f
ASUO Street Fa ire
Check out the 2002 Spring Street Faire, which starts today and runs through Friday, for local musicians, art, shopping, food, drink, sun and more. Page 5
An independent newspaper
Wednesday, April 24,2002
Since 1 900
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 136
‘Dude, where’s my class?’
The wrecking
ball moves
in Tuesday
as workers begin
the demolition
of Gilbert Hall
to make way for
the Lillis Business
Complex, the
new home of the
Charles H.
Lundquist College
of Business. Many
students saw the
50-year-old
‘Commonwealth
Bridge,’which
connected the two
wings of Gilbert
Hall, come down
throughout the
course of the day.
Career Fair organizers encourage students
to be flexible in face of fewer jobs, recruiters
The Career
Fair will
have only 77
tenants this
spring, down
from 117
oneyearago
By Katie Ellis
Oregon Daily Emerald
With June rapidly approaching and
the economy struggling to bounce back,
many graduating seniors are facing the
difficult task of finding a job.
Today’s annual Spring Career Fair re
flects the current economic state. The
number of recruiters expected to attend
this spring’s fair has decreased by al
most 25 percent from last year. Despite
the decrease, organizers encourage stu
dents to attend the fair and explore the
employment and internship opportu
nities available.
Mei Yong, marketing and communi
cation specialist for the Career Center,
said because Oregon’s economy has not
rebounded and the state’s unemploy
ment rate remains one of the highest in
the country, there is a low number of re
cruiters attending the spring career fair.
“Numbers are still low,” Yong said.
“There are several big companies that
usually send recruiters to the fair but
many of those companies are not com
ing. For example, Meier & Frank and
The Bon Marche, companies that usu
ally come, will not be here.”
Beth Pfeifer, internship coordinator
for the School of Journalism and Com
munication, said that the number of
companies scheduling interviews with
students has also decreased.
“With the way the market is now, stu
dents need to be more flexible,” she
said.
The Winter 2002 Career Fair saw a
drastic decrease in the number of re
cruiters. Approximately 116 compa
nies attended the winter 2001 fair
while 65 attended the 2002 fair. Al
though expectations were high for this
year’s spring career fair, it appears to be
Turn to Career fair, page 8
Tobacco
campaign
targets
UOarea
■ Philip Morris is using ‘buzz’
marketing to encourage more
college students to use its products
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
A posse of Marlboro “cowboys” that
goes around photocopying the identifi
cation cards of bar patrons has de
scended on Eugene, wearing red but
ton-up shirts and blue bandanas. One
local group is ready for a showdown.
“It’s a small place and there are a lot
of representatives from Marlboro,”
journalism major Scott Littlejohn said
at Jogger’s Bar and Grill on Tuesday
evening. “The first thing they asked me
was, ‘Are you a smoker?’ No, ‘Hello.’
Just, ‘Are you a smoker?’ The second
thing they asked me is, ‘Are you 21?’
We’re in a bar!”
The representatives have been hired
by Philip Morris, the company that
owns Marlboro, to arouse interest in
free trips to one of three Marlboro
ranches in Montana and Arizona. The
group of about 13 cowboys has been
visiting places like Jogger’s asking cus
tomers to complete a form that could
win them a free trip to “the best time of
your life.” But several cowboys, who
deferred all questions to Philip Morris,
told patrons they could not be held re
sponsible for promotional materials
mailed to the patron’s listed addresses.
The strategy is “buzz” marketing.
A company sponsors a cutting-edge
promotion or activity to attract con
sumers who are unresponsive to tra
ditional advertising or are skeptical
of its messages.
Companies such as General Mo
tors Corporation and Mary Kay have
used the tactic, said David Boush,
an associate marketing professor at
Turn to Tobacco, page 8
Campus/Community
Task Force meets today
Hie University's Campus/ Com
munity Relations Task Force will
host a public safety forum today at 3
p.m. in the Bowerman Building, at
1580E, 15th Ave.
The public meeting will be at
tended by University administra
tors, ofpeers from the Department
of Public Safety and the Eugene Po
lice Department, residents of the
area and local business owners.
The task force meets twice
each year.
Anne Leavitt, associate vice pres
ident for student affairs, said the
meeting will focus on public safety
and transportation issues in the ar
eas ' immediately surrounding
—■ Darren Freeman