Experts focus on violence culture
■ Panelists weigh in on the
issues of prior abuse and
anger management among
others in brainstorming
solutions to a violent culture
By Kristy Hessman
Oregon Daily Emerald
Increased violence and strategies
for prevention were just of few of
the issues addressed Friday during
a panel discussion held on the Uni
versity campus.
The discussion entitled, “A Sys
temic Response to a Culture of Vio
lence,” was offered in conjunction
with a clinical workshop as part of
the annual Oregon Association for
Marriage and Family Therapy fall
conference. The conference took
place Saturday and Sunday in Ger
linger Hall on the University cam
pus.
{ {It all comes down to
relationships. We need to
help kids and adults in
relationships with them
selves and other people.
Anna Beth Benningfield
president
AAMFT
“We believe the level of intensity
of violence is increasing,” Anita Be
rardi Maher, president of the
OAMFT and moderator of the dis
cussion said. “It is complex — there
is no one solution, so we are
pulling together solutions to vio
lence.”
The panel, which included two
regional and two national experts
on violence, spoke to a room filled
with teachers, therapists, coun
selors and social service workers on
ways to deal with the growing
problem of violence in young
people.
“There has been a steady climb
in violent juvenile crimes,” Steve
Carmichael , panelist and director
of Lane County Department of
Youth Services said. “It has gone
down in the past couple of years
but it is not over, there is still a
flood of violence and more kids in
volved with guns.”
Panelists also discussed statistics
involving death in schools.
“Since 1992 over 200 youth have
been murdered in schools; last year
20 youths died at school,” said Jeff
Sprague, panelist and co-director of
the University institute on violence
and destructive behavior.
There is no single factor of the
root causes of violence, the pan
elists agreed, but some of the factors
which violence is rooted in comes
from the family, poverty, abuse and
neglect.
“When a child grows up being
abused the cycle effect builds on it
self,” Carmichael said.
The role of violent media is also a
significant one, Sprague said.
“We all watch TV but we need to
teach our children to deconstruct
what they see,” he said.
In addition to the roots of vio
lence, the panel also discussed pre
vention and intervention methods.
“We need to view offenders with
compassion,” said Richard
Schwartz, panelist and staff thera
pist at Northwestern University’s
Family Institute. “Most violent of
fenders have had horrifying child
hood’s, we need to treat them not
just punish them.”
Teaching children valuable traits
at a young age is also an important
prevention technique.
“Kids need to learn to manage
their anger, just like the learn to
read,” Sprague said.
Relationships are also a key foun
dation to the prevention of
Risk factors used to
determine who may
be at risk for
violence:
If individuals exhibit one or two of
the following behaviors, it may not
be of concern; however, three of the
following traits means they might
have increased risks for violence.
1. Are they failing in school?
2. Who are their peers?
3. Have they exhibited anti-social
behavior in the past?
4. Family situation? Are their par
ents involved in criminal activities?
5. Are they involved with drugs?
6. The younger the person’s age at
the time of the first offense, the
greater the risk.
SOURCE: Lane County
Department of Youth Services
violence.
“It all comes down to relation
ships,” said Anna Beth Benning
field, panelist and president of the
American Association of Marriage
and Family Therapy in Washing
ton, D.C. “We need to help kids and
adults in relationships with them
selves and other people.”
“By the end I was very satisfied
with the way they approached the
issues,” said Patricia Cortez, a case
manager for Looking Glass Youth
Services. “Being a case manager for
Latino youth, the discussion was
very related to what I do.”
Other participants agreed, but
thought different aspects should
have been addressed.
“I thought it was excellent,” said
Laura Kude, diversion coordinator
for Multnomah County. “There
were some things that weren’t ad
dressed such as sexism, the role of
sex and sexism needs to be ad
dressed as well.”
Global warming soaks Northwest
EUGENE — Worldwide climate
shifts may be causing the planet to
get warmer, but don’t expect the
weather to get any drier here in the
Pacific Northwest.
Two University of Oregon geog
raphy professors are among a group
of academics who are trying to pull
off the ultimate meteorological task:
Helping to build a computer model
they hope will be used to predict
what the conditions will be like
when global warming has taken its
toll.
And unlike many people, Pat
Bartlein and Cathy Whitlock be
lieve it will take a toll.
‘‘Even the skeptics have changed
their argument from ‘No, it’s not go
ing to happen’ to ‘It’s going to hap
pen but it’s not going to be a big
deal,”’ said Bartlein, whose re
search focuses on climatology.
“The main issue in the climatology
community is how sensitive is the
climate to these changes that are
happening.”
Bartlein and Whitlock plan to
provide some answers by studying
past climate changes. By examining
items such as fossil pollens, ancient
plant material and lake bed sedi
ments, they’re studying how the
climate of the western United
States changed during and after the
Ice Age.
Using that kind of data, scientists
can take computer models used to
predict future climate and run
them backward in time. By seeing
how well the models match what
they already know about past cli
mates, they can tell how accurate
the models are at forecasting future
changes.
“The only way to tell how well a
model works is to compare it to the
past,” Whitlock said. “When you
can produce a good match, then
you can use the model to run in the
other direction and predict future
conditions.”
Existing models give researchers
some idea of how the weather will
change around the globe, but such
information doesn’t necessarily
give an accurate picture of a partic
ular region, like the Northwest.
The data Bartlein and Whitlock
are collecting from sites around the
West should help. They’ve learned
enough about regional climatic
swings to gauge the accuracy of
computer models.
While scientists continue to col
lect data to improve the models,
they already point to major changes
on a time scale far shorter than any
thing seen in the past. Whitlock
said this century could see more
carbon in the atmosphere than at
any time in the last 35 million to 40
million years.
“It’s pretty unprecedented,” she
said. “It’s really almost frightening
to see the simulations because the
changes are on such a large scale,
it's mind-boggling.”
It will take a lot more work to get
a reliable model, but the prelimi
nary data indicates that although
temperatures could increase in the
Northwest, it could actually rain
more. Excess winter precipitation
will fall as rain rather than snow,
which could have a major effect on
the other side of the mountains, ac
cording to the researchers.
“The main change that keeps
coming up, strange as it may seem,
is a great spread of forest into the
area east of the Cascades,” he said.
Whitlock said forests could also re
place much of the Alaskan and
Canadian tundra, while white bark
pines could disappear from the
northern Rockies.
Less snow could put ski resorts
out of business and decrease the
amount of water available for sum
mer irrigation. The changes also
have huge implications for wildlife,
which could face habitat changes
that occur 20 to 40 times faster than
ever before, Whitlock said.
And because human develop
ment has broken most remaining
habitat into relatively small islands,
animals may not be able to follow
the shifting ecosystems.
“How are organisms going to be
able to move across the fragmented
landscape we’ve created?” Whit
lock wonders. “The climate is
changing so fast, it’s hard to imag
ine how organisms are going to ad
just.”
The Associated Press
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The campus community
IS INVITED TO
Convocation 2000
WITH KEYNOTE SPEAKER
DANIEL SCHORR
National Public Radio
Senior news analyst
Tuesday, October 10,2000
2:30 P.M.
BALLROOM
Erb Memorlal Union
Reception immediately following
♦
Convocation serves as the
ceremonial beginning to the
academic year. It provides an
opportunity for faculty and
staff members, students,
and friends to come together
to focus on the university's
rich academic heritage
and to celebrate our
collective accomplishments.
♦
OV\L CLAStAflLDS...
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