HIGHER EDUCATION
Shaky foundations
ProfessorJeffHanes will speak on Japan s
earthquake prevention techniques, which
he considers inadequate
PAGE 3
SPORTS
Golf team takes eighth
The women 'sgolf team shot a 318 in the final
round of the Pac-10 Championships tofinish at
928, 63 strokes behindfirst-place Arizona
PAGE 7
THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1998
TODAY
Students uill con
tinue reading the
names of Holo
caust victims in the
EMU A mpitheatre.
WEATHER
Today
Mostly cloudy
High 65. Low 42.
Friday
Showers
High 58. Low 40.
West University Neighborhood
Survey sent to area residents
The survey asks residents
of the West University
Neighborhood to prioritize
their concerns
By Michael Burnham
Community Editor
If you received a gray envelope from
the city of Eugene and discarded it as
junk mail, you may want to dig it out of
the garbage can. You will get another one
if you don’t.
Eugene city officials are asking West
University Neighborhood residents to
spare a few minutes of their time to tell
them what they think of their residence
through a mailed survey.
Planning and development officials in
conjunction with a University intern re
cently completed the distribution of a
survey to more than 750 residents outlin
ing their concerns about the state of the
neighborhood.
Questions ask residents to rate the se
riousness of neighborhood issues rang
ing from crime and safety to housing and
police concerns. Many questions on the
survey have a rating scale from one to
five, with a one as “least serious” to a five
as “most serious.” The scale also in
cludes a rating for respondents to mark
“don’t know.”
The questions on the survey were
drafted by Ron Funke, a University se
nior who is an intern with the city’s plan
ning and development department. He
said all 750 surveys have been distrib
uted and city officials are hoping to re
ceive at least a 60 percent response rate
from residents.
The city will use survey results to aid
and direct neighborhood revitalization
efforts, according to Ritchie Weinman,
city housing and neighborhood manag
er. He said this is the first such survey of
its kind in recent years, and similar sur
veys will be distributed to this and other
city neighborhoods in the future.
The survey is an important tool for city
Turn to SURVEY, Page 4
LAURA GOSS/ Emerald
Officer Mel Thompson and sidekick “Piggy Wink” patrol the comer of 13th Avenue
and Patterson Street in the West University area on Tuesday.
Universities
prepare for
2000 bug
Oregon schools are checking
to make sure their computer
systems will properly recognize
and store the year 2000
By Ben Romano
Higher Education Reporter
As the new millennium approaches, one
thing weighs heavily on the minds of those
in the information services industry: How
will computers react to the year 2000?
Many individuals in computing fields are
concerned about the year 2000 problem.
The problem involves the way computers
recognize dates, said Hervy Allen, Univer
sity microcomputer support specialist.
Many older computers recognize years
based on two digits. For instance, 1998
would simply be "98.” The problem occurs
when the year 2000 arrives; these comput
ers may not recognize “00” as the year 2000,
Allen said.
The Oregon University System has begun
the process of checking computer systems
at all seven state universities to ensure that
they are year 2000 compliant, said Rod
Bowman, OUS year 2000 coordinator. Bow
man estimates the cost of the year 2000
compliance for OUS at $4.5 million.
Coordinators at each university are shar
ing resources in an effort to minimize the
possible impact of the year 2000 problem,
said Susan Hilton, University assistant di
rector for auxiliary services. Hilton is the
University’s year 2000 compliance coordi
nator.
Systems Computer Technologies, the
vendor that sells Oregon universities many
administrative programs such as finance,
student records and human resources, plans
to have year 2000 compliant versions avail
able by Labor Day, Hilton said.
In addition to checking administrative
programs, OUS is also checking individual
personal computers. Year 2000 compliance
will vary from computer to computer,
Hilton said.
Turn to 2000, Page 3
Constitution Court will review another elections qrievance
Matt Gross, a McCartan
campaign worker, claims
ASUO Vice President Ben
Unger broke elections rules
By Michael Hines
Student Activities Reporter
A new grievance is brewing in
the ASUO Executive office.
University undergraduate Matt
Gross filed a grievance Wednes
day against ASUO Vice President
Ben Unger, asking to halt the elec
tions among other things.
In the grievance, Gross, who is
working on Kelli McCartan’s cam
paign for ASUO Executive, ac
cused Unger of identifying him
self as the manager of the Geneva
Wortman and Morgan Cowling’s
ASUO Executive campaign and
then, acting on behalf of the ASUO
Election Board, removing McCar
tan’s campaign material from a
University classroom.
In addition to asking for the elec
tions to be stopped, Gross request
ed reimbursement for McCartan’s
campaign and prosecution of
Unger for violating two rules.
The grievance was forwarded to
the ASUO Constitution Court by
the elections board. Unger, who is
a supporter of Wortman and Cowl
ing, said he does not expect the
court to hear Gross’ case.
The Constitution Court will see
the grievance paperwork today.
“We will take a look at it first
thing tomorrow morning,” Chief
Justice Joel Corcoran said
Wednesday. He declined to com
ment on the case further until he
had seen the grievance.
"I never, never—nor would ever,
ever—identify myself as campaign
manager for anything but the USS A
ballot measures,” Unger said.
According to Unger, who said
he does not know Gross, he was
with election board member Jen
nifer Wilson and OSP1RG director
Carolyn Whipple during the dis
puted incident. He saw campaign
leaflets had been distributed in a
classroom, which is against Uni
versity rules, and wanted to take
action.
“I saw [the fliers],” Unger ex
plained. "I asked her, ‘Jennifer,
can I remove these?’ She said,
‘Yeah.’”
Wilson supported Unger’s sto
ry, saying she authorized him as
the ASUO vice president to re
move the pamphlets.
McCartan said she did not help
write the grievance, but she does
believe it is valid.
McCartan called the situation “po
litical nonsense” and said she had
not been informed of any rules con
cerning the distribution of leaflets.
The rule was made by University
Scheduling and Services. Depart
ment manager Virginia Johnson
could not be reached to confirm a
date the rule was made, but Unger
said the rule was made recently.
“It has been an issue before,”
Wilson said. “[McCartan] should
be aware.”
“If someone needs to personally
attack me, personally attack me,”
Unger said. “Don’t screw around
with the elections. It’s just weird. ”
McCartan suggested Unger may
be experiencing a conflict of inter
ests by supporting Wortman and
Cowling and having election
board authority. “I wonder if he
has difficulty separating the two,”
she said.
Unger said his duties as ASUO
vice president take precedent. “My
first priority is to make sure the
elections run smoothly," he said.
Gross could not be reached for
comment on the grievance.