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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1998)
CONTINUING EDUCATION Can’t stop learning For Oregonians who never want to stop learning, the University’s Continuing Edu cation Program offers many options PAGE 5 SPORTS Stand-out Stanford Academic powerhouse Stanford shows Hi is also an athletic powerhouse in its re cent appearance in the NCAA Final Four PAGE 7 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1998 -1 TODAY A talk about "Equal Marriage Rights for Lesbians and Gays ” will take place at Grayson 229at noon. WEATHER Today Partly cloudy High 54. Low 35. Thursday Showers High 54. Low 36. EMU coffee selection protested Competitors say the winner of the EMU’s coffee contract should not have been invited to the final review process By Doug Irving Student Activities Editor A controversy has been brewing in the EMU. The hot topic is coffee and the company chosen to fill the EMU’s cups. EMU Food Services picked Seattle Coffee Co. as the apparent winner of the three-year contract, which will likely be worth more than $70,000 each year. The choice is not fi nal and probably will not be definite until early next week. The decision steamed Cafe Orsini, which filed a protest last week. It argues Seattle Coffee should not have been invited to the final review process, and that the company won the contract only after the process was changed. Royal Blue Organics also protested the decision, arguing the EMU should look for more environmentally and politically con scious coffee suppliers. Seattle Coffee offered the best all-around package, explained EMU Food Service co ordinator Theresa Coleman-Kaiser. The committee thought Seattle Coffee offered better options and would fit in better with the EMU’s needs, she said. “They did not come out No. 1 in taste,” she said. “They also were not the least priced; they were among the highest priced.” The EMU decided last year to change cof fee brands. It wanted a new coffee to serve in the espresso bar and coffee house that are part of the EMU building renovations. The change will affect all coffee servers con trolled by EMU Food Services. Turn to EMU, Page 3 Tennis anyone? wjm m LAURA GOSS/ Emerald A construction crew tears down the covered tennis courts in order to make room for the new fitness center at East 15th and University Street on Monday. Two services help resolve legal disputes The services, both located in the EMU, are designed to assist students with legal problems By Amalie Young Higher Education Reporter A landlord barges into a tenant’s apart ment without warning or reason. He promises to fix a broken refrigerator, but it never happens. He refuses to return the ten ant’s security deposit even though the apart ment is left in pristine condition when va cated. Student renters can obtain legal assis tance for problems like these at the Office of Student Legal Services, located on the third floor of the EMU. The office provides assis tance in civil cases, most often landlord-ten ant and domestic-relations disputes, and in minor criminal misdemeanor cases, such as shoplifting and trespassing. Fully funded by incidental fees, the pro gram is one of only a handful around the country that provide legal services without taking a percentage of the money awarded in civil claims cases, said Ilona Koleszar, di rector of Student Legal Services. Staffed by two lawyers and a number of part-time law students, the office provides legal assistance to between 1,100 and 1,300 students a year. "I give people all the advice they can stand for free,” Koleszar said. There are some exceptions to cases the of fice decides to take on. Personal injury claims and serious felonies, for instance, are referred to local lawyers, Koleszar said. “If someone is charged with rape, we will give initial legal advice and then get them into the right hands,” she said. She encour ages local lawyers to lower their rates to ac commodate student budgets. Students who are charged with violations on campus that also fall under the Student Conduct Code, such as trespassing on Uni versity property, will often have to resolve their problems in both jurisdictions, Turn to ADVOCACY, Page 3 PFC grants students the power to allocate major funding Most campus organizations receive some funding from the student-run committee By Kristina Rudinskas Student Activities Reporter The end is finally in sight for the Pro grams Finance Committee. The committee’s 1998-99 budget propos als will be voted on Wednesday night by the Student Senate. The PFC will ask the Senate to allocate more than $2.5 million to 92 different student groups. The Designated Driver Shuttle, the Women’s Center, the Oregon Commentator and most other student associations receive part or all of their funding through the PFC. Each group has an opportunity during winter term to present its proposed budget to the PFC in a 20-minute presentation. The PFC decides whether to grant the group’s funding proposal or lower the amount of funding the group receives for the following school year. “We try to come up with guidelines, but each group is so individual and has a vari ety of activities and programs,” PFC mem ber Michelle Johnston said. The approval process can be tedious. The seven-member committee spent an av erage of 20 hours each week listening to group presentations, reviewing budget pro posals and debating funding amounts. “Coming up with a cookie-cutter formula for distributing money to a wide variety of groups is difficult,” PFC Chair Dave Koch explained. The PFC looks for a variety of items when reviewing groups: How large the group’s membership is on campus, how many students benefit from the group’s ac tivities, and how money was used from the previous year’s budget. These are just a few of the questions PFC members pay atten tion to during the presentations. “My first question is, what kind of fund-raising did the group do?” PFC Vice Chair Greg Labavitch said. PFC members try to in crease groups’ funding along a benchmark ap proved Dy me student senate, wmcn aimed for a 2-percent general increase. The benchmark is used as a guideline, Johnston said. This year, the PFC approved funding increases to 72 student groups, decreased funding for 14 and kept 6 groups at the same funding. Groups have the opportunity to appeal the PFC’s decision later during winter term. The PFC granted four appeals this year. "If the group brings in visual aids — tan gible evidence of their activities — they usually got more money,” Koch said. One of the most prepared presentations was given by the Chinese Student Associa tion, Johnston said. “We are average students,” she said. “We don’t see everything on campus, and it’s hard for us to know how active a group is before the 20-minute presenta tion.” The unique aspect of the PFC is the enor mous power students have to allocate mon ey to student groups. “We are the only body, probably on the West Coast, that doles out student fees purely by students,” Johnston said.
