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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2001)
Dancing once again * The women's hoops team faces a tough field in its eighth straight NCAA tourney. Inside Mixed results While men’s tennis took care of business at home, the women had a tough time up north. PAGE 5A Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Tuesday March 13,2001 Volume 102, Issue 113 Weather TODAY MOSTLY CLOUDY high 55, low 30 Organizations that will prescribe emergency contraceptives In Eugene: University of Oregon Student Health Center (services restricted to students) Virginia A. Oram, N.D. Women's Care Fertility Center: Jeannie Merrick, R.N., N.P. Lane County Public Health Family Planning Pacific Women’s Center LLC All Women’s Health Services Women’s Care Planned Parenthood Lane Community College: K. Mona Arbuckle, F.N.P, and Dr. John Schlessinger C. 5 ^ ' (services restricted to students) In Springfield: Center for Women’s Health (services restricted to established clients) ■ Emergency contraceptives are controversial, and some stores and hospitals refuse to carry them By Lindsay Buchele Oregon Daily Emerald Though emergency contraceptive pills have been around since the 1970s, they are still not available over the counter in the United States, and in Eugene, they can be difficult to obtain. Wal-Mart, for example, will not carry a certain brand of emergency contraceptive, and Sacred Heart Medical Center will only give emer gency contraceptives to rape and in cest victims who visit the emergency room. Often known as the “morning-after pill,” these drugs are still not accept ed by anti-abortion groups, which say the drugs are aborting a fetus. That claim is debated by some health-care providers and pro-choice advocates, who say these drugs actu ally prevent abortions. Emergency contraceptives have not been approved to be sold over the counter yet and are only avail able through a prescription. Though women can now obtain emergency contraceptives even before they have engaged in unprotected sexual inter course, there are some situations where the drugs cannot be obtained for cases other than rape or incest. Organizations such as Planned Parenthood continue to work toward making the pills available to the masses, while other groups, such as Right to Life, continue to fight it. At the center of the decades-long controversy are two issues: whether all pharmacies and hospitals should have to fill the prescriptions for emergency contraceptives, and whether taking an emergency contra Turn to Contraceptives, page 4A Professors say ASUO election lacks interest ■ Voting via Duck Web may also have contributed to low voter turnout in the primary By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald This year’s ASUO elections, marred by grievances and low voter turnout, are nothing new, many political sci ence professors say, blaming a lack of student interest and not enough time. “Students are too distracted by being students,” said Jerry Medler, an associ ate professor of political science. He said students usually vote less than the general population, and this year’s ASUO election is no different than in years past. This year’s election was geared to get students voting, with an expanded four-day primary instead of the usual one-day primary. But this year’s voter turnout indicates many students failed to notice the change, as roughly only 9 percent voted during the four-day span. Mikhail Myagkov, an associate pro fessor of political science, said he has never seen an election run this way be fore, with so many days to vote. He said he would expect voter turnout to increase when the amount of time students had to vote expanded, and was surprised to hear the percent age was so low. This year’s voting also took place ex clusively on Duck Web, the online re source for students that is normally used for class registration and tran script orders. Max Brown, a political science grad uate teaching fellow, said the voting follows the nationwide trend. He said he has not followed the ASUO election as well as he should. But, he said, the Turn to Election, page 3A (( Voters don't think the issues are important to them. Mikhail Myagkov associate professor, political * - science // University hopes sunlight can brighten energy outlook The Solar Energy Center is planning installation of photovoltaics to reduce dependence on traditional power sources By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald Posters and banners have start ed to dot the EMU Amphitheater informing students and faculty of the need to conserve and create energy. In response, the Universi ty has begun to look into alterna tive forms of energy to help alle viate the power crunch on the West Coast. Frank Vignola, director of the Solar Energy Center, helps moni tor the solar resources on campus. He said the campus is researching solar energy as one form of alter native energy. Photovoltaics, which take the sun’s light and convert it into en ergy, are tentatively planned to be placed on the roof and southwest side of Gilbert Hall. Vignola said many people do not realize that two-thirds of the state receives as much solar radi ation as the state of Florida. But “it’s really hard to make use of so lar energy unless the building is made for it,” he said. He added that the University should look into what solar heat ing can do to lower the costs of heating Leighton Pool, located in the Student Recreation Center. Steve Still, an energy manage ment specialist for the Eugene Water and Electric Board, said EWEB has been working closely with architects to plan the possi ble installation of the new tech nology. He said nine-kilowatt photovoltaic cells would be placed on the southwest corner of Gilbert Hall, while 15-kilowatt photovoltaics would be on the roof of the building. But the main issue, he said, is money. “The only way it would hap pen is if we could get some sort of funding,” he said. George Hecht, the campus op erations director for Facilities Ser vices, said the University has been using a co-generation plant since the 1930s to get some of its energy. The plant generates steam and electricity, which improves efficiency, he said. “Efficiency will go up to 75 or 80 percent because you are dou bling the use,” he said. He said steam is an important source of energy on the campus. The steam is run through an elec tric turbine and represents one third of the campus energy use. This does have a drawback, he said — during the winter months, steam efficiency is high, but dur ing the summer, the efficiency drops. Hecht said when the ener gy system was built, the Universi Turn to Energy, page 3A C C It’s real ly hard to make use of solar energy unless the building is made for it Frank Vignola director, Solar Energy Center yy
