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Go out and play
With spring soon to come, students can find a
number of ways to stay fit and have fun. Inside
Friday
Absorbing the Juice
Oregon senior Julius Hicks provides a presence to the
Ducks that goes beyond the stat sheet. PAGE 7A
March 9,2001
Volume 102, Issue 111
Weather
today
high 55, low 37
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Eugene chosen as site of new federal courthouse
■ City officials say acquiring the
new building is a big step toward
revitalizing the downtown area
By Aaron K. Breniman
Oregon Daily Emerald
The city’s long wait ended Thursday
when the federal General Services Ad
ministration announced the former
Agripac Cannery, now owned by Chiq
uita Processed Foods in Eugene, will
become the site of the area’s new feder
al courthouse.
Eugene had been competing with
Springfield for the new courthouse, on
which construction is scheduled to be
gin in spring 2002 and be completed in
2004.
The GSA made the announcement
Thursday morning in a jury assembly
room at the existing courthouse on
East Seventh Avenue in downtown
Eugene. Following the announce
ment, city employees, city councilors,
GSA personnel and media made the
one-block walk to the new location,
where Mayor Jim Torrey met with
Chiquita workers and addressed the
crowd.
“I’m very pleased with the GSA de
cision,” Torrey said. “I am convinced
that this is the best thing for the city of
Eugene.”
While applauding Springfield’s ef
forts, GSA officials said that the ur
ban reality of the two communities
led to the selection of Eugene. The
GSA decided that the courthouse,
planned to be eight stories tall, just
wouldn’t fit into Springfield’s down
town.
The Eugene Urban Renewal Agency
purchased the nearly nine-acre site
from Chiquita for more than $4 mil
lion. Four acres will be developed for
the courthouse, with the remaining
five acres slated to be redeveloped for
private use.
“For a number of years, many of us
in this community have talked about
how we go about taking that Agripac
site and bringing it to its highest and
best use,” Torrey said.
The city’s acquisition of the new
courthouse reflects the goals of the
Turn to Courthouse, page 4A
Eugene mayor jim Torrey, left, talks with workers from the Chiquita canning plant. The Eugene Urban Renewal Agency
bought the nine-acre site from Chiquita, and it will be the home of a new federal courthouse.
ASUO election outcome up in air until spring term
■The Multicultural Center
will appeal Wednesday’s
grievance, which has caused
problematic election delays
By Jeremy Lang
Oregon Daily Emerald
As the ASUO election remains at
a standstill, members of student gov
ernment are trying to solve a number
of lingering, unanswered problems
and prepare for the damage already
caused by rulings they said have hurt
student voices on campus.
Even if the injunction that halted
voting Wednesday night on candi
date and ballot measures is lifted,
an election probably won’t happen
until early spring term because it
can’t happen during Finals Week or
Dead Week, which starts Monday.
The Multicultural Center Board
and interested MCC members met
Thursday afternoon to decide how
to proceed with the grievance filed
against their ballot measure. After a
half-hour of discussion, board
members voted unanimously to
fight the grievance.
“If this is something that we need
and something that we want, then
we need to fight it to the end,” MCC
member Dominique Beaumonte
said. “Basically, the MCC is a joke if
we don’t fight this.”
The MCC has seven days from
Wednesday to file a rebuttal to the
grievance.
But Rob Raschio, the chief justice
of the ASUO Constitution Court,
said regardless of the outcome, the
disruptions will lower voter turnout
and hurt campus democracy.
“The point is the damage is
done,” Raschio said. “I can’t con
sider two days of voting, in this sit
uation, a fair process.”
The court first stopped the gener
al election Sunday night only hours
before it was scheduled to begin, so
the court could hear a grievance from
disqualified Executive candidates
Bret Jacobson and Matt Cook. The
ASUO Elections Board took them off
the ballot after the pair distributed
campaign fliers in residence halls.
But the court quickly changed part
of its ruling Monday to allow voting
on ballot measures for OSPIRG and
the Multicultural Center. University
President Dave Frohnmayer must re
ceive a student fee total from the
ASUO by April 1. A vote on the OS
PIRG and MCC ballot measures
would be necessary before spring
term to make that deadline.
Many members of student gov
ernment, including Raschio, said
they were surprised when Justice
Alan Tauber enjoined the entire
election again Wednesday night af
ter five student senators filed a
grievance challenging the legality
of the MCC ballot measure.
Only one justice is necessary to
enjoin an election, and the majority
of the court needed to overturn it fell
one vote short late Wednesday night.
Raschio said that since the court
first stopped candidate voting but not
measure voting, Tauber should have
stopped voting on the MCC ballot
only. He added that Tauber should
have communicated better with the
court before making his decision.
“It was a mistake by Alan
Tauber,” Raschio said. “We easily
could have met tonight. He decid
ed to jump the gun and move in a
hasty manner.”
Tauber said he would not discuss
the case.
But Mary Elizabeth Madden, one
of the senators who filed the griev
ance Wednesday, said the court
needed to act quickly because
ASUO rules give precedent to bal
lot measures over court rulings.
She said a situation could occur
in which the MCC measure passes
and the court rules against it, but
Frohnmayer could still approve the
measure.
Turn to Election, page 5A
Gamblers may grow interested in women s basketball
■As women’s basketball
becomes more popular, it
may attract the attention of
Las Vegas gamblers
By Marty Toohey
for the Emerald
In the Latest Line section of most
daily newspapers, one can find point
spreads for nearly every sport: NFL,
NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball,
NCAA football and men’s basketball.
NCAA women’s basketball will
not be found there, however. The
Las Vegas gambling community
has, for years, ignored women’s bas
ketball, and the sport was free of any
influences associated with organ
ized gambling.
That could change soon. With its
rapidly increasing popularity,
women’s college basketball could
soon face the difficulties of being the
subject of Las Vegas gambling, accord
ing to both the University of Oregon’s
sport is certainly getting more popu
lar, so there probably will be some
(point spreads) someday soon,” said
Bill Clever, the athletics department’s
assistant director for compliance.
Last year, several Las Vegas sports
. . . compliance of
consulting agencies established odds
for the NCAA women’s Final Four.
A study by the University of Michi
gan on gambling among college ath
letes concluded that “the involve
ment of female athletes in gambling
activities should not be discounted.
“Although our findings indicate
a lesser involvement by females
then their male peers, this should
not provide false comfort to admin
istrators. As media focus and pro
fessional opportunities increase,
the temptations and problems that
face male athletes are likely to be en
countered by females. With
women’s basketball contests receiv
ing more attention ... there is in
creased potential for problems.”
The study found that female stu
dent athletes are less likely to par
ticipate in all forms of gambling
than their male counterparts, from
casino gambling to point shaving. In
most of the study’s categories of
gambling, the study found that at
least 10 percent fewer women par
ticipate than the combined average
of men and women.
University of Oregon women’s head
basketball coach Jody Runge said that
to her knowledge, the women’s bas
ketball program at the University has
not faced any problems from the gam
bling community, and she did not
know if the increased popularity of the
sport would lead to problems associat
ed with gambling.
“I think that’s hard to comment on,”
Runge said. “I think that it remains to
be seen. I certainly would hope not. ”
She added that her friends in Las
Vegas have never seen her team in a
poinhspread.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Check out the fifth and final part of
the college sports gambling series
online at www.dailyemerald.com.
The previous four parts will also
be available on the site.
“I think until you get national ex
posure and really get on the radar in
Vegas, it’s really just not an issue,”
she said.
There are more pressing issues sur
rounding the players, Runge said.
“I think you try to protect [the
players] from people outside the
program for a lot of reasons,” Runge
said. “I’m more concerned with in
appropriate contact with agents and
things of that nature, but I guess
gambling is one of those things.”