Monday, February 4,2002
Since 1 900
University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103,Issue 88
Commentator
waits to hear
PFC decision
■The student magazine filed a
grievance after its funding request
was tabled because of political
wording in the mission statement
By Danielle Gillespie
Oregon Daily Emerald
The ASUO Programs Finance Com
mittee on Tuesday will make its final
decision on the Commentator's resub
mitted mission and goals statement —
and then its budget for 2002-03.
The Commentator will reappear before
PFC in the EMU Board Room at 6 p.m.
On Jan. 21, PFC tabled the budget,
requesting that the terms “left wing,”
“political” and “conservatism” be re
moved from the magazine’s mission
and goals statement. The Commenta
tor filed a grievance with the ASUO
Constitution Court, and Jan. 29, the
Constitution Court dismissed the case
because PFC had not made a formal
decision concerning the budget or the
mission statement.
“They had no basis to file a grievance
because we simply tabled the issue for
further discussion,” PFC chairwoman
Mary Elizabeth Madden said.
Commentator publisher Bret Jacob
son said the court may have dismissed
his grievance, but he did achieve part of
his goal.
“They did what I wanted, which was
to give the PFC an advisory on how to
approach these mission statements,” Ja
cobson said.
In its decision, the court provided
PFC with an advisory outlining the
guidelines established by the U.S.
Supreme Court’s March 2000 decision
on Southworth v. the Board of Regents
of the University of Wisconsin System.
The Southworth decision changed
the allocation of student incidental fees
in universities across the country. Al
though the case did not directly affect
the University of Oregon, the adminis
tration found it in its best interest to
change some budgetary policies in the
Turn to Commentator, page 4
Split-second rejection
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Oregon’s Freddie Jones shows off his athleticism, meeting USC’s Errick Craven in mid-air and taking the ball from him in
the first half of the Ducks’ 73-69 victory Saturday at McArthur Court. For complete coverage, turn to sports on page 5.
PFC carries on despite a major accounting error
■An ASUO accounting coordinator
miscalculated PFC funding needs, so the
committee needs to recall some budgets
By Kara Cogswell
Oregon Daily Emerald
ASUO Programs Finance Committee
members continued with business as usual
last week, despite discovering they had
more than a half million dollars less to give
out to student groups than they had origi
nally budgeted for.
In November, ASUO Accounting Coordi
nator Jennifer Creighton accidentally calcu
lated the cost of some programs for one term
instead of three — making the groups ap
pear to cost about $536,000 less than they
actually did. PFC used that figure to set the
entire programs budget.
Now, PFC must recall, and possibly cut,
many student groups’ budgets that have al
ready been approved for next year. After reg
ular budget .hearings Tuesday, PFC will de
cide which budgets to recall.
PFC chairwoman Mary Elizabeth Madden
said while the committee has been more
cautious about giving large increases since
learning about the error, that doesn’t mean
the PFC won’t give more money to groups
that need it.
“We’re not going to stop giving increases to
groups that deserve them,” she said.
During last week’s hearings, 14 of 16
groups that submitted budgets received in
creases, ranging from less than one percent to
more than 200 percent.
The Asian-Pacific American Law Student
Association and the Hawaii Club received
the largest increases. PFC more than tripled
APALSA’s budget, raising it from $735 for
2001-02 to $2,223 for 2002-03. Madden said
a significant portion of the APALSA in
crease was allocated to create a new stipend
position.
PFC set the Hawaii Club’s 2002-03 budget at
$7,073 — a 43.76 percent increase. Madden
said PFC gave the Hawaii Club an increase
largely to give the group additional funding for
its annual luau held at McArthur Court.
Another large increase went to Programs
and Assessments, a budget that includes
ASUO administrative staff and other pro
grams’ administrations costs. PFC increased
the P & A budget from $105,422 to $143,087
to cover a variety of expenses, including the
creation of a new accounting coordinator po
sition and salary increases for ASUO con
trollers, Madden said.
Only two groups — the American Institute
of Architecture Students and the Student Bar
Association — received decreases. Both were
less than 10 percent.
PFC defunded several groups scheduled
to have hearings last week for failure to sub
mit a budget. Some of these groups, such as
the Returning Students Association, plan to
submit an appeal for a new hearing date,
Madden said.
On Thursday night, PFC members voted to
hear appeals from MEChA and the Warsaw
Sports Marketing Club. MEChA is appealing
Turn to PFC, page 4
Campus
to add
Men’s
Center
■The campus Men’s Health Team
uncovers problems facing men
and looks to find some solutions
By Leon Tovey
Oregon Daily Emerald
Studies show that men are more
prone to high-risk behavior, violence
and suicide than women. But according
to University Health Center director Dr.
Gerald Fleischli, men are less likely to
seek help for their problems.
To address that issue, a Men’s Health
Team consisting of several students and
staff members — including Fleischli —
has proposed a campus Men’s Center
aimed at creating an environment
where men can go to get help and sup
port. The health team is holding the
first in a series of open meetings aimed
at gathering student input on the center
today from 3 to 4 p.m. in the EMU
Rogue Room.
The proposed center is the result of
more than three years of research by the
health team and would operate as an
ASUO program similar to the Women’s
Center and would serve as a referral
and information source for issues such
as substance abuse, anger management
and diversity issues. It would also
sponsor and co-sponsor events aimed at
improving overall men’s health.
“Men’s health is related to the whole
male culture; hide your feelings and
don’t ask for help,” Fleischli said.
Fleischli pointed to statistics indicat
ing that men commit suicide as much
as eight times as often as women, and
that male suicide rates are highest for
men age 20 to 24 years.
Equally troubling to the Men’s Health
Team were studies indicating that col
lege-age men are more likely to use
drugs and alcohol, engage in high-risk
sex with multiple partners and commit
academic infractions. At the Universi
ty, men make up 80 percent of students
referred to the administration with con
duct concerns, according to Jon Davies,
senior staff psychologist at the Univer
sity Counseling Center.
Focus group research conducted by
the health team found that University
men felt they couldn’t ask for help,
Davies said.
The most common reason for that
hesitance, Davies said, was the “What
will my buddies say?” attitude that is so
common among men. Davies said that
in one instance, a student told him that
he once injured his hand during a bas
ketball game with friends, but didn’t
seek help until the next day because he
didn’t want his friends to think he was
weak. When he did get medical atten
tion, he found out his hand was broken.
Because the attitudes that lead to
that kind of behavior can also lead to
problems such as sexual harassment
and assault, the Men’s Health Team
also sought input from the Women’s
Center. Women’s Center members
Turn to Men’s Center, page 3