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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2000)
www.dailyemerald.com An independent newspaper In their hearts Oregon hockey prepares to play for the first time since the death of Russ Afteridge PAGE 7A Thursday let Ralph Debate’ Supporters held a rally in Eugene for the third-party candidate as Bush and Gore faced-off PAGE 3A October 12,2000 Volume 102, Issue 32 Weather today PARTLY SUNNY high 60, low 50 i n c e 1 9 0 0 University of Oregon Eugene Oregon Minority hirings are a step in the right direction By adding seven new faculty of color to the campus community this year, the University is making strides toward true diversity By Kristy Hessman Oregon Daily Emerald Increasing the climate of di versity on the University cam pus has been an important goal in the past few years. But increasing diversity does not just involve students; facul ty are also an important compo nent. This year, the University welcomed almost 50 new tenure-related instructional teaching faculty. Among them, seven are of color or minority status. The issue of diversity gained momentum when a group of stu dents concerned with intoler ance and racism participated in a sit-in at Johnson Hall in the spring of 1999. The sit-in, which was sparked by a sexist comment in a class e mail discussion group, resulted in the creation of a number of di versity committees and intern ship positions. Almost a year and a half later, the seven new minority faculty hirings are viewed by some as among the positive results of those efforts. “Seven out of 49 is not a great number, but it’s not horrible,” said Mark Tracy, who serves as assistant dean for diversity pro grams. “I think Oregon has a va riety of issues surrounding its re cruiting of minorities, like salary, atmosphere and loca tion.” Tracy said when applicants are choosing between different schools, the University’s loca tion puts it at a disadvantage. “Professors will pick Wash ington with comparable salary over Oregon, because it’s near Seattle as opposed to Eugene, which doesn’t have a visible, vi brant African-American com munity that big cities offer,” he said. Turn to Diversity, page 4A No answer, 3% Asian, Black, 1% Hispanic, 3% Native American, 1% SOURCE: Shery Stahl Resource Management Asian Black 10 Hispanic 38 Native American 12 White Katie Miller Emerald Coming Out Day brings support, acceptance to fore David Sanchez speaks in the EMU Amphitheater Wednesday during a celebration for National Coming Out Day. ■ Sharing personal histories and tales of hope, LGBT students help bring about awa reness as they create an atmosphere of comfort By Beata Mostafavi Oregon Daily Emerald Booming techno music blasted through the EMU Amphitheater Wednesday as students danced during the celebration for National Coming Out Day, a day that offers lesbian, gay, bisex ual, and transgender individuals an op portunity to share their personal experi ences with the community. Six speakers told their stories, de scribing the negative reactions of em ployers, family and friends as well as the challenging process of finally be coming comfortable with who they are. Chicora Martin, director of the Les bian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Edu cational and Support Services said this day is a chance for the LGBT communi ty to be more visible to campus. “This is a chance for students to see the queer community come together,” she said. “It’s a wonderful event because LGBT students have allies they can come out to ... It’s such a positive experience for them to feel valued at the University. ” Participants and listeners said the event is another step in spreading positive mes sages about the LGBT community to soci ety and helps eliminate generalizations. “If more people were out, there’d be less homophobia in the world,” said Juleah Willson, a special education graduate student. “I’ve had the experi Turn to Coming Out, page 3A (( If more people were out, there’d be less ho mophobia in the world. Juleah Willson special educa tion graduate student Area education funding in midst of ballot battles Local school funding is at the core of ballot measure controversy for 2000 election BALLOT MEASURE By Rebecca Newell Oregon Daily Emerald Area opponents of Ballot Mea sures 8 and 91 warn that the meas ures could threaten the financial stability of Eugene schools and city programs, but supporters say the measures would constitute a mini mal reduction of funding and boost the economy by cutting taxes. Measure 91 would make federal income taxes fully deductible on both personal and corporate in come tax returns in Oregon. If the measure goes into effect during the 2000 tax year, state revenues would be reduced by approximately $870 million during the current fiscal year. After 2001, state revenues would be reduced by about $1 bil lion a year, depending upon growth in personal income and tax liability. Lane County Commissioner Pe ter Sorenson said the measure is regressive, and would actually raise combined federal and state income taxes for most Lane Coun ty residents because the decrease would eliminate the state surplus, called a “kicker,” which would likely be returned to taxpayers. Only those who make more than $81,000 a year, and write off federal taxes on state returns, would gain a deduction sufficient to offset the lost kicker refund, according to the Oregon Legislative Revenue Office. Furthermore, Sorenson said the measure would cause a “drastic re duction” in public school funding. Kelly Mclver, a spokesman for the 4J School District, said that the measure could reduce funding for the district, which encompasses all of Eugene, by about $4.3 million during the 2000-2001 year, or about four percent of their annual budget. In future years, that amount would jump to a $13 million cut, or about 11 percent of the district’s budget. Like Measure 91, Measure 8 hinders the capabilities of Oregon schools, Mclver said. The measure, which limits state spending to no more than 15 per Turn to Tax Measure, page 5A University Senate debates deal with WRC inspection ■A committee concludes that the WRCand FLA “are both potentially viable agencies worthy of our allegiance” By Andrew Adams Oregon Daily Emerald It was the school year’s first University Senate meeting, and incoming president James Earl was somewhat relieved after ward to call it “quick and easy.” Following the heated, and sometimes contentious, debates over the Worker Rights Consortium last year, the release of the senate’s three-member WRC review committee’s report caused little comment during Wednesday’s meeting in Grayson Hall. The recommendations of the report were the most pressing business of the meeting, which also involved a provost report on the Central Oregon branch campus, the elec tion of the senate vice president and a vote on minor adjustments to the student con duct code. After a brief speech by Greg McLauch lan of the sociology department about state measures 91, 93, 8 and 7, and their possible impacts on state funding for higher education, the senate’s attention turned to the report by the WRC review committee. David Frank, the review committee chair and associate profes sor of the Clark Hon ors College, said the committee spent the summer writing the re port in a “process as extensive and inclu sive as possible.” He said the commit tee spoke with stu _ dents, faculty, Nike representatives and read hundreds of books and articles on the issue. Frank said the group came to the conclusion that “both the WRC and the Fair Labor Associ ation are both potentially viable monitoring agencies worthy of our allegiance.” Despite its conclusion, however, mem bers of the committee also admitted that they could not give a report as detailed as Turn to UO Senate, page 5A
