Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 8, 1999)
Thursday, July 8, 1999 Weather forecast Today Friday Sunny Partly Cloudy ^ High 84, Low 44 High 88, Low 51 Ducklings invade campus IntroDUCKtion begins today with seven summer sessions planned for throughout/w/y/PAGE 3 Summer of Spike Director Spike Lee’s newest movie, “Summer ofSam,” is mak ing controversial waves/PAGE 5 An independent newspaper Volume 101, Issue 6 University of Oregon www.dailyemerald.com GTFs fighting for health-care coverage Following a 90-percent climb in premium prices, the GTFF and University are negotiating By Sara Jarrett Oregon Daily Emerald The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federa tion is battling to protect its health care. In negotiations with the University since June 1, the GTFF is back at the table Friday. The coverage, through ODS Health Plans of Portland, is in jeopardy because of a sudd en 90 percent increase in premium prices, according to Yaju Dharmarajah, GTFF vice president for Uni versity relations and part of the negotiation team. The amount of the increase looks huge at first, but the coverage is “more than appro priately priced” if compared to other insur ance companies, said Ken Pendleton, GTFF health-care consultant for the summer and part of the negotiation team. There was also a 15-percent cap on insur ance increases in the past, according to Paul Prew, another member of the negotiation team. “Instead of increasing gradually over time, [the rise] hit really quick because the cap is now off,” he said. “It seems'uutrageous, but basically the University has been getting a really great deal for the last two years. ” The group also approached the University with a theory that in the long run, it could actually cost more not to cover the increase. With the low wages GTFs are currently earn ing, they think only the extremely sick will be willing to pay for coverage. This drop in participants would cause ODS to increase their rates even more so it could make mon ey. The University would end up paying more to insure fewer people, said Tim Adamson, a member of the negotiation team. The current health plan, before the in crease is implemented in the fall, requires recipients to pay an added premium for de pendent and spouse coverage. It is also non applicable in the summer, regardless of whether a GTF is teaching. This means it could annually cost more than $1,000 for a GTF to cover his or her family. One proposal made by the GTFF asked the University to pay the added increase and cover the summer, for a total annual amount of $1,900,000. The result would have been zero cost to the recipient plus coverage for his or her entire family. A second proposal asked the Uni versity to cover at least 90 percent of the increase. The University proposed an 80-percent coverage of the increase. “[That] was still way less than what we need, but higher than what we expected from the University,” said Lisa Oberbroeckling, an other member of the GTFF negotiation team. ^ .. .[the rise] hit really quick because the cap is now off. ” Paul Prew GTF Local group protests Navajo relocation 1 he Indigenous Support Coalition of Oregon hosts a mtty supporting Navajo rights in Arizona By Sara Lieberth Oregon Daily Emerald In recognition of the 13th anniversary of the July 6,1986, deadline for the forced relocation of traditional Dine’h (Navajo) Indians from their tribal lands in Black Mesa, Ariz., local supporters held a press conference and protest Wednesday on the steps of the Federal Building in downtown Eugene. The Indigenous Support Coalition of Oregon (ISCO) hosted the rally and per formed a skit depicting two Bureau of Indi an Affairs police officers repeatedly im pounding the sheep of two “grandmothers” at the booming insistence of a 15-foot Uncle Sam/representative of the Peabody Coal Company totem pole. The enactment sym bolized the unfair treatment protesters be lieve indigenous peoples have suffered for the sake of corporate greed. “There is ethnic cleansing happening in the United States as we speak,” one protest er said. “This is your tax dollars at work. ” The conflict arose from the Relocation Acts of1974 and 1986, in which both Hopi and Navajo tribes were issued deadlines to “voluntarily” relocate from the lands they have occupied for nine generations. The initial deadline was scheduled for July 6, 1986, and although more than 10,000 Indians have moved, some 150 families refuse to do so, continuing to live on the land partitioned to them in 1882. The next deadline is February 1,2000. A number of austerity measures, includ ing water diversion, sacred burial desecra tion and livestock impounding, have been implemented by multi-jurisdictional law enforcement agencies against the Indians. Herding sheep is the principal means of subsistence for the Navajo. The impetus for relocation is alleged to have come from the coal-mining compa ny that has mined the northernmost tip of the reservation since 1966. It is expect ed to purchase the mineral-rich reserva tion lands if total relocation occurs. Wednesday also marked the 33rd an Turn to NAVAJO, Page 3 University grads create pilot show KEZI airs “In Visions ” at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday and will then decide whether to pick it up By Jack Clifford Oregon Daily Emerald Some days you wake up, have your cof fee, go put in the ol’ eight hours at the office, then return home with not much to show Utner days you wake up, have your coffee, then work to accom plish one of your life goals. Two recent Universi ty graduates are taking the latter approach, with high hopes intact. Valerie Stiwell and Mary Ann Fabry are the blood, sweat and tears behind a new local tele vision venture called “Eugene Energy!” that the pair has been nur turing for nearly two years. Their endeavors are realized Sunday, when Eugene’s ABC affdiate, KEZI, airs the first of perhaps a series of shows that will offer in FABRY STILWELL sight and thought-provoking commentary on Lane County’s most pressing issues. “People spend their whole life trying to break into TV, and we did it in a year and a half,” said Fabry, the day after filming the pilot show’s studio segment. “And I was sit ting at the breakfast table this morning, say ing, ‘OK, what’s next?’ ” “I still can’t believe it,” added Stilwell, as the high-octane duo discussed where it is, where it’s been and where it hopes to soon be on its journey. Fabry, who in the spring received her master’s degree in sociology, and Stilwell, a 1996 graduate with her bachelor’s in jour Turn to INVISIONS, Page 8
