http://www.dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, April 9,2003
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
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Volume 104, Issue 128
U.S. missile kills 3 journalists
Nancy A. Youssef
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
AMMAN, Jordan—Dima Tahboub
saw her husband conduct a live inter
view during the 5 a.m. news. She
heard about the bombing at his office
on the 6 a.m. broadcast. She saw an
other journalist announce his death
during the 8 a.m. news.
Her husband, Tareq Ayyoub, was
working as a freelance reporter-pro
ducer for the al-Jazeera television
channel on Tuesday morning when a
U.S. missile struck his office building,
near Iraq’s Ministry of Information.
Ayyoub, 34, who lived in Jordan,
was the first Arab journalist to die cov
ering the war. He leaves behind a 1
year-old daughter, Fatma. His body is
expected to return home Wednesday,
five days after he left for Baghdad.
He was among three journalists
killed Tuesday in downtown Bagh
dad. Taras Protsyuk, a Reuters cam
eraman, and Jose Gouso, a corre
spondent with Telecinco Spanish
television, died after a U.S. tank
fired on the Palestine Hotel, home
to many foreign journalists who are
reporting on the war.
As they mourned his death, Ayy
oub’s colleagues and many Jordani
ans openly questioned why his
building was struck. They asked
whether it was because it held the
Turn to Missile, page 4
International expectations
JiaJia, an international student
from China, explains differences
between her educational
experiences in China and the U.S.
Asian experience
Roman Gokhman
Campus/City Culture Reporter
University life in the United States is not
what Jia Jia had expected it to be. Jia, whose
name translates into “happy,” had never left
her native China before enrolling in classes at
the University in the fall of 2002.
The 17-year-old freshman found the Uni
versity via an online search engine and chose
it for two reasons. First, she said a big city such
as New York City is not a good place to study
because of distractions, and second, she was
offered a full-ride scholarship.
Jia said while she cannot compare the Uni
versity to one in China because she never at
tended one, education in China as a whole is
more competitive.
“There’s a large population, so we have to find
the best way to select good people — having
more tests,” she said. “Students have to learn a
lot of things while they are in high school.”
Adam Amato Emerald
Jia Jia, a 17-year-old freshman, had never left her native China before enrolling in University classes. She was shocked
to see student involvement in anti-war protests and politics.
The pre-business student said education in
China is much more difficult than the Univer
sity, and that the material in Math 251 she al
ready learned in high school.
Because education is difficult, students con
centrate on studying instead of other issues
such as politics, she said, adding that she was
Turn to Asian, page 6
Election brief
Voting begins today
in primary election
With about 80 candidates run
ning for ASUO office and 19 ballot
measures proposing changes to
the constitution, busy University
students might fed overwhelmed
by elections, which begin at 9 a,m.
today and run until 5 p.m. Friday.
But ASUO Elections Coordinator
Andrea Hall said students need to take
the initiative and educate themselves
on student government candidates.
Even if students don’t have to time to
pick up a Voter’s Guide and beef-up on
election information, Hall said picking
next year’s ASUO leaders is essential.
“Every student should exercise
their right to participate in a democ
racy,” she said.
ASUO election turnouts have hov
ered between 10 and 20 percent the
past few years, with only 15.3 percent
of the student population voting in last
year’s primaries, and only 10.5 percent
voting in the general election.
Hail said students who aren’t famil
iar with candidates and their goals can
cut to the heart of the matter by visit
ing election hopefuls at the ASUO Can
didates Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to
day in the concourse of the EMU.
For more information, full tran
scripts of the Emerald’s interviews
with the candidates in every contest
ed race are available at www.dailye
merald.com. At the main page,
mouseover the “News” link, and
when the menu pops up, click on
“ASUO elections/’
Once students have armed them
selves with knowledge about the can
didates, they need only log onto
DuckWeb from any computer with
an Internet connection — and vote.
—Jennifer Bear
Religious, racial hate mail infiltrates ASUO
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ASUO President Rachel Pilliod
opened a “forward and
disturbing” letter targeting
s homosexuals, religions
otherthan
Christianity and
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Caron Alarab
Safety/Crime/Transportation Reporter
An envelope containing a packet
of information described as hate mail
was sent to the ASUO office during spring
break, to the attention of the “Student Body
Government.” ASUO President Rachel Pil
liod, who was not in the office during the
last few days of the break, opened the mail
on the morning of March 31 and immedi
ately reported the incident to DPS.
“It was the most forward and disturbing
letter I’ve received all year long,” she said,
noting that she has received negative
phone calls and other forms of communi
cation at various points during the year.
The mail, which included an unsigned
letter that referred to “we Christian stu
dents” and three double-sided, photo
copied pages of text, makes specific
derogatory comments toward black peo
ple, homosexual people and people of the
Jewish faith. The letter quotes various re
ligious references, including some attrib
uted to the Bible and the Vatican.
“It was rather graphic and very hate
ful,” Pilliod said.
The mail included a poem titled “The
Saddest Story Ever Told,” which described
the “sins” of interracial marriage and the
importance of finding “racial pride.” An
other page, titled “What Homosexuals Do,”
negatively described stereotypes of gay and
lesbian people and offered statistics sup
porting the accusation that homosexuality
sparked the AIDS epidemic.
The majority of the information in the
packet attacked Jewish people, claiming
they have a “stranglehold” on the Ameri
can media and teach that “evil is good and
good is evil.” On the backside of the letter,
poorly photocopied images and an under
lined article were accompanied by the
statement, “Adolph Hitler and Robert E.
Lee were the most morally pure histori
cal figures in the last two centuries.”
Hal Applebaum, executive director of
Oregon Hillel, the foundation for Jew
ish campus life, said such hateful
Turn to Hate mail, page 6
Funding cuts put KRVM in danger
4J School Board may have to cut
funding for KRVM due to the
decrease in state funds, anywhere
from $2 million to $ 10 million
Lindsay Sauve
Family/Health/Education Reporter
The telephones at KRVM have been
ringing off the hook lately.
Since the 4J School Board announced
it may cut funding that KRVM depends on
for survival, the community response has
been tremendous, said Carl Sundberg,
the station’s general manager. A school
board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. today
at the 4J School Board on 200 N. Monroe
St. to review this year’s proposed cuts in
cluding those to the station.
Barbara Bellamy, the board’s director
of communications and intergovernmen
tal relations, said the board is expecting
the state to decrease school funding by
anywhere from $2 million to $10 million.
In an effort to avoid having to lay off addi
tional teachers or decrease school hours,
the district Superintendent George Rus
sell proposed to eliminate the #100,000
in district money spent on KRVM.
KRVM also receives funds from under
writing, member contributions and a grant
from the Corporation for Public Broadcast
ing. Bellamy said school board cuts to KRVM
won’t necessarily lead to its demise. Howev
er, if the district funded fewer than five staff
positions at the station, KRVM wouldn’t be
eligible for much-needed CPB funds.
One option is to sell the station to
Turn to Radio, page 6
Adam Amato Emerald
Patrick Wilson, in the booth at the studio in the EMU, is news director at
KWVA 88.1 FM, which faces budget cuts similartoKRVM.
Weather: Today: H 60, L 40, cloudy, possible showers / Thursday: H 60, L 43, partly cloudy, light rain I On Thursday: The Middle East Film Festival begins Saturday at the Bijou