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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 12, 2001)
Thursday April 12,2001 Volume 102, Issue 126 On a roll Easy transition / ong jumper Amanda Brown has successfully switched from hoops to track. PAGE 11 1 Qreg°n Eugene, OrTgTn Weather today Basketball players using wheelchairs kept Disability Awareness Week going Wednesday. PAGE 4 high 50, low 37 Since 1 newspaper ■The prolific director speaks at Mac Court tonight as part of the 2001 Black Arts Festival By Lisa Toth Oregon Daily Emerald Director Shelton “Spike” Lee’s early films gained him critical acclaim for the social and political problems he’s tack led. But his more recent films have re ceived less public scrutiny.Despite the perceived change in attitude toward Lee’s filmmaking, those people with a ticket to Lee’s speech tonight at McArthur Court said the director is still an influential presence in Hollywood. As part of the 2001 Black Arts Festi val, Lee will address and entertain about 2,500 students, faculty and community members with his experi ences as a filmmaker and the chal lenges he has faced in making several of his films. “An Evening with Spike Lee” begins at 7:30 p.m. Acasia Wilson, the contemporary issues coordinator for the University’s Cultural Forum, said bringing Lee to campus has been an idea of hers since she saw him speak at the University of Portland shortly after “Malcolm X” was released in 1992. “I think he offers a very well-in formed, humorous and interesting look at race relations in our country,” Wilson said. Wilson said Lee’s debut film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” a 1986 independently produced comedy, proved Lee was not afraid to take his own path to success. She said people are attracted to his movies because they initiate dialogue between viewers and accurately ad dress “the problems of the inner city. ” But Wilson said Lee’s appearance has not generated as warm of a reception from the Eugene community as she ex pected. Some businesses and citizens refused to put up posters for the event. “To me, when I think of Spike Lee, I think of Oliver Stone and Martin Scorsese,” Wilson said. “Some of the responses have made me wonder be cause he is a black filmmaker. I feel like in some cases that is why people haven’t been as responsive. ” Even as some segments of the com munity are not offering a warm recep tion, there are still many others who are looking forward to Lee’s visit. English Professor Kathleen Karlyn said Lee is a provocative, innovative and challenging filmmaker who does not pull away from controversial is sues. Karlyn said Lee is still an impor tant filmmaker because he has a view counter to that of dominant, tradition al Hollywood filmmaking. Turn to Spike Lee, page 3 Senate panel asks for study of labor rights ■The University Senate ad hoc committee recommended that the University encourage greater study of human rights issues worldwide By Andrew Adams Oregon Daily Emerald Members of the University Senate ad hoc committee on trademark licensing, in their final report to senate members, called on the University administration Wednesday to establish a new institute or curricula to further study global human rights. The committee had been studying issues surrounding labor monitoring and code of conduct issues since student protests led to the University establishing relations with both the Worker Rights Consortium and the Fair Labor Association. But those membership ties were never formalized because of legal issues, and a policy adopted in February by the State Board of Higher Edu cation effectively killed any future University involvement with monitoring organizations. Professor David Frank, director of the Honors College and committee chairman, said while the board’s decision made most of the committee’s work irrelevant, it was still able to conclude that the University should support greater research into human rights issues. Turn to Senate, page 5 Students fighting financial aid law ■The Higher Education Act, passed in 1998, denies aid to students with drug convictions By Beata Mostafavi Oregon Daily Emerald As more and more college students nationwide feel the heat from the Higher Education Act’s drug provision, which denies financial aid to students with drug convictions, many universities have united in a fiery battle against the law. The ASUO Executive is currently considering joining the effort of student governments across the country, and it may soon sign a resolution speaking out against the law — in the hope that the law will be repealed.“I think it’s the job of all student govern ments to make it easier to go to school and not harder,” ASUO President Jay Breslow said. “Everyone’s allowed to make mistakes. Those who make mistakes and have a tougher life are the ones who need access to this money.” Breslow said the executive is waiting for the Student Sen ate to decide whether it wants to support the resolution, too. The executive will decide its course of action after hearing from the senate. In a Jan. 10 USA Today news article, the Department of Ed ucation reported that nearly 8,000 of the more than 9 million people who submitted a 2000-01 Free Application for Feder al Student Aid failed or lost partial eligibility because of the drug provision, which passed in 1998 but was only recently enforced. Roughly another 810,000 applicants left the drug question on the FAFSA blank, and their aid is also in jeopardy until they send the Department of Education notices that say they have not had a conviction. Turn to Financial aid, page 5
