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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2001)
[" All Ways Travel "j • Airfare Specials • London - $410.00* Frankfurt - $445.00* Tokvo/Osaka - $448.00* Sao Paulo - $472.00* i +td\ not included, restrictions niuv apply. Subject to chance \s ithout notice Serving the UO since 1990!!! E-mail: awtfw Iuv2travel.com 1200 High St. 1338-4199 |Student Travel Experts'' %/l 1 INTENSIVE MiUrmM review • Intensive classroom format • Scheduled just before the LSAT • 2/3 of our students score 158+ • 40 cities nationwide • $349 fe prepmaster.com ICATEE — GOLF CLUB at 6t4 "pintat s College Students -*20.00 £ 822-3220 ispo YOU CAN HELP FALL BLOW1) 1HUVK EMU Fir Room Tuesday and Wednesday October 16 &17 10:00 a*nu - 3:00 p*m* Bring Picture LD. Lane Memorial Blood Banl (JIVE BLOOD — SAVE A LIFE STUDENT TRAVEL Freedom to travel will never be compromised. 800.777.01 18 www.statravel.com y/c*/feopfe. fu*. y/e*/ fsfptrtpict* Don't miss out. Work for your college paper. For more information on how to freelance for the Oregon Daily Emerald, call 346-5511 Student Life Events Tuesday, Oct. 16 Meeting: College Democrats host a weekly meeting. 5:30 p.m. Century Room E, EMU. Free. For more information, e-mail collegect@glaclstone.uoregon.edu. Equipment swap: The Outdoor Program hosts its Fall 2001 Equipment Swap. Bring used equipment to trade. 7:30 p.m. EMU Ballroom, free. For moreInformation, call 346-4365. Friday, Oct. 19 Conference: A coalition of campus and community groups sponsors a conference Oct. 19-21 titled “Peace, Justice and Globalization: Community Responses to 9/11.” The event will include many workshops, films, music, theater and art, including the lecture, “Human Rights and Arms Control: The Missing Elements in U.S. Mideast Policy” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and the panel discussion, “How to Build the U.S. Peace Movement" at 1 p.m. Sunday. Free. For more information, call 484*9167 or e-mail chouse@efn.org. An expanded listing is available online atwvw.daifyemerald.com. Send event information to calendar@dailyemeiald.com. Special fall vote takes shape ■ASUO leaders will hold a special fall election this year to discuss possible changes to the Clark Document By Kara Cogswell Oregon Daily Emerald Members of the ASUO are put ting the final touches on three bal lot measures that will go before stu dents in a special election to be held Nov. 12-14. Ordinarily, the ASUO holds elec tions only in the spring, when stu dents vote for student senators cind executive officers. But ASUO leaders have organ ized a fall election this year to pro pose changes to the Clark Docu ment, the part of the. ASUO Constitution which governs the use of student fees. In an informational session about the special elections Oct. 1, ASUO President Nilda Brooklyn said stu dent government leaders have been told by University General Counsel Melinda Grier and University Pres ident Dave Frohnmayer that the Clark Document must be changed to avoid legal implications for the University. During the meeting, attended by both administrators and University program coordinators, Brooklyn said she understood their concerns about the changes proposed on the special election ballot, but it was an administrative decision to put them on the ballot. “I understand the frustration and the questions,” she said. “I don’t see this as a solution. This is some thing I’m being charged to do.” ' In past years, students have vot ed on whether to use incidental fees to fund campus organizations such as OSPIRG. But a Supreme Court case brought by former law student Scott Southworth against the Uni versity of Wisconsin has put the le gality of this process into question. Southworth and several other students argued that the mandato ry fee system at the University of Wisconsin - violated their First Amendment rights because it forced them to support groups whose ideologies they disagreed with. The Supreme Court ruled in March of 2000 that schools could use student fees to fund programs only if funding was approved through a “viewpoint neutral” process — a process which doesn’t accept or deny a program based on its ideological views. The ruling suggested that ballot measure fund ing was not viewpoint neutral be cause it allowed funding to be de cided by majority opinion. Two other ballot measures to be voted on in the special election also propose changes to the Clark Docu ment. One would allow programs to shift their budgets between the Pro gram Finance Committee, the EMU and the Athletic Department. Sen ator Mary Elizabeth Madden, who is a member of the work group writ ing the ballot measure, said the measure would establish a process for groups to obtain approval for that realignment. Program realignment was a topic of debate last year, she said, be cause there is nothing in the Clark Document which addresses that is sue. Some programs clearly belong in only one budget, she said. For example, she said, the EMU building maintenance program should be in the EMU budget. But other programs, such as the Cultur al Forum and the Student Activi ties Resource Office, fall into a gray area, she said. Some people have argued those programs should be moved to the PFC budget, which includes student unions such as the International Student Associa tion. The third ballot measure relates to the EMU building reserves fund, which is used to pay for EMU emergency expenses or other ex penses that come up during the year. State law mandates that the fund be kept at a certain level. But be cause of funding shortages, the fund has been below that level in the past. The ballot measure proposes making up the shortfall with ASUO overrealized funds, she said. Over realized funds include extra stu dent fee money that accumulates when enrollment is higher than ex pected. If the measure passes, the ASUO Senate would approve EMU Board expenses after the board spends a certain percentage of the reserve money. If any student has a ballot measure for the special election, it must be submitted to the Constitution Court by 5 p.m. today. The Constitution Court will decide within five days of submission whether to approve the wording of the ballot measure. Once the Constitution Court gives its ap proval, sponsors can begin petition ing for the measure. Any individual or group can put a measure on the ballot by petition, ASUO elections coordinator Court ney Hight said. Only ballot measures which would change the ASUO Constitu tion can be voted on in the special election. Ballot measure sponsors must collect the signatures of 10 percent of the student body to place a ballot in the special election. Kara Cogswell is a student activities reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached at karacogswell@dailyemerald.com. New club promotes peace, chanting ■ Buddhists for Peace is open to everyone on campus, not just Buddhists, and its aim is to make people happy By Anna Seeley Oregon Daily Emerald For students interested in learn ing about Buddhism and promot ing world peace, there is now a club on campus to explore these ideas. Buddhists for Peace members held their first official meeting on Sunday to introduce themselves to campus. The group is a University club for Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist association that pro motes peace, culture and educa tion and also enhances the under standing of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism. SGI, an international group, is headed by president Daisaku Ike da in Japan. The group’s member ship has grown from only 3,000 households to include 177 coun tries with 12 million people who practice this form of Buddhism today, according to Buddhists for Peace creator and president Mari Kugoh. One goal of Buddhists for Peace is to “help start a dialog of peace activity and philosophy,” SGI member Kate Bennett said. Another mission of Buddhists for Peace is to introduce the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, a Japanese priest from more than 700 years ago who advocated chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo in 1253, Kugoh said. Daishonin originated the claim that Lotus Sutra is the highest teaching of Shakamuni — also known as Buddha. “Under Lotus Sutra, anyone can be enlightened, regardless of eth nicity, sex or educational back ground, and that is why Lotus Su tra is the highest teaching of Shakamuni,” Kugoh said. The chant is a significant part of practicing Lotus Sutra. The pur pose of chanting is to reach a state of enlightenment or “Buddha hood,” Buddhists for Peace mem ber Tomomi Kato .said. It is some thing ahybfi6 cbfi’do ht anytime they want, she added. “By chanting, you raise your life conditions to the highest level and become stronger and are not affect ed by your environment,” Kato said. Kugoh defined “Buddhahood” as “when you are happy no matter what happens.” By chanting ‘Nam myoho-renge-kyo,’ you can reach a state where you are happy all the time, she said. Freshman Samantha Bates said she has been interested in Bud dhism for a while and thought at tending the club’s meeting would be a good way to learn more about the religion. “I saw their fliers, and I saw the Dalai Lama in Portland last year,” she said. “I became interested, and I wanted to find out more.” The group plans to meet once a month, and everyone is welcome to their meetings, Kugoh said. Their next meeting will be held Nov. 11 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Alsea Room of the EMU. Anna Seeley is a student activities reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached at annaseeley@daiiyemerald.com.
