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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2001)
Back to work Rashad Bauman and the Ducks are back action for spring football drills. PAGE 7 in Someone to account on ASUO Accounting Coordinator Jennifer Creighton provides her experience to help students. PAGE 4 Since 1 900 University of Orego n Eugene, Oregon Tuesday April 3,2001 Volume 102, Issue 119 Weather TODAY high 50, low 35 31 Peace Corps Urban Youth Development volunteer Jay Minert gathers a crowd of children in Belize, South America Photo courtesy of Peace Corps Peace Corps celebrates 40 years The University ranks fifth in the nation among large schools in the number of graduates currently volunteering with the Peace Corps By Kara Cogswell Oregoa Daily Emerald It’s been 40 years, but faculty member Georgeanne Cooper still remembers the day former president John F. Kennedy an nounced the creation of a new international service program called the Peace Corps. Al though she was just 16, Cooper knew that one day she wanted to join. “As soon as I heard about that I thought, ‘That's what I want to do,’” said Cooper, the coordinator for the Academic Learning Services Teaching Ef fectiveness Program. Upon graduating from col lege in 1968, she did exactly that, and in doing so, she joined the ranks of the more than 161,000 Americans who have served in the Peace Corps since it began on March 1,1961. As the group celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, Peace Corps campus support ers have something to celebrate as well: The number of volun teers from the University has increased significantly during the past year. According to a list released March 9 by Peace Corps Acting Director Charles Baquet III, the University now ranks fifth in the nation among large univer sities for the number of gradu ates in the Peace Corps, with 67 members currently serving. The University made the largest leap in the rankings, moving up from 15th place last year with 56 graduates serving. Career Center Director Larry Smith said the University’s high ranking reflects an inter nationally aware campus and student body. “The long-standing, high in volvement of University of Ore gon graduates in the Peace Corps represents the outstand ing qualities that the Universi ty develops,” Smith said. With 7,300 people serving in the Peace Corps, volunteer in volvement is the highest it’s Turn to Peace Corps, page 3 Students travel to OUS hearing ■The ASUO will offer transportation to Salem for students who want to speak before the Oregon Legislature about the higher education budget By Jeremy Lang for the Emerald Wednesday will be the first day of a showdown in Salem, not just over the Oregon University System budget dur ing the next two years, but the future of the incidental fee at the University of Oregon, which pays for student groups, the EMU and athletic tickets. Wednesday is the only day students can testify before the Oregon Legislature about the OUS budget, which is facing cuts that could lead to an 8 percent tu ition increase during the next two years. “Bottom line, we need bodies there,” ASUO State Affairs Coordinator Brian Tanner said. The ASUO and members of the Ore gon Student Association lobby group have seen the OUS budget battle coming since last fall, when Gov. John Kitzhaber released his proposed state budget. The Legislature will debate each section and come to a final number before the end of the session. But concerns about the incidental fee arose last Thursday during a legislative work session for the OUS budget. ASUO President Jay Breslow, who testified with University President Dave Frohn mayer, said the discussion suddenly changed from the budget to the fee, its size and how it’s allocated. Breslow said some legislators ques tioned the fee’s validity when roughly only 10 percent of the stud ents vote each year for the groups and people who will decide who gets the money. “It raised some red flags,” ASUO Leg islative Organizer Melissa Unger said. Unger added that the Legislature first al lowed schools to have a fee and has the authority to put a cap on the size of the fee or eliminate it completely. Turn to OUS budget, page 3 a They can do anything. Whether the fee thing goes down or not, Wednesday is an incred ibly impor tant day. Melissa Unger ASUO Legislative Organizer^ y ELF issues statement denying involvement with arson ■The Earth Liberation Front’s statement says an anonymous group is responsible for the local fire By Aaron K. Breniman Oregon Daily Emerald The Earth Liberation Front re leased a statement to several lo cal media outlets Sunday that said an anonymous group op posed to “gas-guzzling SUVs” and “the techno-industrial state” had taken responsibility for an arson that destroyed several sport utility vehicles Friday at a Eugene Chevrolet dealership. The ELF received a commu nique from an unidentified group that claimed responsibili ty for Friday’s fire. The commu nique suggested a link between the fire and an arson that oc curred at the dealership last June. In the statement, released Sat urday, the ELF said there was “no indication” that this action had been committed by members of the ELF, “but rather one claimed by an anonymous group of unidentified individuals.” Police said Friday’s fire, which began shortly before 3 a.m., dam aged 34 vehicles at Joe Romania Chevrolet, located at 2020 Franklin Blvd. Eugene Police De partment spokeswoman Pam Ale jandre said that “incendiary de vices” placed throughout the lot were filled with gasoline. Howev er, many of the devices failed to ig nite and the damage to the dealer ship, neighboring houses and businesses could have been much worse, Alejandre said. The EPD, which is directing the investigation, and the Bureau of Al cohol, Tobacco and Firearms are continuing to investigate the fire and plan to pursue the ELF infor mation to determine its validity, Alejandre said, adding that the EPD has received more than 100 leads in the case so far. The communique received by ELF makes several references in support of Jeffrey Luers and Craig Marshall, respectively known as ‘Free’ and ‘Critter.’ “The fire that burns within Free and Critter burns within all of us and cannot be extinguished by locking them up,” the com munique said. Both Luers and Marshall were charged with multiple counts of ar son, criminal mischief and other Turn to ELF, page 5 R. Ashley Smith Emerald Jason Peterson, an employee at joe Romania Chevrolet, sweeps up the debris left from Friday’s fire, which began about 3 a.m. The arson damaged 34 vehicles at the car dealership.
