Campus News
Traditional, fancy, jingle, grass, owl, Tiny Tots
— dances were integral to the annual Pow Wow.
Page 3
Internationa! News
Israel’s ruling Likud party clashes with Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon over a Palestinian state.
Pages
Sports
The spotlight shines on future Duck
Jordan Kent at the Oregon Twilight.
Page9
Monday, May 13,2002
Since 1 900
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103, Issue 149
As grass pollen season draws
near, University students are
v looking into different regimens to
* v ease common allergy symptoms
By Brad Schmidt
Oregon Daily Emerald
woods just yet.
With a mild spring season featuring
both sun and rain, doctors and nurses
agree that a busy tree pollen season
could soon be overtaken by an even
busier grass pollen season.
Allergies usually hit the hardest in
the spring and summer months. But
this year, students are showing allergy
symptoms earlier than normal.
“We’ve seen more than last year, but
not as many as some years,” said
Sharon Harbert, a registered nurse at the
University Health Center. “It’s fairly ear
ly. We’re just getting into the season.”
The deciding factor in the allergy sea
son isn’t just “the weather” in general
— it’s particularly the rain, which halts
airborne allergens so they cannot take
flight and wreak havoc on students’ si
nuses, she said.
“It’s unpredictable,” said Dr. John Mi
nor, a local physician at the Allergy &
Asthma Center. “If I could predict the
weather everyday, I could give you a
pretty good estimate of what the pollen
season will be like.”
Typically, he said, the tree season lasts
from spring break through mid-May. Af
ter a short lull, Minor said, the grass sea
r son emerges about Memorial Day and
.! lasts until about the Fourth of July.
Students could see a severe grass sea
-■£ son if the weather continues its spo--^
radic behavior, Minor said.
Turn to Allergies, page 8
he allergy season is under way,
and physicians say students
who haven’t yet been affected
aren’t out of the polliniferous
University Health Center nurse Sharon Harbert injects junior James VanderZanden with one of his weekly immunotherapy
allergy shots. These shots can help patients build up a natural immunity to common allergens.
MediaDetox fights ‘toxicity’ of Internet addiction
■ Kesearcn supports a campus
program’s claim that Internet
dependency leads to withdrawal
from school and social activities
By John Liebhardt
Oregon Daily Emerald
Ted Lewis is on a mission.
That mission is to warn people that
countless hours in front of computer leads
to a detached and empty life. To counter
these effects, Lewis started the Medi
aDetox project in September as a solution
to what he calls the media’s “toxicity of
our mental and cultural environment.”
The MediaDetox project is part week
ly discussion group and part self-help
group for students who think they are
addicted to the Internet. MediaDetox is
a part-time commitment for Lewis, who
is also the manager of restorative justice
programs at Community Mediation Ser
vices, a group that brings together crime
victims and offenders.
Admittedly, the process has been
slow-going. His discussions at noon
Wednesdays in the EMU are sparsely at
tended, and the self-help group has yet
to get off the ground.
“I feel like it’s a big issue, but no one
wants to talk about it,” he said. “I
sometimes feel that I am a voice alone
in the wilderness.”
Lewis is a minimal user of the Inter
net with a master’s degree in religious
studies, but he’s been fleshing out his
ideas on the media for the past 10 years.
Lewis’ message is a combination of me
dia criticism and his own spiritual
quest. He feels that the media now fill
the niche of religion — the glue that ties
together our rituals and beliefs.
“Everything is geared like a magnet in
the marketplace of attention,” he said.
“This is bound to diminish our attention
to real things: friends, nature, creativity,
Turn to Internet, page 6
Jonathan House Emerald
MediaDetox project founder Ted Lewis heads a weekly group that
discusses how heavy Internet use affects mental well-being. Lewis sees
his work as a combination of media criticism and personal spirituality.
Campus
combats
sexual
assault
■ Sexual Assault Awareness Week
aims to end sexual violence and will
feature the University’s annual Take
Back the Night march and rally
By Kara Cogswell
Oregon Daily Emerald
Sexual Assault Support Services re
sponds to an average of 12 victims per
day, but agency staff estimate they only
hear about 25 to 30 percent of all the as
saults that occur in the community.
Assaults that are reported are often at
tacks by strangers, like the recent at
tacks by an unknown man on female
students on campus. More common
— and less publicized — are assaults by
someone the victim knows.
“In about 85 percent of the assaults,
the perpetrator is known to the victim,”
said Michelle Edwards of Sexual As
sault Support Services.
Student groups will work to end sex
ual violence, both seen and unseen, this
week as part of University Sexual As
sault Awareness Week.
“It’s not OK that rape and other forms
of sexual violence continue to persist,”
Edwards said. “And until (sexual
Turn to Awareness, page 7
Frohnmayer waits to weigh in
on team mascot resolution
University President Dave Frohn
mayer hasn’t yet decided whether to
endorse a resolution protesting the
nse of American Indian names or
Images as team mascots, and a Uni
versity spokesman said Friday that
Frohnmayer will probably wait un
til the NCAA takes action.
Members of the University School
of Law's Sports and Entertainment
Law Forum delivered the resolution
to Frohnmayer on Wednesday, Uni
versity spokesman John Crosiar
said. But with the possibility of a na
tional policy, Frohnmayer will wait,
Crosiar said.
"He didn’t want to steal their thun
der,” Crosiar said. “He didn’t want to
preclude what they’re doing."
Crosiar added that the NCAA has
been discussing the issue, but he
didn’t know when its governing
body will propose a resolution.
Frohnmayer was out of town Friday
attending events promoting the Uni
versity’s 125th anniversary.
If Frohnmayer supports the reso
lution, it still needs University Sen
ate approval before the Athletic De
partment can decide whether to
implement it.
—Jeremy Lang