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Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Tuesday
January 30,2001
Volume 102, Issue 83
Weather
TODAY
RAIN POSSIBLE
high 50, low 35
Lawrence Gillespie
junior v||
j>s\ £.hnlog\
Randy Newnham
senior
anthropology.
linguistics
4ary Elizabeth Madden
anior
lolitical science,
nisi ness . * %
Arlie Adkins
junior
history
Jackie Lynn Ray
sophmore
journalism
Marie Brink
sophmore
pre-education
Aaron Week
junior
general science
Aile Maitaao-Aivaru Emerald
The budgetary Power Elite
TheASUO
Programs
Finance
Committee
controls
funding
for student
groups,
but the
members
of the
committee
are simply
students—
with some
power
By Emily Gust
Oregon Daily Emerald
Seven people make up the ASUO Pro
grams Finance Committee — seven dis
tinct personalities that ultimately deter
mine how more than
$2 million is divided
among more than the
100 student programs
on campus.
Here, the Emerald
explores the mem
bers of the PFC: their
backgrounds, their involvement and how
all this comes into play in budgeting de
cisions.
Inside
The ASUO Execu
tive’s $228,056
budget is approved
Monday by the PFC
PAGE4A
PFC Chairwoman Sen. Mary Elizabeth
Madden began her student-government
resume in high school and continued it
last year as an intern for the ASUO Exec
utive. The 20-year-old junior’s experience
outside student government ranges from
her enrollment in the Clark Honors Col
lege to the positions she occupies on sev
eral student scholar and University
boards.
Madden, who said she ran for the PFC
senate position because she felt it was a
good combination of her political science
and business majors, said the strongest
asset of the PFC this year is its balanced
and diverse nature.
But as all but one member is new, Mad
den said the seven-member committee
has had to educate itself while also trying
to educate programs about the budget
process.
“We had a pretty steep learning curve,
and all of us kind of had to find our way,”
Madden said.
Two-year at-large member Aaron Week
— the only returning member to the PFC
—■ was appointed earlier this year after re
signing from his position late last year.
Week, who said he attends probably 25
percent of all the events put on by stu
dent groups on campus, said he re-joined
Turn to Who’s Who, page 5A
WRC works to gain
UO’s participation
■ me monitoring group and Nike disagree
about a recent strike at a Mexican factory
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
While a team of investigators from the Worker Rights
Consortium compiles a report on a current labor dis
pute in Mexico, leaders in the organization are also try
ing to assuage the University’s liability fears about the
monitoring group.
The University administration views the organiza
tion’s recent work as positive steps. Yet they maintain
the group must tackle the legal issues raised by Univer
sity President Dave Frohnmayer at the end of fall term
that he said made paying the WRC membership dues
impossible.
Added to the disagreement between the University
and the WRC is a labor dispute in Atlixco, Mexico, at a
Nike-contracted factory that produces some University
apparel.
The WRC has issued a statement that details various
violations of labor codes at the Mexican factory, but a
Nike spokesman questioned both the “veracity and ob
jectivity” of the report and said Nike has played a key
role in getting more than half of the 800 strikers back
to work.
University administrators said they are keeping tabs
on the situation in Mexico through various monitoring
groups.Here in Eugene, work is still being done to de
termine if the University should become a full paying
member of the WRC.
Melinda Grier, University general counsel, said the
University received a letter from the WRC last week ad
dressing the liability issues, which was a chief concern
at the end of October.
“It doesn’t change anything immediately,” she said.
Grier said the letter essentially is another statement
from the WRC’s lawyers claiming that the University is
immune from any liable lawsuit because of what the
organization might do while investigating labor issues.
She said she is continuing to research the issue until
she can come to her own decision, but said the letter
was a welcome communication from the WRC.
“It was a letter that was trying to be helpful,” she
said.
The letter in question came from the WRC’s new ex
ecutive director Scott Nova, who has been in Mexico
investigating the Atlixco labor dispute.
In an earlier interview with the Emerald, Nova said
he was confident the letter addressed the University’s
concerns and expressed hope that the two institutions
could come to a working agreement.
Turn to WRC, page 5A
((I'm opti
mistic about
it; most of
th concerns
have been
addressed.
Scott Nova
WRC
executive
director
Local restaurant targeted in health department probe
Atecal borne
virus was
discovered as
the cause
for several
cases
of digestive
illness
By Lindsay Bucnele
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Spaghetti Warehouse re
opened for business late last week
after closing for five days in re
sponse to reports of food poison
ing.
Customers reported an outbreak
of viral gastroenteritis at the
restaurant, located at 725 W. First
Ave. Spaghetti Warehouse owner
Jay Zink said his restaurant has
undergone extensive cleaning and
is back to business as usual.
“We’re excited to be back
open,” Zink said.
But the Lane County Health De
partment predicts more flare-ups
of the virus in other areas in Eu
gene, department sanitarian
Richard Coots said.
Coots said the exact cause of the
Spaghetti Warehouse outbreak
hasn’t been determined yet. Once
the cause is determined, health of
ficials can stop further contamina
tion. The virus is spread by fecal
contamination, meaning those
who have the virus are only conta
gious through their fecal material.
It is usually passed on when in
fected people pass the virus from
their hands to food, said Martha
deBroekert, a nurse for the Lane
County Health Department.
“It is extremely important for
people to be washing their hands,”
Coots said.
The health department took
stool samples from Spaghetti
Warehouse employees, patrons
who came down with the virus
and patrons who did not get sick
to determine where the virus origi
nated.
“We’re still crunching the num
bers, but we’re pretty sure the
virus was spread through an un
cooked food,” Coots said.
DeBroekert said what needs to
be determined in situations like
this is whether a restaurant’s prac
tices or its food is responsible for
the outbreak.
“We try everything we can to
pinpoint the cause of the virus,”
deBroekert said. “In some cases,
we can never determine the exact
cause.”
DeBroekert said that by having
those involved in the outbreak fill
out questionnaires, and by com
paring those who got sick to those
who didn’t, the health department
can possibly prevent others from
getting sick.
Coots describes this virus as a
“hardy” one that can survive freez
ing and heating of up to 140 F. Only
boiling can kill the virus, so foods
like salad, which are not heated at
Turn to Virus, page 5A
We try
everything
we can to
pinpoint the
cause of the
virus.
Martha
deBroekert
Lane Co.
Health
Department