Winter Fest/Page 6
NASA recovers bodies from Columbia
INVESTIGATION: The space agency
appoints an investigative panel as
crews search for more debris
Martin Merzer, Phil Long and Sumana
Chatterjee
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
GAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA told a na
tion in mourning Sunday that remains of all
seven astronauts from shuttle Columbia had
been recovered, and that investigators were be
ginning to zero in on the cause of the tragedy.
“We found remains from all the astro
nauts,” said Bob Cabana, NASA’s director of
flight crew operations. “It’s still in the process
of identification.”
Other NASA officials said that temperature
readings on the left side of Columbia rose pre
cipitously six minutes before it disintegrated,
and the spaceship struggled for two minutes to
maintain a safe flight path during the haz
ardous descent to Earth.
As the space agency appointed two inves
tigative teams and search crews combed more
than 1,400 debris fields in Texas and Louisiana,
Ron Dittemore, the shuttle’s program manager,
sketched a fuller picture of what he called “a
significant thermal event” aboard Columbia.
He said it boosted temperatures on the exterior
of the shuttle by 60 degrees within five minutes
— an unprecedented event.
Turn to Investigation, page 3
CRASH: Americans watched Saturday
as the space shuttle Columbia exploded
and fell to earth over East Texas
Bruce Nichols
The Dallas Morning News (KRT)
HOUSTON — With a clenched gut that is
becoming grotesquely familiar, Americans
watched another national symbol plummet to
earth Saturday as the space shuttle Columbia
disintegrated over North Texas.
All seven astronauts, including the first Is
raeli to fly on a shuttle mission, died in the ca
tastrophe, which was heard and seen by thou
sands of people in the Dallas area.
Columbia was just 16 minutes away from a
Florida landing, the conclusion to a highly
successful 16-day science mission.
Killed were commander Rick Husband, pi
lot William McCool and mission specialists
Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana
Chawla, Laurel Clark and Israeli astronaut
Ilan Ramon.
“The Columbia is lost,” President Bush said
in a national TV address. The president cut
short a weekend at Camp David to return to
Washington, where he met with national se
curity advisers.
The day’s sole consolation only underscored
the nation’s underlying sense of dread: Officials
Turn to Crash, page 7
Given a sporting chance
The University’s high percentage of black male
athletes has led some to criticize University
diversity efforts and the Athletic Department
Brad Schmidt
News Editor
More than 35 percent of the black male undergraduates at
tending the University receive athletic scholarships, accord
ing to an analysis conducted by the Emerald. This percentage is
the highest among all ethnic groups on campus, and it is the
second-highest percentage of any ethnic group receiving such
support at a Pacific-10 Conference school in 2002-03.
The percentage of black males receiving financial support
from the Athletic Department is more than five times higher
than any other ethnic group—the next highest being black fe
males, at nearly 6.6 percent. Within the Pac-10, only Oregon
State University has a higher percentage of black males attend
ing school on either full or partial athletic scholarships.
According to some students, such statistics only perpetuate
stereotypes of “athletes,” not “student-athletes,” while some
faculty members say the numbers illustrate the grossly negli
gent attitude of a university not concerned with diversity issues.
“This University hasn’t done a good job recruiting students of
color, across the board,” Ethnic Studies Director Shari Huhn
dorf said. “That’s really the only space — virtually the only
space—the University opens to black men.”
Of those receiving financial support from the Athletic De
partment, 46 men identified themselves as black. According
to the registrar’s office, 130 African American undergraduate
men attend the University.
“The numbers are speaking for themselves, in my opinion,”
said sophomore Kennasha Roberson, co-director of the Black
Student Union. “What do they want them here for? To get de
grees, or to play football?”
But University officials point to a low black population
statewide as the main reason athletes make up more than one
third of black males on campus.
“In 2001,303 total high school seniors (in Oregon) who iden
tified as African American took the SAT,” Multicultural Admis
sions Assistant Director Tomas Hulick-Baiza said. “Granted,
Oregon’s African American population is already small, but
Turn to Scholarships, page 5
40
UO athletic scholarships by demographic
group in 2002-2003
Black men Black White men White
women women
SOURCE: Athletic Department and registrar office
UO Assembly,
groups discuss
war resolution
University groups gathered Friday to review
the University’s stance on a potential war with Iraq
Aimee Rudin
Family/Health/Education Reporter
Oregon State University did it. So did the University of Mon
tana at Missoula and the University of Wisconsin. But the Uni
versity has been reluctant to take a formal stance in opposition
to military action, and the fact that less than 10 percent of the
University Assembly attended a Friday meeting to discuss the
issue underscored the difficulty the University is having in tak
ing a formal stance.
According to University Professor Emeritus Frank Stahl,
the difficulty might involve the controversy that ensued in
the spring of 2000 when the University joined the Worker
Rights Consortium, at the advice of the University Senate,
and temporarily lost $30 million in donated funds from Nike
CEO Phil Knight.
“President Frohnmayer had his knuckles stomped by corpo
rate America when he stood up for workers’ rights,” Stahl said.
“He might be hesitant to take that position again.”
Turn to Assembly, page 4
News brief
Buzbee pleas ‘not guilty’
ASUO Vice President Ben Buzbee entered a plea of not guilty
Friday at a Eugene Municipal Court arraignment.
Buzbee had been cited for allegedly furnishing alcohol to mi
nors at a toga party held at his residence Jan. 18.
Police responded to a complaint of a loud party in the area
and when they located Buzbee’s residence, issued 12 citations.
Three people, including Buzbee, were cited for furnishing alco
hol to minors, and nine others received minor in possession of
alcohol charges.
—Jennifer Bear
Weather
Today: High 45, Low 32,
Morning clouds, patchy fog
Tuesday: High 40, Low 30,
Mostly cloudy, areas of fog
Looking ahead
Tuesday
What tactics are local businesses
trying to combat shoplifting?
Wednesday
After the failure of Measure 28,
how is the University managing?
_________
Activists protest Bush’s leadership
Concerned citizens voiced frustrations
and concerns about federal government
policies at a local protest Saturday
Roman Gokhman
Campus/City Culture Reporter
Many peace activists devoted their weekend
to protesting the policies of the Bush adminis
tration Saturday at Central Presbyterian
Church in Eugene.
Keynote speakers at the Third Annual Ore
gon Peace Festival, organized by University
Students for Peace, Oregon Progressive Al
liance, Eugene Peaceworks and Justice Not
War, told the audience to challenge President
George W. Bush’s government.
“I’m very worried about the state of our
democracy,” speaker and local activist Hope
Marston said.
Marston, who started the Lane County Bill of
Rights Defense Committee to oppose the USA
PATRIOT Act, urged citizens to take a more ac
tive stance locally.
“The UPA shreds ... our constitutional guar
antees,” she said, referring to the alleged detain
ment of people of Islamic descent. “Our Bill of
Rights is worthy of protection.”
Marston said if a war did occur, it would be as
big of an embarrassment as the U.S. govern
ment’s opposition to the civil rights movement
in the 1960s, or as the Holocaust of World War II
was to Germany.
“Some day, you won’t be able to find anyone
who supported the war in Iraq,” Marston said.
“In 40 years, it will be hard to find people.”
Marston said it’s necessary for everyday citi
zens to make a difference.
“This is our democracy — this is our Bill of
Rights,” she said.
Seattle author Paul Loeb said the president
would “not be able to toy with the idea” of war
without the occurrence of Sept. 11.
“We have to convince the ordinary folks that
they have a right to speak out,” he said. “Part of
the problem is we don’t know how to act.”
In order to be successful, activists have to be
persistent, Loeb said.
“You don’t have to know everything before
you begin,” he said.
Loeb said if the United States keeps acting like
a bully, more terrorists will want to make it a tar
get. He acknowledged that to stop the mistreat
Turn to Conference, page 8