NEWS
■ Researchers are seeing the bright side of the economic slump. Page 3
■ Activists push for labeling of genetically modified foods. Page 4
Packed-10
It’s a wide-open race for the Pac-10
football title. Page 5
Tuesday, October 30,2001
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 46
Slow: College kids at play
Thomas Patterson Emerald
The intersection of 15th Avenue and University Street is awash with pedestrians, bicycles and cars every weekday as students shuffle to and from class.
■ Motorists as well as
bicyclists need to be aware
ofthe15mph speed limit
on campus streets
By Lindsay Buchele
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Eugene Police Department
is keeping a more watchful eye
on drivers and bicyclists speed
ing through campus streets.
EPD Officer Pete Aguilar said
the 15 mph speed limit on streets
running through campus is being
grossly neglected by motorists.
He said campus officers are now
beginning to use radar and will
also be putting more officers on
bikes to catch law-breaking bicy
clists.
FEELING THE
NEED to SPEED
But before increasing patrols,
EPD had to deal with poorly
marked speed signs and a ques
tion of jurisdiction.
“The speed limit was only
written on the streets; there were
no signs,” Aguilar said. “We did
n’t know if we, as EPD officers,
could enforce the speed limit. It’s
also lower than the general rules,
which are 25 mph for a residen
tial area and 20 mph for a busi
ness district.”
So members of the campus
team took the issue to the city at
torney’s office in August, where it
was confirmed that EPD not only
had the right to enforce the speed
limit, but was required to do so
by the Oregon Board of Higher
Education.
“The Oregon Board of Higher
Education prescribed, by admin
istrative rule, that anything over
15 mph on the campus streets is
careless unless otherwise posted,”
City Attorney Brad Litchfield said.
Aguilar said the reason for a
lower speed limit on campus is
due to the strenuous driving con
ditions, including a limited sight
distance, the amount of parking
taking place and the large number
of pedestrians and bicyclists also
traveling on the roads.
“There are also four child-care
centers throughout the Universi
ty,” he said. “ I know that each of
them takes walks each day. That
should be enough reason for
slowing down.”
EPD spokeswoman Jan Power
said the campus team had a list of
concerns for campus traffic last
summer, with the speed limit en
forcement being one of the major
concerns. Other problems ranged
from cyclists not following traffic
Turn to Speeding, page 8
University student speaks out for sign language
Signing
for change
Monday: A new club
on campus aims
to educate people
about sign language
Today: One student
works togetASL
to fulfill the language
requirement
■While Oregon state law
recognizes American Sign as a
language, the University policy
on ASL remains undetermined
By Anna Seeley
Oregon Daily Emerald
Returning student Jim Evangelista’s
plans to graduate with a bachelor of
arts degree has changed, and it’s not
because he changed his focus. It is be
cause the Universit}' does not accept
American Sign Language to satisfy the
foreign language requirement.
Evangelista submitted a written pe
tition to the University Academic Re
quirements Committee in the summer
to allow him to use ASL to fulfill the
University’s foreign language require
ment. He was hoping to get approval,
then begin taking the classes to satisfy
the language requirement and obtain
his degree in art therapy, he said. How
ever, Evangelista has yet to receive a
simple yes or no answer.
An Oregon state law passed in 1995
says that ASL classes “shall satisfy any
second language elective require
ment,” but the University does not rec
ognize it at this time. It was this law
that ASL program coordinators at
Western Oregon University used to es
tablish ASL as a recognized language
and the one Evangelista used as a basis
for his petition.
He said committee members told
him that the Academic Requirements
Committee was the right group to give
his petition to. But he said Assistant
Registrar Karen Duncan recently left a
message on his answering machine
telling him his petition was being
tabled because that committee wasn’t
the appropriate place for his petition.
“This really confused me,” Evange
lista said. “I was frustrated when I
heard this.”
University Academic Requirements
Committee chairwoman Gail Unruh
said the petition was not tabled. In
stead, the committee decided that the
issue went beyond one student, and
they referred it to the University Un
dergraduate Council to consider the
implications of the decision on the en
tire campus.
However, Undergraduate Council
members said the council doesn’t rule
on specific petitions — the Academic
Requirement Committee does. Accord
ing to the council’s governing rules,
Turn to ASL, page 8
University
reveals
budget
revisions
■ Officials say administrative costs
are already lean and cuts in each
department are relatively limited
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
Freeing financial room in the Univer
sity budget to accommodate an im
pending $290 million state budget
shortfall could prove more difficult
than extracting blood from a stone.
But University officials are fighting
for every drop.
“I figured out the least painful way to
make these cuts,” University Provost
John Moseley said, “but I can’t look at
this as an accomplishment.”
On Friday, Moseley unveiled the first
segment of a two-part plan to reduce the
University’s budget, in 2 percent incre
ments, up to 10 percent. Gov. John
Kitzhaber requested that each of Ore
gon’s seven public universities formu
late such plans because the savings
could help refurbish the state’s general
fund, which projections show will be
depleted by the languid economy.
But the money has to come from
somewhere, and that means student
services could be affected.
Turn to Budget cuts, page 8
McDonald
Theater adds
glitz, glam
to Halloween
■ The Rocky Horror Show,’
a proven crowd-pleaser, serves
up a sexy science-fiction musical
in glorious glam-rock style
By Anne Le Chevallier
Oregon Daily Emerald
“The Rocky Horror Show” and its mo
tion picture counterpart, “The Rocky
Horror Picture Show,” thrive on every
thing from verbal and visual illusions to
sexuality and pleasure. But when Rocky
Horror fans talk about virgins, their refer
ence has nothing to do with sex. Virgins
are those who have never seen the science
fiction spoof and are naive to its appeal.
Although University students raised
in the 1980s might be virgins to Rocky
Horror, theaters and cinemas are experi
enced. They have been showing and per
Turn to Rocky Horror, page 8