Monday. October 5. 1998
Weather forecast
Today Tuesday
Partly cloudy Sunny
High 69, Low 45 High 73, Low 41
OSPIRG seeks re-establishment
The group hopes to gain student
support after being defunded last
spring/PAGE 3
Women’s soccer
Ducks could not slide
past Portland State,
tying 1-1/PAGE 9
An independent newspaper
Volume 1 (X), Issue 25
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
w
latt Hankins/ Emerald
Keith Hazleton and dance instructor Denise Steele swing out Saturday night at the EMU ballroom to the retro song stylings of indigo Swing.
Duckfest brings back swing
Indigo
Swing
played at
the EMU
Ballroom
as part of
Duckfest
By Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
The joint was jumpin’, as they say, on
Saturday night.
The San Francisco-based group Indigo
Swing made sure the EMU Ballroom
stayed that way all night long. Both expe
rienced and first-time swingers came out
in full force for the event, part of the
Duckfest celebration to welcome back stu
dents.
The packed ballroom proved that swing
is back and very alive in Eugene.
“Swing is really an American art form,”
said Denise Steele, who led a dance lesson
before the free concert. “The clothes, the
music and the dance are all part of an artis
tic era.”
The floor was packed front to back prior
to the show for dance lessons. Steele ran
the crowd through a basic six-step lindy
hop, one of the many styles of dance that
helped define the big band, jazz style of
the 1940s swing era.
Turn to SWING, Page 6
(( Swing is
really an
A merican
art form. »
Denise Steele
Swing instructor
Congress OKs
lower interest
rate on loans
Students who consolidate their
loans before Jan. 31 can take
advantage of the 7.46% rate
By Peter Breaden
Oregon Daily Emerald
Students receiving financial aid may
breathe easier this year due to a number of
changes in their direct loan payments.
Congress approved a number of amend
ments to the Reauthorization of the Higher
Education Act that lower interest rates on
student loan payments.
The new rate of 7.46 percent is a de
crease from the 8.25 percent students usu
ally pay on most direct loans. Students
with direct loans must consolidate their
loans by Jan. 31, 1999, to be eligible for a
lower interest rate on their payments.
Students can pick up an application at
the Office of Financial Aid, on the second
floor of Oregon Hall.
The total amount allocated, in the form
of federal direct loans, has increased al
most $34 million since six years ago, and
7,000 more students have received aid, ac
cording to the Office of Financial Aid's
Fund Summary.
Nearly half the students at the Universi
ty use loan money, in part, to pay tuition,
which is currently $3,726 a year for in
state students and $12,510 for non-resident
students, said Ed Vignoul, director of stu
dent financial aid.
“I believe in ecpial educational opportu
nity regardless of whether parents can af
ford it,” Vignoul said. “People today need
more and more education.”
A few years ago, the University was one
of the lirst to adopt a direct loan program.
The direct lending program allows stu
dents to borrow directly from the federal
government through student financial aid
instead of using loans from private banks.
Turn to LOANS, Page 7
Health Center recommends that students get hepatitis vaccination
The number of reported cases in
Lane County has increased, and
many students are in a high risk
age group
By Sarah Skidmore
Oregon Daily Emerald
The number of hepatitis A and hepatitis
B cases is on a gradual decline at the state
level, but in Lane County the number of re
ported cases has nearly doubled in the
past year.
University students are in a high risk
category for contracting the hepatitis A
and B viruses, according to state health of
ficials. Age group, lifestyle and a higher in
cidence of reported cases of hepatitis A
and hepatitis B in the Lane County area all
increase student’s risk.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver
that can be caused by medication, alcohol
or several other agents, according to the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Although both viruses have serious
long-term effects, students are at a much
higher risk to contract the hepatitis B
virus, according to Lane County Health
and Human Services officials. Hepatitis B
can also cause serious damage to the liver.
Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis can re
sult from HBV. The risk of getting liver
cancer is 200 times higher if you are a he
patitis B carrier, according to the Ameri
can Social Health Association.
Hepatitis B is transmitted directly and
indirectly through blood and other bodily
fluids. It is usually transmitted by sexual
contact, but it can also be picked up
through mucous membranes and broken
skin.
Some possible ways to contract it in
clude: repeatedly sharing an infected per
son's razor, toothbrush or earrings; travel
to high-risk areas; and use of illicit in
jectable drugs or contaminated needles
used for tattooing or piercing, according to
the American College Health Association.
Approximately 75 percent of all the re
ported HBV cases happen to people be
tween the ages of 15 and 39, according to
the association.
HBV is highly contagious, and in some
instances, it has been shown to remain in
fectious on environmental surfaces for at
least a month, according to the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms of hepatitis B include: loss
Turn to HEPATITIS, Page 4
Hepatitis in Oregon
Number of hepatitis A and B cases reported in
Lane County and Oregon.
Oregon
1997A
1997:B
1998:A
1998;B
0 100
Lane County
1997: A
1997:B
1998A
1998:B
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
SOURCE: State Health Division's Communicable Disease Dept.
Man Ganon/Emerald