Diwali festival celebrates light over darkness
■ Students of the Indian
Subcontinent honor
the Hindu celebration
Saturday night at Agate Hall
By Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
Streams of flickering Christmas
lights covered the inside of Agate
Hall on Saturday night, brightening
up the room as if handfuls of glitter
were tossed on the walls and ceil
ings. An archway of silver lights
sparkled at the entrance, while
pink and blue hues shimmered
throughout the rest of the room. On
this night, the lights were supposed
to fight off darkness — symbolizing
good over evil.
Students of the Indian Subconti
nent celebrated Diwali, festival of
the lights, with more than 100 peo
ple filling the building. Eating cur
ry and tandoori chicken and partic
ipating in traditional Indian
dances, students and community
members honored the famous Hin
du holiday.
“In India, it’s like Christmas
times two,” SIS President Aarti
Tanna said about the festival. “Fire
works are everywhere, and every
house is lit with candles. On differ
ent days we are worshipping differ
ent aspects of what we feel is im
portant in our lives.”
With roots in Hindu mythology,
“Diwali” comes from the Sanskrit
word “deepavali” — “deep” means
“light” and avali means “row.” The
celebration marks Lord Rama’s re
turn to his kingdom after 14 years
of exile and his conquest of places
in India’s southern subcontinent.
The five-day festival is also seen
as the beginning of the New Year in
India, where more than 80 percent
of the population practices Hin
duism.
In India — and areas Indians
have settled, such as Nepal —
homes are lit with oil lamps, can
dles and lights throughout the days
and into the nights to ward off dark
ness and evil. Each region of India
associates different myths and leg
ends to each day.
In many areas, Lord Lakshmi,
the goddess of wealth and fortune,
is worshipped one day. Some peo
ple also set aside a day to honor
Kali/Durga, the goddess of
strength. People clean their hous
es, decorate their homes with flow
ers and bake sweet treats to honor
the gods.
Although more than 20 different
states in India have their own lan
guages and traditions, Diwali is a
holiday that unites everyone, grad
uate student Avik Chakraborty
said.
“This is one festival that is cele
brated in uniformity and with
equal enthusiasm,” he said. “It
brings the same meaning to every
one — light over darkness. And it
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Sabeen Waqar holds young Irah Shaikh while lights shine behind them at the Diwali festival at Agate Hall on Saturday night.
brings people together. ”
Chakraborty moved to the Unit
ed States from Calcutta, a city in
western India, a couple of months
ago. He said SIS’s celebration
helped introduce him to the Indian
community and keep the tradition
alive even far from home.
“If I had not been here, I’d really
have missed (the celebration in In
dia),” he said. “I didn’texpect to find
something like this in Eugene. ”
International Student Associa
tion co-director Shruti Shah has
also been in the country for only
five years. Born and raised in Gu
jarat, located on the western coast
of the Indian Peninsula, the junior
agreed that this kind of event helps
preserve the culture and share tra
ditions with others.
“This maintains the tradition
in India, and it gives us a chance
to come together,” she said. “It re
minds us of home.”
Beata Mostafavi is the student activities
editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald.
She can be reached at
beatamostafavi@dailyemerald.com.
School officials fail to agree on how to amend budget shortfall
■Some board of education
members feel research should
be protected from budget cuts
during draft plan process
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
Officials objected to portions of
a draft plan Friday that would
chop as much as $80.9 million
from the Oregon University Sys
tem budget to accommodate a pre
dicted state budget shortfall.
Gov. John Kitzhaber ordered all
OUS schools to submit plans that
detail how each would trim costs
in 2 percent increments up to 10
percent to clear financial room
for a projected $290 million state
budget shortfall, which could
grow larger if the economy fol
lows a similar earthward trend.
For the University, that means
cutting anywhere from $3 million
to $15 million from the school’s
budget.
The draft plan, critiqued during
Friday’s meeting of the Oregon
State Board of Higher Education, is
the second segment of a two-part
plan to reduce school budgets with
specifically targeted cuts in admin
istration, academic programs and
non-academic programs.
Some members of the board,
the governing body for Oregon’s
seven public universities, said
the draft plan did little to safe
guard research and graduate stu
dent programs while affording
too much protection to engineer
ing and the new Oregon State
University branch campus in
Bend.
“Research is important on cam
puses,” Geraldine Richmond, a
University chemistry professor
and board member, said. “This
(draft plan) sends a statement that
the board values public services as
much as research.”
Student board member Tim
Young said research can generate
substantial revenue with limited
investment, and agreed with Rich
mond that research programs
should be shielded at the cost of
public services.
But the cuts, which could run as
shallow as $16.2 million or as
deep as $80.9 million, must be
made somewhere, and there are
many interests to represent, OUS
Chancellor Joe Cox said.
“Research is clearly a revenue
generating activity that pays real
dividends,” Cox said. “But if we
move funds into research, they
have to come from somewhere.
And when you’re talking about
large numbers, pretty soon you get
into instruction.”
The board has said from the out
set that the top priority in making
reductions is to mitigate the impact
those reductions could have on in
struction and undergraduate pro
grams. The draft plan armors those
areas until cuts reach the 6 percent
level, but leaves others, such as
statewide public services, exposed
at higher levels.
Hardest hit would be non-in
structional programs like the OSU
extension services, agriculture ex
periment stations and forestry re
search laboratories.
“Those would sustain a reduc
tion of about 16 and 17 percent at
higher levels,” OUS spokesman
Bob Bruce said.
Cox said protections for all pro
grams, including instruction,
would erode with higher-level
cuts. He said another route the
board may consider is capping
enrollment to shield the integrity
of academic programs.
“I believe so strongly in access”
that enables colleges to accept
new students, Cox said. “But if
it’s not access to quality, we
haven’t done the right thing.”
Authors of the draft plan —
vice presidents of finance and ad
ministration at each OUS school
— will take board member sug
gestions and submit a revised
proposal for evaluation at a Nov.
16 meeting in Portland. The plans
will be finalized at the meeting
and passed to Kitzhaber for re
view.
Eric Martin is a higher education reporter
for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be
reached at ericmartin@dailyemerald.com.
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Free Workshop:
Spiritual Keys to a Happier Life
Monday, Nov. 12, 2001
7:30-9:00 P.M.
| University of Oregon:
Jarb Memorial Union. Maple Room
bEugene ECKANKAR Center:
I ' 343-2657
COFFEE ‘
common
Please join the ASUO and
President Frohnmayer for coffee
and informal conversation on
November 13th at 4 P.M. in the
§ EMU Fir Room. See you there!
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