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mm Filipino Culture Night will be revived today at Agate Hall. Page 8A Sports The Oregon track team’s newest pole vaulter turned Hayward Field into a Holliday test. Paqe 9A http://www.dailyemerald.com Friday, May 10,2002 Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Volume 103, Issue 148 Vigilant against violence ■Student members of Amnesty International held a candlelight vigil Thursday night in memory of victims of violence overseas By Kara Cogswell Oregon Daily Emerald A sil ’Asleh was killed by Israeli police on October 2, 2000, at a JL JL peaceful Palestinian demonstra tion. The 17-year-old died wearing a T shirt of a group working for Jewish-Arab friendship. Mordechai and Tzira Schijveschuur der and three of their children were killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber on August 9, 2001. They were in Jerusalem for the day on an outing with five of their eight children. On Thursday evening, students from the University chapter of Amnesty In ternational read their stories at a can dlelight vigil in the EMU Amphitheater to mourn the victims of violence in Is rael and the occupied territories. “These are just some cases of many from the last year and a half,” said Karen Kennedy, an academic adviser who spent 10 days in Israel in January investigating human rights violations for Amnesty International. The vigil was held in conjunction with Amnesty International’s world wide day of mourning April 27. Senior Jessica Nunley, one of the co directors of the group, emphasized that the vigil was held to remember all vic tims of the violence. “We want to remember victims on both sides,” she said. “There’s human rights abuses being perpetrated by both Israel and Palestine.” About 15 students attended the vigil. They lit candles and gathered in a half circle around Kennedy as she spoke about some of Amnesty International’s human rights concerns in Israel and the occupied territories. “A fundamental right is that civilians must never be the object of violence,” she said. Students from Amnesty Internation al read the stories of a few of the victims and then asked for a moment of silence in honor of all of them. Arlie Adkins (right) and Dana Ponte take a moment to ponder human rights violations in the Middle East in a candlelight vigil held Thursday evening in the EMU Amphitheater. After the vigil, discussion among stu dents who were there turned to a speech earlier in the day by former BBC reporter David Zev Harris, who came to campus as part of the pro-Israeli Cara van For Democracy program. Junior Marc Faulkner, who heard Harris speak, said he came to the vigil to hear another perspective. The Cara van For Democracy fliers “made it seem like if you didn’t support Israel, you Turn to Vigil, page 3A Lecturer denounces Middle East conflict ■Tension between Israel and Palestine motivates former journalist to give an informative presentation By Lisa Toth Oregon Daily Emerald Former BBC journalist David Zev Harris, who spoke at the University on Thursday, said he thinks there will never be peace in the Middle East. Although the past 20 months have been filled with violence, he said the tension and conflict between Israelis and Pales tinians dates back much further. “There is no way that in the lifetimes of (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon and (Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat there will be true peace. It will be a very cold peace at that,” Harris said. “There has to be a mix of military and diplo matic activity.” Harris gave a free lecture to more than 75 people in the EMU Ballroom, taking a pro-Israeli stance. He is the current bu reau chief for Media Line News Ser vices, an organization with a mission to “improve coverage of the Middle East.” The speech was a stop on a tour through the United States with Caravan For Democracy, a group that promotes an understanding of democracy in the Mid dle East for college students in America. While Harris touched on historical issues of the conflict, most of his talk involved portraying the truths and im ages of recent violence in the Middle East that the American public never saw. Harris highlighted the ongoing hostage crisis at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Christ. He also touched on the United Nations’ fact-finding mis sion, violence in the Jenin refugee camp and the suicide bombings. “There are 14- and 15-year-old kids being sent to carry out terrorist attacks. They are kids who don’t even under stand what politics are about,” he said. Matthew Peltz, a University student and member of Club Israel, said he sup ported the event because he was inter ested in helping “students develop a deeper comiection to the land of Israel.” Harris, 35, who has also covered eco nomics and politics for The Jerusalem Post and worked for the JPost Radio sta tion on the Internet, is from Manchester, England. He said he is nervous about his Turn to Harris, page 3A EPD adopts new policies for journalists ■ Changes to existing rules are intended to help differentiate between the media and the public By Brad Schmidt Oregon Daily Emerald The Eugene Police Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to make changes to the Eugene Police De partment’s existing media access policy, changes that could potentially acknowledge members of the media as a body separate from the public and could give reporters and photographers greater access to police activities in the event of public disturbances. The major policy changes include the possible re quirement of a media press pass — one that meets po lice standards but is issued by media organizations — that would allow access to unruly demonstrations, ri ots or crime scenes. If needed, EPD could also imple ment a press pool that would allow a limited number of media personnel to have access to dangerous or large scale situations. Previously, EPD did not have a policy that differentiated between the media and the general public. The commis sion decided to review its policy in October 2001, and Thursday’s changes are a result of that process. “It’s a living document,” commission Chairman John Brown said. “I think it’s time to move forward and see how it works.” Despite Thursday’s policy revisions, EPD Public Infor mation Officer Pam Alejandre said the changes won't be significant. “In many cases, the changes that have been recently put into words is what has already been in practice,” she said. “We’re not going to make everyone happy, but we think that collectively, positive steps have been made to recog nize who the media are.” The implementation of these policies could come into play in the event of civil disturbances like those in June 2000, when EPD restricted media access to some per sonnel. Tension arose June 18 and 19 between EPD and the media when anarchist demonstrations downtown turned into riots. 1 don t believe there was real clarity about what kind of priority they should place on media access,” said Jim Godbold, executive editor of The Register-Guard. “This policy came up as one classification of issues we were having problems with. We need to maintain the same spir it of accommodation to meet the needs of media in the whole spectrum of media coverage.” Of specific interest is the press pass requirement. The new policy will create a two-tier level, giving media out lets with written credentials access to a scene or event re stricted to the general public. Media personnel that don’t have credentials meeting EPD’s requirements will have ac cess equal to that of the general public. The policy specifies a “news-gathering organization” as “any print, broadcast, or online operation that shares information with the public on a periodic basis.” Media identification cards must measure at least 3-by-5 inch es, have a white background and include the media member’s name, signature, a one-by-one inch front-fac ing photograph, the name of the issuing or affiliated me dia organization and the term “media” or “press” in one inch-high letters. Nontraditional media haven’t participated in the dis cussion process because they feel doing so would validate it, said Tim Lewis, a freelance videographer for Cascadia Alive!, a local cable-access television show. Lewis said the new policy won’t affect how he ap proaches his job and added that he won’t comply with a need for press credentials. If anything, he said, the policy will just control mainstream media. “The kind of message we put out there is quite differ Turn to EPD Media, page 3A