Hillel offers Jewish students free trip to Israel
■ The organization provides a chance for Jewish students
to get in touch with their roots on a 10-day summer excursion
By Lisa Toth
Oregon Daily Emerald
Instead of sending his friends
and family a stack of typical
tourist-geared postcards, Benjamin
Garvey used water from the Sea of
Galilee to paint watercolor post
cards — and captured a piece of Is
rael for those who couldn’t be
there.
Garvey was one of 40 Jewish
010686
Students, UO Staff & Faculty
Earn $10 Cash!
Take 25 minutes to fill out two surveys
for a study funded by the
National Science Foundation.
Need 4-5 people at each session.
Come to the room noted below in the EMU on the
hour or half-hour on one of the following days:
FAT TUESDAY
MARDI GRAS
PARTY
Tuesday, February 27th
I 9:00 - CLOSING
r
live W and Dancing
Party New Orleans Style
Contests, Prizes & More
Beads, Beads, Beads
Cover Charge: *2.00
Must Be 21 or Over
students from the University who
spent 10 days in Israel last sum
mer. Hillel, a group for Jewish life
on campus, is offering 40 stu
dents a free, 10-day trip to Israel
again this June. The trip offers
college students the chance to
tour the country’s most contem
porary and historic sites.
The deadline for registration to
participate in the trip is March 7.
As the largest Jewish organiza
tion in the world, with founda
tions and affiliates on 500 cam
puses around the globe, Hillel is
offering this intense program to
college students ages 18-26 who
have never been to Israel before.
Philanthropists Charles Bronf
man and Michael Steinhardt cre
ated the trip, and it has contin
ued through a $210 million
partnership from a group of
prominent philanthropists, local
Jewish federations and the Israeli
government.
Garvey recommended students
take part in the trip to see high
lights such as the sunrise on the
Masada archaeological site. Oth
er features of the trip include vis
its to Tel Aviv in Jerusalem, the
Dead Sea and the Western Wall.
“It was an amazing opportuni
ty. It’s a free trip. There’s no
catch,” Garvey said. “I definitely
want to go back and do it again
and spend more time in certain
areas.”
Garvey, a senior journalism
major, said the trip was packed
with events, including lectures
and discussions about his identi
ty and faith.
Boris Dolin, the programming
Courtesy of Ryan Dushman
Students from the University collect water from the Sea of Galilee to use in painting
postcards with watercolors during a 10-day trip to Israel last summer.
adviser for Hillel, said the trip
has been a success so far, and
many students come back from
Israel and become leaders in their
Hillels.
“One of the big problems in the
Jewish community is that college
students do not have a good out
let for Judaism in college,” Dolin
said.
Dolin said he hopes because of
last summer’s program that this
year’s trip will offer students a
place to explore their Judaism.
Matt Nelkin, a senior religious
studies major, attended the trip
last year and said it offers stu
dents a chance to get in touch
with their roots.
“It is the homeland of the Jew
ish people and just being there
helps strengthen a sense of iden
tity,” Nelkin said.
Nelkin also said the trip en
courages education about Ju
daism.
“Through the discussions it is
not necessarily a discussion
about how to be more religious,
but just a matter of discussing
what it means to be part of the
Jewish people in the 21st centu
ry,” Nelkin said.
Daniel Gruber, a junior physics
major, said he came away from
the trip with a sense of history
about his people and bonded
with other students from the Uni
versity in the process.
Students can contact Hillel at
343-8920 for more information
about the trip.
OSU branch hinges on funding
BEND — Oregon State Univer
sity may have won the rights to
the state’s first university branch,
but it’ll have to wait until sum
mer to know if the Legislature
will approve funding.
Passage of the state budget is
the final order of business on the
legislative agenda. If the state
revenue forecast in May comes in
significantly lower than expect
ed, new programs such as the
branch campus could face the
chopping block.
With the Central Oregon
branch scheduled to open this
fall, OSU Provost Tim White has
little time to plan which courses
to offer, how to recruit 150 stu
dents and how to find eight fac
ulty members willing to move to
Bend, among many other details.
“It’ll be tricky, for sure, but
make no mistake — it’s definitely
doable,” he said.
The State Board of Higher Edu
cation picked OSU for the branch
Feb. 16, but a final decision on
legislative funding likely won’t
be made until June or July — just
three months before students are
scheduled to show up for classes.
The time crunch puts OSU in
the position of making shaky
commitments to students and
faculty.
“It’s hard to spend money
when you don’t have it,” White
said. “Basically, we have to plan
on the presumption that funding
is coming while acknowledging
the fact that it might not hap
pen.”
Meantime, OSU officials and
state higher education Chancellor
Joe Cox are discussing ways to
make commitments to students
and faculty before the funding is
approved.
To start out, OSU expects to re
cruit most students from Central
Oregon Community College and
from community college gradu
ates now living in Central Oregon
— the students least affected if
the Legislature cuts funding for
the branch.
Students will be allowed to ap
ply as early as the next two
weeks, but because funding isn’t
assured, they won’t learn
whether they have been accepted
until late spring or early summer.
“We have to at least start re
cruiting now,” said Linda John
son, director of OSU’s branch of
fice in Bend. “That’s why the
curriculum planning is such a
huge part. We need that to meet
our enrollment goals.”
The OSU Foundation has es
tablished a $3.5 million endow
ment that will provide $150,000
to fund scholarships for as many
as 60 students at the branch this
fall. OSU officials will soon begin
work on an online application
site.
Johnson said if legislative
funding falls through, students
admitted to the branch may be al
lowed to attend the Corvallis
campus this fall.
Meantime, COCC officials
aren’t waiting for the green light
from Salem to put their plans
into action.
Already, they are working to
find space for about 35 new of
fices for branch faculty and staff,
and classroom space.
“I am proceeding, with the ex
ception of spending money, as if
this is a done deal,” said COCC
Vice President for Instruction
Bart Queary. “If we don’t, we
couldn’t possibly do it. The
things that cost money that we’re
doing now we needed to do any
way.”
The Associated Press
Oregon Daily Emerald
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403
The Oregon Daily Emerald is publishec
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 — (541H46-SS11
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: Ben Lacey.
Perspectives: Michael Kleckner, editor.
Jayna Bergerson, Rebecca Newell, Pat Payne,
Eric Pfeiffer, columnists.
Pulse: Rebecca Wilson, editor.
Lisa Gritting, 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 — (S41) S46-SS12
Judy Riedl, general manager.
Kathy Carbone, business supervisor. Sarah
Goracke, receptionist. Masahiro Kojima, John
Long, Jeff Neely, Laura Ramelli, Nelson Hawkes
distribution.
CLASSIFIEDS — (S41) S46-4^
Trina Shanaman, manager. Katy Hagert, Amy
Richman, Laura Staples, assistants.
ADVERTISING — (S41) S46-S712
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 — (S4I) V46-4S81
Michele Ross, manager.
Tara Sloan, coordinator. Laura Chamberlain,
Kara Fallini, Cassie Keller, Melissa O’Connell,
Laura Paz, Ross Ward, designers.