News briefs
Blasts rock embassy,
consulate in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela — Two
powerful explosions ripped into the
Spanish Embassy and Colombian
Consulate in Caracas minutes apart
early Tuesday, stoking fears of a vi
olent escalation of the dispute be
tween President Hugo Chavez and
his opponents.
The two blasts about 2 a.m. blew
out windows for blocks and injured
four people, leaving some residents
in a posh neighborhood near the
Spanish Embassy believing they
had experienced an earthquake.
The four-story Colombian Con
sulate was turned into a charred,
windowless shell.
The explosions came less than
48 hours after Chavez warned the
governments of Colombia and
Spain, as well as the United States,
against “meddling” in Venezuela’s
affairs. The three countries have
criticized Chavez’s recent crack
down on his opponents.
No one claimed responsibility for
the bombings, but leaflets scattered
at both sites were signed by a pro
government group, leading to spec
ulation that radical supporters of
the president were responsible.
Government officials rejected the
accusation, saying the leaflets could
have been planted by opponents to
the government.
Vice President Jose Vicente
Rangel repudiated the attacks as “a
form of terrorism never seen in
Venezuela” and suggested that
Chavez opponents may have been
involved.
In Washington, State Depart
ment spokesman Philip Reeker
condemned the bombings, saying
they underscored the need for all
sides to honor a Feb. 18 non-vio
lence pledge, refrain from “con
frontational rhetoric” and create a
truth commission to investigate vi
olent incidents.
One leaflet left at the Spanish
Embassy was addressed to Cesar
Gaviria, secretary general of the Or
ganization of American States who
has led peace talks in Venezuela, as
well as former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter, who also has helped with
the peace process. The note read in
part: “The revolution does not need
your intervention. The armed peo
ple will resolve this crisis.”
The bombings highlight the ten
sion in Venezuela only weeks after
a nationwide strike hobbled
Venezuela’s oil industry, caused
food and gasoline shortages and
cost the country an estimated
#4 billion.
The strike, which fizzled early
this month, was aimed at forcing
Chavez to resign from office, call
early elections or accept a non
binding referendum on his rule.
—Patrice M. Jones,
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
Memos predict attacks
after Iraq invasion
WASHINGTON — When the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq begins,
dictator Saddam Hussein will
launch a terror offensive that will
be joined by extremists around the
world, according to new intelli
gence bulletins obtained by the
New York Daily News.
The warnings also report that
Hussein’s henchmen in foreign
embassies are “awaiting the go
ahead signal from Baghdad,” but'
one source indicated to The Daily
News that the operatives were un
der surveillance.
“We are quite familiar with who
these agents are,” the source said.
The bulletins distributed by the
Defense Intelligence Agency on Feb.
11 and 13 were the strongest warn
ings yet about the likelihood of ter
rorism once war begins, and for the
first time predicted an uprising that
would spread from al-Qaida to terror
organizations that are not Islamic.
“Anti-U.S. terrorist attacks during
any conflict with Iraq are a certain
ty,” the defense agency informed in
telligence and policy leaders in a
Feb. 13 memo. “Indigenous terror
ist groups in Greece, Turkey, Italy,
Peru, Chile, Japan and Southeast
Asia are the most likely to have
some kind of terrorist response to
U.S. military action in Iraq.”
The Pentagon alerted its com
manders in the U.S., Bahrain and
Qatar this month that it was rais
ing the terror threat level from
“significant” to the maximum lev
el, “high.”
The classified memos express
an unnerving certainty that ter
rorists will retaliate for a U.S. in
vasion of Iraq and contradict pub
lic statements by top officials who
have insisted the nation’s color
coded threat alert is not tied to a
looming war.
— James Gordon Meek, New
York Daily News (KRT)
Study links school testing to future successes
The study found that students
who do well on high school
assessment tests will have a
higher freshman success rate
Jan Montry
City/State Politics Reporter
The academic performance of
collegiate freshmen is closely relat
ed to how they perform on in-state
high school testing, according to a
study released about two weeks ago.
Until the study — conducted by
a team of higher education faculty
and an assessment specialist —
was completed, it wasn’t clear
whether the benchmark testing ac
curately measured preparation for
college or the SAT.
“While there is no single perfect
predictor of first-year college suc
cess, this study reaffirms that
there is a positive relationship
among state assessments, high
school GPA, college GPA and the
SAT,” Oregon University System
Chancellor Richard Jarvis said in a
statement.
OUS moves to new
admission standards.
Friday:
Community reaction
Preliminary results of the study
showed students who met or ex
ceeded the standard benchmark
score in high school more often re
ceived a higher college GPA in re
lated courses than students who
did not meet the standard. For in
stance, 71 percent of students who
surpassed the standard in math
beyond calculus had an average
college GPA of 3.0. Students who
only met the standard in the same
area, however, had an average col
lege GPA of 2.6.
With such findings, Oregon De
partment of Education spokesman
Gene Evans said benchmarking is
effective in judging a student’s
preparation for college and the SAT
— something the Oregon Legisla
ture has questioned in the past.
“I think the big confirmation for
us at the department is that the
10th grade benchmark is testing
what we want it to test,” he said.
Evans said the test also serves as
a diagnostic tool for educators; now
teachers can look at benchmark
scores for 10th graders and see who
needs more preparation for the SAT
and for college.
The preliminary study results
were presented before the Oregon
House Education Committee on
Monday and were received well by
legislators.
Rep. Patt Farr, R-Eugene, said the
committee was “very positive”
about the results, adding that there
has been a disconnect between high
school programs and college.
“At face value, everything looks
pretty good,” he said. “We all seem
to agree we have to do something to
prepare kids for college success.”
Christine Tell, lead investigator
for the study, said the research
will be used to help develop profi
ciency-based admission stan
dards, which will measure what
students can do, instead, for in
stance, of whether they fulfilled
the required amount of hours to
graduate high school.
Tell said the study will give stu
dents the chance to make choices
about their education before they
get to college or take the SAT. Par
ents, teachers and counselors also
will benefit from the information
because they will be able to help
support students in their quest for
higher education.
“It’s all about giving students the
opportunity, two years prior (to col
lege), to make some decisions,” Tell
said. “The importance of this to us
is that high school students need
this information.”
The study examined how well
lOth-grade student performance on
benchmark tests matches up with
students’ success as college fresh
men. Indicators for freshman suc
cess in the study included overall
freshman GPA, freshman GPA in in
dividual subject areas and whether
students came back for a second
year of college.
Every year, high school sopho
mores take the state-conducted
Oregon Student Assessment Test,
which measures five areas: read
ing/literature, writing, math prob
lem solving and math knowledge
skills. The scores are then
weighed in comparison to the
lOth-grade benchmark, which is
an index set by the Oregon
Department of Education.
For this study, the OUS team
gauged the GPA of college freshman
who took the benchmark test as
sophomores in 1999 and recorded
how many of them moved on to
their second year.
Contact the senior news reporter
at janmontry@dailyemerald.com.
Tuition
continued from page 1
along, I’m going to do everything I
can to avoid adding to the surcharge,
and I will only do it if I’m in a position
where it’s the only way I can assure
that scheduled classes are available
spring term,” Moseley said.
Pilliod was concerned about stu
dent notification of a possible sur
charge, verifying with Moseley that
students will receive a letter in their
March tuition bills that explains the
budget situation and the possibility
of further surcharges.
ASUO State Affairs Coordinator
Adam Petkun also asked Moseley
what could be done in the future to
ensure that students are brought to
the table when tuition and enroll
ment issues are discussed.
Moseley said he would “think
about” a more concrete method of
shared governance, such as a writ
ten statement guaranteeing stu
dent involvement, but added that
he would not sacrifice financial aid
or classes to avoid the surcharge
— even if a group of students sup
ported it.
“In the end, the truth is I have to
make that decision, and we’re not
going to vote on tuition. But I’m go
ing to discuss it with you and let you
know what the choices are,” Mose
ley said. “I think that your role real
ly is in giving me your advice and
discussing it with me. And I’m hap
py to have meetings like this, proba
bly as frequently as you’d be willing
to have them.”
Contact the senior news reporter
at janmontry@dailyemeraId.com.
You can help fight hunger in Lane County by donating even
one dollar to the Governor’s Food Drive until February 28.
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