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Monday, November 11,2002
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 104, Issue 52
KUGN talk show content angers students
v~ur icemeu biuoenis discuss
the University’s affiliation
with a radio station after
being offended by content
Jennifer Bear
Campus/City Culture Reporter
Members of the University com
munity voiced their displeasure at;
forum Thursday about ongoing dis
criminatory remarks heard oi
ixULriN, Known as the voice or the
Ducks.” The University has a con
tract with KUGN-AM that grants the
station exclusive rights to carry Duck
athletic programming in the Eugene
Springfield market.
But the affiliation concerns some
students and faculty who say racist
and intolerant opinions are stated by
i some of the station’s nationally syn
dicated talk-radio personalities,
i ASUO Intern Allison Sprouse said
KUGN talk show hosts Michael Savage
and Michael Medved were the ones re
sponsible for making the offensive
comments. At Thursday’s meeting,
Sprouse distributed a collection of
statements made by the pair.
“The white race is being snuffed off
the planet through immigration,”
Sprouse read aloud, attesting that
she heard the statement while listen
ing to KUGN on May 1. According to
information provided by Sprouse, a
KUGN talk show host was also quoted
as saying, “I’m beginning to think
that women should be denied the
vote. Their hormones rage; they are
too emotional.”
KUGN Program Director Bob
Bosche said that while Savage and
Medved sometimes make offensive
comments, their shows are nationally
syndicated and extremely popular. He
added that KUGN’s talk show program
ming is separate from the broadcast
ing of Duck sporting events.
The Multicultural Center Board of
Directors called Thursday’s meeting
to inform the campus community
about the issue and brainstorm ideas
about appropriate courses of action.
ASUO Co-Multicultural Advocate
Eddy Morales said that while the stu
dent government does not support
racism or bigotry, it has not yet taken
an official stance on the issue.
Turn to KUGN, page 4
Works
Mixed media artwork
by a Chicago neurologist
will be on display at the
Adell McMillan Art Gallery
Helen Schumacher
Pulse Reporter
Sometimes science isn’t enough
— and art has never been able to
provide any concrete answers. In
his quest to understand human
consciousness, Chicago neurologist
Audrius V. Plioplys combined the
two, and added religion, as well.
This combination, dubbed “Neu
rotheology” by Plioplys, is on dis
play at the Adell McMillan Art
Gallery throughout November.
The UO Cultural Forum is spon
soring the event, which is in the
gallery on the second floor of the
Erb Memorial Union.
Cultural Forum Visual Arts Coor
dinator Liz Lessner described the
art as intriguing.
Jeremy Forrest F.me raid
The current exhibit in the Adeil McMillan gallery, "Neurotheology" by Audrius V. Plioplys, will be
on display throughout November.
I thought the idea behind the
work was really interesting,” she said.
“He draws from philosophy, science and
art. What he’s really loolung at is the
process of thought itself.”
Fourteen large works, as well as a
few smaller prints, are on display.
To create his works, Plioplys layered
primary or secondary colors over photo
graphs and then subtracted drawings of
visual cortical brain neurons from the
color, resulting in complex works of art.
The digital prints were enlarged and
printed on canvas using acrylic paints.
The base images are photographic
pieces taken by Plioplys for previous
exhibits. The drawings were made by
Spanish neuropathologist Santiago Ra
mon y Gajal more than 100 years ago.
Gajal won a Nobel Prize for his work on
brain cell structure.
The titles of the pieces describe the
photographic image underneath.
Plioplys said the photos emerging
through the drawings visually demon
strate the biological process of memo
ries emerging from brain cells.
“We have billions of nerve cells,” he
said. “The networks of nerve cells are
through which you can retrieve memo
Turn to Works, page 8
Group seeks
to expand its
aid program
The Oregon Student Assistance Commission
hopes to provide funding for all eligible applicants
Ken Paulman
City/State Politics Reporter
As the state’s financial woes shrink available funds for higher
education, one group is ambitiously working to ensure access to
college for Oregon’s most needy students.
The Oregon Student Assistance Commission, which oversees
the Oregon Opportunity Grant, a need-based scholarship for
low-income Oregonians, is asking for more appropriations to
expand the need-based program.
Elizabeth Bickford, director of the Office of Student Finan
cial Aid and Scholarships, said the grant helps many students
fill gaps left by loans and other aid.
Turn to OSAC, page 4
News brief
Few University neighborhood citations
given this weekend
The Eugene Police Department issued few citations near
campus during the weekend as it foeused its patrols on areas
other than the West University neighborhood.
EPD Lt. Pete Kerns said there were pressing concerns in
other areas of town, and authorities didn’t give much atten
tion to the neighborhood this weekend.
“They were just chasing their tails with other stuff,” he said.
Kerns added that the lack of citations could also be a result
of rainy conditions on Friday and Saturday. Fewer people
were roaming the streets and authorities were less likely to
get out of their vehicles to issue citations, he said.
In addition, Kerns said heavy enforcement on open con
tainers and partying since the September riot may have re
sulted in the neighborhood’s decreased activity.
The Eugene Police Department handed out 64 citations
Halloween weekend, and more than 75 citations were dis
tributed the weekend before.
— Danielle Gillespie
Weather
Today: High 55, Low 48,
Mostly cloudy with light rain
Tuesday: High 55, Low 45,
Gusty, rain at times
Looking ahead
Tuesday
The new Bethel skate park is up
and ready just in time for rain
Wednesday
Are other universities facing
similar "O" problems?
Legislation may not provide security
The Campus Sex Crimes
Prevention Act requires
the state to tell police if a
sex offender is on campus
Danielle Gillespie
Safety/Crime/Transportation Reporter
Despite a new federal law requir
ing registered sex offenders to pro
vide information about whether
they are working at or attending
universities nationwide, officials
say the law does not necessarily
guarantee students’ safety here at
the University.
The Campus Sex Crimes Pre
vention Act, which went into effect
Oct. 28, requires the state to noti
fy law enforcement agencies who
have jurisdiction over that univer
sity if a registered sex offender is
on campus.
And while Women Center’s Of
fice Coordinator Lori Brown said
the law is a tool for battling sexual
assault, she worries it will give peo
ple a false sense of security.
“Just because a student gets a
list of people, doesn’t mean they
won’t be assaulted,” she said.
But in Oregon, students most
likely will not see the results of the
law until 2004, Department of Pub
lie Safety Director Tom Hicks said.
Oregon, along with many other
states nationwide, hasn’t been in
compliance with the new law,
Hicks said.
Because Oregon’s Legislature
meets biannually, the law will not
go into motion until the next ses
sion, and Hicks said he thinks the
law won’t be in full-swing for an
other couple of years. Until Oregon
complies with the law, the state
stands to lose federal grant money
for some of its programs, he added.
Brown said even when the law
goes into effect, she hopes people
will not see it as a solution to the
problem.
“It gives the impression that
there’s a monster out there, when,
in fact, most sexual assaults are with
acquaintances or date rape,” she
said. “The law is a way of saying sex
offenders exist on the outside.”
According to the U.S. Depart
ment of Justice’s 2000 National
Crime Victimization Survey, 66
percent of rape victims know their
assailant. In addition, four out of
every 10 sexual assaults take place
at the victim’s home and two out of
every 10 take place in the home of
a friend, neighbor or relative.
Turn to Security, page 8