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