Adam Jones Emerald Shirley Tham works to cultivate the soil at Churchill Garden, run by FOOD for Lane County, Saturday morning as part of a 24-hour hunger strike sponsored by the Newman Center campus ministry. The volunteers also donated $1,000 to the FOOD for Lane County food bank. University students acquire new perspective on hunger ■ In honor of Lent, participants fasted for 24 hours, volunteered at a community garden and donated $1,000 to the food bank By Danielle Gillespie Oregon Daily Emerald For student parishioners of the Newman Center, a Catholic campus ministry, this weekend proved to be an eye-opening experience about the realities of worldwide hunger. At noon Friday, about 25 New man Center members began a 24-hour fast in honor of Lent, a Christian tradition, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Palm Sunday, or from Feb. 13 to March 24 this year. During the fast, the group volun teered to work at Churchill Garden and donated $1,000 to the FOOD for Lane County food bank. The food bank collects and dis tributes food to a network of 100 agencies and programs in Lane County, and provides for the emer gency-food needs of one in five Lane County residents. To raise the $1,000, Newman Center members each donated money he or she would have spent on food and entertainment’during the 24-hour time period of the fast, and many fellow church members also contributed money for the cause. “It’s a chance for us to raise mon ey and give back to the community as well as grow spiritually,” Univer sity student Justin Zuiker said. To begin the fast, members par ticipated in an all night lock-in that began 6 p.m. Friday at the Newman Center. During the lock-in, each person said their reasons for partic ipating in the hunger strike, ranging from personal experience with hunger to wanting to help others in need. A nun led the group in prayer and discussion about hunger. In the final two hours of the group’s fast, members volunteered their time working in Churchill Garden, the youngest of three gar dens owned by FOOD for Lane County in the Eugene area. In the three gardens, FOOD for Lane County grows organic food for distribution in the community. The organization also provides individ ual families with plots of land for gardening and teaches them how to grow their own food. Zuiker said Newman Center members wanted to work at the gar den near the end of the fast, in their hungriest moments, to learn to ap preciate the many blessings in their lives. With a pitchfork in hand, pulling weeds for compost beds, University student Carla Zilaff said she decid ed to volunteer her time because it supported a good cause. “It didn’t cross my mind not to,” she said. Working next to Zilaff, Universi ty student Gabriela Serrano agreed and said, “It has been a really good learning experience and I know’ that it will help people in the long run.” FOOD for Lane County garden co ordinator Jen Anonia said the organ ization truly appreciates the New man Center’s help with the gardens, and the effort is just one step toward the organization’s goal of distribut ing 6 million pounds of food throughout Lane County this year. “This garden wouldn’t exist without the help of the communi ty," she said. "It’s a challenging time to get help this time of year because it is cold and wet, but it’s nice to have people do the less glamorous gardening work.” To end the 24-hour fast, members had a free meal at the Newman Center, and many admitted to being hungry. “Part of the time you don’t notice it, but then you think about how hungry you are and you want a piz za, but then you remember, oh, yeah, I can’t,” University student Ben Swagerty said. Zuiker said he, too, felt hungry but realized that his hunger did not parallel the hunger of others living in poverty around the world. “What we think of hunger is nothing compared to the millions of people who really experience it,” he said. E-mail reporter Danielle Gillespie at daniellegillespie@dailyemerald.com. News briefs School of Law announces new dean The School of Law announced Friday that evidence and jurispru dence law Professor Laird Kirk patrick will become dean of the school when Dean Renard Strick land steps down in August. Kirkpatrick previously served as an interim dean in 1980, and cur rently teaches jurisprudence cours es at the law school. He will offi cially become dean Aug. 1. Kirkpatrick is co-author of “Evi dence Under the Rules,” a popular text in American law schools, and author of a leading Oregon treatise on legal evidence. He also co-au thored a five-volume treatise on federal evidence that has found its way into federal court citations and U.S. Supreme Court decisions. He recently returned from a two year appointment in Washington, D.C., where he served as counsel to the head of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Kirkpatrick was born in Min neapolis, Minn., earned his Bache lor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Harvard University in 1965, and his Juris Doctor degree from the University in 1968. This term, Kirkpatrick has also been a visiting professor at the Uni versity of California Hastings Col lege of Law in San Francisco. —Jeremy Lang Vistorto discuss University’s diversity recommendations Western Michigan University President Elson S. Floyd will visit the University on Monday to discuss his report on diversity programs at the University in an open forum from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in 100 Willamette. Floyd, recently named to the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities by President George W. Bush, visited the University-July 7 through 9 and Oct. 19 through 23, 2001, to review the University’s di versity programs and compiled his findings in a report that praises the administration’s diversity initia tives and commitment to promote a welcoming campus environment. Floyd will make a number of rec ommendations to the University, including clarifying the role of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, de veloping a communication plan to respond to a number of diversity re ports submitted by various student and faculty groups during the past several years, and redefining the mission of the Center on Diversity and Community. 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