Grievances could disqualify Jacobson, Cook
■i i wu bimiidr grievances
allege the campaign broke
University Housing rules
By Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
As ASUO Executive candidates
Bret Jacobson and Matt Cook battle
through the final day of the primary
election, they must also defend
against two attacks to remove them
from the ballot.
Their campaign placed fliers out
side residence hall doors earlier this
week, and two separate but similar
grievances allege the action broke
elections and University Housing
rules.
If the ASUO Elections Board
agrees with the grievances, they
would be automatically disquali
fied from the presidential race, ac
cording to elections rules.
But Jacobson said he and Cook re
viewed the elections rules before
mey uisxriDutea aDoux iuu mers,
and he believes the rules do not for
bid him from continuing to do so.
One of Jacobson and Cook’s ri
vals, vice presidential candidate Jeff
Oliver, filed the first grievance Tues
day, and Walton Complex resident
assistant David Christensen filed
the second today, but the issue ac
tually began with another candi
date.
Presidential candidate Eric Qual
heim, an RA in Carson Hall, noticed
fliers outside doors in his hall. He
said he called Oliver’s running
mate, Eric Bailey, who is an RA in
the Hamilton Complex.
But Qualheim said he didn’t want
to muddy the political waters by fil
ing the grievance himself, and he
figured Bailey and Oliver might file
anyway.
Christensen said he filed his
grievance after noticing Jacobson
and Cook fliers in his hall and other
nans in tne complex when he went
on rounds.
Elections Manager Emily Sedg
wick is investigating the grievances
and will report to the entire five-per
son board, which will then rule on
the allegations.
Sedgwick said she hopes to re
port to the board later today. The
primary election ends at 5 p.m. to
day.
Oliver and Christensen contend
Jacobson and Cook broke an elec
tions rule ensuring equal access to
University facilities such as the resi
dence halls.
They also said Jacobson and Cook
broke housing department Riles cre
ated this term by the Residence Hall
Association, a group of students
that can recommend policy to hous
ing department administrators.
Oliver said University Housing
adopted a RHA rule that candidates
could place a poster in the common
areas of the four complex lobbies,
but not in the actual residence halls.
“RHA’s main concern is that the
residence halls are people’s
homes,” Oliver said. “You’ve got to
respect that it’s their homes.”
Jacobson said he didn’t speak
with Elections Board members be
fore distributing, but he believes
that as long as he didn’t slide fliers
under doors, he did nothing wrong.
“At no time did we put fliers in
people’s rooms,” Jacobson said.
“This grievance is an abuse of the
process.”
Residence halls are locked from
the outside, and although a person
could simply wait for someone to
open the door and then gain access,
Oliver said that would violate Hous
ing’s trespassing rules.
Jacobson, who called the griev
ances “mudslinging,” said his cam
paign volunteers delivered the
fliers, but he wasn’t sure how they
Today is the final day
of the ASUO primary
election
Voting is happening entirely by com
puter via Duck Web. But the system
has been down at times due to heavy
traffic of voters and students regis
tering for classes.
Pollsclose at 5 p.m. today.
gained access to the halls.
He added that his campaign
wanted to target freshmen voters
who might only know about Bailey
and Oliver because Bailey is an RA.
Oliver said he would rather just
talk to Jacobson to solve the prob
lem, but the number of fliers distrib
uted created too much damage to
just receive a slap on the wrist.
“[Filing a grievance] is one of the
last things we wanted to do,” Oliver
said.
Food
continued from page 1
packaged by community volunteers
and sent to pantries throughout the
Lane County area. Catholic Com
munity Services is the largest Food
for Lane County agency, serving not
only all households in their district,
but also those who are homeless
and those who do not speak Eng
lish.
The food options at the pantry
consist of many types of canned
fruits and vegetables, as well as raw
fruits and vegetables. Food for Lane
County has a grassroots garden, and
some local organic farms also do
nate their produce. Pasta, beans,
bread and dairy products are staples
found at the pantry each week.
“We get our dairy and produce
delivered each day,” Softich said.
“But we never have enough milk for
everyone. The government used to
donate a lot more, like USDA but
ter, milk and cheese. Now they only
donate 10 percent of our products.
Food for Lane County comes up
with the other 90 percent. ”
Food distributors in the commu
nity, such as the Safeway supermar
ket chain, also donate products to
Food for Lane County.
“Sometimes there is real good
food, like Trader Joe’s donates
spinach dip, hummus and organic
veggies. Umpqua donates milk and
cheese,” said Allen, whose rice din
ner came from this week’s pantry.
“That’s a good day at the food box. ”
Community food donors are just
a fraction of what makes the food
operation successful. With a full
time staff of 30 people, Food for
Lane County relies heavily on vol
unteers to get the job done.
“Using volunteers to sort and or
ganize food that has been donated
makes more sense in the big pic
ture,” said Cheryl Crumbley, com
munications director for the
orgnization. “The reason Food for
Lane County is so effective is due to
careful use of its resources.”
Today’s end to the food drive
doesn’t end the opportunity to help.
Volunteers are always needed to
sort donated food at the warehouse,
work in the food rescue kitchen,
help in the garden and at urban
farms, and assist with specialized
events and mailings.
“Waste and inequitable distribu
tion create unnecessary hunger,”
said Crumbley. “Billions of pounds
of food are discarded every year in
this country. Hunger is not a result
of a food shortage. ”
Finding solutions to her own
food shortage is just the beginning
of a long day for Allen, who has giv
en back to the community that
helps her by volunteering at Food
for Lane County. After waiting in
line at the food pantry, Allen will
head to LCC to work on one of her
two independent studies with the
Green Party and OSPIRG. She also
holds a job as a caregiver for senior
and disabled services in town.
“I make Si50 every two weeks,”
Allen said. “My rent is $300 a
month, not including utilities.”
A Food for Lane County study
uses an average household of two
children and two adults with mini
mum wage income jobs as an exam
ple. After basic expenses such as
rent, personal care items and doctor
visits, the monthly shortfall is
around S400. There is no money left
for food.
“Sometimes being so busy it be
comes hard to make ends meet,”
Allen said about her situation. “I
could ask my parents for money, but'
they work hard. They have two kids
in college and need their money,
too.
“I want to learn how to support
myself, and the food box helps me
along my way until I am completely
stable.”
ith
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