ISA coffee hour offers cup o’ culture
■The International Student
Association’s weekly event
showcases differing group
identities, but welcomes all
By Diane Muber
Oregon Daily Emerald
More new and diverse faces are
appearing every week at interna
tional coffee hour, and the Interna
tional Student Association is
changing the theme of the event by
encouraging more students to have
a cup of coffee and talk with people
from all over the world.
“We chose coffee because it’s
America — people drink it all the
time,” ISA co-director Shruti Shah
said.
Coffee hour, which is held from 4
to 6 p.m. every Friday, has come a
long way since it started in the mid
1980s. The event began small with
only 10 or 15 people. But in recent
years, attendance has been reaching
up to 100 people, Shah said.
Now, instead of just providing
coffee and snacks, ISA has been
asking student groups to sponsor
coffee hour and present a part of
their culture, Shah said.
“Our theme.is unity and diversi
ty,” she said. “We’re trying to reach
out to student organizations that
maybe weren’t involved in previ
ous years.”
This includes student groups
that aren’t characterized by a spe
cific ethnicity, she said.
ASUO sponsored a coffee hour
for the first time after Sept. 11. The
group used this time as a platform
to educate people about the
tragedy.
Recent sponsor Students of the
Indian Subcontinent wore “salwaar
kameez”—traditional, colorful out
fits that can be dressed up or down
depending on the details of the em
broidery, Shah said.
SIS members encouraged every
one to participate in a traditional
Hindu dance called Dandya.
The dance is performed during
the nine-day Navaratri festival, but
today younger people tend to per
form the dance for fun, Shah said.
Each person is given two wooden
sticks, and the dancers form two
lines. People rotate around the line,
hitting their sticks against the sticks
of those in the other line. Dancers
rotate while traditional music plays
in the background.
Next term, the Hawaii Club will
sponsor coffee hour, and Shah
hopes more student groups will
sponsor coffee hour during winter
term.
Tom Mills, director of the Office
of International Education and Ex
change, said he informs interna
tional students about coffee hour at
the beginning of the year so they
know where they can go to meet
other students from their country.
“Coffee hour gives a focus to a
time each week when students can
meet students from their own coun
tries and from other countries,” he
said. “In terms of adjusting to a new
life, it can be a real help to meet
other new students and to find out
about the international programs
available.”
Saiyora Ismailova moved from
Uzbekistan during fall term. Right
away she became involved in ISA
and began attending the coffee hour
for fun and to socialize.
“You don’t have to travel to meet
people from different countries,”
she said.
Contact student activities reporter Diane
Huberatdianehuber@dailyemerald.com.
News briefs
Fishing accident claims
University student’s life
Junior Ben Eder died when the
1 fishing boat he was working on
capsized off the Oregon coast Dec.
11. Eder, 21, was one of four men
• aboard the Nesika, a 40 ft. crabbing
vessel owned by Eder’s father, Bob
Eder, of Newport. The boat over
turned a half-mile off Yaquina
Head as it lowered crab pots to the
ocean floor, and washed ashore on
Beverly Beach, just north of New
port.
Coast Guard crews searched for
the missing fishermen without
success before calling off rescue ef
forts the next day. Coast Guard
spokeswoman Aida Cabrera said
the cause of the accident is under
investigation.
Matt Hamer, a 22-year-old New
port fisherman, was on a crab boat
about a mile-and-a-half away from
the Nesika when it went down. He
described the weather conditions
that day as “pretty rough,” but not
out of the ordinary.
“It was just random chance,” he
said. “No one could have seen it,
and no one could have stopped it.”
When he heard the Nesika had
capsized, Harner said he prayed
that Eder, a close friend and high
school classmate, was not on the
boat.
“He was a great guy,” he said.
“He had so much potential, so
much going for him.”
Eder graduated as class salutato
rian from Newport High School in
1998. Eder, a biochemistry major,
transferred to the University last
year from Reed College in Port
land.
When he had a break from
school, he always came back to
Newport to work on the fishing
boats, Hamer said.
“He loved fishing,” he said. “He
loved going out on the ocean.”
— Kara Cogswell
Student energy fee reduced
Students will pay a few dollars
less in incidental fees when a re
duction in the energy fee goes into
effect this term. Provost John
Moseley agreed to cut the fee, orig
inally estimated at $30 per student
per term, to $20 for winter term.
University Vice President for
Administration Dan Williams said
the provost made the decision
partly because of conservation ef
forts led by student government
leaders. A lower-than-expected
natural gas bill for fall term as well
as high enrollment also made low
ering the fee possible, he said.
ASUO President Nilda Brooklyn
said she was pleased with the ad
ministration’s willingness to lower
the fee. But she said her goal is to
eliminate the fee altogether.
Brooklyn and other student gov
ernment leaders plan to reduce the
need for the fee with a campus
wide energy conservation cam
paign beginning this term, she
said.
William said administrators will
re-evaluate the energy fee at the
end of winter term.
— Kara Cogswell
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