Friday, February 26,1999
Weather forecast i
Today
Showers
High 47, Low 36
Saturday
Rain
High 55, Low 41
Break time
A little bit of planning can help that spring
break trip go a lot smoother, and the sooner
the better/PAGE3
Winning the War
With the postseason in the balance,
the Ducks need a unti over the
Beavers on Saturday/PAGE 11
m
An independent newspaper
Volume 100, Issue 107
University of Oregon
www.dailyemenild.com
Duck!
To bear one student tell it, it’s a
tough life being a Duck—an
Oregon Ducks mascot, that is
By Felicity Ayles
Oregon Daily Emerald
Between blowing chunks in his own
suit and brawling with the Oregon State
Beaver, it seems like the Oregon Duck
has more rebounds this year than the
women’s basketball team.
In an exclusive interview, “Craig,” one
of four students who don the duck suit,
tells the trials and tribulations of being
one of the University’s most spirited
fans.
Craig, who spoke to the Emerald on
condition of anonymity, said he has been
fascinated with the mascot since the first
sports event he went to his freshman
year.
“My freshman and sophomore years,
I’d go to the games and be intrigued
about watching the mascot,” he said. “I
thought it was cool to see this guy work.”
The University is serious about its
Duck mascots, and the grueling audi
tions in McArthur Court are just the first
step.
“It represents the UO and everything
we want sportsmanship to he,” said
cheerleading coach Laraine Raish.
The audition to be the mascot is closed
except for a panel of judges who assign
points to the applicants with the best
dance or skit performance.
Now that he has survived the audition,
Craig said he shares his mascot responsi
bilities among all the University sports
with his three co-workers. There are cur
rently three students working full-time
as mascots and one alternate.
But Craig said he is the only one of the
mascots who attempts stunts.
“I sometimes do a pyramid with a full
extension,” he said. “You can see pretty
well from up there.”
The 6-foot-l, 210-pound Craig said he
thinks he is the largest mascot the Uni
versity has ever had, and a special Duck
Turn to MASCOT, Page 4
Matt Hankins/Emerald
A Duck mascot attracts a small crowd at the women's basketball game against Arizona on Sunday.
Kitzhaber says
waterways are
primary focus
The governor proposes that
environmental groups and the
timber industry work together
By Amy Jennaro
Oregon Daily Emerald
Preservation of salmon, protection of wa
terways and increased citizen commitment
to environmental concerns were all issues
Gov. John Kitzhaber presented Thursday as
the keynote speaker at the Oregon Logging
Conference at the Lane County Fairgrounds.
Kitzhaber outlined a plan for increased
commitment in the Oregon lumber industry
to preserving waterways.
“The decisions you make have a signifi
cant importance in watershed health,” he
told the delegation.
Kitzhaber’s main focus was his commit
ment to the Oregon Plan, a referendum
Turn to LOGGING, Page 3
DecisiN expected today
on election injunctions
The Constitution Court deliberated
Thursday but was unable to come to a
decision regarding two injunctions
filed by student Scott Austin.
Constitution Court justice Heidi
Barker said an opinion is expected
this morning.
Hearings Wednesday night pitted
Austin against defendants ASUO
President Geneva Wortman and
ASUO Election Coordinator Taylor
Sturges.
Austin alleged that the special elec
tion called by Wortman was uncon
stitutional and that an extension by
Sturges of the deadline forgetting bal
lot measure wording to the Constitu
tion Court was a violation of elections
rules.
An update on the decision will be
available on the Emerald Web site at
www.dailyemerald.com.
Students feel less than safe on campus, according to survey, groups
Lack of adequate lighting and
too few emergency call boxes are
cited as factors
By Jason George
Oregon Daily Emerald
If you do not feel safe on campus, you are
not alone.
Many people at the University do not feel
safe at night on campus. A recent survey of
1,910 students, faculty and staff reported
that at night on campus, 30.7 percent of re
spondents feel "very safe” and 44.9 percent
feel “somewhat safe.” Around the edges of
campus at night, only 10.7 percent feel
“very safe” and 42.2 percent “somewhat
safe.”
“If I walk by Deady and those areas
where it is all dark, then I will think about
it,” said Aruna Pradhan, a sophomore
journalism major who did not participate
in the survey.
When asked why the lighting is not better
in the area, the Office of Public Safety said
aesthetics and costs were the reasons.
Pradhan was a member of a five-woman
group that got together this week to discuss
safety on campus.
The students talked about emergency
phones on campus. The University cam
pus has 25 emergency call boxes for a 280
acre campus, or one box for every 11.2
acres.
“I think, in the off chance something
could happen, there needs to be more,” said
Kit Powell, an undeclared freshman.
The cost of a emergency call box is ap
proximately $2,250 for parts and labor, said
Thomas Hicks, associate director of OPS. He
said that there are plans to install new ones
by the new law school building and that he
wuuiu iouk into me
Deady Hall area.
Another point ad
dressed by the group
was OPS distributing
whistles for students to
carry on campus. The
program is used at the
University of Colorado
at Boulder and it has
ueen in practice ior iu years.
“It gives people a sense of security. Un
like mace, they don't have to think about it,”
said Sergeant Brough of the Boulder Office
of Public Safety. “You would be surprised
how many people will call in and say they
just heard a whistle.”
Boulder's OPS response time on a 780
acre campus is 30 to 45 seconds. Hicks put
the University's average at 120 seconds.
Brough said 26,000 whistles were dis
pensed at the Boulder campus in fall 1998,
and students on campus were instructed on
what hearing the noise means and how to
react. The Colorado university has also in
stalled them in bathrooms and shower stalls
in the residence halls.
Here at the University, Hicks said that
they have some whistles in the office and if
individuals wanted one they could come by
and get one.
"First impression, I think it sounds kind
of funny, but I think it could be effective,”
Powell said.