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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 21, 1999)
rrkkiy. Max 1\. I'W Weather forecast Today Saturday Partly cloudy Sunny High 72, Low 45 High 81, Low 48 Mountain Mysticism The University Theatre presents Dark of the An independent newspaper Volume 100, Issue 158 University of Oregon www.dailyemerald.com Students unite to end violence Raising awareness of sexual assualt was the goal of the Take Back the Night March By Jason George Oregon Daily Emerald The community turned out Wednes day night to say enough-is-enough. Beginning in the EMU Amphitheater, over 300 people attended the annual Take Back the Night March, which fea tured booths, music, speakers and the march itself. The mission was to raise awareness of sexual assault and “to show support for the survivors,” said Va lerie Wright, events coordinator for the Women’s Center. Hosted by the Women’s Center and the Sexual Assault Support Services, the march is an annual event, in its 21st year in the United States. The rally began at 7 p.m., with participants making signs to carry during the march. Christine Scott of Eugene brought her daughter Sophie, 7, to the event because she felt this was an important event for them to attend. “One, it is important as a woman, and two, it is important because she is going to be a woman,” Scott said. Scott’s sign read, “Violence Perpetu ates the Problem.” Lisa Foisy, director of the Women’s Center and a sexual assault survivor, said that the event was a positive night for her. She hoped education and aware ness of all types of violence against women were realized by the people in attendance. “To be part of a community and to say ‘look how many survivors we have’,” was also an intention of the event, according to Foisy. Just as the sun set and the music of Mare Wakefield ended, the speakers took the stage. The first speaker was Uni versity Alumnus Robert Wasson. Was son spoke to all of the students, but par ticularly addressed the men in the audience several times. “I challenge each of them to not just show up ... but to make it relevant everyday in your lives.” A workshop for men was held in the EMU Walnut Room to discuss what could be done by these men to end male violence. The workshop was presented Turn to MARCH, Page 6A Catharine KendaU/Emeralu Participants paint signs to hold during the parade, one of many activities that made up Take Back the Night. Students want written support of diversity from UO Activists want the University to create a new position to specifically promote diversity By David Ryan and Maritza Ryciak Oregon Daily Emerald In the wake of Tuesday’s nine-hour sit-in, student activists are working to supply the University with something colleges from Santa Barbara to Cambridge, Mass., have — written support of diversity. A committee of administrators, stu dent activists and a University senator began drafting a statement of support for racial and social minorities Thursday morning. The meeting came two days after 31 protesters were arrested for trespassing during a sit-in at Johnson Hall. The sit-in started from what some students called a racist comment made in a planning, pub lic policy and management class last week. Following a class discussion over an e mail listserv, student John Convy allegedly made threats of sexual violence toward at least three women. April Reeves, a student committee mem ber, said a statement of support would al low the administration to set an example to respect diversity. “To accomplish that, you must first have a commitment,” she said. Students on the committee said they will draft a proposed statement today. Reeves said the statement will focus on diversity education and awareness, developing effec tive programs and providing a supportive education environment. Nathaniel Bachelder, another student committee member, said diversity is about educating people how to deal with each other in a melting-pot environment. “The point of die University is to prepare us for life after college,” he said. “If people find hatred is acceptable here, they’re going to think hatred is acceptable after they grad uate.” Other universities’ support programs have given student activists a reason to de mand something similar from the adminis tration. “We want to light a fire under their ass Turnto DIVERSITY, Page3A Thurston students find solace in words One year after the shooting, students use poems and personal writing to heal By Jack Clifford Oregon Daily Emerald The secretary in Thurston High School’s main office is asking why a reporter is on campus grounds. It’s 10 days after the Little ton, Colo., killings, and I’m here to inter view two students for an article to be pub lished on the one-year anniversary of Thurston’s tragedy. There is supposed to be a ban on all news me dia on the school’s cam pus, though, and she is rightfully questioning my presence. As I stand at the desk, similar thoughts enter my mind. Vultures. We in the media have been called that and worse. If it bleeds, it leads. Some people say that’s our unofficial creed, and who in our profession can argue otherwise? Don’t we all remember the front-page photo in The Register-Guard the day after Thurston’s shooting incident? Didn’t seeing the crush of TV trucks and swarm of “jour nalists” posted outside the-school’s memor ial fence make us queasy? Jenny Huck, an 18-year-old Thurston se nior and editor of The Paragon, Thurston’s literary magazine, finally comes to bail me out. She has agreed, along with Paragon staffer Chalan Moon, 17, to sit and talk about ... well, I guess about writing and its Reporter’s, Notebook tnerapeutic powers. Later this day, an exhibit at the Spring field Museum will show through paintings, sculptures and other art forms how teens cope with the issue.... 111 of violence. Jenny ThllFStOIl chooses poetry in- commentary stead to escape her g Springfield Mayor Mau maddening teen reen Maine comments on years. She volun- the community’s recovery teers a sample of ^ her writing, and one passage seemingly cries from the page: “same emotions / different location / always destructive. / hollowing communities / with youth violence / covering sobrieties / in a whispered silence.” Her focus in writing, Jenny offers, is to reach out somehow to others, to show them that the feeling of hurt is universal. “If I can help stop that from happening again, then I’ll take a chance with it because I know how it feels,” she says. “I don’t want other people to go through this.” After Kip Kinkel, then 15 years old, al legedly went on his rampage, real people died, and real people were injured. But an abstract being, the local community, suf fered injuries as well. Jenny guesses that half the folks in Eugene and Springfield have since poured out their emotions onto pieces of paper. Chalan admits that his writing took a turn after Thurston High ended up in the nation Turn to THURSTON, Page 4A
