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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2001)
Students lobby in Salem, learn legislative ropes ■ University students will head to the capitol Tuesday to address higher education funding with state legislators By Emily Gust Oregon Daily Emerald When hundreds of students con vene in Salem for the Oregon Stu dent Association lobby day Tues day, they will speak with legislators about everything from racial profil ing to the amount of tuition Univer sity students will pay next year. But they’ll also be learning a few things for themselves. It is a “chance for students who are not necessarily political science majors to see the legislative process firsthand,” said'Brian Thnner, the ASUO state affairs coordinator. ASUO President Jay Breslow added, “it’s a leadership develop ment tool. It’s taking people up to Salem and letting them get a little touch [of the lobbying experience].” But while learning to navigate the legislative ropes, the students are also looking to change the way those ropes swing. “We’re there to impact the leg islative process,” Tanner said. To do that, students will bring up four different issues, the foremost of which is the Oregon University System budget and the probable end of the tuition freeze. “We’re going to go up there and make sure the tuition hike is a real hot-button issue,” Breslow said. Tanner said students want to gar ner as much money for higher edu cation as possible, not only to keep tuition low, but also to retain the quality of education and programs. Gov. John Kitzhaber’s state budg et proposal for the next two years not only fails to set aside enough funds for higher education, Tanner said, but it also takes away funds from programs that need the money. “We have a problem with that,” Tanner said. Secondary issues for the students include increasing funds for both the child care block grant and the Ore gon Opportunity Grant, formerly the Oregon Need Grant. The students also plan to discuss racial profiling. To accomplish their goals, the students have planned an early start: Training sessions about the is sues and how they should be dis cussed begin in Salem at 8 a.m. After that, groups of students will head into legislative meetings, and Tanner said they hope to speak with each legislator in the capitol before the day is through. “Legislators typically really like these events,” former ASUO State Af fairs Coordinator Matt Swanson said. “It’s powerful for them to see a large group of constituents come through.” A rally is scheduled to take place on the capitol steps between the meetings, and afterward the stu dents will make an appearance on the floor of the State House and Senate, Tanner said. The last after noon meetings will probably take place around 4 or 4:30 p.m. In past years, about 300 students have participated in the lobby day, Swanson said. This year, he said, he thinks there will be far more. Tanner estimated between 300 Lobby Day information What: OSA Lobby Day Who: Oregon Students Association, i n cl ud i ng stu den ts from th e Un ive r sity of Oregon When: Begins at 8 a.m. Tuesday Where: The state capitol in Salem and 500 students will attend, in cluding about 50 from the Univer sity. People can still sign up to go by calling Tanner at 346-0628.Tues day’s event is the first of two major days students have scheduled in the capitol. The second is an Ore gon University System rally, to be held March 6, that will include not only students, but faculty, adminis trators and alumni. Japan s post-catastrophe reaction currently unknown ■ More than a week after the Navy submarine collision with a Japanese fishing boat, the investigation is underway By Beata Mostafavi Oregon Daily Emerald As the United States continues to investigate the reason a Navy subma rine hit and sunk a Japanese fishing vessel off the coast of Hawaii Feb. 9, some University members remain shocked, and others discussed how the incident might affect this coun try’s relationship with Japan. The news of the collision especial ly hit close to home for some interna tional students and members of cul tural student unions at the University. For Shigeo Murao, a senior inter national studies major who moved from Japan to the U.S. about five years ago, the occurrence triggered a personal connection, not only be cause it involved Japanese residents, but also because his own family is in a fishery-related business. “I think about what if my family had been involved and how that would affect me,” he said. “I put my self in the situation of the victim’s families ... it must be devastating.” Murao said that after hearing about the accident, his biggest question was how such a disaster could even occur in the first place. “I want to know how this hap pened,” he said. “This is such tragic news to me, and I’d really like to know how it could have been avoid ed ... This brings attention to Japan ese people about America’s Navy.” The Japanese ship belonged to a high school in Ehime Prefecture and sank about 18 kilometers south of Oahu Island Feb. 9 after being struck by the submarine. Twenty-six people, including nine students, were res cued, but the remaining nine - four 17-year-old students, two teachers and three crew members - are still missing.With the recent discovery that civilians were at the controls of the submarine when it smashed into the Japanese vessel, some students are questioning the Navy’s policies and procedures and what part they played in the accident. Zafreen Ali, secretary of the Asian Pacific American Student Union, said that if the civilians hadn’t been supervised as they should have been, then this incident will reflect badly on the Navy, especially in Japan. Ali added that when more definite conclusions are made about the acci dent’s cause, it will be easier to deter mine how this will affect U.S.-Japan ese relations. “It depends on the outcome of why this happened,” she said. University students and staff have also paid close attention to how the governments from the two countries have dealt with the catastrophe, and how these actions will affect the countries’ relationship. William Baugh, a political science professor who teaches foreign policy, said that in the long run, this incident may not have a big impact on U.S.-Japanese relations, depending on how the situation is handled. President George W. Bush, along with Navy officials, have made sev eral public and private apologies and are working on Japan’s request to re cover the ship, although no promises have been made. The U.S. also hasn’t stopped its efforts to find the missing boaters and develop a thorough ex LA£1K Laser Vision Correotinn Nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism STEVEN OFNER, MD Jerry Alien AFTER (Surgery by Steven Ofner, MD) You Don’t Have To Imagine Anymore! Discover the freedom of reducing your dependence on glasses or contact lenses. Call us to see f you are a candidate & explore your options with a FREE consultation appointment 011049 STEVEN OFNER, M.D. (541) 687-1715 http ://www. eugeneeyecare. com Oregon Daily Emerald P.O. Box 3159. Eugene OR 97403 The Oregon Daily Emerald is published daily Monday through Friday during the school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the Uni versity of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. A member of the Associated Press, the Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is pri vate property. The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. NEWSROOM — (S4H 346-5511 Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Managing editor: Jessica Blanchard Community: Darren Freeman, editor. Lindsay Buchele, Aaron Breniman, reporters. Freelance: Serena Markstrom, editor. Higher education: Andrew Adams, editor. Brooke Ross, Hank Hager, reporters. Student activities: Jeremy Lang, editor. Emily Gust, Beata Mostafavi, Lisa Toth, reporters. News aide: Suzanne O’Kelley. Perspectives: Michael Kleckner, editor. Jayna Bergerson, Rebecca Newell Pat Payne, Eric Pfeiffer, columnists. Pulse: Rebecca Wilson, editor. Lisa Griffing, Mason West, reporters. Sports: Jeff Smith, editor Scott Pesznecker, asst, editor. Peter Hockaday, Adam Jude, Robbie McCallum, reporters. Copy: Sara Lieberth, Katie Mayer, copy chiefs. Jessica Davison, Monica Hande, Lori Musicer, Tom Patterson, Jessica Richelderfer copyeditors. Online: Carol Rink, editor. Timur Insepov, webmaster. Design: Katie Miller, editor. Azle Malinao- Alvarez, Brooke Mossefin, Russ Weller, designers. Bryan Dixon, Giovanni Salimena, illustrators. Adam Amato, Chrystal McConnell,Tom Patter son, Laura Smit, photographers. BUSINESS — (541) S46-SS17. Judy Riedl, general manager. Kathy Carbone, business supervisor. Sarah Goracke, receptionist. Masahiro Kojima, John Long, Jeff Neely, Laura Ramelli, Gretchen Sim mons, distribution. CLASSIFIEDS — (S4tt W>-4^ Trina Shanaman, manager. Katy Hagert, Amy Richman, Laura Staples, assistants. ADVERTISING — (S4tt S46-3712 Becky Merchant, director. Doug Hentges, Katie Harsany, Nicole Hubbard, Trevor Kuhn, Jesse Long, Chau Nguyen, Adam Rice, Hillary Schultz, Chad Verly, Lisa Wood, sales representatives. Erin O’Connell, Van Nguyen, assistants. PRODUCTION -«• fS4tt S46-4V81 Michele Ross, manager. Tara Sloan, coordinator. Laura Chamberlain, Kara Fallini, Cassie Keller, Melissa O’Connell, Laura Paz, Ross Ward, designers. / planation of what happened. Baugh said that so far, the U.S. has dealt with the situation appropriate ly. He said U.S. apologies have been one of the most vital steps in keeping good relations, especially because Japanese culture places emphasis on admitting mistakes. “In our society, we many times try to find scapegoats,” Baugh said. “In Japan, high-level apologies are huge.” He added that if recovering the Japanese ship is technically feasible, he doesn’t think monetary costs would stop the U.S. from retrieving the ship, because of the chance of finding the bodies of the missing peo ple. “The recovering of bodies would help bring closure to families in volved and governments involved for that matter,” he said. In Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has been under fire for continuing a golf game more than two hours after hearing about the subma rine accident. Mori’s reaction stirred surprise and dismay among students such as Murao. “He neglected the criticalness of the incident,” Murao said. “It was a r Collision update The commander of the Pacific Fleet said Saturday that the Navy would soon convene a court of inquiry, the Navy’s highest form of administra tive investigation, to learn about the accident’s cause. Source: Associated Press big disappointment.” The submarine collision has also angered Japan’s Defense Agency Chief Toshitsugu Saito and the prin cipal of the high school that owned the boat, Ietaka Horita, who were es pecially concerned about the civil ians who were apparently at the con trols of the sub. Professor Baugh added that de spite some angry responses from Japan, it’s still too early to tell how se riously the incident will affect foreign relations. “The Japanese reaction will de pend a lot on what the investigation actually shows,” he said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Undecided About Your Major? Explore UO majors at MAJOR DECISIONS an informational fair about UO majors and related careers Wed., February 21 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM EMU Concourse Concurrent Events: What My Major Has Done For Me 11:00 AM - Noon EMU Alsea Room An alumni panel from various disciplines will discuss their career paths and how their choice of an academic major has affected their lives. The Future Room 11:00 AM-2:00 PM EMU Owyhee Room Tools, resources, and hands-on activities will be available for you to explore different majors and career options. CAREER
