Group discusses fete of park
Some would like to see West
University Neighborhood
Park open once again
By Laura Cadiz
Oregon Daily Emerald
On 14th Avenue and Hilyard
Street sits a plot of land that the
city of Eugene and the West Uni
versity neighborhood may have
forgotten.
The West University Park has
been closed indefinitely since
November 1995 because of heavy
criminal activity in the area that
made it unsafe for neighborhood
residents. For the last four years,
there has been no agreement on
the fate of the park.
But now, the West University
Partners Group is discussing op
tions for the park’s future as part
of an overall examination and
plan for the West University
neighborhood.
“I think it’s extremely unfortu
nate that it’s not being used,”
said Eugene City Councilman
Bobby Lee, who is also the
group’s chairman.
The alternatives the group is
discussing include reopening
the park, creating another park
at a new location or moving or
building a facility to replace the
park. The group wants to make
a decision soon about the park,
but no deadline has been set,
Lee said.
Before any action can be taken,
the group wants input from the
residents, who are primarily
composed of University students,
Lee said.
“I think students appreciate
the park,” he said. “But I’m not
sure the West University neigh
borhood as a whole has made
good use of it.”
Lee said he thinks there may
not be a strong neighborhood
consensus about the park be
cause of the neighborhood’s tran
sitory nature, with students con
tinually moving in and out
between school years. He said
students might develop more in
terest if they felt more ownership
of the area.
West Universe NeiflhbortioodPafk, at 14lh Avenue and HilyardStr^ has
“Most students don’t see the
West University neighborhood
as their permanent home,” he
said.
Reopening and maintaining
the park would cost several thou
sand dollars, said Andrea Riner,
the city’s parks planning manag
er. The city did not budget mon
ey for the park in its successful
$25.3 million parks and open
spaces ballot measure in Novem
ber because no one from the
neighborhood voiced support for
it, she said.
“We don’t have the funding to
bring it up to park standards,”
she said.
Riner said the park’s closure
created unusable open space in
that area. But she said the resi
dents have other nearby options,
such as the University and Alton
Baker Park.
The park was created in
1979, built with a small basket
ball court and gazebo. It creat
ed an environment for people
to “hang out” that resulted in
disruptive behavior, Eugene
Police Spokeswoman Jan Pow
er said. It became a place for
aggressive pan handling and
drug deals, which Power said
disrupts the residents’ quality
of life.
Eventually, the park ran out of
options because of increased
criminal activity; between 1990
and 1995, the number of crime
cases in the neighborhood in
creased about 65 percent, from
1,513 to 2,490 incidents. Sixty
percent of that increase was in
behavioral crimes, which include
drug abuse, disorderly conduct
and liquor violations.
The last option was to close
the park, Riner said.
“We don’t like to do that,” she
said. "What was happening was
contrary to what parks are sup
posed to be about.”
Power said the criminal prob
lems have reduced since the park
closed. In 1998, there were 1,930
cases of reported crime in the
neighborhood.
Lee said he agrees the park was
closed for good reasons, but he
said he still feels awful that it’s a
“dead” park.
“In a way, it’s quite symbolic,”
Lee said. “It just demonstrates
how poorly West University is
being taken care of.”
University Senate OKs
increased faculty reviews
The group recommends
post-tenure evaluations
every three years
ByG. Jaros
Oregon Daily Emerald
The University Senate voted
Wednesday to increase the fre
quency of post-tenure faculty re
views.
In a 19-9 vote, the senate ap
proved a motion to increase the
number of reviews from once
every five years to once every
three years, as well as a more sub
stantive review every six years.
The vote serves as a recommenda
tion that is passed on to Universi
ty President Dave Frohnmayer.
The reason for the policy
change is that when the Universi
ty received its accreditation re
port, the team that did the review
wanted a more explicit third- and
sixth-year post-tenure review,
said Nathan Tublitz, a biology
professor and senate member who
helped draft the new review poli
cy.
“What we did today is take the
existing [post-tenure review] and
make it more specific, basically
adding a three-year review,”
Tublitz said. “The current docu
ment was every five years. We
changed to a substantive review
every three years and a major re
view every six years.”
‘‘By implementing these third
and six-year reviews, the effect on
students will be that it will con
tinue to increase the quality of our
faculty after tenure,” Tublitz said.
“For the vast majority of faculty,
the effect will be minimal.”
Student Senate President and
University Senate member
Michael Olson voted against the
new policy. His concern centered
around the third-year review.
“The plan focuses more on the
6th year, meaning the third-year
review will happen, but not hap
pen,” Olsen said. “My concern is
that by only having a focus on the
six-year review that input from
students is more likely to get
drowned out by the other crite
ria.”
Another issue brought up dinr
ing the Senate meeting was the
Process for Change program. The
program began last year as a way
for the University to focus on stu
dents and their needs as well as
upcoming changes in education
practices and curriculum.
Nothing concrete was present
ed at Wednesday’s meeting, but
different ideas were discussed, in
cluding mandatory freshman fo
cus groups and an advising week
for sophomores.
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Introduction to Native
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