Poise
Not just another ‘Stupid White Man’:
Michael Moore to be at the EMU Sunday.
Page?
Sports
Russian freshman Daria Panova rises
to the top singles spot on the tennis team.
Page 13
An independent newspaper
http://www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, April 18,2002
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 132
Eugene Police prepare to hire 17 new officers
■ Both EPD and DPS are hiring, but
applicants should be prepared for
both stresses and rewards
By Lisa Toth
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Eugene Police Department has
some career advice for graduating sen
iors: Become a police officer.
Sgt. Kathy Flynn said EPD is looking
to fill 17 open police officer positions.
•' In addition, there are also three open
ings for public safety officers with the
University’s Department of Public Safe
«. ty, as well as a security officer position
and a parking maintenance technician,
said Tom Hicks, associate director of
public safety.
However, police officers warned that
these jobs aren’t for everyone.
“Everyone watches every move you
make — 24 hours a day,” Sgt. Tom Eich
horn said.
Flynn said the 17 positions have
opened not because the staff size of 183
sworn officers is increasing, but be
cause about 20 members have either
reached or exceeded age 50, at which
they are eligible for retirement.
Oregon still has the highest unemploy
ment rate in the country, and that became
more apparent as about 150 people
showed up for Tuesday’s Police Officer
Career Night hosted by EPD.
Staff members from EPD spoke about
the responsibilities of their occupations
— from the worst scenarios to the most
rewarding. Eichhorn said the mental
stresses of working under “physically
repulsive” conditions and dealing with
“arrestees” who have no respect for the
law can make law enforcement unap
pealing. Eichhorn presented a not-so
pretty picture of the job conditions —
being spit on, arresting parents in front
of their children, directing traffic for
hours in the rain and working through
lunch breaks.
“It’s the nature of the beast,” he said.
But he balanced the negatives with
the joys of the job — good benefits and
a starting salary between $38,958 and
$49,732 annually, and the chance to
be a hero.
“You get the opportunity to help peo
ple who are really in need,” he said. He
added that putting handcuffs on a vio
lent criminal who has preyed upon the
weak and defenseless is “the greatest
sound in the world.”
Turn to Police, page 5
Jonathan House Emerald
Capt. Steve Swenson of Eugene Police Department talks to possible recruits during the organization’s Career Night.
Approximately 150 people showed up Tuesday to inquire about the 17 open police officer positions.
Universities still find place for questionable donors
■ Many colleges and universities have
accepted donations from sources
in trouble with the law and society
By Kristina Torres
Knight Ridder Newspapers
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KRT) — More often than
they care to mention, colleges and universities
quietly pocket big contributions from donors
who land in society's doghouse.
Just look at the universities, including the
University of Houston, that still plan to fill ac
ademic positions endowed in former Enron
Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay's name, or the
nation's roughly 40 Arthur Andersen profes
sors of accounting.
In Minnesota, generous and high-profile St.
Olaf College alumnus Dean L. Buntrock,
founder and former chief executive of Waste
Management Inc., who donated $26 million
to the school, recently denied accusations of
accounting fraud by the Securities and Ex
change Commission.
So how awkward is it for the Northfield,
Minn., school to have a new Buntrock Com
mons student center?
“We are careful to deal with people who un
derstand the mission of St. Olaf College,” says
Gordon Soenksen, the school’s vice president
for advancement. “What (BuntrockJ and his
family saw was the need for a community
gathering place. That's what they created.”
Nobody, says the University of Minnesota's
Norman Bowie, is perfect. And that's some
thing to consider, even as there are boundaries
of what’s acceptable and what's not.
“There are two areas where institutions get
in trouble,” says Bowie, who holds the Elmer
Andersen chair for corporate responsibility.
“The first is if they're dealing with a shady
character and they know it up front. The sec
ond is if they're dealing with someone who's
done something particularly egregious.”
Turn to Donations, page 4
Assisted
suicide
survives
legal suit
■The Death With Dignity Act
will remain intact in Oregon after
a U.S Court of Appeals hearing
By Brook Reinhard
Oregon Daily Emerald
Federal District Judge Robert Jones
ruled Wednesday that Oregon’s contro
versial Death With Dignity Act will re
main intact, at least until its expected
challenge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals in San Francisco.
Jones issued a permanent injunction
against Attorney General John
Ashcroft’s Nov. 6, 2001, ruling, which
would have made it a crime for doctors
to prescribe lethal doses of pain medica
tion to terminally ill patients in Oregon
under the Controlled Substances Act.
The judge’s decision was hailed by
supporters of assisted suicide as a ma
jor victory for patients’ and states’ rights
and decried by opponents as immoral
and unfair to doctors.
“We’ve been under a cloud of uncer
tainty,” said physician and state Rep.
Alan Bates, D-Ashland. “This will al
low us to resume compassionate care
for patients without the danger of los
ing our license.”
But Dr. Greg Hamilton, president of
right-to-life group Compassion in Dy
ing, said the judge’s ruling puts the de
sires of patients in direct conflict with
ethical responsibilities of doctors.
The ruling is “inconsistent with our
role as healers,” Hamilton said. “Doc
tors need to value all people’s lives
equally.”
Gayle Atteberry, executive director of
Oregon Right To Life, echoed Hamil
ton’s views.
“We’re very, very disappointed by the
ruling,” she said. “No matter what the
judge has said, it’s wrong for patients to
kill themselves.”
Jones, while sympathetic to oppo
nents of assisted suicide, condemned
Ashcroft’s November action, saying the
attorney general abused his power.
“My task is not to criticize those
who oppose the concept of assisted
suicide for any reason,” Jones said in
his ruling Wednesday. But opposi
tion to assisted suicide “does not per
mit (the Controlled Substances Act)
to be manipulated from its true
meaning to satisfy even a worthy
goal,” he concluded.
The U.S. attorney general’s office is
expected to appeal Jones’ ruling to the
9th Circuit Court within the month.
“The (Department of Justice) re
mains convinced that its interpreta
tion of the Controlled Substances Act
as prohibiting the use of federally con
trolled drugs to assist suicide is cor
rect,” U.S. Assistant Attorney General
Turn to Assisted suicide, page 4