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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2000)
Environment and community - two things l passionately believe in protecting and enhancing. I strive to impart to students a deeper understanding of the people, cultures, j and ecosystems that co-exist in the work of the environmental design profession. Responsibility and ethics - two qualities that are intrinsic in the work that design professionals undertake. I see in many of my students a desire to j participate in the building of community, to improve the world in which we live, and to learn from each other and the accomplishments that j together we are capable of achieving, j Celebration - should be about j making contributions to our 1 community, cherishing our friendships, i and having fun. hhl L OiLirliLUtG students who are building community, protecting the environment, and making responsible choices about alcohol. Stan Jones, MLA, MCP Department of Landscape Architecture, UO UO studem when they Data tafcen from 1998 UO Health Center Survey 'A > Sorority continued from page 1 across the world who are mem bers of the United State’s oldest international Greek letter organi zation focused on African-Ameri can women. “To me, Alpha Kappa Alpha is like that great redwood tree,” said Grace Strauther, an educator who is also a member of the graduate chapter of AKA, Upsilon Gamma Omega. “More than 900 chapters [are] branches. Sigma Delta today is the newest of those branches.” Undergraduate students from both the University and Oregon Sate University comprise the new charter, and they gathered Sunday in the Eugene Water and Electric Board building to celebrate their new membership in AKA. The graduate chapter has been in stalled on the University campus since 1994. AKA is unlike many other sororities in that it doesn’t station itself in a house. “With our sorority, it’s not real ly about a house,” said Kim Hutchinson, a junior ethnic stud ies major and president of the Sig ma Delta chapter. “It’s basically about community service and having fun.” AKA makes it a point to get out side and provide service to those around them. “We pledge to help our com munity and leave them better than we found them,” Strauther said. Among their activities, AKA members have a partnership with the Red Cross, participate in men torship programs with children and put on a fashion show to ben efit a homeless youth foundation through Looking Glass. “It’s an organization about help ing the community, and that’s one thing that I really, really love do ing,” said Isa Burns, a freshman marine biology major from OSU and one of the newest members of Sigma Delta. AKA was founded in 1908 at Howard University and has since then claimed such members as Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Jada Pinkett and Eleanor Roo sevelt. Taryn Thompson, a graduate student studying journalism, said the sorority is not exclusive to just African-American women; all women are welcome to join, and the charter at the University is proof to that. “This is more about relation ships with one another, service to all mankind, sharing African American culture [and] serving our community,” she said. The women of AKA got their due Sunday, as speakers at the re ception expressed confidence that they would each pave paths no one could ever imagine. “They’re beautiful, and they’re smart, and they have this poise and grace about them that enticed me to join the sorority,” said Brandy Alexander, a sophomore public relations major. Kelly Coleman Johnson, presi dent of the graduate chapter of AKA, marveled at how far the women before her had come and how much they had accom plished. In the early 1900s, she said, African-Americans were not even allowed citizenship in Ore gon. Now they were chartering a sorority. “I’m sure that the founders of Oregon are rolling over in their graves,” she said. These are “women who are intelligent, bright, vibrant, who are making history in the state of Oregon.”
