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
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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