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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 14, 1998)
ELECTIONS Double majority? Measure 53's supporters say the double majority' imposed by Measures 47 and 50 violates the spirit of democracy PAGE 4 SPORTS Leaping for the record Oregon triple jumper Gregg Bleakney hopes to set both a personal best and the Oregon team record with a winning jump at the Oregon Twilight meet PAGE 11 THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1998 TODAY Get out and help make the school beautifulfor Uni versity Day. WEATHER Today Rain High 59. Low 45. Friday Rain High 56. Low 44. International Students Global Learning A group of international students gives educational discussions in exchange for a partial tuition ivaiver By Doug Irving Student Activities Reporter Room 15 in Ellis Parker Elementary is probably the closest to Mauritius that any of Ms. Schaffer’s second- and third graders will everget. Here they will learn that Mauritius is a tiny island in the Indian Ocean. Here they will see stunning pictures of palm trees and white sand. Here they will learn to dance like native Mauritians, swinging their hips to laughing creole music. And here they will meet Vimala Ap payya. “Hi everyone,” she says to the audience sitting obediently at her feet. “I’m so hap py to be with you today. Do you know where Mauritius is?” Her audience answers in one voice: “No.” They will an hour later. Appayya will give her young students a crash course in Mauritius culture, language, traditions, history and life. She is one of a small group of internation al students at the University who give at least 80 hours a year to community presen tations about their cultures. The University waives $4,500 of their tuition in return. The International Cultural Service Pro gram has been offering these scholarships since 1983. It is the only such program in the country, said Peter Briggs, who start ed the program and served as its director until last year. Other schools have tried similar pro grams, but none have succeeded to the extent, or in the same way, as Oregon’s. Classes and school groups take advan tage of the program the most, usually inviting the students to teach children a lit tle about a different place. Churches, senior Turn to ICSP, Page 3 LAURA GOSS/Emerald Vimala Appayya teaches second- and third- graders at Ellis Parker Elementary School a traditional Mauritius dance Court hears remaining grievances OSPIRG supporters, the Elections Board and Kelli McCartan were among those with complaints By Chris Kenning Student Activities Heporter A bullhorn, some tennis balls and a vocal anti-OSPIRG polling attendant were among the ASUO election violations presented to the Constitution Court Wednesday. Petitioners are seeking to have the election results declared invalid and want the court to order a special election. The court will rule on the cases in a closed session, with de cisions coming as soon as Friday, said Chief Justice Joel Corcoran. Just minutes before the court was to con vene, Peter Enslow dropped all grievances against OSPIRG. Enslow had filed five grievances during the elections, charging OSPIRG with election violations including using ASUO facilities, sabotaging posters and budget inconsisten cies. He also said having the group on the bal lot on Earth Day created an unfair election. “It was a cost-benefit decision to drop the cases,” Enslow said, explaining he didn’t want to burden the Court. “I simply wanted to make a point." OSPIRG leaders who showed up to defend themselves said they were pleasantly surprised. “If the cases weren’t legitimate, they should n’t have been filed in the first place,” said Michael Olson, an OSPIRG board member. Those opposed to OSPIRG also went be fore the court. Election Board members said Jonathan Collegio of the Honesty campaign failed to list printing costs on his campaign filings. Collegio said a friend did the printing on his copier and that no money was spent. “I guess I could have come up with some econometric model that included the ma chine’s age and the amount of toner and elec tricity used,” he said. Collegio said he had already fully disclosed the campaign expen ditures. Turn to HEARING, Page 6 Committee works to answer budget questions surrounding OSPIRG OSP1RG has released a detailed budget in an effort to appear more ‘open and accountable’ By Chris Kenning Student Activities Reporter Twenty campus leaders have formed the Committee to Re-establish OSPIRG in an ef fort to rally support for the recently ousted Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group. The group, made up of student senators, stu dent program leaders and University faculty, plans to directly address budgetary and funding questions raised during the recent elections. The committee said failure to do so in the past contributed to OSPIRG’s defeat at the polls. “Those opposed to OSPIRG made the bud get out to be a shady thing,” said unofficial ASUO President-Elect Geneva Wortman, a founder of the committee. “We didn’t real ize it was such an issue, and our message didn’t get across.” OSPIRG has since released detailed bud gets in the form of pie charts in an effort to appear more open and accountable, Wort man said. A line-item budget is now avail able at the ASUO office. "We’re trying to get out information that makes OSPIRG’s funding and accomplish ments more user friendly,” Wortman said, “and we want to sit down with the opposition and student leaders and clear the question up. ” During the group’s first meeting, many ex pressed concern that the students who voted against OSPIRG didn’t realize the scope of its work. ASUO President Bill Miner said too many students compared it with on-campus groups. “The message got muddled,” Miner said. “People didn’t understand the implications of their votes.” Accordingly, the committee will put greater stress on making students aware of the benefits they receive from statewide representation. “Only three things influence the Legislature — money, votes and education,” he said. “We need OSPIRG advocating for us at that level and only a statewide organization can do that. ” Glenda Marshall, an OSPIRG board mem ber, said the group is not taking the student vote as a sign it is not wanted on campus. “The campus obviously supports us,” she said. “I think the message they sent was just that there were some questions that went unanswered." Marshall said every year there is an inde pendent audit of OSPIRG’s budget, and the $147,000 “bare-bones budget” is subject to oversight by the controller’s office of the Ore gon University System. “We sincerely hope that the additional in formation we’ve prepared will help students understand that we are accountable to them for the money they give us,” Marshall said. (( We’re trying to get out information that makes OSPIRG's funding and accomplish ments more user friendly. >> Geneva Wortman Unofficial ASUO President-Elect