Monday, November 16,1998
Weather forecast
Today Tliesday
Showers Cloudy
High 53, Low 42 High 48, Low 42
Great American Smokeout
The Health Center hosts a number of
uorkshops recognizing the American
Cancer Society’s annual event/? AGE 4
Men defeat Coppin Stated
The Ducks dom mated their first
regular-season basketball game '
unth a 77-62 victory /PAGE 9
V
■MMi independent newspaper
IW Volume 100, Issue 55
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Effects of one-time matriculation fee incite debate
Administrators and the ASUO
Executive disagree about the
cost-effectiveness of the fee
By Laura Cadiz
Managing Editor
Order a college transcript — $5. Drop a
class —$10. Apply fora degree — $25.
University students have complained for
a number of years that “every time they
turned around they were paying a fee,” said
Jim Buch, associate vice president for stu
dent academic affairs.
The University responded last spring by
placing such costs under a one-time matricu
lation fee that was implemented this fall. But
the ASUO Executive contends that the fee
may end up costing students more money.
The matriculation fee will arrive on stu
dents’ bills this month. The fee, which was
passed by the state Board of Higher Education
in July, requires returning students to pay $45
and new undergraduates to pay $150.
After a two-year phase-in to even out the
costs between returning and new students,
entering undergraduate students will pay a
$200 fee starting in the year 2000.
The fee replaces such costs as the Intro
DUCKtion fee, $100; official transcript fee,
$5; re-enrollment fee, $15; degree applica
tion fee, $25; and drop/add penalty fee, $10.
"It felt to us that we were nickel and dim
ing students at every turn,” Buch said.
Buch said the administration came up with
the fee amounts based on enrollment and the
average amount of those fees collected each
year, which is usually about $800,000 per
year. He said the administration set the fee
higher than that average because it didn’t
want to have to raise the fee in a few years.
ASUO President Geneva Wortman, how
ever, is worried students may not get their
money’s worth because students who never
use any of the services are still required to
pay the fee.
She said she feels many students would
rather pay a small amount of money for each
service than the one-time fee.
But Buch said he doesn’t expect many
students will lose money.
“When we look at it on an individual stu
dent basis that may be true, but when we
start looking at what students pay, they are
probably paying [the cost of the fee] or
more,” he said.
He added that another benefit is that the fee
is now covered under financial aid, whereas
in the past, each individual cost was not.
However, state board member David Koch
of Eugene is worried the fee may cause stu
dents to graduate with a higher amount of
debt. Koch voted against the fee because he
was concerned that it, tacked on to the tu
ition rate, would negatively affect students’
ability to afford school. This year’s resident
undergraduate tuition is $3,681.
“All these additional fees beyond the in
struction fee are very expensive nickels and
dimes that are being charged to students," said
Koch, a graduate student in environmental
studies at the University.
Silenced voices
ASUO representatives contend that stu
Turn to FEE, Page 3
Victory!
"—m—
Defensive ends Terry Miller and Saul Patu celebrate the Ducks’ 51-19 victory over Arizona State on Saturday.
Amanda Cuuun /Emerald
Officials
discuss riots
nationwide
Experts examined strategies for
avoiding alcohol abuse at a
teleconference in Pullman, Wash.
By Peter Breaden and David Ryan
Oregon Daily Emerald
Seated in a room at the Instructional Me
dia Center on Friday, representatives from
the University and Eugene police joined of
ficials from 112 universities across the Unit
ed States and Canada to participate in a tele
conference about student riots and alcohol
abuse.
The teleconference aired from Pullman,
Wash, and was sponsored by the National
Association of Student Personnel Adminis
trators. The program included the expert
panel and a live audience in Pullman.
University officials touted the merits'of
their plans while researchers and student
representatives from riot-affected colleges
said a college culture of alcohol and vio
lence lives on.
Washington State University President
Turn to TELECONFERENCE, Page 6
Decrease in crime rate attributed to increased police presence
Calls that have led to
investigation have gone
up as crime has fallen
by 16.5 percent
By Felicity Ayles
Oregon Daily Emerald
Despite a stabbing at a party
near campus two weeks ago and
the occasional riot problem, crime
in the West University Neighbor
hood has actually decreased by
16.5 percent since 1997.
City and University public safety
officials attribute the decrease to a
constant police presence in the area.
The cooperation of the Eugene
Police Department and the Office
of Public Safety is creating a better
sense of safety and security in the
neighborhoods that surround cam
pus this year, OPS director Stan
Reeves said. He also said the eyes
and ears of student patrol officers
help in reducing campus crime.
“All those things together work
towards empowering the campus
environment,” he said. “There is
not one isolated approach.”
The introduction of a constant
police presence to the campus
area began with a foot patrol offi
cer assigned to the West Universi
ty Neighborhood several years
ago, Reeves said.
"We started to see an improve
ment almost immediately with an
officer assigned to that particular
corridor,” he said.
But Reeves said that although
OPS works with the Eugene po
lice, it has no jurisdiction off cam
pus, even if the problem deals
with University students.
“I’m not aware of any school that
has that ability,” he said. “Those
students are dealt with the same
way anybody else would be. ”
Bev Mason, station manager for
the police substation at 13th Av
enue and Alder Street, said even
though the crime rate has fallen,
the calls for service have in
creased. These are the calls that
actually cause the police to go out
into the community and investi
gate a problem, she said.
Crimes such as theft, burglary
and assault have gone down, and
that can be credited to the officers
working there and the people, who
live in the area, she said.
The EPD campus substation has
helped maintain a police presence
near campus, Mason said. She
said even if the station is closed,
there are officers there working
with their cars parked outside.
The new permanent police sub
station near campus has also helped
the EPD to be more accessible to stu
dents, Mason said. Students come
in every day to report suspicious ac
tivity or to just learn how to host a
responsible party. Four students
came in before Halloween weekend
and notified the officers at the sub
station that they each would be
holding parties, she said, and none
of these parties got out of control.
“We’re here to tell them how to
have a safer party and help them
if it gets out of hand,” Mason said.
"If too many people show up at a
party, we can help remove the un
invited people.”
Mason said crime prevention is
the key to crime reduction. The
biggest crime problem in the West
University Neighborhood is with
drug and alcohol abuse, she said.
“From that comes assault, sex
ual assault and theft,” Mason said.
“If you could take out the core of
drug and alcohol abuse, you
wouldn’t see these crimes.”
This is exactly what happened
on 13th Avenue. Eugene police
placed a foot patrol officer in the
area and cracked down on drug
use, Mason said.
The drug problem virtually
went away, and now the crime is
almost gone, she said.