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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1999)
Tuijsiki\. \{)ril 13, 1W) Weather forecast Today Wednesday Partly Cloudy Sunny High 68, Low 39 High 71, Low 43 DDS requests more funding The ballot measure would raise more funds to cover unforeseen expenses that arose this year/P AGE 3A Aliotti returns to Oregon Thefou nder of the Gang Green defense is returning as the defensive coordinator for the Ducks/PAGE 7 A An independent newspaper Volume 100, Issue 130 University of Oregon wwwiailyemeraldcom Students suggest PRIDE hall options They propose grouping gay students within the residence halls By David Ryan Oregon Daily Emerald The University administra tion rejected an idea to create a residence hall for students in terested in homosexual issues last January, but University housing plans to have two unof ficial “clusters” of homosexual students next year. At a town hall meeting Mon day, PRIDE (Providing Resi dents Interested in Develop ment and Education) Hall committee member Heath Hut to announced to the over 20 au dience members the committee had made a tentative compro mise with University housing. Also speaking at the meeting were Dan Williams, vice presi dent of administration, Mike Eyster, director of housing and Nina Thompson, co-chair of the PRIDE Hall committee. The meeting was designed to air the reasoning behind both the PRIDE Hall proposal and the University administration’s decision to turn it down. In January, Williams said the administration felt a PRIDE Hall, a hall specifically set aside for students interested in Les bian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans gendered issues, would segre gate students and provide a target for homophobic attacks. The PRIDE Hall debate cap tured national attention, with people across the country de bating on one of two sides of the issue. Some felt a hall for LGBT stu dents was the answer to the problems of on-campus homo phobic living situations while others sided with the Universi ty administration and felt it seg regated students. A handful of Universities spread throughout the nation have housing programs for LGBT students. On Monday, Hutto said ho mosexual students with room mate problems or worries about the homophobic climate of their residence halls could be placed in a hall with a cluster of students with similar problems. “When safety was an issue, there was a sort of critical mass [before] LGBT students could feel safe,” Hutto said. “This is a place where people would know they would be safe.” Turn to PRIDE, Page6A New state higher-ed budget introduced Meanwhile, students unite to lobby insupport of a tuition freeze By Tricia Schwennesen Oregon Daily Emerald Oregon legislators began dis cussing the funding of higher education and the Oregon Uni versity System budget Monday. The money issue hit the con ference table with a historical overview focused on where funding has come from and where Oregon schools can grab a fistful more. State Board of Higher Educa tion chairman Tom Imeson and former board chairman Herb Aschkenasy introduced the new budget and instigated a conversation about the shift from obtaining money through the state financed general fund to schools soliciting funds from other sources. “They didn’t whine a lot, they just talked about what happened,” said Ed Dennis, spokesman for the Oregon Stu dent Association. The Oregon University Sys tem is asking for $116 million to fully fund the new budget model. The model will help Turn to OUS, Page4A Candidates for next year’s ASUO Executive are participating in a public debate today at 7 p.m. in Room 100 in Willamette Hall. Students can vote in the election primaries Wednesday and Thursday. If one candidate receives a majority of the vote in the primary, he or she will win the election. Jfno candidate re ceives a majority, the two candidates with the most votes ad vance to the elections next Wednesday and Thursday when students will vote on the executive again. Catherine KeruiaWHmeraki Senior Chris Gillis and Junior Scott Hansen look through photographs and speak with panel member Bill Bromley (above.) Dorniy Dunam, a member of the Victims of Impact Panel, speaks at Harris Hall (below.) A panel of druken driving victims educates students about the possible dangers of drinking By Tricia Schwennesen Oregon Daily Emerald Seated in the front row, two University students watched a graphic slide show in grim si lence. The images of drunken driving accident scenes strewn with bro ken glass, mangled metal and emergency health officials were missing one thing—survivors. Chris Gillis, a senior biology and Spanish major and Scott Hansen, a junior business and history ma jor, were more fortunate than most of the audience. They were the minority in a crowd of 200 people convicted of drunken driving in Lane County and the surrounding area. The crime scene was a Jan. 23 party at their house on 19th Av enue and Agate Street. Police ar rived after neighbors complained about noise. The party had gotten out of hand and included guests that were younger than 21, the le gal drinking age. They were cited for a noise vio lation and supplying underage guests with alcohol. Both students had been ordered by a judge to attend the Victims of Impact Panel last week as part of a diversion program, an alternate punishment for people convicted of alcohol-related crimes. The format of VIP combines a slide show and speakers who dis cuss their personal experiences with drinking and driving. Donny Durrant, the final speak er at last week’s meeting, is con fined to a wheelchair because of a drunken driving accident. His message entailed a powerful first-person dialogue about how it was cool to drink and drive when he was a college student at the Uni versity. He said as a young man he was convinced that he was invincible because he had survived several accidents and arrests by police without serious injury or doing any jail time. “I learned I’m not invincible, and I don’t have a chip on my shoulder,” Durrant said. “It’s been knocked right off.” Barbara and Walter Stoeffler, the founders of VIP, said the solution is to change people’s attitudes about drinking and driving. “We don’t mind if you drink,” Walter Stoeffler said; “just don’t drive.” Kathy Dodge, the coordinator for VIP, said more than 10,500 peo ple have attended the court- man dated meetings since 1990. “At any given time, on any giv en day, one in 10 drivers on the road is impaired,” Dodge said. Turn to DRINKING, Page 5A
