Oregon daily emerald., May 13, 1998, Page 5, Image 5

UO granted funding
for zebraf ish center
By Amalie Young
Higher Education Reporter
Researchers at the University
were granted $4.3 million by the
National Institute of Health to es
tablish a state-of-the-art breeding
lab for-zebrafish that will serve as
a stock center and a resource for
other universities and research
institutes around the world.
Zebrafish are used for biomed
ical research because of their ver
tebrate structure, which mirrors
that of other vertebrates — in
cluding humans.
The center will go hand in
hand with the development of
another research facility in
Huestis Hall that will house labs
for University-sponsored ze
brafish studies.
The International Zebrafish Re
source Center will be built in a
space adjacent to the Physical
Plant and will hold a large sperm
bank, tanks and research labs. A
full-time staff of faculty-level,
professional scientists will be
hired to manage the facility, said
Monte Westerfield, a member of
the University’s Institute of Neu
roscience and the principal re
searcher who received the grant.
The state has also contributed
$1.5 million for construction of
the facility, and the National In
stitute of Health requested anoth
er $1 million in funding to com
plete construction.
“The administration was sup
portive and instrumental in ob
taining state funding,” Wester
field said.
The second facility, currently
under construction, will be a
"pure research” facility and
should be complete within the
next six months, said Steadman
Upham, vice provost for re
search.
The new labs will provide
some jobs and research opportu
nities for undergraduate and
graduate students, Upham said.
Panel to address city’s racial history
by i ricia uuryee
Community Reporter
One of the first African-Ameri
can men to come to Eugene was
Wiley Griffon. He operated the
town’s first mode of transporta
tion: a mule-powered street car
that took people downtown and
to the University area. He died in
1913.
“He was an incredible man
who had the respect of the com
munity,” said Doug Card, who
is organizing the History of Peo
ple of Color panel discussion to
be held Thursday night as part
of Historical Preservation Week.
Card also hopes the panel dis
cussion, “The Unwritten Histo
ry,” will increase awareness of a
community that has little to no
written history.
The event starts at 7 p.m. in City
Hall Council Chambers, 777 Pearl
St., and will feature five speakers
from the community who will
represent backgrounds such as
Kalapuya Indian, African-Ameri
can, Hispanic and Asian-Ameri
can.
Card, a historian and sociolo
gy teacher at Lane Community
College, will mediate the event.
In his studies of race, he said
'Griffon, the first African-Ameri
can, was an exception to the rule.
“From everything I’ve read,
Eugene was a racist communi
ty,” Card said.
He said the night’s discussion
is an attempt to rediscover and
recognize Eugene’s past.
“What the event is trying to do
is to bring home awareness of
the community in which we
live,” he said.
Card has been assisting in His
toric Preservation Week for the
last nine years, but he said almost
all of the events were focused on
white people in previous years,
and that it was finally time to rep
resent people of color.
Card said most people typi
cally see Oregon as a very homo
geneous society, but before the
state Constitution was signed in
1859 declaring that no free black
men were allowed to live in Ore
gon, there was quite a diverse
community in Eugene.
“My version is that people
from Eugene were not hardcore
racists,” he said. “It was like any
other issue today, such as June 1,
abortion or even the Riverfront
Research Park. In the 1850s, the
issue of racism divided the town
bitterly as did other issues.”
Mark Harris, an alcohol and
drug counselor at Lane Commu
nity College, will speak more on
African-American history in Eu
gene. City Councilman Bobby Lee
will address the city’s role in his
torical racism. Jim Garcia, direc
tor of the University Office of Mul
ticultural Affairs, will address the
Hispaniccommunity’s issues.
According to Card, it’s impor
tant to revisit the past in search
of finding out relevant issues for
the present.
“It is the best to focus on local
issues,” he said. “We can’t make
a difference in Bosnia, but we
can in the affairs of a little town.”
Train hits
man near
campus
By Jesse Sowa
Community Reporter
A man was in critical condi
tion and undergoing surgery at
Sacred Heart Medical Center late
Tuesday afternoon after being
struck by a train behind the Black
Angus Restaurant on Franklin
Boulevard.
Police said the man, whose
name is being withheld, suffered
severe leg and internal injuries at
about 2:10 p.m. after he stepped
onto the tracks and laid down in
front of the on-coming Union Pa
cific train, the engineer of the
train and other witnesses told po
lice.
The engineer said he immedi
ately applied the brakes when he
saw the man and sounded the
horn in an effort to alert him that
the train was traveling in his di
rection. The man did not respond
to the warnings, the engineer
said.
Paramedics arrived at the
scene within four minutes of the
accident and immediately trans
ported the man to the hospital
by ambulance. The man re
sponded to questions from
emergency medical personnel at
that time.
Police hope to question the
man on Wednesday should his
condition allow. Police and
train officials are continuing
an investigation of the acci
dent.
No further information was
available.
ET A IS
The International Peer As
sistants are showing the Chi
nese film “In Expectation” at
6:30 p.m. in 100 Willamette. For
more information, call 346
7425.
The Outdoor Program is
holding an outdoor-equipment
swap at 7:30 p.m. in the EMU
Ballroom. For more informa
tion, call 346-4365.
Oregon Is Where the
World Spends Its Summer.
Are You Ready?
Summer Duck Call
is Here v 1 _ M
Now!
Register now for
University
of Oregon
summer classes.
Pick up a free
summer
bulletin with
schedule *
of classes in
Oregon Hall
or at the
bookstore.
UO Summer Session is
June 22-August 14.
Classes and workshops
begin throughout
the summer