University ready to shine at race conference
■ Eight UO students receive
scholarships, and five
students will be presenting a
panel on diversity
By Lisa Toth
Oregon Daily Emerald
The University will demon
strate the scholarship of its stu
dents and the depth of its com
mitment to multicultural
education this summer as 11 Uni
versity students attend the 13th
Annual National Conference on
Race and Ethnicity in Higher Ed
ucation in June in Santa Fe, N.M.
Eight of the students were
awarded scholarships to attend
the conference on billed as “The
Leading and Most Comprehensive
National Forum on Issues of Race
and Ethnicity in American Higher
Education.” No single college or
university has ever received as
many scholarship selections as
the university has this year.
The conference, held June 1 to 5,
attracts approximately 1,200 ad
ministrators, faculty, deans, direc
tors and department chairs from
colleges and universities across the
nation and in other countries.
Yih-Huei Dawn Liu, the co-di
rector of the Asian Pacific Ameri
can Student Union and one of the
eight NCORE 2000 scholarship
recipients, said that while she is
expecting the conference to be an
incredible experience for the ap
proximately 150 students nation
wide attending, it is primarily for
faculty and administrators.
Only 30 students received
scholarships nationwide. Each of
the 110 scholarship applicants
was individually evaluated based
on their demonstrated dedication
and work in areas of social justice,
respect and inclusion in his or her
campus community according to
Cris Cullinan, a Training Admin
istrator in human resources at the
University.
Cullinan will be presenting at
the conference for her sixth year,
but has attended the conference
for eight years. She will be teach
ing a two-session course about
class discrimination. She said the
team of University students are tal
ented, well-prepared and she ex
pects them to perform beautifully.
These student scholars will
take part in the NCORE 2000 Stu
dent Scholars’ On-Site Education
The network and ex
change of ideas will al
low us to see where
Oregon stands compared
to the rest of the nation.
Yih-Huei Dawn Liu
co-director,
Asian Pacific American
Student Union
al program, which includes par
ticipation in 24 session hours of
workshops, as well as communi
ty outreach work and national
network meetings. Since the
scholarship recipients were grant
ed free registration for the confer
ence but needed to raise funds for
travel costs, the original 11 stu
dent scholarship recipients at the
University worked together over
the past two months to raise
funds to support the entire team
attending the conference.
“The network and exchange of
ideas will allow us to see where
Oregon stands compared to the
rest of the nation,” Liu said. “The
11 different perspectives will al
low us to get to know each other
in a different environment and see
all the effort we have put into our
involvement on campus and
come together at a different level.”
ASUO President-elect Jay Bres
low, one of the eight NCORE 2000
scholarship winners and a psy
chology and Spanish major, at
tended the conference as a fresh
man in Orlando, Fla. He said that,
as a returning senior, he looks at
the conference as a time where
the University can share what
works and doesn’t work at the
school and with other campuses.
The 1999 Summer Diversity In
temship Program was a direct re
sult of last year’s May 18 sit-in at
Johnson Hall where students gath
ered to protest a harassment inci
dent and demand that specific
measures be taken to improve the
climate of tolerance on campus.
This session, entitled “Oppor
tunity for Change: Diversity Initia
tives,” was one of approximately
100 accepted by the conference
from hundreds of proposals re
ceived by the conference planning
committee. University executive
assistant president Dave Hubin
will be joining the University stu
dents in this presentation.
Spencer Hamlin, a student sen
ator and political science major,
said the five presenters, aided by
the rest of the team, will present
problems faced by the University
such as racism, sexism, homo
phobia and how the student frus
tration with the administration’s
lack of effort to combat these
problems led to„the sit-ins.
“Personally, this is a once in a
lifetime experience,” Hamlin said.
Court rules adoption records should be public information
■The Oregon Supreme
Court upholds a law making
birth certificates available to
adopted children
By Tara Burghart
The Associated Press
PORTLAND — The Oregon
Supreme Court on Tuesday
cleared the way for adoptees to
find out the names of their birth
parents, but opponents of the
open records law could still take
their challenge to • the U.S.
Supreme Court.
The Oregon Supreme Court de
cided 5-2 to reject motions to re
consider its March ruling that up
held a law giving adoptees 21 and
older access to birth certificates.
The decision means the law ap
proved by voters in 1998 finally
will go into effect at 5 p.m. on May
30 — allowing adoptees access to
their birth certificates the next day,
according to Jim Nass, spokesman
for the Oregon Supreme Court.
Opponents say the law breaks a
promise of secrecy made to
women who gave up their chil
dren for adoption because original
birth certificates usually list the
names of biological parents.
The birth certificates have re
mained sealed to allow opponents
to file motions with the Oregon
Supreme Court, but the Tuesday
decision “pretty much exhausts
the state remedies,” Nass said.
Frank Hunsaker, the attorney
representing six women who gave
up their children, said he and his
clients were “extremely disap
pointed the court didn’t review
the case.”
“We felt it was the court’s re
sponsibility to rule on these im
portant constitutional issues and
I’m at a loss as to why they did
n’t,” Hunsaker said.
The women, who have re
mained anonymous, were consid
ering an appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court. Hunsaker said
they would make a final decision
before May 30.
If they did appeal the case, Hun
saker said he would first ask the
Oregon Appeals Court to extend
the stay keeping the records sealed.
If that failed, he would ask the U.S.
Supreme Court to seal them.
The U.S. Supreme Court al
ready has refused to review a simi
lar open adoption records law in
Tennessee.
Hunsaker said it is “always an
uphill battle” to get a case heard
by the high court.
%
. I
of UO students
dbrink 1 or fewer
days a week...
or don’t drink
at all.
Data taken from the 1998 CORE Survey
New View 2000
Office of Student Life
University of Oregon