Features
Dr. Sol Gordon’s lecture this afternoon in the Ben
Linder Room takes on the idea that ‘sex is dirty,’
PaqeS
Commentary
The University should go private and reap the
financial rewards, argues columnist Jeff Oliver.
Page 2
Sports
The Oregon women end their regular season
with a loss to ASU in the Pac-10 Tournament.
Page?
http-y/www.dailyemerald.com
Monday, March 4,2002
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 108
Nun’s talk
concludes
conference
■ Sister Helen Prejean’s speech
closes a death penalty conference
that detractors say was biased
By Katie Ellis and Leon Tovey
Oregon Daily Emerald
After walking out of a Louisiana
prison following the execution of
Patrick Sonnier in April 1984, Sister He
len Prejean realized that if people really
knew what executions were like they
would reject the death penalty. So she
made it her mission to tell that story.
Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walk
ing,” was one of two closing speakers at
the “Law and Politics of the Death
Penalty: Abolition, Moratorium or Re
form” conference.
The conference, which started Friday,
was sponsored by the Wayne Morse
Center for Law and Politics at the Uni
versity law school, and featured 35 capi
tal punishment experts, including Illi
nois Gov. George Ryan, and former
Oregon Sen. and Gov. Mark Hatfield.
The conference offered 13 sessions that
ranged from discussions on race, gender
and capital punishment to internation
al perspectives on the death penalty.
Turn to Conference, page 4
Oregon OKs
liquor sales
on Sundays
■ Store owners doubt that an
additional day of business will
bring in enough increased revenue
to justify added operating costs
By Marty Toohey
Oregon Daily Emerald
A soon-to-pass law will let liquor
stores stay open on Sundays, but a
survey suggests most stores are
choosing not to mix Sunday spirit
with Sunday spirits.
An informal poll conducted by the
Oregon Liquor License Commission
shows that store
owners in urban ar
eas, like those near
the University,
think customers
will simply change
the day they pur
chase alcohol in
stead of spending
more money. Most
non-rural store owners said they will
choose to stay closed on Sundays.
Owners also indicated that potential
profits won’t overcome the costs of
keeping the store open, OLCC
spokesman Tom Erwin said.
Turn to OLCC, page 3
Inside
State legislators
finish up the
second special
budgetsession
—with less cuts to
Oregon universities.
PAGE3
Beginning the dance
Courtesy of The Orange County Register (KRT)
It was a weekend to remember in Los Angeles for the Oregon men’s basketball program, and it began a month that will
end with the Ducks playing in the Big Dance. Oregon capped off its regular season Saturday with a 65-62 victory against
UCLA that helped the Ducks celebrate their first outright Pac-10 championship since 1939. The Ducks had already won
at least a share of the league title thanks to their 67-65 victory against the Trojans on Thursday. Senior center Chris
Christoffersen (25) played well in both games, and the Ducks’ defense helped limit players such as UCLA star Jason
Kapono (24). After winning at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion for the first time since 1984, the Ducks flew to Portland and took a
bus home to Eugene, where they were surprised by a late-night rally. For full coverage, turn to Page 7.
ASUO win
comes via
landslide
■ Rachel Pilliod and Ben Buzbee
win the race for ASUO Executive,
but voter turnout remains low
By Robin Weber
Oregon Daily Emerald
Months of work and hundreds of
dollars invested paid off for the new
ASUO Executive Rachel Pilliod and
Ben Buzbee, who won the general elec
tion in a landslide victory Friday.
The duo captured 1,056 of the 1,659
ballots cast for executive, or 64 per
cent. Opponents Sean Ritchie and Ja
son Babkes received 603 votes, or 36
percent of the total.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” Pres
ident-elect Pilliod said. “We’re pleased
by the margin we won by, and so excit
ed and appreciative of all the voters,”
she said.
Pilliod also thanked the students
who organized their campaign.
“It was hard work and grassroots or
ganization,” she said.
Buzbee said he plans to take a
breather for a few days, then jump
right into examining his fiscal respon
sibilities as vice president.
“I’m looking forward to presenting the
ASUO in a good light and letting stu
dents know what ASUO does,” he said.
Ritchie and Babkes outspent Pilliod
and Buzbee more than two-fold. The
second-place pair launched a KNRQ
radio campaign earlier this week and
ran a full-page advertisement in the
Emerald during the primary.
Expenditure forms for the last week
of the race will be available Monday.
But Ritchie defended his and
Babkes’ campaigning, blaming their
“outsider” position and student apathy
for their loss.
“We wouldn’t have run our cam
paign any differently,” he said. “Stu
dents are bombarded for three weeks
with elections. It turns them off to vot
ing and is hard to combat.”
He added that they were playing
catchup from the beginning against a
ticket that had previous experience in
student government.
“We were at a disadvantage from the
start with not being in ASUO, and it
was just a little too much to compete
with,” he said.
Turnout hit 10.5 percent this year,
down from last week’s primary elec
tion peak of 15.3 percent and far off
the ASUO Elections Board’s goal of
20 percent.
Current ASUO President Nilda
Brooklyn and Vice President Joy Nair
won last year’s election with 9 percent
voter turnout.
ASUO Elections Coordinator Court
ney Hight blamed the drop this year
Turn to Elections, page 6