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Local businesses have mixed feelings
about Symantec’s departure.
Pap? _
Sports
The men’s basketball team looks for
consistency as Pac-10 play heats up
r pits*
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Wednesday, January 9,2002
Since 1 900
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE, OREGON
volume 1U5,issue /l
The Great.
Depression
■ With the onset of winter, it’s
not unusual for many students
to slip into depression
By Marcus Hathcock
Oregon Daily Emerald
Gloomy weather, outbreaks of ill
ness and psychological strain aren’t
just ingredients for a classic horror
movie — they’re all standard char
acteristics of a University winter
term.
Students tend to retreat to their
rooms and even hunker down on
their studies during gloomy weath
er. But weather isn’t the only factor.
Medical and psychological experts
say students find themselves in the
winter doldrums for a variety of
physical and emotional reasons.
“Everyone’s sort of downbeat,”
junior international studies major
Barry Barksdale said. “No one’s ex
cited. Everyone’s either doing their
own thing or staying in their room.”
Barksdale, a transfer student from
Willamette University, said he finds
it hard to adjust to a new school
when the weather has an obvious
influence on the social climate.
Freshman biology major Andy
Howard said while he personally
enjoys the Oregon rain, he shares
Barksdale’s view of the student pop
ulation’s morale.
“A lot of people are just down on
things,” Howard said. “People are
just kind of gloomy.”
This gloominess may go beyond
disapproval with the weather, said
University Health Center Director
Gerald Fleischli. He said some peo
i
Turn to Depression, page 4
:udents can go for help
Center
Parkins shortages equal more dollars for DPS
■DPS issues more than
20,000 citations per year
in the campus area
ByLeonTovey
Oregon Daily Emerald
Those unsatisfied with the
parking situation at the Uni
versity shouldn’t get mad
about the prices of permits,
tickets and meters—just con
sider them “gifts” to the Uni
versity’s parking and trans
portation program.
Parking permit sales are ex
pected to bring in an estimat
ed $746,592 in 2001-02, ac
cording to Rand Stamm,
manager of parking and trans
portation for the Department
of Public Safety. Revenues
from meters are expected to be
about $270,000, and citations
are expected to bring in
$360,000.
Junior Austin Jones summed
up his feelings for parking and
associated costs on campus with
two words: “Thatblows.”
Campus administration
disagrees. The total income—
an estimated $1.38 million —
is good news for parking on
campus, according to Associ
ate Director of Public Safety
Tom Hicks. Because state law
mandates that parking and
transportation at the Univer
sity must be self-supporting,
all revenues generated from
permit sales, parking meters
and citations are used to fund
the program. Hicks said the
revenue pays the salaries of
DPS parking enforcement of
ficers and other parking relat
ed expenditures such as
maintenance, repair and bond
payments on existing parking
Turn to Parking, page 7
Many students are unaware that while hoods are usually placed on parking meters the night
before events, the spots remain available until 4 p.m. the following day.
Budget
plan fails
to please
officials
■ Many representatives from
the University think Kitzhaber’s
proposed OUS budget cut
threatens academic quality
By Brook Reinhard
Oregon Daily Emerald
University officials think Gov. John
Kitzhaber’s plan to balance the state
budget will cause the worst funding
crisis at the University since Measure
5 took effect in 1991.
Kitzhaber unveiled his proposal to
counteract the shortfall, which he
called a “starting point for the de
bate,” at a Monday press conference.
His plan calls for
an $84 million cut
to the Oregon Uni
versity System —
10.4 percent of
OUS’s operating
budget.
That cut would
eliminate $12.4
million — 8.1 per
cent of the Univer
sity’s $152.9 mil
lion budget.
Kitzhaber said he intends to have
an updated plan by Jan. 14, but if no
changes occur, the proposal will
shortchange the University by $12.4
million.
“The magnitude of the cut would
be greater than the effect of Measure
5,” University Provost John Moseley
said. “It will be tragic if the state pulls
back funding.”
Nathan Tublitz, head of the Univer
sity’s faculty senate, said estimates
have shown that a 10 percent cut at
the University of Oregon would mean
the school would be forced to cut 85
faculty positions. The exact effects of
an 8.1 percent cut aren’t known; how
ever, any cuts above 5 percent would
drastically affect the University.
“The sad part is that it takes just
one large cut to cause an effect that
takes a decade to recover from,”
Tublitz said.
Kitzhaber hasn’t said cuts at the
University would reach 10 percent,
and Moseley said the administration
isn’t trying to inflate figures or assume
the worst.
“We have no intention of playing
any kind of game with this,” he said.
Moseley added that a 5 percent cut
to the University won’t cause any pro
grams to “close.” Tublitz agreed a 5
percent cut would be “absorbable.”
However, Tublitz acknow ledged
that the proposal threatens to be the
University’s biggest funding crunch
Turn to Budget, page 4