Frohnmayer heads north despite earthquake
Emerald
Kevin Eckert picks up documents in his architecture studio, located on First Avenue,
Thursday morning in downtown Seattle. Eckert lost a number of sketches and a
computer during the earthquake, as well as a wall to his office.
■The University president
opted not to change his plans
to speak to prospective
students in Seattle
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
When there’s a group of students
thinking about attending the Univer
sity, there’s nothing, not even an
earthquake, that can stop President
Dave Frohnmayer from making them
a sales pitch for coming to Eugene.
“We have enough pioneer spirit
that a little natural disaster won’t
stop us,” Frohnmayer said after re
turning from a quick trip to the
Seattle area to speak to a group of
more than 125 students interested
in attending the University.
After the magnitude-6.8 earth
quake that rocked the Seattle area
on Wednesday, Frohnmayer had
thought about canceling the trip.
But when he learned there was
space in a van driven by Director of
Admissions Martha Pitts, who was
also attending the meeting, there
was a quick change of plans, and he
headed for Seattle.
“We decided to jump in the van...
to be quite honest, it was rather an
uneventful trip,” said Janet Fratella,
the director of outreach projects who
also was on the trip to Seattle.
While the University representa
tives did not go into downtown
Seattle and therefore did not see
any earthquake damage, they did
hear all about the quake.
Frohnmayer said every family
came into the meeting at the
Belleveue Club with its own “tale
of excitement about the day,” but
only a few families invited to the
event could not attend because of
the quake. He said he expected 80
to 90 percent of the students to at
tend the University.
Pitts said the University holds
similar meetings in areas that gener
ate large numbers of new students.
One other meeting is scheduled for
the Bend area, and two more will
soon be held in Portland, she said.
Two seniors, Grant Bloom and
Matt Glem, also attended the meet
ing to give the prospective students
a better idea about what University
life is like. Fratella said they pro
vided valuable insights.
“They were characters and good
sports, and I think the crowd really
liked hearing from them,” she said.
Pitts also commented on the stu
dents’ good nature, but added that
Frohnmayer was also a good sport
with the day’s hectic traveling.
Frohnmayer admitted that not
everything went smoothly. He said
his hotel room didn’t have hot wa
ter, but he took it stride.
“It builds character to be in a
cold-water suite,” he said.
Seattle quake
continued from page 1
inspection at least through the
evening rush hour an inconven
ience for commuters, as were other
road closures around the region.
In Olympia, several streets were
blocked off as hard-hat crews began
clearing away rubble and preparing
to shore up damaged buildings. The
Capitol campus remained closed,
idling 10,000 workers — most of
them until Monday, when officials
hope to have most of the buildings
inspected and cleaned.
After huddling with state engi
neers, legislative leaders said they
won’t know until Friday whether
the Capitol itself, which sustained a
visible crack behind pillars sup
porting its heavy dome, can be used.
They were scouting other sites in
case the Legislature has to relocate
for the rest of the session.
Most of the Seattle damage was
confined to individual buildings.
On Thursday the old Interurban
Building near Pioneer Square was
enclosed with scaffolding to pre
vent harm to passersby from bricks
that continued to peel off the struc
ture.
Locke said damage estimates are
expected to rise when calculating in
property damage with the economic
impact of lost wages and closed
businesses.
But the millions of dollars spent
to stabilize the region’s roads and
buildings over the past decade ap
parently paid off. There was no
widespread structural damage, de
spite the rubble and broken glass.
A $65 million retrofitting pro
gram that has firmed up more than
300 bridges since 1990 has “paid for
itself,” said Ed Henley, a state bridge
management engineer.
“Washington was prepared and
they’ve done a good job handling
this,” Allbaugh said. “Federal assets
are ready, based on Governor
Locke’s request.”
Most Seattle businesses and
schools were open Thursday,
though many students stayed home
in Thurston County, which sur
rounds Olympia.
Air traffic controllers at Seattle
Tacoma International Airport
worked out of a trailer Thursday be
cause of damage to the control tow
er. The airport was closed for sever
al hours Wednesday.
1
011281
MONDAY, MARCH 5TH
What do you really know
about Islam?
Open panel discussion on the
essence of Islam
EMU Fir Room, 5:00
TUESDAY, MARCH 6TH
Lecture by a Chinese scholar
Discussing Islam in China,
Br. Abrahim
Gilbert 138,'6:00
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7TH
Islam in America
Discussion given by a panel of
UO students
EMU Fir Room, 5:00
THURSDAY, MARCH 8TH
- Islamic Civilization
Lecture given by Professor
Johnathan Katz, OSU History
Department,
Gilbert 138, 6:30
FRIDAY, MARCH 9TH
Debunking the myths about
women & Islam
From the perspective of an
African-American educator and
community activist, Sr. Nadira
_ (co-founder of the Islamic School
of the Muslim Educational Trust)
Ben Linder Room, 6:00
For more information, please contact the MSA at
346-3798 or at asuomsa@gladstone. uoregon. edu