Friday, February 21,2003
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 104, Issue 104
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Mark McCambridge Emerald
Freshman Cory Phillips enjoys his favorite linebacker commercial, which he downloaded after seeing it broadcast during the Super Bowl.
Rocking the digital world
Guitarist headlines
censorship talks
Brook Reinhard
News Editor
In 1993, Seattle grunge band Nirvana was catapulted
into a censorship debate about whether it should change
the cover art and a song title for hit disc “In Utero” simply
so retail giants like Wal-Mart could sell the CD in stores.
Now, 10 years later, former Nirvana guitarist Krist
Novoselic will headline a conference discussing censor
ship, copyright law and the future of digital music this
weekend at the University.
The conference, hosted by the Sports and Entertain
ment Law Forum, will take place today at the law school
and Saturday at the music school, with a benefit concert
today at 8 p.m. at WOW Hall.
SELF President Krystal Noga said she has always
dreamed of hosting a conference featuring Novoselic.
“I wanted to get a hold of Krist — I wanted to do this and
build this whole conference around him,” she said, adding
that Nirvana’s censorship issue was what compelled her to
get a master’s degree on First Amendment issues.
Noga, who’s now a law student, added that arranging the
effort has taken its toll on her. “I haven’t been to class in
two weeks, if that tells you anything,” she said.
The conference features a range of speakers and per
formers, from Seattle-based female rock band tart and
copyright-law activist Mark Hosier of Negativland to law
professors, local judges and digital music experts from
across the Northwest.
Members of tart said they wanted to take place in the
weekend event because they believe in the future of
Turn to Censorship, page 3
Students catch
downloading bug
Ali Shaughnessy
Environment/Science/Technology
Digital technology has made its way into the hearts of many
University students, as well as their residence hall rooms.
“Go for it,” freshman Alex Crowder said when asked her
opinion on downloading music and movies — because, as
many feel, downloading is as easy as one-two-three.
“A 12-year-old, with a click of a mouse, can send a
movie hurtling to all of the continents,” Jack Valenti, head
of the Motion Picture Association of America, has said.
But others disagree. Even with advancing technology,
some say those things aren’t yet possible.
“Transferring the sheer number of bits that compro
mise a single television show that was broadcast over the
air ... is just not feasible,” according to a study done by
Raffi Krikorian, a graduate student at Massachusetts In
stitute of Technology.
And this is just the latest debate in a battle between cor
porate and consumer rights.
Digital music technology started to take off in May 1999
when Northeastern University freshman Shawn Fanning
founded Napster.
The service, which was known for its easy peer-to-peer
file sharing, allowed users to trade music in mp3 format,
which compresses recordings into small and portable files
without sacrificing quality.
In December 1999, Napster found itself facing the first
of many lawsuits, brought by multiple record labels. Short
ly after, in April 2000, Metallica also sued Napster for copy
right infringement and racketeering.
Turn to Download, page 3
Maya Angelou
to enlighten
UO audience
Professor Emeritus Edwin Coleman and poet,
playwright and historian Maya Angelou reconnect
every time she is in the Northwest to reminisce
Roman Gokhman
Campus/City Culture Reporter
University Professor Emeritus Edwin Coleman has known
Maya Angelou — who will speak and recite poetry at the Uni
versity on Sunday night — since the 1950s, when both were
performing at the Purple Onion.
Though they parted ways after she left for New York to per
form on Broadway, every time the famed
poet, actress, playwright, historian and
activist visits the Northwest, the two get
together to talk about the past.
“We always talk about San Francisco,
North Beach and the Purple Onion,”
Coleman said.
The connection between the poet and
professor goes back further than San
Francisco. Both were bom in towns in Arkansas, and Coleman
said they had similar experiences.
“I can identify with her,” he said. “She is not bound or re
stricted by one particular art form.”
Angelou’s poetry, Coleman said, is extraordinary because
it speaks to everyone but still focuses on the experience of
black Americans.
University Professor Karen Ford, who is currently teach
ing a course on African American poetry, compared An
gelou’s poetry to that of Langston Hughes and said both
wrote for the masses.
“I like poets who bring a lot of readers into it and aren’t only
writing for the academy,” she said. “But that’s not to say her
poems are always easy.”
Ford said her favorite Angelou poem is “I Still Rise,” be
cause of its incantatory — magical — style. She said the first
stanza of the poem brings out a very powerful irony:
“You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”
“You think you’ve stomped them down in the dust — but dust
rises,” Ford said. “It’s an answer to oppression and hatred.”
Both Ford and Coleman agreed that Angelou’s poetry is
meant to be read out loud, and that certain elements must be
in place for a poet to be so skilled in expressing feelings that
range from pity to love to anger.
“These things don’t happen in a vacuum,” Coleman said.
“You don’t get to be that kind of poet without having that ex
perience — she lived it.”
Ford has seen Angelou recite poetry before and said the
artist does not attract attention to herself, but rather to other
poets and the people she wrote about.
“She’s so intellectually generous,” Ford said. “The light
that falls on her she tries to spread on other people.”
UO Cultural Forum members have worked for more than a
year to bring Angelou to the University.
Turn to Angelou, page 8
INSIDE
Dave Horowitz
will speak today.
PAGE 8
Weather
Today: High 53, Low 40,
rain becoming showers
Saturday: High 52, Low 32,
mostly cloudy, chance of rain
Looking ahead
Monday
Full coverage of Maya Angelou,
David Horowitz, and Megumi
Also Monday
Subway faces off with Andrew
Smash in a kickbali competition
PFC will not act on Emerald grievance
The committee approved
the Emerald’s new student fee
allocation by devising a new
formula that can be used again
Jennifer Bear
Campus/Federal Politics Reporter
ASUO Programs Administrator
Vanessa Harris decided Thursday
not to act on Emerald editor in
chief Michael J. Kleckner’s griev
ance against the ASUO Programs
Finance Committee. Harris said the
grievance was out of her jurisdic
tion because the Emerald is not an
ASUO program, but an independ
ent nonprofit corporation, and she
recommended that Kleckner ad
dress his grievance to the ASUO
Student Senate.
Kleckner filed the grievance be
cause he believed PFG had not fol
lowed “Robert’s Rules of Order” in
recalling the Emerald’s budget. He
asked Harris to rule that PFG’s vote
to recall the Emerald’s budget was
null and void, but because Harris
could not act on the grievance, PFG
proceeded with its scheduled recall
hearings Thursday night.
PFG members said they decid
ed to recall the Emerald’s budget
because they were not comfort
able with the subscription formula
that was brought to the first hear
ing. Committee members added
they did not want to continue to
determine how much money to al
locate to the Emerald based on ar
bitrary numbers.
After an hour of debate, PFC de
vised a formula that could be used
in forthcoming years based on
printing costs, the Emerald’s read
ership and the number of sub
scriptions to buy for students.
Kleckner said the Emerald’s read
ership is composed of 70 percent
students, 15 percent faculty and
staff and 15 percent alumni and
the community.
PFC approved the Emerald’s final
student fee allocation at #118,963
for 2003-04, a decrease of 0.86 per
cent. The committee arrived at this
figure by multiplying 8,400 sub
scriptions by an 8.38 cent subscrip
tion fee and 169 issues.
Kleckner said he was pleased
with the formula PFC devised be
cause in future budget hearings the
Emerald will know exactly what in
formation to provide to the com
mittee. In previous years, presen
ters of the Emerald budget had to
try and predict what information
they thought PFC might want to
look at.
PFC also recalled the Career
Center’s budget to discuss a GTF
Turn to Recall, page 4