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World-music artists *
Guitarist Bob Brozman will pair up with Takashi
Hirayasu at the WOW Hall tonight. PAGE 6
Tuesday
Mountaineering legend
Peter Gil I man spoke about mountaineer George
Mallory and the mystery of his death. PAGE 4
October 24,2000
Volume 102, Issue 40
Weather
TODAY
MOSTLY CLOUDY
high 60, low 45
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Asian/Pacific Islander
African-American
Hispanic
Native American
Multi-ethnic
Total Minorities
White, non-Hispanic
Unknown
Asian/Pacific Islander 1,022
African-American 288
Hispanic 473
Native American 198
Multi-ethnic 44
Total Minorities 1,965
White, non-Hispantc 11,538
Unknown 715
Asian/Pacific Islander
African-American
Hispanic
Native American
Multi-ethnic
Total Minorities
White, non-Hispanic
Unknown
Asian/Pacific Islander
African-American
Hispanic
Native American
Total Minorities
White, non-Hispanic
Unknown
Struggling for change
www”sr:iiMr \
The University
has taken steps
to increase
diversity, but
it still has a
ways to go
By Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
Despite an increase in the number of
minority faculty and students at the
University, some of the new voices on
campus want to see the administration
answer the question of how much
progress has actually been made to at
tain long-term diversity objectives.Mul
ticultural Center Director Erica Fuller,
who took the newly created position
this fall, said that while some improve
ments have been made, the University
is still at least 25 years behind in
preparing students for the reality of the
world.
Fuller, whose came from the Univer
sity of Florida, said curriculum is one of
the biggest reasons the University is be
Turn to Diversity, page 5
BCS rankings released
Take a whiff, Oregon football fans, and get
your noses out of the roses.
Instead, try smelling those oranges.
The seventh-ranked Ducks officially entered the
race for the Orange Bowl—the national cham
pionship game. The Bowl Championship Series
came out with its first rankings of the year Mon
day night and listed Oregon at the No. 8 spot.
There are only 15 teams listed, and Washing
ton, at No. 9, is the only other Pacific-10 Con
ference team.
The computer-generated listing will continue
to publish a new set of rankings each week un
til the end of the season. When all is said a nd
done, the two teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2
will meet in Miami for the national title.
Granted, Oregon is a long shot to climb that
high up the BCS ladder.
But you never know.
For fuH coverage, tumto SPORTS, page 7.
Raising awareness about disabilities
■ During a symposium on
disability studies, Adrienne Asch
challenged society to change the
way it views disabilities
By Brooke Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
A Wellesley College professor who
spoke at a symposium Monday
charged that society needs to change
how it views people with disabilities,
who make up 15 percent of the popu
lation.
“A disability should simply be
viewed as a characteristic that influ
ences life just as other characteristics
do,” said Adrienne Asch during the
symposium “Disability Studies: Where
Has It Been? Where is it Going?”
Disability studies is a field of study
that shifts the emphasis away from gen
eral beliefs about disabled people and
instead emphasizes changing the way
the public views people with impair
ments.
In her presentation, Asch stressed
the fact that the disabled community
should not be viewed differently and
separated from the rest of society be
cause so many people have or will suf
fer from impairments in their life
times. Asch estimated that half of the
Tu rn to Disabilities, page 4
Catharine Kendall Emerald
Following her disability studies lecture, Adrienne Asch speaks with Uni
rersity alumna Catherine Southward, , , ,,,,,,
Budget increase
to help engineers
■ Oregon’s engineering and computer science
programs could be headed for the nation’s top tier
due to a recent board decision by the OUS
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
The State Board of Higher Education decided to request an $85
million investment plan from the state government to improve
Oregon’s engineering and computer science programs during its
meeting on Oct. 20 at Southern Oregon University in Ashland.
Board members voted 10-1 to approve the plan that will use
state and private funds to gradually move engineering pro
grams into the nation’s top tier of higher education institu
tions. The plan will be incorporated into the Oregon Universi
ty System’s total budget request, which is due at Gov.
Kitzhaber’s office by Nov. 1.
“I personally voted for it because I’m convinced [Oregon]
needs top engineering and computer science programs,” said
Board Member Tom Imeson.
He said the board still has a lot of work to finish before it
sends the final version of the total higher education budget,
but he said the first steps towards improving engineering edu
cation have been made.
“We’re going to put [Oregon] on a path for the top tier,” he said.
According to information released by the OUS, the invest
ment plan requests $10.63 million each biennium. That
amount will be matched by private funding for a total of $21.2
million, which will supplement $30 million in state and pri
vate funds that have already been earmarked for engineering.
Oregon State University will be the chief recipient of the
engineering funds because the school already confers more
than half of the state’s engineering degrees. The University of
Oregon stands to receive about $8.5 million each biennium
for its computer and information science department.
University chemistry professor and board member Geri
Richmond, however, took issue with the plan. Richmond cast
the lone dissenting vote because she said the plan did not ef
fectively promote what she considered “excellence.”
“I didn’t think it focused on excellence,” she said. “It didn’t
have quality ideas. I just didn’t see in the proposal the quality
of state engineering that I’m used to seeing.”
In addition to not reaching Richmond’s expectations, the plan
also attempts to complete too much with too little, she said.
"There’s not enough focus on excellence, and it really is try
ing to do too much,” she said.
Despite her misgivings, Richmond said she will still respect
the board’s decision.
Tom Anderes, OUS vice chancellor for finance and admin
istration, said that even though the first funding request for
the plan is minuscule in comparison to the total higher educa
tion budget of $1.45 billion, it will eventually help make sig
nificant strides in engineering education.
The first step in the plan, Anderes said, will involve schools hir
ing new faculty and graduate assistants to develop the infrastruc
Turn to OUS Budget. Dage 5