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'Condom Queen’ gives Valentine goods
Missy Columbo spent
Friday in a crown and cape,
doling out condoms for the
Take it to the Streets program
By Lisa Catto
News Reporter
University junior Missy Columbo
may not be a superhero, but she did get
to wear a sparkly crown and red cape
with condoms attached to it Friday.
Columbo was dressed up as the
"Condom Queen" to offer Valentine
themed goodie packs with condoms
and lubricants to students she passed
on the streets.
"Happy Valentine's Day from
the Health Center," she told stu
dents. "Enjoy."
Columbo, a second-term peer
health educator with the University
Health Center's Peer Health Educa
tion program, was dressed up as part
of the health center's Take it to the
Streets program.
The program consists of peer
health educators walking around
campus handing out University
Health Center information to stu
dents. Generally they hand out well
ness packs with health center servic
es information and disinfectant
lotion, or reproductive packs with
information on contraceptives and
family planning services with a con
dom keychain.
According to Peer Health
Education Coordinator Ramah
Leith, the program was modeled
after a similar one at Binghamton
University in New York, but the
health center modified it to incor
porate campus events.
She thinks the program will im
prove awareness on campus.
"It's not to just get health informa
tion out," Leith said. "But to make
people aware of the health center."
Columbo said students seem re
ceptive to the program and that it
works best to hand people infor
mation while walking instead of
standing around and approaching
students.
"For the most part people are pret
ty interested, but you'll get some
people that are definitely not inter
ested," she said. "It gets a lot of in
formation to people who don't
come by the health center."
University sophomore Ursula
Evans-Heritage was participating in
the program for the first time Friday
and found that the people seemed re
sponsive, especially with someone
wearing condoms on a cape.
She became a peer health educa
tor last fall to raise awareness about
certain issues.
"I thought it seemed like a really
good way to get involved, and in high
school I did peer sex education,"
Evans-Heritage said.
Columbo joined for the leadership
opportunity and said she enjoys
walking around and meeting people.
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Peer Health Educator Missy Columbo was one of several students handing out candy,
condoms and hand sanitizer to students on Friday.
"It's one of my favorite things I've
done on campus in the three years I've
been here," she said.
The peer health program is a two
term class with the health center
that offers four credits per term. Sec
ond-term educators can pick a proj
ect to oversee. Evans-Heritage works
on the Suicide Prevention Task
Force and is the publicity coordina
tor for Take Back the Night, while
Columbo works with the Take it to
the Streets program.
Currently, the other peer educators ro
tate to work with Columbo to pass out
information. Leith said that the hours of
the program may be doubled next term
to have more educators around campus
passing out information. Also, they
hope to get yellow jackets that say "Peer
Health Educator" on the back to make
them more visible to students.
"We're not very recognizable,"
Columbo said. "We have side back
packs and we just look like students."
Leith added that students who
want to get involved in peer education
can pick up an application at the
health center today.
Contact the crime/
health/safety reporter
at lisacatto@dailyemerald.com.
Oregon court prohibits per-signature pay
The decision upheld 2002’s
Measure 26, which passed
by a two-to-one margin
By Nika Carlson
News Reporter
The U.S. District Court of Oregon
ruled Wednesday that prohibiting bal
lot petition circulators from being
paid for each signature they gather is
constitutional.
In a case that challenged Measure
26, which Oregonians voted in by a
two-to-one margin in November
2002, the plaintiffs said the law re
stricts free speech rights and the right
to petition for grievances.
The law seeks to prevent fraud in
the gathering of signatures on peti
tions. Under the law, petitioners can
still be paid an hourly wage.
The plaintiffs, three Oregonians in
volved in the petition process, said the
law restricts their right to political
speech by making the petition process
prohibitively expensive, inefficient
and subject to a higher rate of falsified
signatures, according to the judge's
opinion statement.
The plaintiffs could not be reached
for comment, but they are expected to
file an appeal.
Judge Ann Aiken relied heavily on
evidence of fraud in signature gather
ing in her decision, focusing in partic
ular on testimony and cases showing
that paying people by the number of
signatures they gather is a strong in
centive for forging names.
The strong public support for the
measure was also evidence that
there was an "interest in restoring
public confidence" in the ballot
measure process, Aiken wrote in
her decision.
"This was a very challenging case
for the state," said Kevin Neely,
spokesman for state Attorney Gen
eral Hardy Myers. He added that
the decision, in which the state was
the defendant, was "a very impor
tant victory."
"The initiative process has the
capacity to create enormous
change within the state and our so
ciety, and any effort to interfere
with that process can have excep
tional consequences," he said. "I
think the voters decided it was
more important to ensure the in
tegrity of that process than a free
speech assertion."
So you've seen the
Tibetan Exhibit in the IRC.
Now come see the
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Monday, February 23
6:30 p.m.
Gumwood Room
FREE info packets and
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“Red River Valley”
He added that the state asserts the
law prevents fraud and doesn't neces
sarily infringe of free speech.
University Professor Garrett
Epps, an expert in constitutional
law, said that the case was poten
tially a landmark one, though he
wasn't sure Aiken's decision would
stand up on appeal.
"There is, in fact, a matter of free
speech," he said.
Epps said he believed and wrote
when the measure was passed that it
was unconstitutional, saying it in
volves a "very serious First Amend
ment interest."
The law is a First Amendment is
sue because it deals with the way
that people spread their political
message, he said.
Epps added that the case required
Turn to MEASURE26, page 5
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