NEWS BRIEF
PFC benchmark could
secure a $76,761 increase
in spending for 2004-05
Student groups could get a little
more money next year if the ASUO
Student Senate approves a bench
mark that the ASUO Programs Fi
nance Committee set last week. The
benchmark would secure a 1.6 per
cent increase in spending for the
2004-05 fiscal year.
The proposed benchmark increase
is far less than the 16.1 percent in
crease that was approved for the 2003
04 fiscal year because of fewer state
mandated increases this year, PFC
Chairman Adrian Gilmore said.
Last year, the state of Oregon man
dated increases totaling $62,230 for
items such as minimum wage increas
es. This year, the mandated increases
total just $18,523.
Overall, the PFC benchmark calls
for a $76,761 increase in spending,
which would result in a $4,908,830
total budget.
"What we do is we go through line
by line and approve each item in the
budget," Gilmore said. "It's basically
to give an estimate of what the budget
should be for next year."
Student groups can apply to the
committee for funding increases, at
which point PFC determines whether
the increase is warranted.
"Based on the evidence presented
(by student groups) at the (PFC) hear
ing, we decide if that number would
be appropriate or if there's another
number that might be appropriate,"
Gilmore said.
Gilmore said the intention of the
benchmark is to create a boundary for
PFC allocations. If PFC allocations ex
ceed the benchmark by less than sev
en percent, they must go to the Stu
dent Senate for approval. If the
allocations exceed the benchmark by
more than seven percent, however,
the matter is referred to the ballot for
students to decide.
The 2004-05 benchmark includes
$900 in start-up funding for new stu
dent groups. The new groups that
have sought funding are the Associa
tion of School Psychology Students,
Art 1 listory, Family Law and Practice
and U-Lindy, a swing dance group.
— Chuck Slothower
UO professor earns national position
Alec Murphy is now the
president of a geography
organization that boasts
nearly 8,000 members
By Jared Paben
News Reporter
As a child, Alec Murphy liked to plan
trips by poring over maps and atlases.
On plane flights he insisted on riding in
the window seat where he could study
the patterns made by the landscape.
1 le was fascinated with the world.
Murphy has been a geography pro
fessor at the University for 16 years
and has risen through the ranks of
the geography world to take the pres
idency of the Association of Ameri
can Geographers, a national organi
zation comprised of close to 8,000
geography professionals and stu
dents from 62 countries.
"He's a real leader on campus as
well as in the national arena," said
Murphy's colleague Cathy Whitlock,
who recently finished two years as
president of the American Quaternary
Association, a national organization
for the study of the environment
throughout the last two million years.
"He's a very important voice on pro
viding a geographical perspective on
current events that are happening
both nationally and internationally."
As president of the Association of
American Geographers, Murphy has
many hats to wear, he explained.
I le attends regional meetings, which
take him around the United States
every week, and delivers keynote ad
dresses, which he said give him some
influence over what people in the geog
raphy world are thinking about.
In addition to personal prestige,
Murphy said there are other benefits
to sitting in the "hot seat."
"It's also a chance to enhance the
visibility of the University of Oregon
and our department here," he said. "I
think we're already a visible and well
known department. The fact that I
can go around the country not only
as president of the AAG but as a pro
fessor of geography at the University
of Oregon I think enhances the
standing of our program."
Murphy was elected as vice presi
dent of AAG in 2002-03 before as
cending to the presidency this year.
1 le first joined AAG as a graduate
student at the University of Chicago,
where his focus was and still is politi
cal and cultural geography with an
emphasis on Europe. He said that
was one of the reasons he was no
ticed by the geography world.
"Doing a lot of things having to do
with the geopolitical changes unfold
ing in the wake of European integra
tion and the collapse of the post-World
War II order, I was able to develop a
body of scholarship that was some
what recognized," he explained.
He also drew attention through his
instrumental work in lobbying the
College Board of New York to add ge
ography to the list of Advanced Place
ment classes in U.S. high schools.
"Doing things of that sort I
suppose gradually increases your
Turn to PROFESSOR, page 6
Guster performs at packed Eugene venue
The eclectic Boston band
played its mellow brand
of rock to a full McDonald
Theatre on Thursday
By Carl Sundberg
Pulse Columnist
Boston-based group Guster
brought its soulful and catchy mu
sic to the McDonald Theatre for the
first time on Thursday. Despite it be
ing Guster's first Eugene perform
ance, the McDonald was a packed
house of ecstatic fans.
Ihe highly entertaining Trachten
burg Family Slideshow Players kicked
off the show. They called themselves
an "indie-vaudeville conceptual art
rock pop band," and, yes, they are an
actual family. Member Jason Trachten
burg switched between guitar and key
boards and sang the songs, with wife
Tina operating the slideshow projector.
Their young daughter, Pina, kept the
songs together on drums. This per
formance was a one-of-a-kind experi
ence because every song was based on
images found at yard sales, which were
projected on the screen behind them.
After the Trachtenburg Family
completed their set, the house lights
went down again and the mostly
Turn to GUSTER, page 6
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Guster performed for the first time in Eugene at the McDonald Theatre on Thursday. The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players opened.
/tudent
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