NEWS BRIEFS
Guyer cause of death
still unknown
Examiners still do not know the
cause of former University student
Kyle Guyer's death because the Ore
gon Health and Science University lab
was not equipped to test the level of
Dilaudid and Percocet in Guyer's sys
tem, Lane County Deputy Medical Ex
aminer Frank Ratti said.
OHSU has sent samples to a lab in
Pennsylvania that can better test for
those two dmgs, he added.
Guyer was found dead the morning
of June 1 after spending a night cele
brating his upcoming gradation with
friends. According to the Eugene Po
lice Department, Guyer burned his
hand at Fathom's Bar, located under
Pegasus Pizza, when a flaming drink
spilled on him.
Sacred Heart
Medical Center
administered
Dilaudid to
Guyer through
an intravenous
drip to treat the
burn and gave
him Percocet to
take home, Rat
ti said. Guyer
was given four
milligrams of
Dilaudid in one-milligram
increments.
Reports said Guyer was conscious
and alert after he left the hospital and
walked home, where he took two Per
cocet — the dosage that Sacred Heart
recommended — after getting to his
apartment.
Until toxicology reports are fin
ished, Guyer's blood alcohol level will
be unknown, as well as his cause of
death. Ratti predicted the Pennsylva
nia lab will have results of the Dilau
did and Percocet levels within two
weeks, but would not comment on
any preliminary findings.
"I don't want to give any kind of
preliminary information," he said.
"Everything will be given out as a final
conclusion."
— Ali Shaughnessy
Pilliod nominated
to education board
Former ASUO President Rachel Pil
liod will serve next year as one of two
student representatives on the Oregon
State Board of Higher Education after
a nomination from Oregon Gov. Ted
Kulongoski.
The Oregon Senate confirmed the
nominations of both Pilliod and
Bridget Burns, the outgoing presi
dent of the As
sociate Stu
dents of Ore
gon State
University, ear
lier in the
month. Both
representatives
will begin their
two-year terms
July 1.
The Board,
which oversees
the Oregon University System, com
prises 11 members, each appointed by
the governor and approved by the
Senate. While the student representa
tives are full voting members of the
Board and represent student interest,
they are encouraged to consider more
than just the student perspective, OUS
Vice Chancellor Diane Vines said.
"The only thing they are asked to
Pilliod
do is remember that they represent
the whole state and not just students,"
Vines said. "We hope that they keep in
mind that they vote and deliberate as
Oregon citizens."
Pilliod spent last year representing
University students as the ASUO pres
ident, as well as students statewide as
chairwoman of the Oregon Student
Association. She is also the corporate
secretary of the United States Student
Association, a nationwide lobbying
organization.
Board Chairman Jim Lussier said in
a press release that he was "very
pleased" with the two nominees.
"Ms. Burns and Ms. Pilliod will
each be a strong voice and advocate
for students in Oregon, and we look
forward to serving with them,"
he said.
— Jan Tobias Montry
Affirmative
continued from page 9
for affirmative action. They predicted
that colleges and universities easily
could comply with the court's admo
nition that an applicant's race be
viewed as a "plus factor" rather than a
determining criterion.
The decision sharply reverses a
trend in the Supreme Court in recent
years to block the use of race in gov
ernment decisions, such as in minor
ity contracting programs. It also bol
sters other efforts to enhance
minority participation, including
scholarship and outreach programs,
as well as voluntary affirmative action
programs in the workforce.
"This is a tremendous victory for
the University of Michigan, for all of
higher education, and for the hun
dreds of groups and individuals who
supported us," University of Michi
gan President Mary Sue Coleman
said. "This is a resounding affirma
tion that will be heard across the
land, from our college classrooms to
our corporate boardrooms."
Kirk Kolbo, a lawyer who repre
sented the white students challeng
ing the affirmative action program,
acknowledged that the law school
decision was a "disappointment."
But he said he saw a "silver lining,"
because the court put some limits on
what schools can do and suggested
that the use of racial preferences will
not be permanent.
But most observers, including
conservatives and former Bush ad
ministration officials, said the deci
sion in the law school case was a
sweeping loss for opponents of af
firmative action and that the ruling
in the undergraduate case would
have little impact.
"It's a complete defeat. Most
schools do what the law school
does," said John Yoo, a former Bush
administration official now at the
American Enterprise Institute who
will teach at the University of Chica
go Law School this fall. "This is better
than the affirmative action side
could've hoped for. This will allow
the use of race in university admis
sions, which had been uncertain and,
in fact, in many jurisdictions had
been outlawed."
It was not immediately dear
how the decision would play polit
ically. Both supporters and oppo
nents of affirmative action insisted
the ruling would galvanize their
side in the 2004 elections, because
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it made it dear that just one vote
on the Supreme Court separates
the two sides.
The court had not addressed affir
mative action in this way since 1978,
when it said racial quotas were un
constitutional but did not definitive
ly rule on whether schools could fac
tor race into their admissions
decisions. In that case, University of
California vs. Bakke, the court struck
down a strict quota system at a state
medical school that set aside 16 of
100 seats for minority students.
But an opinion by Justice Lewis
Powell suggested that schools had a
compelling interest in achieving a di
verse student body and that they
could consider race as one of many
factors in evaluating applicants. No
other justice joined Powell's opinion,
and lower courts split over whether
they were bound by it. As a result,
colleges and universities in some
parts of the country were blocked
from considering race, while those in
other regions, including the Midwest,
were permitted to do so.
But Monday's decision firmly put
those questions to rest, with five jus
tices emphatically endorsing Powell's
view. Justices John Paul Stevens,
David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg
and Stephen Breyer joined O'Con
nor' s opinion, which held that diver
sity mattered and justified taking race
into account in admissions.
In her opinion, O'Connor said the
court was persuaded by university of
ficials that important educational
benefits "flow from a diverse student
body." She emphasized that those
benefits are "not theoretical but real."
"The law school's admissions poli
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cy promotes cross-racial understand
ing, helps to break down racial
stereotypes and enables students to
better understand persons of differ
ent races," O'Connor wrote.
Moreover, the court emphasized
that major American businesses sup
ported Michigan, arguing that a di
verse student body would better pre
pare students for an increasingly
global workforce.
Theodore Shaw, associate director
counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, said the rul
ing was a "defining moment" that
would have dramatic effects beyond
college admissions. A contrary deci
sion, he said, would have opened the
door to attacks on minority scholar
ship programs and other types of
outreach.
The court has long been closely di
vided on questions of race, with O'
Connor, a moderate, generally con
sidered the key swing vote who has
limited the positions of her more,
conservative colleagues in previous
decisions. Her opinion Monday was
far-reaching, going further to support
the concept of affirmative action in
education than many had expected.
O'Connor did make it dear that
she did not foresee the polides con
tinuing indefinitely.
"It's been 25 years since Justice
Powell first approved the use of race
to further an interest in student body
diversity in the context of public
higher education," she wrote "We ex
pect that 25 years from now, the use
of raaal preferences will no longer be
necessary."
(c) 2003, Chicago Tribune. Distributed
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