Team decides incident report not racially based
■ University Housing officials
defend against discrimination
claims during Finals Week of
fall term 2000
By Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
A Bias Response Team investiga
tion concluded during winter break
that a University Housing employ
ee’s report of a November incident
involving three black high school
students was not racially biased.
During Finals Week, the team
found that housing employee Silke
Crombie reported the incident to
the Department of Public Safety
based on claims made by an
unidentified University student
who told her three high school stu
dents tried to sell him drugs in the
Carson Hall lobby.
DPS officers stopped the three
Jefferson High School students who
matched that description about five
minutes after the call was made.
The students were among about
600 high-school seniors on campus
for the annual Gateway to the Fu
ture minority recruitment event
Nov. 30.
When the incident occurred,
some members of the response
team and Gateway organizers be
lieved Crombie made a first-hand,
racially biased account of the inci
dent based on the students’ race
and clothing.
But they didn’t know her call to
DPS was based on the account giv
en by the unidentified University
student to her.
“There was no discrimination
from the housing staff,” said Mark
Tracy, assistant dean for diversity
programs and a member of the re
sponse team.
Crombie declined to comment
on the incident, but Housing Direc
tor Mike Eyster, who is also on the
response team, agreed his staff did
not discriminate based on the stu
dents’ race or dress, because Crom
bie was reporting the University
student’s claims.
“Did my employees act in good
faith? They did,” Eyster said.
Before the team investigated the
incident, University Housing did
its own investigation, trying to
piece together the events before
DPS stopped the students.
Eyster said three black students
had a brief conversation with the
University student. No one nearby,
including a Carson Hall janitor,
overheard the conversation, and
the three students left.
The University student then re
ported the incident to Crombie, but
he didn’t want to stay until DPS of
ficers arrived.
“He was really clear he didn’t
want to talk to DPS,” Eyster said.
“He was obviously sort of shaken
by this.”
Eyster added the janitor walked
with the student across campus to
the Hamilton Complex.
Bend campus
continued from page 1
posal, many said they will not
make their final decision until com
parison reports are compiled by
University System Vice Chancellor
Shirley Clark.
“It continues to stay true over
time that both proposals are excel
lent,” said board member Jerome
Colonna, superintendent for the
Redmond School District.
Colonna said the University
seems to have the advantage in
student financial aid and staffing,
but he said he is attracted to OSU’s
innovative academic programs. In
terms of cultural ties, he said the
University would better fit the
Bend community, while OSU
would be more attractive to outly
ing communities in Central Ore
gon like Madras, Prineville and
Warm Springs.
“It’s kind of like the difference
between Eugene and Corvallis in
terms of cultural and community
ties,” he said.
Advisory board member John
Rhetts, a retired psychologist who
trains horses in the Bend area, said
the issue is not which is the better
school, but which best answers
Central Oregon’s education needs.
“This isn’t a football contest,” he
said.
At this stage, Rhetts said he does
not know which school should
open the branch campus until he
can evaluate each proposal further.
Bank of the Cascades C.E.O. and
Bend resident Patricia Moss said it
was too early for her to choose
which school should come to the
Bend area. She said most of the
differences between the two were
philosophical.
“You can’t apply a scorecard to
it,” she said.
She said it would be premature
to say one school is better than the
other because she expects many
changes after the state board picks
a university.
Competing Proposals
Gov. John Kitzhaber has ear
marked $7.2 million in his higher
education budget proposal that
would help fund the new Bend
campus.
According to the University’s
proposal, the branch campus
would be named UO/Central Ore
gon, and would be similar in or
ganization to the Eugene campus’
professional schools. Instead of of
fering degrees related to just one
discipline, however, the branch
campus would offer degrees in the
University’s core programs of sci
ence, social sciences, humanities
The University has delivered a detailed plan to the
Oregon University System in an effort to establish a
Central Oregon branch campus
tits*
Brooke Mossefin Emerald
and education. Several minors
would also be offered, including
chemistry, business administra
tion, European studies and family
and human studies. More minors
would be included in later years.
For fall term 2001, the Universi
ty expects to offer 70 courses
taught by seven University faculty
members, five COCC faculty and
three others, for 96 full-time stu
dents. By 2005, the University
projects there will be 875 full time
students, 45 courses and 72 facul
ty members.
These projects do not include
the courses and faculty members
from other institutions already on
the COCC campus.
OSU’s plan would create Central
Oregon State University, which
would offer degrees in liberal arts
programs and biological and phys
ical sciences, social sciences and
humanities. Like the University,
OSU would expand upon partner
ships with other Oregon institu
tions, but it would also make Inter
net education a key element of
COSU.
Both Schools Confident
When the institution is finally
picked, COCC President and advi
sory board member Bob Barber
said COCC will work closely with
the chosen university to ensure
Central Oregon’s four-year school
is ready in September.
He said either school would
serve the campus well.
“I truly believe that these are
two strong universities,” he said.
Barber added the board is only
advisory and its preferences may
be overruled by the state board if it
believes it is not in accordance
with the OUS’ greater mission.
“Our biases and preferences
need to be balanced with the sys
tem,” he said.
Despite the middle-of-the-road
stance taken by those in Bend,
both the University of Oregon’s
and OSU's provosts who helped
draft their school’s proposals are
confident their institution will be
given the green light for a branch
campus.
OSU Provost and Executive Vice
President Tim White said COSU
would be a “21st century campus”
that would deliver exactly what
Bend residents want.
“This campus is going to be a
campus that really attracts stu
dents there and holds them there,”
he said.
White said OSU’s existing pro
grams in the area show the school
has the experience and resources
to open a successful branch cam
pus.
After the state board makes its
decision, White said OSU could
incorporate elements of the Uni
versity’s plan in its branch cam
pus, but he said many of the Uni
versity’s programs are already
included in OSU’s proposal.
“I think it is clear that we have
included UO [programs! in our
proposal,” he said, “but that does
n’t appear to be the case as I read
[the University’s] proposal.”
University Provost and Vice
President for Academic Affairs
John Moseley said the University
has the stronger proposal because
it offers programs more beneficial
to students in the long run, sets up
a better working relationship with
COCC staff and offers more bene
fits for students.
He also said the University
could include some of OSU’s pro
posals if the OUS felt it was neces
sary, but said they initiated a joint
effort early on that was rejected by
OSU.
The key element of the Universi
ty’s plan, Moseley said, was that it
would give Central Oregon resi
dents a top-notch education in
their own backyard.
“Our vision is to provide the
same quality education in Central
Oregon as in Eugene,” he said.
“It would be really nice if the stu
dent would come forward,” Eyster
said.
The three high school students
denied selling drugs. Tracy said
they told him they were in the Car
son Hall Lobby, which is open to
the public, but it is unclear if they
were the same three students seen
in the lobby.
But Tracy added that the Univer
sity community shouldn’t instant
ly dismiss the incident as a misun
derstanding, and discrimination
may have occurred with the de
scription that the students were
wearing “urban clothes.”
Fitzpatrick said Crombie de
scribed three black males wearing
“urban clothes.” But Eyster said
neither Crombie nor the student
ever referred to them that way.
Tracy said that with differing sto
ries about who was involved and
who said what, it will be hard to de
finitively determine what hap
pened and if DPS inappropriately
responded to the call, without the
help of the unidentified University
student.
“Nobody has really sat down and
talked to the student,” he said. “No
matter what, people perceived dis
crimination.”
He added that the response team
and the University need to be care
ful and respond to situations like
this only after they have all the facts
and understand the entire situa
tion.
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