Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
PO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@clailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, July 18,2002
Oregon Daily Emerald
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor:
Jenni Schultz
Florida students end 3-month protest
Students at Florida State
University halt their 114-day
protest for membership with
the Worker Rights Consortium
By Jan Montry
Oregon Daily Emerald
University history repeats itself— in
Tallahassee.
After a three-month protest at Florida
State University over its refusal to join
the Worker Rights Consortium — a
sweatshop watchdog group — students
and FSU officials reached a compro
mise Tuesday. The decision officially
ended the 114-day camp-out.
FSU’s United Students Against Sweat
shops chapter led the campaign, braving
110-degree temperatures to camp in
protest at a designated “free-speech zone”
on the FSU campus. The protest was an
attempt to convince FSU President Tal
bot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, a renowned
free-speech lawyer, to join the WRC.
The compromise came after the FSU
Committee on Campus Development
and Space adopted a new policy Friday
banning all tents from campus except
those used in university-sponsored
events or when purchasing sports tick
ets. The ruling put the protesters in di
rect violation of the new rule and threat
ened to end their protest.
“It rais(ed) questions about what is
meant by a “free speech zone,” acting
USAS advisor and English Professor
Ralph Berry said.
When USAS found out a no-tents
policy had been adopted, protesters
came together and agreed to end their
camp-out peacefully if D’Alemberte
agreed to meet with WRC Executive Di
rector Scott Nova. USAS also requested
that FSU not suspend or expel students
who were arrested in a March protest at
Westcott, FSU’s administration build
ing. Because the lawn in front of West
cott is not a designated “free speech
zone,” the students were arrested at a
March 25 demonstration.
Ducks camped in 2000
Two years ago, University students
also gathered to protest sweatshops and
demand that University President Dave
Frohnmayer affiliate the University
with the WRC. What resulted was a 10
day demonstration in which 55 stu
dents camped in front of Johnson Hall
from April 4 to April 14, 2000. A total
of 14 students were arrested for tres
■
Photographer Emerald
Students at Florida State University had similar experiences as students at the University of Oregon
when trying to get their school to sign on with the Worker Rights Consortium
passing inside Johnson Hall.
The protesters wanted Frohnmayer to
commit to a 5-year contract with the
WRC and demanded he refrain from
joining the Fair Labor Association,
which they said had too much corpo
rate influence. They also asked that he
grant more power to University com
mittees to make important decisions,
such as joining the WRC.
After both the University Senate and
Frohnmayer’s Licensing Code of Con
duct Committee issued recommenda
tions for the University to join the WRC,
Frohnmayer agreed and signed a one
year contract on April 13, 2000. He also
promised not to join the FLA but refused
to issue more power to committees.
That’s when the conflict really began.
Florida finds common ground
In a meeting Tuesday between USAS
representatives, FSU’s Dean of Students
Barbara Varchol and FSU Police Chief
Carey Drayton, USAS explained their
demands and decision to disperse if
those demands were met. D’Alemberte
accepted the terms Tuesday evening in
a call from Russia, where he is visiting
on business.
“I was really proud of students for
stepping up and putting solutions on the
table,” FSU Provost Dr. Larry Abele said.
Although USAS didn’t reach its pri
mary goal of convincing D’Alemberte to
join the WRC, USAS leader Gabe Pen
das hopes the meeting between
D’Alemberte and Nova will achieve that
goal. Pendas also said USAS will con
tinue their cause if D’Alemberte refuses
to join after the meeting.
“We will continue doing education,”
Pendas said. “In fall, we’ll take a step
back and reorganize.”
Turn to WRC, page 4
Fraternities, sororities face new standards
The University’s greek system is
required to go dry by winter term,
and will have tougher GPA rules and
live-in housing directors
By Leon Tovey
for the Emerald
While the University’s nine “wet”
fraternities are required to be alcohol
free by December, most aren’t waiting
that long to go dry.
According to Student Activities Di
rector Gregg Lobisser, six fraternities
had submitted letters of compliance
with the change in Affiliation Stan
dards as of July 11, and others are get
ting dose. Lobisser said the University
was “quite pleased” with the response
of fraternities and sororities to the new
standards, which were approved by
University President Dave Frohnmayer
in May.
Aecordiitg'toLobisser, the new stan
dards'were aeslgneTrih'res'polise Fo" de-*
dining membership and a lack of com
pliance with existing standards, and
are aimed at helping the greek system
“attract the best and the brightest.”
Lobisser insisted that, despite the
media attention given to the substance
free housing provision, University offi
cials are putting just as much emphasis
on other aspects of the standards, like
the provision requiring greek members
to maintain a GPA equivalent to the
University average.
“It tends to be lower than all other
undergraduate peer groups,” Lobiss
er said of the GPA average of the
greek system. But he was quick to
add that in recent years there has
been a general trend — with some
“ebbs and flows” — toward higher
grades at the University’s fraternities
and sororities.
In order to facilitate a further in
crease in GPA, the new standards also
require chapters to have a three-term
* GPA' equal* to the -campus* men's' or
women’s average, or to be moving to
ward it.
“I do believe collectively (the new
standards) will begin to lift and
strengthen the system,” Lobisser said.
But Shane Meisel, president of Beta
Theta Pi, had the opposite view.
“I think these policies are going to
prevent some people from looking at
the system,” he said. “Some people
will say: ‘I just moved out of my par
ents’ house, I don’t need to move into a
place that’s even more strict.’”
Meisel argued that many of the new
requirements, such as the installation
of fire sprinkler systems by 2004 and
the appointment of live-in housing
directors by 2005, place an unfair
economic burden on greek chapters.
Meisel said that while he agrees many
greek members need to improve aca
demic performance, the University’s
policy doesn’t take into account that
few undergraduates “have all the
.Turn tofratemitiBS,page 10
Forest officials
close off area
near tree-sitter
Authorities are planning to use starvation tactics
on ‘Basil,’ a young woman who is protesting the
logging of the Berry Patch timber area in Oregon
By Jillian Daley
Oregon Daily Emerald
U.S. Forest Service officials from the Willamette Na
tional Forest are using what protesters call starvation tac
tics to bring down a young woman who climbed 80 feet
into an old-growth tree to protest the logging of the Berry
Patch timber area.
On Sunday, officials closed the area to the public to
make sure the tree-sitter receives no new supplies of food
or water. Basil, the tree-sitter, who would not reveal her
real name, has some food supplies, including a 10-liter
gallon of water, and is sleeping on a platform in the tree,
officials said.
Basil will be subject to arrest when she comes down
from the tree for interfering with an agricultural opera
tion, which is a Class A misdemeanor under state law,
Forest Service spokeswoman Patti Rodgers said.
“The only other way (besides starvation tactics) to
get her out would be to send eviction climbers up
there,” Cascadia Forest Defenders spokesman Kelly
Townsend said.
The D.R. Johnston logging company bought the Berry
Patch timber rights in 1996 when the Salvage Rider Act
gave logging companies the right to cut down old growth.
The act was overturned a few years later. The area is lo
cated in the Willamette National Forest at the Winberry
Creek Drainage, southeast of Lowell and 20 miles south
east of Eugene.
The company logged the area until 1998, when the
market for old growth sunk too low to be profitable. The
logging started up again in the past three weeks, when
the market picked up. The company still has the legal
right to log as long as it owns the timber rights. When
logging began again, Basil took her perch in the Douglas
Fir, Townsend said.
“She saw the beautiful forest out there being cut, and
she saw that that was her only way of stopping it,”
Townsend said. “Even if she couldn’t stop it, she was
very eager to call attention to old growth being cut.”
However, Townsend and others are concerned for her
safety because of other incidents when officials used
similar tactics. A man protesting the Acey Line timber
sale in the Tillamook State Forest fell 60 feet to the
ground and broke many bones after his food and water
were cut off, Townsend said.
There is concern for Basil’s health for other reasons as
well. Townsend believes loggers are endangering Basil by
cutting down trees within 30 feet of her, which he said is
a violation of Occupational Safety and Health Adminis
tration standards.
However, officials say that Basil is not endangered and
that OSHA regulations don’t apply.
“The first thing — for either federal or state OSHA to
have any jurisdiction — (is) there must be an employ
er/employee relationship,” federal OSHA spokes
woman Ria Russell said. “We don’t have any authority
to protect her.”
Forest Service officials also said there is no need for
concern about Basil because she is breaking the law and
has forfeited her rights to any protection.
“It is her responsibility,” Forest Service spokes
woman Sue Olson said. “She is breaking the law, so the
Forest Service does not have a liability if she gets hurt;
however, the Forest Service is concerned about her
safety.”
Contact the reporter atjilliandaley@dailyemerald.com.
Watoh the progress of the
Ullls Business Complex
The Emerald is now posting updated pictures
weekly of five different views of the ongoing con
struction, Click on the “Construction” link on the
green navigation bar across the top of the page at
www.dailyemerald.com. New pictures will be post
ed every Thursday morning.