Oregon daily emerald., April 20, 1999, Page 5, Image 5

Pride Week events commence
Speakers and more
address issues of gender
and sexual orientation
By Victor Runyan
Oregon Daily Emerald
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans
gender Pride Week offers a mix of
fun and serious activities intended
to promote understanding be
tween people of all genders and
sexual orientations. The event
reaches out to educate others but
also to provide a sense of belong
ing for LGBT students.
The week’s events began on
Sunday with a picnic and hike and
continued with a program fair sup
porting LGBT issues in the EMU
Amphitheater on Monday. Later
that night, Ellen DeGeneres, an
openly lesbian celebrity, spoke at
the Hult Center.
Peter Larson, LGBT A co-direc
tor, said the event is a chance for
the community to come together
and address the tough questions,
such as what gender and sexual
preference mean.
“It’s a chance to assert visibili
ty,” he said.
The LGBTA will have hand
painting in its office today. A pan
el including a transgender person,
a person of color, and other repre
sentatives from the University
community will speak at a town
hall meeting tonight. It is open to
the public as a forum to discuss
what issues are of concern to the
community.
The LGBTA’s weekly general
meeting will convene Wednesday
night. Two movies, “Brandon
Teena Story,” a real-life story, and
“Edge of Seventeen,” a coming-of
age story, will follow.
A brown bag discussion
Wednesday at the LGBTA will fea
ture a speaker on issues important
to the LGBT community. That
night the LGBTA will host bowling
at Southtowne Lanes as a chance
to unwind and get to know each
other.
The EMU will host a performance
by Kate Bomstein and her partner
entitled, “Too Tall Blondes Do Sex,
Death and Gender” and a perfor
mance by WYMPROV!, a local im
prov comedy troupe on Friday.
“We’re going to explore the na
First OUS report card indicates improvements in education
The system’s progress is a
step toward meeting
further goals by 2005
By Teri Meeuwsen
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon University System
got a P for progress on its first re
port card for improving the access
to and the quality of education.
The State Board of Higher Edu
cation received the report card last
week. It outlined the improve
ments made by the system in the
quality of education, die employa
bility of graduates and the number
of degrees awarded throughout
the state. The University also has
to deal with these goals and have
specific goals for the campus.
“We’ve received a very good
grade with what we’ve dealt with,”
said Diane Christopher, the vice
president of the board. “We’ve
dealt with problems with poise and
creativity and determination.
There are various areas we’re doing
better than in other areas. ”
In these areas, or performance
measures, there has been an over
all increase toward meeting the
goals of increased access, quality,
cost-effectiveness and employa
bility. The effort was launched by
the board in January 1997 that
would transform public higher ed
ucation while meeting the needs
of the state by 2005.
“We don’t really see any of these
being a problem for [the Universi
ty,]” said John Moseley, vice presi
dent for academic affairs. “The chal
lenges are out there, and we do our
work to meet them and succeed. ”
The governor and the Legisla
ture have endorsed these goals.
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LGBT Pride Week
■ Tuesday: 11a.m. to 2 p.m., Hand
Painting in the LGBTA
5 to 7 p.m., Town Hail Meeting in
204 Condon
« Wednesday: 6 p.m., LGBTA
General Meeting
7 to 10 p.m. Movies in the Ben Lin*
der Forum
■ Thursday: 12 noon, Brown Bag
Discussion in the LGBTA
6 p.m.t Bowling at Southtowne
Lanes, 2486 Willamette, Cost $2
■ Friday: 8 to 11 p.m. Kate Born*
stein,' Cut & Pasta" and WYM •
PROV! in the EMU Ballroom
■ Saturday: 8 to 11 p.m., Dance at
the Agate Auditorium, 18th and
Agate, Cost $2
■ Sunday: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.,
Keynote with Kevin Jennings at
Agate Auditorium, Cost $10 for lun
cheon.
ture of gender,” Bomstein said.
Bomstein will also speak at the
conference on what gender is and
how it is defined. She doesn’t be
lieve that she is male or female.
LGBTA members Lisa Finkelstein ami Matt Woodbum talk to friends from their booth Mon
day afternoon at die EMU Amphitheater.
There will be a dance Saturday
night in the Agate Auditorium at
18th Avenue and Agate Street. It
will cost $2.
The third annual Northwest Re
gional Queer Conference, the fi
nale of the week, will start on Fri
day and continue through Simday.
It will address topics such as
racism, homophobia, transgender
issues, safe sex, bisexual identity,
advocacy and other topics impor
tant to the LGBT community.
The conference costs $40 for the
general public and $10 for Univer
sity faculty, staff and students.
uregon law now supports devel
opment and practice of these per
formance indicators.
To measure the progress of the
goals, the eight proposed perfor
mance measures have been re
fined by the board, the chancel
lor’s office and campus leaders.
According to the report, areas
that have increased in numbers
since previous years include at
tracting higher-ability Oregon
high school graduates to the Ore
gon public universities. Of the en
tering freshmen, 16 percent had
3.75 or higher grade-point average
in the 1996-97 school year, and 19
percent in 1997-98.
Attracting and providing access
to first-time resident students in
creased from 29,422 students in
the 1995-96 school year to 30,665.
Having entering freshmen com
plete a baccalaureate tram state in
stitutions also went up from 53 per
cent in 1995 to 55 percent in 1997.
The quality of education was
rated better over all by recent grad
uates in the 1996-97 school year
compared to graduates in the
1994-95 school year.
The total number of degrees
awarded in the state also in
creased from 12,386 in the 1996
97 school year to 12,686 in the
1997-98 school year.
“The board feels we have a qual
ity product,” Christopher said. “If
people understand what we’re do
ing, they will probably be support
ive.”
The enrollment of racial/ethnic
minority students in the system
has remained the same the past
three years at 13 percent of the stu
dents enrolled.
The UO has the largest ethnic
population, and we are already
near the total goal for the system,”
Moseley said. “We don’t see it as a
big problem, but we’re going to try
to do better than that. ”
There was also a decrease in
community college students who
transfer into system — from 2,451
in 1995 to 2,428 in 1997.
“You can always do better,”
Moseley said.
To do so, the importance of fund
ing the system needs to be stressed,
he said. Out of all the problems that
need to be tackled, funding the sys
tem so these goals can be met is re
ally important, he said. The higher
education budget is currently on
the table in Salem. Higher educa
tion advocates have asked to $116
million, while Adams has pro
posed $100 million.
r
“the opportunity to C0ITlbiri6 my
college education with real life”
Being a member of the University of
Oregon Bookstore Board for two years
has allowed me the opportunity to
combine my college education with real life
decisions. The bookstore has gone through
significant changes in the last two years, and
through that I have learned the importance of
an effective general manager and a good
management team. The bookstore is a large
fixture in the everyday lives of UO students,
and I have enjoyed working with the other
board members to make decisions that will
effect them for years to come.
Karly Peterson
President - Bookstore Board
You too can have the opportunity to be a leader in an exciting
bookstore atmosphere. To find out how, attend the 77th Annual
Meeting this Wednesday at 3:30 in the Wesley Center, 1236 Kincaid
UNIVERSITY
OF OREGON
Your Comer Store.
895 East 13th Ave. 346-4331