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Senior prom / Page 4A
Friday, May 9,2003
Since 1900
University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 104, Issue 150
EPD finds suspicious bag near station
Police evacuated several stores
near East 13th Avenue Thursday
while HAZMAT teams removed
a black plastic bag from the area
Brook Rein hard
News Editor
A suspicious package at the University Police
Station closed two blocks of East 13th Avenue for
a little more than two hours Thursday afternoon,
a~> dozens of police officers, firefighters and haz
aidous material teams swarmed the station and
eventually removed a black plastic garbage bag
with the word “anthrax” handwritten on it.
The bag was X-rayed, covered by a larger plas
tic bag, placed in the trunk of a maroon police ve
hicle and taken away for further testing at the
FBI crime lab in Portland. Eugene Police Depart
ment spokeswoman Kerry Delf confirmed that
the bag didn’t contain explosives, but she said au
thorities needed to complete testing before they
could verify whether it contained anthrax or oth
er chemical or biological agents.
EPD spokeswoman Pam Olshanski said EPD at
the University station noticed the bag outside the
building just before 4 p.m. Officers immediately
called 911 and stayed inside until police and haz
ardous material teams arrived.
One witness, Carlin Sage, said officers inside
the station then walked out and began roping off
Turn to Anthrax, page 8A
The police station on
the corner of Alder
Street and East 13th
Avenue discovered a
black plastic bag with
the word "anthrax"
written on it around 4
p.m. Thursday
afternoon. The package
was removed for
further testing in
Portland after it was X
rayed and determined
to be free of explosives.
Danielle Hickey Emerald
American Sign Language
Brook Reinhard Emerald
Graduate student Stormi Cannon collects signatures to make American Sign Language an option for the University's foreign
language requirement. More than 30 people gathered on the steps of Johnson Hall on Thursday afternoon in an effort to get
the University to recognize ASL. Cannon said she first became aware of the intricacies of ASL years ago when she met a deaf
person who inspired her. "I've been fighting to get ASL into the University for six years now/' she said. "I think it's an awesome
language, and the University ought to do more than just talk about it.
Students opt
out of many
Friday classes
Classroom activity on Fridays at the University
is about 36 percent less than average; universities
attempt to bring Friday back to the school week
Lindsay Sauve
Family/Health/Education Reporter
The coffee is hot at the Buzz, University offices are open and
classes are in session, but instead of the typical herd of students
lugging backpacks, bustling down the sidewalks of East 13th Av
enue, only a handful remain.
For students who are able to fit a full course load into four days,
Friday is the beginning of a long weekend. Architecture student
Elizabeth Reed said she prefers to have a three-day weekend but
had to register for a required class that’s held 1-5 p.m. on Fridays.
Sometimes it’s difficult to force herself to attend.
“I try to be there every Friday but it’s difficult, especially
when I took the class over winter term, and I’d leave early to go
skiing,” Reed said. “Freshman year, I had classes that docked
students when they didn’t attend, but by senior year, it’s a bit
more lenient.”
Economics GTF Bill Hall, who teaches a microeconomics
course on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, said there is a
noticeable decrease in attendance for the Friday class. Hall es
timated last Friday that only about 50 students attended, but
about 150 are registered for the class.
“It depends on whether the sun shines,” Hall said. “Last Fri
day was a really sunny day.”
Though some universities have a mandatory attendance pol
icy, the University leaves it up to professors and instructors
whether to penalize students for not attending. Hall said he
prefers the current policy because it means his classroom is
more likely to be filled with students who are interested.
“I do try to create incentives for students to come to class,”
Hall added.
A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education re
vealed some universities are trying to re-create methods of class
Turn to Classes, page 7A
Alumnus recognizes athletes
University graduate Herman Brame
is working to gain recognition for the
school’s first black athletes in order to
make the University’s history complete
Roman Gokhman
Campus/City Culture Reporter
The 1920s was a period of change in Oregon. The
Oregon Constitution, created in 1857, forbade black
people from coming into the state or owning prop
erty. The Ku Klux Klan was well accepted and even
the University football coach at the time was a mem
ber. But in 1926, Robert Robinson and Charles
Williams — both African American — enrolled at
the University as scholarship student-athletes, be
coming the first black athletes at the school and in
Oregon. They also became the first black athletes in
the state, possibly the first black full-time students
at the University, and eventually, the first blacks to
live in University housing — all to be forgotten in the
latter part of the century.
Recovering the history
In 1993, Herman Brame, a 1968 graduate and for
mer University track athlete, was looking through
some old University archives — he has a
Turn to Athletes, page 7A
University graduate
and former track
athlete Herman
Bane discovered the
first two black
athletes and
students from the
University while
searching through
archives.
Roman Cokhman
Emerald
Weather: Today: H 60, L 43, chance of showers / Saturday: H 60, L 43, chance of showers I On Monday:
Native American Student Union breaks ground for the new longhouse