So close... 1
Oregon drops a heartbreaker to Washington,
losing by one point in overtime. PAGE 5
Still increasing
The Programs Finance Committee approved eight
budgets and referred one to committee. PAGE 4
January 19,2001
Volume 102, Issue 76
Weather
today
RAIN POSSIBLE
high 45, low 32
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Chrystal McConnell Emerald
Kimberly Tucker and Aubrey Sipowicz, University law students, discuss an upcoming case at the Lane County Domestic Violence Clinic,
where they assist in domestic violence protection programs for abused women.
Law lessons in life
■ Law students get the chance
to use what they learn in class
by representing victims of
abuse in court
By Brooke Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
University law students are doing
more than just earning their degrees;
they’re helping victims of domestic
violence.
For the last two years, the law
school has worked in concert with
Lane County Legal Aid, Womenspace
and Sexual Assault Support Services
to protect women from their abusers
by offering victims complete legal
and support services through the
Lane County Domestic Violence Clin
ic.
Margo Schaefer, the community
outreach director of Womenspace,
said many women find themselves in
violent situations, and one out of
every three women is in an abusive
relationship during her lifetime.
“It can happen to any of us,” she
said. “If we are not a battered woman
ourselves, someone we know is.”
The program offers court hearings
to clients whose abusers are contest
ing restraining orders previously filed
against them, and for the past two
years, third-year University law stu
dents have represented them in court,
said Marlene Drescher, supervising
attorney and director of the Lane
County Domestic Violence Clinic.
To further assist clients, Women
space and SASS provide volunteer
lay advocates who offer moral sup
port to the women by attending their
court cases.
“Confronting your abuser is terrify
ing, so it’s pretty easy to melt down in
the face of domestic violence,” Schae
fer said.
Matthew Hoff, a third-year Univer
sity law student, worked in the clinic
last fall and participated in three cas
es.
“It’s a lesson in responsibility and
a lesson in maturity that you experi
ence as you benefit those women,” he
said.
Hoff said he was trained not to be
come emotionally involved with his
The Domestic Violence Clinic has
worked to help victims of abusive
relationships and as of June 2000:
594 victims have received services
from the clinic.
Clinic staff attorneys provided legal
services to 161 battered women, and
students provided services to 77
women.
The clinic has won 88 percent of its
cases.
cases, but said keeping their situa
tions in mind made him work harder
to help them.
“Had I lost, God only knows what
kind of situation I would have put
them in,” he said.
Like all participating students,
Hoffs training began at the Universi
ty
Before entering the clinic, students
must take two courses at the law
school. Merle Weiner, an associate
professor at the law school, teaches a
family law class and a domestic vio
Turn to Violence, page 3
State senators
talk of Ashcroft
■ Neither Oregon senator publicly plans to oppose
John Ashcroft’s appointment to attorney general
By Darren Freeman
Oregon Daily Emerald
With John Ashcroft’s contentious Senate confirmation
hearings underway in the nation’s Capitol, reactions among
Oregon’s political leaders and organizations range from anger
to contentment.
Ashcroft’s nomination has drawn the ire of abortion rights
activists and civil rights leaders, but has received approval
from many conservatives and anti-abortion activists.
Critics of Ashcroft claim his conservative voting record —
including opposition to gun control, school desegregation
and abortion rights bills — makes him too biased to serve as
an objective law enforcement officer. But Ashcroft’s support
ers argue the former Missouri senator, who has also served as
the state’s governor and attorney general, is a man of honor
and is committed to upholding the law.
Despite the clamor, neither of Oregon’s senators publicly
plans to block the confirmation of Ashcroft or any other of
President-elect George W. Bush’s Cabinet nominations.
“[Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore.] is going to vote for all of
them, unless something significant and catastrophic comes
up to lead him to do otherwise,” Smith spokesman Joe Sheffo
said.
Lisa Finkel, a spokeswoman for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.,
Turn to Ashcroft, page 3
Service to honor
professor’s life
■The public can attend a memorial service and an
informal gathering to remember biology professor
Aaron Novick
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
Campus and community members will come together this
Sunday and Monday to remember the life and career of one
of the University’s most influential researchers, who passed
away last month.
Professor Aaron Novick died Dec. 22 at the aee of 81 after a
NOVICK
long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. A
memorial service will be held at Temple
Beth Israel, 2550 Portland St., from 3 to 4
p.m., and an informal gathering to re
member Novick will be held in the
Browsing Room of the Knight Library
from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday. Both events are
open to the public.
Novick established the Institute of Mol
ecular Biology at the University in 1959.
He then made several breakthroughs in
Turn to Novick, page 3
Inauguration protest to take place in downtown Eugene
The Saturday
event will be
part of a
nationwide
protest that
will call for
election
reforms
By Darren Freeman
Oregon Daily Emerald
More than 100 people still steaming
over the outcome of this year’s nail-bit
ingly close presidential election are ex
pected to protest President-elect George
W. Bush’s inauguration Saturday morn
ing in downtown Eugene.
The event, to be held at the Wayne
Morse Free Speech Plaza, is part of a na
tional counter-inauguration protest, the
hub of which will be in Washington,
D.C. Organizers expect thousands of
protesters to convene in the nation’s
capital and call for election reforms, in
cluding campaign finance reform, the
abolishment of the Electoral College and
support for third parties.
Other Oregon protests will be in Port
land and Corvallis. The nationwide
protest was largely organized over the
Internet via the Web site www.voters
march.com.
“We’re holding a consolidation rally in
Eugene for what’s happening in Washing
ton, D.C.,” said Ellen, a co-coordinator of
the Oregon protests who declined to give
her last name. “I still don’t know what the
true outcome of this election was. We’re
not just going to sit quietly and let them
take everything from us.”
Bush will be sworn in Saturday at
8:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.
Though Ellen didn’t know if any pro
testers planned to destroy property or
disobey police, she said many discus
sions in Internet chartrooms have ad
dressed civil disobedience.
Eugene Police Department spokes
woman Jan Power said the EPD is aware
of the protest.
“Like any protest, we’ll keep an eye
on it, and if it looks like things will be
come unlawful, we’ll react appropriate
ly,” she said. “The Wayne Morse Free
Speech Plaza provides a place for the
public to voice its concerns, and hope
fully everything will be copasetic. ”