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The Oregon Daily Emerald is always looking for young
writers who want to learn and grow at a real newspaper.
For information on how to freelance for the Emerald call346-5511.
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Laura Smit Emerald
During an academic session at the Knight Law Center, Ricardo Juarez (left), a first-year law student, talks to Oregon high-school
students about opportunities to study in college.
Minorities look to future
■ A diverse group of high
school students visited the
University to broaden its
horizons
By Will Wyer
For the Emerald
The University gave about 600
Oregon high-school students of col
or a taste of college life as part of the
annual Gateway to the Future pro
gram Thursday.
The program, sponsored by the
Office of Admissions, helped intro
duce students to the possibilities of
a college education.
Lerisha Harris, a high-school stu
dent from Salem, said the event
helped her focus on her future.
“A lot of people don’t have that
chance to go to college,” Harris said.
“I’m gonna try to take advantage of
the opportunity.”
That is what event organizers aim
to have the students come away
from the event believing. Tana
Atchley, an admissions counselor,
said, “I think the most important
thing is implanting in the minds of
the high schoolers that college is a
possibility for them.”
“There are some students that are
coming from communities where
nobody even graduated from high
school and for them to even begin
thinking about college, learning
about scholarships, financial aid
and the different possibilities that
are out there is a good thing,” Atch
ley said. “It opens a lot of doors.”
Harris fits Atchley’s description.
“I’ll be the first person in my family
to go to college so that’s a big thing to
me,” Harris said. “Also, I’ll have a
better life when I get older, a better
job, a better understanding.”
The event kicked off with a free
continental breakfast followed by a
performance bv the Gospel Ensem
ble and a welcoming speech by
Dave Frohnmayer. Students then
moved on to a series of informative
sessions about college life.
Students and parents learned
about admissions and financial aid,
and students broke into groups, di
vided by major.
Students chose between campus
tours or a visit to the Multicultural
Center and the ethnic student
unions. After lunch, they had the
opportunity to attend specific aca
demic sessions depending on
where their interests lie.
The day concluded with Univer
sity student panels, where the par
ticipants had the opportunity to ask
questions of college students. For
some of the volunteers, the Gateway
program provides a chance to help
high-school students relate to the
volunteers’ own experiences.
David Peterson is a University
freshman who volunteered his time
Thursday. “I know it was a hard tran
sition for me and I knew from past ex
perience that it’s not as hard as it
seems,” said Peterson, who also par
ticipated in Gateway in high school.
“I want to be able to break the ice and
let them know how it is. ”
Peterson remembers attending
the program last year and how it
was instrumental in helping him
decide which direction to take his
own education.
“Toward the middle of my senior
year, UO was one of the universities
that came to visit my high school,”
Peterson said. “I was kind of lean
ing toward community college, but
then I was told that since I could af
ford going to a university, I should
go for it because it would be a better
experience, more worth my while.”
Organizers consider the Univer
sity’s largest recruiting effort for mi
nority students a success simply for
getting younger students to realize
that the option of education does
not stop after high school.
“I see people interested and that’s
satisfying,” Atchley said.
Racism
continued from page 1
campus for Gateway to the Future, a
program that has worked to recruit a
more diverse student body to the
University for more than 15 years.
But this year, the program is part
of University President Dave Frohn
mayer’s top goal of improving diver
sity on campus.
“I just can’t fathom it,” said Jami
la Singleton, a student volunteer for
Gateway who witnessed the inci
dent. “This isn’t OK to be happen
ing on our campus. ”
Singleton added that the students
had free time to explore the campus
when the incident happened.
The Carson Hall lobby is un
locked and open to the public, un
like other residence halls that re
quire a key for entry.
One of the students stopped,
Michael Hill, 17, said he and his
friends were not dealing drugs and,
regardless of the circumstances, he
just wants to forget about his en
counter with campus security.
“The discrimination has to stop,”
he said.
ASUO President Jay Breslow,
who was a student director in the
Multicultural Center before being
elected last spring, said he is furious
about what happened.
“It’s not DPS racial profiling, but
it’s definitely still a racist incident,”
Breslow said. “It’s a horrible thing
to have happen.”
A report about the incident has
been filed with the Bias Response
Team, a group of students and ad
ministrators who advocate for vic
tims of racism and educate the cam
pus community about the case.
Fitzpatrick, who met with mem
bers of the response team Thursday
afternoon, said DPS has a duty to stop
people if they match the physical and
clothing descriptions of suspects.
“We simply identified the folks,
talked to them, thanked them for
their cooperation and wished them
well,” he said. “We had a relatively
positive contact.”
Mark Tracy, assistant dean for di
versity programs at the University
and a member of the response team,
said he wants to deal with the after
math of the incident instead of plac
ing blame, especially on DPS.
“DPS did what they were sup
posed to do,” he said. “We need to
decide how we are going to deal
with it as a University.”
Frohnmayer released a brief
statement late Thursday afternoon
to say he discussed the situation
with Fitzpatrick, members of the re
sponse team and others.
The three students received let
ters from Fitzpatrick that explained
what happened and why — but did
not include an apology—and Tracy
went to Gateway sessions in the af
ternoon to discuss what happened
and the resources available on cam
pus for students who are victims of
bias or racism.
Breslow said the biggest disap
pointment Thursday was the timing
of the incident with the recruitment
program.
“Bottom line—it was a racist inci
dent,” he said. “It happens every day,
but we happened to catch this one. ”
Black & white
and READ
all over
campus.