University sets strong pace
in acquiring federal grants
■Campus research grants so
far amount to 50 percent more
than last year at this time
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
The University’s cutting-edge re
searchers in education and the bio
logical sciences have helped net the
school $43 million in federal grants
and contracts so far this year, $14
million ahead of where research
coffers were during the same peri
od of the last fiscal year, July 2000
to December 2000.
The number of federal grants se
cured also rose from 283 in fiscal
year 2000-01 to 319 in the same pe
riod this year.
Richard Linton, vice president
for research and graduate studies,
said the school should be extreme
ly proud of the gains but must real
ize they could be offset if the Ore
gon University System cuts its
research funding to cover a loom
ing budget shortfall.
“We attract external dollars with
the OUS appropriation,” Linton
said. “If state investment backs
away, we’ll have trouble sustaining
this rate of progress.”
The rate of progress — and the
number of researchers working to
sustain it — is meager when com
pared with comparable institu
tions, such as the University of
Washington or the University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill. OUS
identified these and six other
schools as comparable to the Uni
versity because of a shared educa
tional mission.
The University of Washington,
for example, attracted an additional
$65 million in grants and contracts
during the first six months of the
most recent fiscal year. But Alvin
Kwirma, vice provost for research
at the school, said the school has
many grant-seeking departments
that the University of Oregon lacks,
such as a medical school and a pub
Research grants
The University has collected more grant funds in the first six-months of fiscal
year 2002 than in the same period one year ago, but comparable colleges collect
much more.
University of Oregon State
Oregon University
University of University of
Washington North Carolina
- Chapel Hi!!
Six-month period in FY 2001
Six-month period in FY 2002
SOURCE: UO. OSU. UWUNCCH
lie health school. Kwirma said the
public health school alone typical
ly yields $50 million each year, or
$7 million more than the Universi
ty of Oregon has secured so far this
year. He said UW also has 15,000
more students than the University.
“We are a larger and much more
broadly based institution,” he said.
“The UO has a much more isolated
but excellent group of players in
the research arena.”
One of those players is associate
economics professor Bill Harbaugh,
who has landed a score of grants in
the last decade. The most recent
was a $340,000, 3-year grant award
ed by the National Science Founda
tion in 2001 for Harbaugh’s re
search into bargaining behavior
among elementary and junior high
school students.
He said competition for grants is
intense and to secure one a propos
al “must be interesting to those who
review the grant requests. If it’s a re
quest from the NSF, for example, it
must contribute to the social good.
This can be tenuous, though.”
The University also relies on
larger contributions from federal
sources than comparable schools,
on average. The government affairs
office here lobbied U.S. senators
and representatives from Oregon
for $1.8 million of the president’s
budget last fiscal year.
“In the state of Oregon, research
in universities for all intents and
purposes is barely funded,” federal
affairs director Betsy Boyd said.
“For us to be able to get large pieces
of equipment... we need to look for
other ways to finance them. Ear
marks enable us to get funds we
couldn’t get through the competi
tive or state route.”
E-mail reporter Eric Martin
at ericmartin@dailyemerald.com.
BB gun may trigger judicial hearing
■Sung-min Kim, who loaded
an air pistol in his residence hall,
is prepared to accept the
University’s disciplinary action
By Brook Reinhard
Oregon Daily Emerald
Members of University Housing
and the administration won’t say
how they will handle the case of
Sung-min Kim, who loaded an air
pistol in his third floor Robbins
Hall room Friday and prompted an
immediate response by the Eugene
Police Department.
Kim, a pre-journalism major, said
the issue has been blown out of
proportion. One of Kim’s friends
bought the air pistol at the Gateway
Mall, and he said the gun was only
in his room for several hours. Kim
said several BBs fell out of the pis
tol’s clip, and he reloaded in plain
sight of the students outside his
room window, prompting a student
to alert the Department of Public
Safety about a gun on campus.
“I seriously didn’t think it was go
ing to cause this much trouble,” Kim
said. Most students know “that this
whole thing was basically bullshit.”
EPD -spokeswoman Mandy
Hansen said the police department
will not press charges against Kim,
because he never pointed the gun
at anyone.
“He never committed a crime
— it wasn’t like he waved the gun in
a menacing manner,” Hansen said.
Freshman Tyler Stuhring, who
lives in nearby Spiller Hall, said
most students had no idea what
happened on Friday.
“It’s a little unsettling that some
one had a BB gun here,” Stuhring
said. “But I don’t have any fear of
getting blasted or shot. ”
Director of Residence Life Sandy
Schoonover said residence hall pol
icy prohibits students from keeping
weapons of any sort in their room.
“The report said that this BB gun
looked an awful lot like a 9 mm,”
Schoonover said. “There’s not
room for BB guns or any sort of
guns in our system.”
Because Kim posed no immediate
threat to those around him, the Uni
versity can discipline him only
through a formal judicial board hear
ing. Director of Student Judicial Af
fairs Chris Loschiavo said he’s only
seen four cases brought before the
board in his three-year tenure at the
University, and this case is not the
most serious he’s seen.
Loschiavo added that if the Uni
versity decided to hold a formal ju
dicial hearing on the case, the stu
dent would be given a 10-day
advance notice. The board could
evict Kim from University Housing,
or even expel him from school.
Associate Vice President of Stu
dent Affairs Anne Leavitt said the
board will weigh arguments from
both sides if it rules on the case.
“I want to balance what the insti
tution needs for safety and the op
portunity for this individual to
learn from his mistake,” she said.
Kim said he realizes the Univer
sity may take further action against
him, and he’s prepared to face
whatever charges are leveled
against him.
“I’m willing to face the conse
quence,” Kim said. “It was my fault.
I was playing with the gun toy.”
Brett Fritz, a freshman who lives
on the same floor, said he hopes the
University doesn’t pursue serious
action against Kim.
“There’s nothing wrong with
what he did,” Fritz said. “He’s a
good guy.”
E-mail reporter Brook Reinhard
atbrookreinhard@dailyemerald.com.
vve aettina the scoov?
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