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Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 105, Issue 11
Firefighters
Dominic
Cicirieilo, Drew
Wedeking,
Justin Hayland,
Joel Dopp,
Richard
Keymolen,
Angel Landin
and Marc
Andresen (left
to right) enjoy
the relative cool
of nightfall at
base camp in
Lowell after a
long, hot day of
fighting the
Clark fire.
Jessica Waters
Emerald
RING OF FIRE
L
Up at 5, out ‘til 8
Of the 1,100 firefighters living in
Lowell working to contain the Clark
fire, many are students looking for
money, a rush and appreciation
By Ali Shaughnessy
Freelance Reporter
LOWELL — As the night sky falls
over this sleepy town Friday, children
rush to the streets holding signs, wav
ing at hundreds of firefighters return
ing from a hard day's work. Back at
the camp at the local high school,
University student Joel Dopp gets
ready to play cards.
Dopp, just one of 1,100 firefighters
currently living in Lowell and fighting
the Clark fire, has spent his last two
summers fighting fires across Oregon,
along with many other University stu
dents. The University senior original
ly got into firefighting for the money,
he says, but also for the challenge.
The hardest obstacle, other Univer
sity students say, is the lack of sleep.
The Lowell firefighters' rigorous
schedule requires them to be up at 5
a.m. and fighting fires by 8 a.m.
They typically don't return to camp
until after 8 p.m.
"You just go out there and bust ass,'
University senior Justin Hyland says.
"It's intense."
Hyland says he wanted to try fire
fighting this summer because it was
different from past jobs, adding that
one of the hardest things for him was
the one-week training, which takes
place at the beginning of a novice fire
fighter's first summer.
University junior Drew Wedeking
says the hardest part of training was the
pack test, where each person has to
walk three miles in less than 45 min
utes while carrying a 45-pound bag.
Along with the pack test, firefight
ers are also required to memorize
multiple fire orders. If a firefighter is
asked to recite a fire order and fails,
he or she has to do push-ups. Ore
gon State University senior Dominic
Ciciriello says he calls one of his
friends "push-up" because "he never
remembers the fire orders, and he
Turn to Firefighters, page 3
Bill would grant legal aliens resident tuition
Proponents of House Bill 3651 call it
‘more palatable’ than Senate Bill 10,
but critics call it unfair because some
students’ parents don’t pay state taxes
By A. Sho Ikeda
Reporter
Children of illegal immigrants could see
lowered tuition if a newly revived bill pass
es the Oregon Legislature before lawmak
ers end their session.
House Bill 3651 would allow legal
aliens and the children of illegal immi
grants to pay in-state tuition while attend
ing any public Oregon university. Eligible
students must have attended an Oregon
high school for three consecutive years and
received a diploma or its equivalent.
The House Rules Committee approved
the bill last Tuesday, and it is slated for
consideration on the House floor in
coming weeks.
Currently, illegal aliens and their chil
dren must pay out-of-state tuition to at
tend an Oregon university.
The new legislation is a revised version
of Senate Bill 10, which stalled indefinitely
in the House Education Committee. In ad
dition to lowering tuition for legal aliens
and children of illegal aliens, Senate Bill 10
would have granted in-state tuition to po
tential students who have not yet received
their citizenship but attended an Oregon
high school.
Rep. Billy Dalto, R-Salem, who proposed
the new version of the bill, said he believes
HB 3651 will fare better with lawmakers,
calling the new bill "more palatable."
"I'm disappointed that Senate Bill 10
didn't move forward," Dalto said. "But I
think that the new bill is an important step
in the right direction and many students
will benefit from it."
Some members of the Legislature who
opposed the original bill have continued
to voice opposition to the reduced-tuition
efforts, however.
Rep. Betsy Close, R-Albany, said the is
sue lies with die citizenship of the parents,
adding that the new legislation should not
benefit those who are not citizens.
"Citizenship should count for some
thing," she said. "This is a fairness issue."
Close said there would be no problem
with the legislation if students were paying
for their own education. Conversely, if the
student's parents are illegal aliens and are
paying the in-state tuition, then the situa
tion would be unfair because illegal aliens
do not pay state taxes, she said.
"Out-of-state tuition is fair for out-of-state
parents because they don't contribute taxes
back to the state," Close said. "The same
Turn to Bill, page 3
Council votes
to expand DPS
responsibilities
In a 7-1 decision, the Eugene City Council voted to allow
some Department of Public Safety officers to issue citations
for certain municipal violations on University premises
By Jan Tobias Montry
Managing Editor
The Eugene City Council voted Monday night overwhelmingly
to grant University Department of Public Safety officers expanded
powers for issuing citations.
The expanded powers will allow commissioned officers —
those with extra training — to cite students and non-students for
municipal violations occurring on campus, such as minor in pos
session of alcohol and noise-related offenses.
Many councilors decried the process of bringing the issue to
the city at a time when students aren't on campus, but only Ward
2 City Councilor Betty Taylor openly attacked the proposal's mer
its and cast the lone opposing vote.
"I have great doubts about giving this kind of authority to peo
ple other than a police force," she said. "I think we need to give
people a chance to bring up arguments against it."
Other councilors praised what they felt was a cost-saving and
safety-increasing proposal, especially Ward 4 City Council George
Poling, a retired Eugene Police Department officer.
"This is not an issue concerning trying to change the behavior
of anybody, * he said. "It's a safety issue."
Turn to DPS, page 4
84,000 students
to lose federal aid
The budget of the Federal Pell Grant, the largest federal
student aid program, could be slashed by $270 million;
about 4,400 students at the University receive the grant
By Ayisha Yahya
Reporter
Thousands of students nationwide may lose their financial aid
eligibility in the 2004-05 school year, due to changes in the U.S.
Department of Education's formula that determines a student's
level of financial need.
According to a Congressional Research Service memo, about
84,000 previously eligible students may no longer qualify for fi
nancial aid under the new formula.
The Department of Education adjusts its financial aid eligibility
formula each year, using tax figures from previous years to determine
how much parents can contribute to their children's education.
The U.S. Department of Education may also slash about $270
million in Federal Pell Grants, which would reduce the size of fi
nancial aid packages for low-income students that still qualify for
aid. The Pell Grant is the largest federal grant program, with
awards ranging from $400 to $4,050 for 2003-2004, according to
the University Office of Financial Aid Web site.
Office of Financial Aid Director Elizabeth Bickford said in an
e-mail interview that 4,101 University students received Pell
Grants in 2002-03. In the past school year, Bickford said the fi
nancial aid department disbursed almost $11 million in Pell
Grants to students. Overall, about 11,000 students currently re
ceive some form of financial aid from the University.
While students are likely to suffer if Pell Grants are reduced, fi
nancial aid officers cannot yet determine the exact impact.
"We do not have the formula for recalculating Pell eligibility to
Turn to Grant, page 8
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The University
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