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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 2003)
An independent newspaper http://www.dailyemerald.com Ducks secure win No. 3 against Gonzaga Page 5 Wednesday, November 26, 2003 Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Volume 105, Issue 64 LUNCHTIME LAUGHTER Marc Weiss (center), a sports marketing and management student, works at the EMU’s Subway and even has the e-mail handle "subway dude." He hangs out with his co workers, history major Dan Chinnock (right) and theater arts major Tedra Engle (left), during a lull in the Monday evening flow of customers. Tim Bobosky Photographer Serving up a smile By using humor in their workplace, EMU Subway employees raise the spirits of stressed students By Jared Paben News Reporter When a spontaneous food fight broke out at Subway on Monday afternoon, two-year em ployee Marc Weiss went straight for the vinegar. With Linkin Park's "Faint" blaring in the back ground, a battle ensued, with both sides firing vinegar and oil at each other. Ihen, Weiss land ed one decisive squirt of vinegar in co-worker Dan Chinnock's mouth and ended it. While Weiss went for the vinegar without hesitation, it isn't usually his weapon of choice. Usually he lobs tomato slices at his co-workers. "Sometimes we just start throwing food at each other, when nobody's looking so we don't get into trouble," said Weiss, a junior studying sports marketing and management. 'Tomatoes are the best to throw. The tomatoes stick and leave juice all over you. We just pick whatever veggies are there. We don't pick the meat, just the veggies, because they fly easier." The EMU Subway employees may be a bunch of jokers, but on the positive side, that makes them a regular therapy session for grumpy, stressed-out students, Weiss said. A line of hungry people forms at Subway between noon and 3 p.m. every weekday that often extends all the way to the elevator in the EMU. But, even then, the Subway em ployees manage to keep their cool. With the efficiency of a well-oiled machine, or a "per feet assembly line" as Weiss puts it, they each take their positions at the line. One person greets customers and cuts the bread, the next lays down the cheese and so on. But, unlike a machine, they manage to keep the personality in their work, cracking jokes and teasing each other and their customers. "Students are students, man," Weiss said. "Ihey come and they think they need their food right away and they hate waiting in line. But once they get there you just joke around with them and make them laugh and make them feel like they're welcome. We like joking around with people. I'm a joker. I'm the biggest goof-off there. I laugh with everybody." His co-worker Shanna Brower agreed, calling Weiss the "loudest, most obnoxious" of any of Turn to SUBWAY, page 8 Officials convey flu shot benefits The University Health Center offers flu shots to students, and medical professionals expect a severe flu season By Ali Shaughnessy Senior News Reporter Runny noses, coughing fits and high fevers have been taking over students as the influenza rages through Eugene. The University Health Center has ad ministered more than 2,000 flu shots dur ing fall term, Assistant Director of Nursing Sharon Harbert said. "It's going to be quite a severe flu sea son," she said, adding that in her 24 years at the health center, she has never seen a flu epidemic hit as early as it has this year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, the flu is a highly infectious disease of the lungs that can lead to pneumonia. Every year in the United States, ap proximately 114,000 people are hospi talized, and around 36,000 people die because of the flu. The majority of peo ple who die are more than 65 years old, but children younger than 2 years old can also be hit hard. 1 larbert said getting a flu shot is one so lution to keeping students and staff as healthy as possible. University junior Sonja Greene hasn't had a flu shot since she moved out of her parents house, but said she is debating get ting one this year because of the amount of people getting sick. "Everywhere 1 turn, someone new has the flu," she said. "At work, in class, at home. It's almost frightening." There is no reason for the rapid onset of Turn to FLU, page 8 Course evaluations provide useful measuring tool Students and faculty find evaluations helpful for improving the quality of education and teaching methods By Chuck Slothower News Reporter Each term, students apply their pencils to multiple choice bubble forms to evaluate their instructors. These course evaluations help professors and gradu ate teaching fellows improve their teaching and pro vide a basis for others to review their performance, faculty and GTFs said. "1 find them quite helpful," said English Professor Warren Ginsberg, who also directs the English de partment. "Everybody I've talked to, which is just about everybody in the department, pays a good deal of attention to them." Many students also take course evaluations seriously. "It's just nice to have the knowledge of what stu dents think," senior Ricky Chen said. The Office of the Registrar offers results from course evaluations on its Web site at http://coursee vals.uoregon.edu/evals.cfm. The results of four questions listed on course eval uations — which evaluate the course, instructor, effi ciency or lack of efficiency in the use of class time and availability of the instructor outside of class time — are rated on a numerical scale. Several faculty members said course evalua tions are routinely used to assess the perform ance of professors when considering raises, tenure and promotions. "Teaching is always taken into account, and course evaluations are part of that," Ginsberg said. Sociology GTF Nick Lougee said course evalua tions are particularly important for graduate stu dents who want to become professors because they weigh more in a hiring decision if a school doesn't have a graduate school of its own. "Most of the jobs are in schools without graduate Turn to EVALUATION, page 8 WEATHER T INSIDE NEXT ISSUE Campus buzz.8 Classifieds.7 Commentary.2 Crossword.7 Pulse.4 Sports.5 Part one of five: Why students cheat
