City Council votes to extend
Broadway Mall ordinances
■The regulations, which
prohibit activities such as
sleeping and loitering on the
mall, will apply until July
By Sue Ryan
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Eugene City Council debat
ed for close to an hour Monday
night before it voted to extend two
sunset ordinances for the Broad
way Mall in downtown Eugene for
90 more days.
The ordinances, which would
have expired April 30, prohibit loi
tering on the mall between 1 a.m.
and 6 a.m. and also allow police to
exclude individuals who commit
crimes on the mall from the area for
up to 60 days. The regulations af
fect the area between Willamette
and Olive streets. Police staff had
recommended the ordinances be
come permanent, a suggestion with
which members of the business
community agreed during the pub
lic comments period preceding the
vote.
“This tool — mall exclusion or
dinance — gives police a tool to ex
clude people; it’s been effective,”
said Russ Brink, the president of
Downtown Eugene, Inc.
Since the ordinances went into
effect in 1998, police have issued
698 citations for exclusions.
“It’s an endless cycle that [the vi
olators] get tired of,” said patrol of
ficer Julie Smith.
Council members raised multi
ple issues about the ordinances.
Councilor David Kelly recom
mended amending the ordinances
to include show-cause wording.
The amendment would require a
judge to decide whether a person
who is issued a citation would be
excluded from the mall. The coun
cil voted against the suggestion.
“I’m concerned with the issue of
due process. There is a clear sepa
ration between the actions of police
and the laws of the judiciary,” Kelly
said.
The ordinances will now expire
in July, but the council will re-ex
amine the issues before including
the possibility of increasing the size
of the zone.
Some of the acts prohibited on
the mall include climbing trees or
structures, lying down, sleeping
(except for children under age 6),
riding a bicycle and riding or using
a skateboard or roller skates.
In other business, the City Coun
cil approved an exemption to ex
tend hours for Alton Baker Park for
the 20-30 Club of Eugene to hold a
Fourth of July fundraiser.
Spokesman Mike Clark said, “It’s
an event we’ve held for 52 years in
Eugene and gives the club a chance
Broadway Mall
Ordinances
Police officers can hand out
citations for exclusion from the
downtown mall to any person who
commits offenses defined in Eugene
City Code Chapter 4.
Prohibited acts include:
Interfering with an authorized
activity
Bringing or allowing any uncaged
animal onto the mall (except
for aide animals)
Lying down (except in an emergency
or on grassy areas)
Conductingan activity with four
or more people which might attract
an assembly of more than 25 people
to raise $10,000 to $15,000 to give
to children’s charities.”
The club held the event at the
Lane County Fairgrounds' last year.
It said in its request that returning
to the fairgrounds would be cost
prohibitive because of a large de
posit that would wipe out any prof
it it would make from the event.
Councilor Scott Meisner op
posed the motion, saying he had a
problem with the council support
ing an event that would sell alcohol
at a beer garden.
Students address State Board
with business policy concerns
■ A group of students
protested the policy, saying its
vague language may harm
future student activism efforts
By Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
When the State Board of Higher
Education passed a policy govern
ing business agreements last Febru
ary, the University slashed its ties
with the Worker Rights Consortium,
and students across the state began a
furious fight against the change.
In the months since the board’s
decision, University students and
students from other public universi
ties have been preparing themselves
for a fight against the policy, which
they say is too vague and could limit
the effects of student activism. On
Friday, about 15 students from Ore
gon University System schools fi
nally had the chance to bring their
case before the board.
Some students presented their
concerns about the “business prac
tice policy” to the board during its
meeting at Western Oregon Univer
sity Friday, in the hopes that it
would reconsider adopting the poli
cy. And while the board met, others
rallied against the policy, which is
set to be enforced by Dec. 31., in an
attempt to educate students about
its potential ramifications.
Much of the controversy sur
rounds the policy’s wording, which
says that the seven OUS institutions
cannot ’’adopt limits” on business
agreements unless based on the
“ability to perform, evidence of ille
gal activities” or other criteria. This
prevents universities from being
members of labor monitoring
groups such as the WRC and Fair
Labor Association. It may also con
flict with parts of the University’s
own code of conduct.
Although some board members
said the policy aims to ensure all
OUS schools conduct business in a
straightforward and politically im
partial manner, some students ar
gued that the policy is too vague and
could impose harmful restrictions.
For example, a company’s failure
to follow human rights standards
could no longer be reason to refuse
business with it, which would
numb many student activism ef
forts, some students have said.
Tim Young, an OUS board mem
ber and a University student, was
the lone “no” vote in the decision to
pass the policy in February. He said
the biggest problem with the rule is
broad language that could cause
confusion in the future. Who de
cides what “evidence” is appropri
ate, and whether business practices
are deemed legal on a national, in
ternational or statewide level are
just a few unanswered questions
about the policy, he said.
“How the policy will be interpret
ed is where the battle is now,”
Young said.
Many students also worry that
the policy will cripple their power
to initiate change through boycotts
and protests. Christina Bondurant,
a facilitator for the sociology club at
WOU, said the school is boycotting
NORPAC because many students
disagree with its treatment of farm
workers. She said the policy could
take away her school’s right to con
duct such a boycott.
“This basically says that we can’t
question any business practices,”
Bondurant said.
She added that many students
aren’t aware of the policy, which is
why concerned students held the
rally Friday.
Young said he believes the policy
was passed in direct response to the
WRC issue and was a way for the
OUS to avoid making a decision on
the labor issue.
But Shawn Hempel, a board
member and Oregon Institute of
Technology student, said there is al
ready a state policy supporting that
of the OUS. He said that although
the creation of the policy may have
been triggered by the WRC issue, it
mostly just reinstates current policies
already in place on the state level.
“The [WRC membership] just
brought the issue to public aware
ness,” he said.
Although Hempel voted in favor
of the policy, he said that he agrees
with arguments on both sides of the
issue. The policy doesn’t allow uni
versities to consider “moral” and
“ethical” reasons when making
business agreements, Hempel said,
which he believes is a problem.
But, he said, it does make universi
ties impartial in their business agree
ments.
“It keeps out political preference
... that was the original intent,” he
said. “But I’m not going to say the
policy is good just the way it is.”
Bondurant said that although stu
dents have had the chance to speak
out to the board, it is now up to the
board to decide whether to consider
their concerns and change its deci
sion.“I feel like they now know it’s a
concern of students,” she said. “It’s
important for them to know we
have a problem with this.”
Bondurant added that the policy
has prompted the University and
other schools, including Portland
State and Willamette universities,
to join the Oregon Student Action
Network (OSAN) — a coalition in
tended to act as a support system
when issues similar to the business
policy arise in the future.
Although it is unlikely the vote
will be overturned, Young said,
many board members still want to
hear the student voice and perspec
tive.
“All in all the students who spoke
to the board were very professional
and well received,” he said. “Some
comments I heard from the board
were very encouraging... the board is
committed to continuing this debate.”
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Room still available!
Saturday, April 28th,12:30-4:30pm
In the Wesley Center, 1236 Kincaid
Susan Selig is a signature member of the Pastel Society of
America. You may remember her one-woman show,"Satur
day Market & Beyond,"at the Jacob's Gallery, or her pastels
which were included in a recent exhibition at the Eugene
Airport Gallery.
The Pastel Workshop is designed for beginners to advanced
students. There will be demonstrations of underpainting,
overpainting, and layering of pastels on various papers. Susan
will explain the secrets of setting up an effective still life, the
importance of composition and color, and how to reform
pastel dust into usable sticks. Participants will receive
individual instruction as students work from classroom setups.
Registration Fee: $40. Preregistration and prepayment are
required.Please call 346-4331 ext.240. Required materials may
be purchased at a 15% discount at the UO Bookstore with your
registration coupon.
UNIVERSITY of OREGON
BOOKSTORE
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inrormation on how to freelance tor the Oregon Daily Emerald call 346-5511.