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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 2004)
An independent newspaper http://www.dailyemerald.com Phinisee ready for junior season Page 13 Thursday, April 15, 2004 Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Volume 105, Issue 134 University Senate prioritizes students' privacy The Senate decides privacy rights override PATRIOT Act requests for information about students By Jennifer Marie Bear News Editor The University Senate Wednesday affirmed the need to protect the privacy of student records and to scale back the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. The Senate voted to adopt a policy statement on the subpoena of student records that instructed faculty and staff members not to com ply unquestioningly with law enforcement re quests for information. "While privacy issues are governed by both state and federal law, the University's interest in privacy goes far beyond its commitment to com ply with law," the statement declared. "Privacy is an integral part of the academic freedom that is at the heart of the function of the modem uni versity. Students, faculty and staff should be aware that the University supports their freedom to inquire, discuss and experiment with ideas without fear of improper government intrusion or public exposure." The policy statement states that all outside re quests for information and student records should be examined by the University General Counsel's office before the information is dis closed, and in no case should any disclosure pro ceed without the authorization of the University. The University Senate also voted to petition the Oregon congressional delegation to seek revi sions of the USA PATRIOT Act to eliminate what senators labeled liberty-restricting provisions. Gordon Lafer, a professor with the Universi ty's Labor Education and Research Center, submitted the petition, which states, 'The Uni versity of Oregon University Senate calls upon the Oregon Congressional Delegation to pro mote the First Amendment rights, privacy rights and traditional civil, intellectual, academic and political liberties of the University Community by seeking appropriate revision of those sections of die PATRIOT Art and other related Orders of provisions of law that impose unjusdfiable bur dens on these rights and liberties." The Senate approved the petition by a nearly unanimous vote. Turn to SENATE, page 16 Poll shows Bush leads Sen. Kerry in Oregon Bush is ahead 2 percentage points in the state according to a University-conducted poll By Chelsea Duncan . Senior News Reporter A recently released University survey shows President George W. Bush has a '' narrow edge over Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in Oregon. The survey of 444 registered Oregon voters, conducted between March 19 and April 7, shows Bush leading Kerry 47 per cent to 45 percent, according to a Univer sity press release. The results are within the poll's margin of error of 4.7 percent. Political science Assistant Adjunct Pro fessor Joel Bloom, who directed the sur vey, said the results show that either party could succeed in taking Oregon in the No vember election. Bloom said Oregon is a close state this year, much like it was in the 2000 election. He added that Oregon has typically been considered a Democratic Party-supporting state, but over the years the Republican Party has been making headway. "Oregon is really less of a safe Democ ratic state than it was," he said. "This is a state that Democrats are going to have to work hard for." He said even though Democrats have taken Oregon in the last four elections, former Vice President Al Gore took Ore gon by fewer than 7,000 votes in the 2000 election. "Despite a Democratic edge in party registration, the state does seem to be trending Republican, making it a critical state for Democrats to hold onto, and pro viding Republicans with a golden oppor tunity for a pick-up," he said in the release. Turn to BUSH, page 3 2004 ASUO PRIMARY ELECTIONS Tim Bobosky Photographer Rona Yang (bottom center), a freshman running for Student Senate Seat 13, and a crowd of about 20 students read the ASUO primary election results moments after they were posted on ASUO’s office door Wednesday evening. And then there were two Several ASUO races are still upfor grabs after the primaries By Jared Paben Senior News Reporter he ASUO primary election has paired Adam Petkun and Mena Ravassipour against Ben Strawn and Diana Aguilar in a battle for ASUO Executive in the upcoming general election. The primary election results, which came in at around 7 p.m. Wednesday, showed students cast 773 votes for the Petkun/Ravassipour ticket and 654 votes for the Strawn/Aguilar ticket. Adrian Gilmore came in third with 371 votes. A total of 2,465 students, or 14.05 percent of the student body, voted in the primary election. That number falls short of the ASUO Election Board's goal of 25 percent turnout. Last year, 15.22 percent of stu dents voted in the primary. Candidates winning more than 50 percent of the votes win the contested seat. Petkun said even before seeing the results he was hopeful about his ticket's chances, citing positive reactions from students on campus. "I can't even speak right now," Petkun said. "In all seriousness, I was definitely hopeful. We were getting good reactions from everyone. We were feeling pretty good about things." Strawn said the results showed that his ticket has room for improvement. "I was pretty optimistic about getting into the generals," Strawn said. "I feel like if you look at the platforms, I feel like we have the most relevant set of issues, and I think we have the best chance of getting our goals accomplished." Gilmore said he wasn't surprised that he didn't make it into the general election. "When you don't have any money and you can't have your friends dance around in front of the EMU and do other stuff for you, you're not going to win," Gilmore said. "I'm disappointed that I won't be able to continue working for students. I think the problem is the elections are going to be OK and the status quo will begin again." This year's primary election was marred by a DuckWeb error that kept some students from voting for ASUO Student Senate academic seat candidates. Turn to ELECTIONS, page 4 Committee proposes EMU space renovations The partial plan would affect the Craft Center, Erb Essentials and the Women’s Center By Steven Neuman News Reporter The EMU Interim Planning Committee submitted its final recommendation for an estimated $223,016 in building reno vations to the EMU Board of Directors, which passed the plan 11-1 Wednesday. The board originally allocated $ 180,000 for the remodel and will cover the discrepancy between the two costs with money from a $ 1.3 million funding grant the University gave the EMU to im prove climate control. The recommendation, which is separate from a larger EMU remodeling Master Plan unveiled in May 2003, includes spe cific proposals for Erb Essentials, along with changes to the Craft Center, Women's Center and the north entrance. The reno vations are scheduled for this summer, and the proposed construction will be fin ished by fall. Board member Brandon Rhodes pre sented a possible layout for the space pre viously used by the EMU Child Care and Development Centers. The recommenda tion advocated moving the Craft Center into the free space and expanding the ex isting Women's Center. "We had to best use the space vacated by the CCDC. The Craft Center and the Women's Center, they're both really cramped to the point of possibly breaking health and safety laws," Rhodes said. EMU Director of Student Activities Gregg Lobisser said the plan could easily be completed in the allotted time with out causing existing offices or organiza tions to move. "1 suspect that there won't be much Turn to EMU, page 16 WEATHER INSIDE NEXT ISSUE LOW 40 HIGH 58 Campus buzz.4 Classifieds.14 Commentary.2 Crossword.15 Pulse.5 Sports.13 Examining students’ voter apathy
