both South Africa and Haiti
By Teri Meeuwsen
Higher Education Reporter
Randall Robinson, an internationally rec
ognized champion for human rights and
democracy in Africa and Haiti, will be a
guest lecturer Wednesday for the Luther S.
and D. Cecelia Cressman Lecture in the Hu
manities.
Robinson will give a free public lecture on
his recently published memoir, “Defending
the Spirit: A Black Life in America.”
Sponsored by the Oregon Humanities
Center, the Cressman lecture aims to present
and illuminate fundamental humanities is
sues confronting societies that are some
times forgotten, said Ruthann Maguire, ad
ministrative assistant for the humanities
center.
“Robinson is a highly respected advocate
for human rights and democracy, and those
qualities are in line with the Cressman mis
sion,” she said.
The Cressman endowment was a gift to
the humanities center by the late archaeolo
gist and professor emeritus and his wife.
Robinson was the right person to work for
human rights in South Africa and Haiti, said
Ibrahim Gassama, law school associate dean
of academic affairs. Gassama worked with
Robinson for six years before becoming a
professor in 1990.
“He is an absolutely dedicated human
rights activist who was central to fundamen
tal changes in both South Africa and Haiti,”
he said. “He is exceedingly bright, creative,
persistent and uncompromising when it
comes to issues of freedom and justice. ”
Robinson is the founding president of
TransAfrica Inc.,a lobby established in 1977
dedicated to shaping popular opinion in the
United States to achieve more progressive
U.S. foreign polices toward Africa and the
Caribbean. He also founded the TransAfrica
Forum in 1981 to provide educational pro
grams on Africa and the Caribbean.
“No American did more to help free South
Africans from the nearly 50-year yoke of
apartheid," Gassama said.
Robinson worked for the return of Presi
dent Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti and also
to change U.S. policy toward Haiti and Hait
Turn to ROBINSON, Page 3