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Wednesday
Editor in chief: Jack Clifford
Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
September27,2000 VOLUME 102, ISSUE 21
EDITORIAL EDITOR: opededitor@journalist.com, Michael Kleckner
Autzenplan shouldn't include WISTEC
Perhaps you’ve heard about the Autzen
Stadium/WISTEC debate by now. If not,
we’ll try to explain it simply. The University,
due to Autzen’s expansion, wants to build a
bus transit station on city-owned property
currently leased to WISTEC, who uses the
land to raise revenue. There are other op
tions, and we feel the University should
build the station on its own property.
WISTEC, a non-profit, educational science
museum, rents the land it leases from the city
as parking spaces to Duck fans attending
home games. This endeavor earns WISTEC
nearly $26,000 per year, some 30 percent of
their annual income.
Now comes the first twist. Thanks to
Autzen’s proposed expansion — and to com
ply with Eugene’s planning code — the Uni
versity is required to provide additional
parking to accommodate those 12,000-plus
fans driving to future games. Rather than try
to cram more parking into an already well
developed area, the University asked the city
to allow an exception to the parking code, if
the University would provide for alternative
modes of transportation to and from the sta
dium. Part of the plan is for the University to
build a bus transit station and purchase bus
service to the games to discourage single
driver trips. The Eugene Planning Commis
sion thought this sufficient, and the Univer
sity’s expansion moved forward.
The second twist is less complicated but
more painful. The University has three plans
for where the proposed transit station could
be built. The University’s first choice, how
ever, is to lease the same plot of city-owned
land that WISTEC relies on for that income
every year. WISTEC currently holds the lease
with the city and has options to renew until
2003. The City Council would have to vote to
approve the University’s transportation plan
and allow the transfer of the land from WIS
TEC to the University. Critics of the Universi
ty’s plans say this would threaten WISTEC’s
very existence.
A parade of WISTEC supporters spoke at
Monday’s City Council meeting, and they
made it sound like an institution of higher
learning (the University) is trying to destroy
an institution of science learning. It’s not that
simple.
City councilors also commented at the
meeting, and added twist after twist after
twist. City Councilors Nancy Nathanson,
Ward 8, and Gary Ray or, Ward 1, expressed
concern that WISTEC is relying on funding
from an uncertain source. Some of the land
WISTEC leases is a grassy lot, and during
heavy rains they’re not supposed to use the
lots in order to protect the park environment.
Nathanson also made it clear that City Coun
cil is currently supporting WISTEC, by leas
ing the land at only $1 per year.
Turning to the University’s end of the deal,
Nathanson asked why their second option
couldn’t be adopted, which entails the Uni
versity building the bus transit station on its
own land, leaving WISTEC entirely alone.
Lane Transit District has said that this second
option is positive for bus riders, because they
wouldn’t have to cross Leo Harris Parkway
before and after the game, but that each op
tion has many pros and cons on many differ
ent levels. City Councilor Bonnie Bettman,
who represents the University in Ward 3,
seemed unconvinced that the bus transit sta
tion would actually have the desired impact
of lessening car traffic, and asked city staff to
find out if any sort of information had been
collected on the efficacy of the bus program.
Many councilors expressed concern for
the well-being of East Alton Baker Park, as
well. As part of a separate agreement be
tween the University and the city, the Uni
versity can use some of Alton Baker’s parking
in exchange for allowing parking on
Autzen’s lots during shows at the Cuthbert
Amphitheater. Part of this agreement calls
for the University to maintain the park areas
and clean up after the games. Councilor
David Kelly, Ward 4, asked city staff to look
into whether the city monitors the park land
after games to be sure the University is keep
ing up its end of the bargain.
Is your head spinning yet? Basically, there
are a series of inter-governmental agreements
between the City of Eugene, the University,
WISTEC and the Lane ESD Planetarium,
which is housed in WISTEC’s building and
also benefits from the city-owned land.
These agreements go back many years and
some are overlapping in their jurisdiction.
Perhaps Rayor summed it up best, saying
that he’s “troubled by this tangle of inter-gov
ernmental agreements that are all rotten.”
We, also, are troubled by all of these con
flicting agreements. The city needs to clear
up its ties with other governmental bodies so
that its interests are clear and it doesn’t get
caught in the middle of a mess like this again.
And WISTEC would be wise to find a more
dependable source of funding.
The University should adopt its second
option, take care of its parking problems on
its own land and leave WISTEC alone.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald
editorial board. Responses may be sent to ode@ore
gon.uoregon.edu.
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Commentary
Dave
Frohnmayer
Let’s move on from
FLA, WRC hubbub
Last spring, we saw a great deal of activi
ty around the question of joining one moni
toring group rather than another to make
sure that apparel carrying our school's
name is made under humane conditions.
In the months since then, I have spoken
with many, many students — students
whose views range on all sides of the is
sue. I carefully considered every major is
sue raised in the spring, as did a Senate re
view committee, in light of recent progress
made by the Fair Labor Association.
One important point should not be over
looked. Through many months last year a
university committee (students comprised
half the members) developed a Licensing
Code of Conduct that outlines the Univer
sity’s expectations of companies that use
our name and logo on products. This code
is what is being monitored. This important
piece of work can be found on the Web at
http://comm. uoregon. ed u/licensing/coc.h
tml.
During the past year, I have listened to
the views of many people: students, facul
ty members, hundreds of alumni, trustees,
friends and critics of the University. I have
heard and studied more about this issue
than any other during my time as presi
dent. I even attended a founding meeting
of one monitoring organization, the Work
er Rights Consortium.
And I learned something valuable: Right
now, neither the WRC nor the FLA are per
fect organizations. Both might make great
strides during the next academic year. Ulti
mately, we should hope for development of
an effective "one code, one monitoring sys
tem" approach.
But for now, I opted for common sense. I
decided to join both.
I think it's a good decision that will help
us enforce our Code of Conduct as effec
tively as possible. I encourage you to edu
cate yourself on the issues, if you are inter
ested, and make up your own mind. You
can find a starting set of information and
links on the web at http://comm.uore
gon. edu/licen sing/.
I hope that our campus can now move
on to more important issues. We face
many important challenges this year, and
we need student energy and voices in
volved in many of them.
On one of the most important fronts, I
commend our student government's ongo
ing dedication to voter registration. We are
known nationally as a campus th&t gets
out the student vote. It is especially impor
tant to do that again this year. We are fac
ing some November ballot measures in
Oregon that could drastically cut public
funding for public higher education. We
are going to need every student voter in
volved if we are to protect our university.
This year's ASUO president and I are
strongly committed to getting out the
biggest student vote in University history
this fall. The threat to higher education is
real; the stakes are high. If you want to
learn more, or if you want to help, please
contact the ASUO office.
It is time to pull together to deal with the
real challenges, like this fall's vote, diver
sity issues, and many others, that will di
rectly affect the quality of education here
now and for future students.
I look forward to working with you this
year. Please send me any thoughts vou
have on this issue or any other issue at
pres@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Dave Frohnmayer is President of the University of
Oregoh ‘ ; ‘ ' ' '