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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1999)
September 20,1999 Volume 101, Issue 18 University of Oregon An independant newspaper www.dailyemerald.com University.A Campus Life.B Community.C Pulse.D Sports.E Esslingerset for action With phase one of the Esslinger recreation center renovation complete, students will be free to rock climb, lift weights, shoot hoops and more PAGE 1B MIPs not so minor now Strict, new MIP laws are just some of the changes in store for party-goers this school year, says Rick Gilliam of the Eugene Police Department PAGE 1C A band breed ing ground The Eugene area continually fosters talented, young bands, which then inevitably move on to bigger and better things in the music industry PAGE 2D Ducks ready to rumble Tailback Reuben Drough ns and the Duck football team run Into Pacific-10 Conference play starting Saturday against Southern California PAGE1E OPEU, OUS reach tentative agreement Carl Gustafson (left) and Jane Brubaker carry a banner to lead a line of OPEU supporters during a rally in early Septem ber Catharine Kendall/Emerald ■Agreement includes fully paid health care, a benefit salary increase and additional raises By Sara Jarrett Oregon Daily Emerald A strike that could have dis abled the University at the be ginning of the 1999-2000 school year was avoided after a 27 hour bargaining session Sept. 8 between the Oregon Public Em ployees Union/Service Employ ees International Union Local 503 Bargaining Team and the Oregon University System con cluded in a tentative settlement. The OUS agreed to grant the 3,600 members of the OPEU/SEIU Local 503 with ful ly paid health care, a $38 per month “Flex” benefit salary in crease with an additional 4.5 percent pay raise during a two year span and a four-year con tract with a reopener in the summer of 2001. This reopener will enable the union to pre serve its right to bargain for eco nomic benefits to cover the final two years of the contract. Turn to 0PEU deal, Page 6A GTFF satisfied, pending vote approval ■ GTFs receive expanded health coverage in agreement to be put to vote Sept. 25 By Sara Jarrett Oregon Daily Emerald A tentative agreement, signed Sept. 10 be tween the University and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation may have squashed the threat of a strike that would have left professors with an increased work load and undergraduates without discussion sections or lab sessions at the beginning of a new school year. The agreement is pending a ratification vote scheduled for Sept. 25 but won’t be tal lied until Oct. 14. Under the new contract, “the University has agreed to expand insurance to include contribution to GTFs who enroll in the sum mer and GTFs who enroll families or depen dents,” said Ken Pendleton, GTFF health care consultant for the summer and part of the negotiation team. This seems like a dramatic win for the GTFF, considering that last year the Univer sity denied the federation summer coverage and GTFs were only covered under the poli cy for the last three quarters of the year. “The bottom line is that the cost for en rolling in the insurance plan will remain the same for GTFs next year as last year” but with some improvements, Pendleton said. This gain was not without sacrifice though. “In return, the GTFs are willing to take a smaller pay raise than would otherwise be expected,” Pendleton said. More specifically, this means that the GTFs will receive a 1 percent raise between spring quarter 2000 and spring quarter 2001. The following year, there will be a 1.25 per Turn to GTFF agreemnet, Page6A Determined for Diversity Huy Ong (right) and Jessie Wofsy are two of the interns involved with the steering committee. Diversity interns orooose solutions ■ Participants in the Summer Diversity Internship program form a proactive agenda aimed at opening dialogue this school year By Sara Lieberth Oregon Daily Emerald As summer winds to a close and the campus community gets geared for a new school year there are 10 University stu dents for whom the near future is a mixed bag of excitement and anxious trepida tion. Participants in the newly-created Sum mer Diversity Internships program have worked diligently throughout the sum mer, and as they wrap up their efforts, they find themselves poignantly wonder Diversity issues ing, “What next?” The SDI was initiated in response to contentious spring term events that boldly brought the issues sur rounding University di versity into the spotlight. Interns spent the sum mer investigating aspects of campus life where a perceived need for diver sity education and increased awareness existed. Issues such as diversity training for students and University staff and ad ministration, revisions to the student conduct code, retention and recruitment efforts and the logistics of creating of a di versity research institute were explored. Meeting weekly with a “sounding board” steering committee of faculty, staff, students and administrators, the in terns were to submit reports or proposals for consideration at the end of their term. The idea for the 10 three-month-long paid internship slots actually originated from a brainstorming session students conducted following a series of im promptu meetings and protests just four Turn to Diversity, Page 10A
