Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2001)
^ _ Oregon E.° M M E N TATOR Radical moderation Commentator comes of age Today marks the 18th anniversary of the student magazine’s first issue. Page 3 Bulldogged The Ducks go five sets against Gonzaga but can’t pull off a victory. Page 5 independent newspaper Wednesday,October 24, 2001 Volume 103, Issue 42 ■The man behind the mascot tells of life inside the Duck suit By Anne Le Chevallier Oregon Daily Emerald The head University mascot might be the most photographed person in Eugene, but the public doesn’t know his name. Although this 27-year-old jun ior is an essential part of family photos and college memorabilia, __ . University Mascot Mania fans don’t Part one of two know that the in a series on the man inside University mascot. the suit is a political sci ence major, owns an eight-week old golden retriever and played semi-professional baseball abroad. They don’t know that the 6-foot Portlander served in the army for four years and graduated from Wilson High School. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” said Mascot (whose iden tity must remain a secret). “The unwritten mascot rule is to be anonymous.” However, Mascot, who said he naturally thinks like a cartoon character, said making the transi tion from an individual to a sym bol of the school is easy. “Once I’m in the suit,” he said, “I’m in the whole Donald Duck persona: I’m cocky and mad. If I trip, I’m steaming out the ears.” Mascot, who began his job in fall 1999, said he believes a cer tain amount of natural craziness is required to be the Duck. Dur ing games, Mascot will sponta neously play with the band, pour water on male cheerleaders and surf the “Pit Crew” at McArthur Court. The Duck’s most noticed stunt is doing push-ups for the number of total points on the scoreboard every time the football team scores. But the Duck’s most amusing activity is walking. Standing outside Starbucks on 13 th Avenue on Monday, Mascot demonstrated his high-step. While his movements were en tertaining, Mascot said he prac tices this awkward locomotion out of necessity: With feet measuring 15 inches long by 12 inches wide, it is the only — albeit ugly — way to move. ter can be Mascot said costume itself is challeng ing. Mascot must see through the Duck’s giant bill and keep the nine-pound head on at all times. Ad ditionally, in already warm gyms and stadiums, Mascot’s 15-pound costume turns up the heat. During the Wisconsin football game on Sept. 9, 2000, the temperature in side his costume was 134 de grees Fahrenheit. While the Duck costume is usually not hot, Mascot sweats off an average of nine pounds per game. After each performance, Mascot said, he is fatigued and smelly. Although he does not touch the game ball, Mascot has an important position on the court and field: He represents the University at the highest level. Mascot said anytime someone wants University repre sentation, they call the Duck. This reputation as a quasi-hero keeps Mascot active. His two years of experience as a mascot have placed him as the head Mas Turn to Mascot, page 4 Teach-in speakers give preview of presentations ■ David Frank and Shaul Cohen will speak today about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict By John Liebhardt Oregon Daily Emerald Editor’s note: David Frank is the director of the University’s Robert D. Clark Honors Col lege and will be one of the speakers at today’s “After September 11” teach-in, which is spon sored by the political science department and ASUO. Frank is completing a book on the Is raeli-Palestinian conflict, which will be pub lished in December. He spoke to the Emerald in a Q Sr A session about his presentation. His words have been edited for brevity and clarity. You say that to fully understand issues in Palestinian-Israeli relations, you must look back to 1948. Why is that? The Zionists were responding to the holo caust in Europe between 1933 and 1945, where lews experienced a loss of more than a third of their people in Europe. Some Jews decided to go to Palestine, and many Jews had no choice but to go to Palestine, because they were not welcome anywhere in the world. The Palestinians who lived in Palestine did not welcome the attempt by Jewish nationalists to establish a Jewish state in that area. So, in 1948, the Zionists were able to establish a Jewish state, and Palestinians were unable to prevent them from doing so. As a re sult, 800,000 Palestinians were dispersed, lost their lands, lost their homes, many of them be came refugees, living in horrible refugee camps. The Palestinians like to portray themselves as victims - which they have been. Israelis portray themselves as victims - which they are. Both play a role in the current situation. Shaul Cohen, a geography professor at the University, will be one of the speakers at to day’s “After September 11” teach-in. Cohen has conducted research on the Israeli-Pales tinian conflict, concentrating on land, territory and environment. He spoke to the Emerald in a Q & A session about his presentation. His words have been edited for brevity and clarity. What is life like for Palestinians living on the West Bank? In general terms, life is fairly grim: raging un employment, difficulty traveling from place to place. People are concerned about the threat of violence erupting, whether the violence is being initiated by Palestinians or by the Israeli army or by Israeli settlers. Many Palestinians are intimidated by their own security forces. They have been cheated out of the aid that has been promised to them from the United States and Europe and by Arab nations. Explain life in Israel over the past 10 years. ‘After September 11’ Who: David frank and Shaul Cohen What: They will speak on the history of the Palestinian-lsraeli conflict and how peace in the Middle East is necessary for stabilizing the region. Where: 110 Fenton When: 3:30-5 p.m. today Israelis have been riding some real peaks and valleys in the last decade, and I think they are weary. There are periods in the last 10 years when things were fairly euphoric, when the peace process was going well, the Palestinians were partners and the tension was diminished. But that is no longer the case. Today, many people are focused on the cycle of violence, on the downturn in the economy, on the hostility and suspicion between the two communities. In Israel there is broad perception that an awful lot was done to promote peace with the Pales tinians — that the Israelis extended them selves in reasonable way beyond what many Israelis considered reasonable — and the Palestinians turned them down. John Liebhardt is the higher education editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at johnliebhardt@dailyemerald.com Anthrax decision questioned ■ Doubts arise about why postal station intially stayed open By Steven Thomma Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON (KRT) — Fear of bioterrorism by mail spread Tuesday as traces of anthrax were found at a mail sorting site for the White House, three more postal workers were hospitalized under suspicion that they have the dis ease and officials confirmed two dead postal workers were killed by the bacteria. The letter carrying the anthrax has not been found. Tests found no sign of anthrax spores inside the White House. All mail sent there was first processed at the Brent wood postal station, itself the linchpin in a growing chain of anthrax-related illness and death. Anthrax spores have been dis covered in 14 different parts of the Brent wood site, officials revealed Tuesday. Federal health officials defended their initial failure to close the Brentwood sta tion or to order testing of the roughly 2,000 workers there. Health officials said they had not thought that anthrax spores could leak out of sealed envelopes. The government plans to create four new packs of emergency medical sup - plies that can be rushed to any part of the country within 12 hours. It also intends to stockpile enough drugs over the next year to treat 10 million persons for in halation anthrax. ©2001, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Go to www.dailyemerald.com for complete story. Legal experts want slavery reparations ■The three lawyers heading the reparations lawsuit say it is time for a discussion of slavery issues By Marty Toohey forthe Emerald A standing-room-only crowd listened attentively Tuesday night at the Universi ty Law School as three legal experts called for slavery reparations — compensation for descendants of black slaves. Charles Ogletree Jr., a Harvard Law Pro fessor and this year’s Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics, said there is a “blis tering racial divide” in the United States because slavery and racism has never been properly discussed. His keynote ad- ) dress to a crowd of nearly 250 was part of t a forum on slavery reparations sponsored \ by the School of Law. Ogletree is part of a team preparing a massive reparation lawsuit, and he said i the other lawyers, each of whom has ca Turn to Forum, page 3
