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http://www.dailyemerald.com
Monday, April 19, 2004
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 105, Issue 136
UO supporters
give $12 million
for scholarships
The donations will benefit University students
through Presidential and Dean’s scholarships,
as well as scholarships for individual colleges
By Chelsea Duncan
Senior News Reporter
A group of Oregon philanthropists is bringing new hope to
students during a dark period of budget cuts to higher education
in the form of a $ 12 million donation for scholarships.
University President Dave Frohnmayer announced the gifts,
which will fund about 100 scholarships per year, at a press con
ference in Portland on Wednesday He said the funds, donated by
15 alumni and University supporters, exemplify the generosity of
the University's "family and friends."
"The generosity of our donors ensures that the University of
Oregon can continue to attract the state's best and brightest stu
dents and that all qualified students, regardless of family income,
can enjoy the opportunities that result from a University of Ore
gon education," he said in a University press release.
The funds include a pledge from Ann and Bill Swindells Chari
table Trust of Portland that will fund 32 Presidential Scholarships
per year. William Swindells is a 1979 University graduate and is
Turn to GIFTS, page 8
NEWS BRIEF
ASUO general election voting ends today
Today is the final day to vote in the ASUO 2004-2005 general
election, and a total of 11 student government seats, including the
ASUO Executive, are still up for grabs.
Voting ends at 5 p.m.
To vote, click on DuckWeb on the main University Web site,
http://www.uoregon.edu/. Log onto DuckWeb, click on Student
Menu and a link for the 2004 elections will appear.
— Jennifer Marie Bear
International Night to remember
The sold-out event Saturday evening celebrated a kaleidoscope of culture
Senior Ayaka Yonezawa performs an adaptation of the Okinawan Eisah, which is traditionally
performed at the midsummer festival of Bon (Festival of the Dead), at International Night.
By Jonah Schrogin
Freelance Reporter
Exotic flavors of food, colorful decora
tions and stylish costumes were some of
the elements at the sold-out International
Night 2004 Sunday evening.
The International Student Association
sponsored the 41st annual International
Night, the largest cultural event on cam
pus. More than 170 volunteers, 28 com
mittee heads and ISA members and 16 in
terns and officers helped put on the event.
The evening started with about 50 vol
unteers serving one of 22 cultural dishes in
the EMU Skylight Lounge. 1'he food was
from 16 different countries.
"This is like an international tapas bar,"
sophomore Laura Johnson said. She
added that "the peas are damn tasty," re
ferring to the pea curry from Tanzania.
Sophomore Jose Delapaz had high
compliments for the food.
"The Chinese food tasted like it came
from a restaurant," he said.
Other items included Mediterranean
feta spread from Egypt, bubble tea from
China and fried fish in peanut sauce from
Congo.
Sophomore Jessica Bryan, a food com
mittee head, said she has been preparing
for this event for 10 weeks.
"I didn't know what I was getting myself
into," she said.
Volunteers had been cooking all week
end in preparation for the event.
"The dedication of the cooks that came
in was amazing," Bryan said. She added
that she enjoyed working with people
from different ethnic backgrounds and ap
preciated everyone's perspectives.
A book of the recipes can be found in
Turn to CULTURE, page 4
Use of Internet campaigning as political tool grows
Use of the Internet by candidates to reach
voters and by citizens to gain political news has
increased since the 2000 presidential election
By Steven Neuman
News Reporter
Four years ago, the media dubbed the 2000 presidential elec
tion as the first test of the Internet's potential political prowess,
and today even more politicians and Americans are using the
Internet for political purposes.
The Internet has crept slowly into the very nature of politi
cal campaigns. According to the Pew Internet and American
Life Project, 33 percent of Americans said they regularly or
sometimes leam something about election campaigns from the
Internet, a 9 percent increase since January 2000.
Although use of the Internet as a news source is growing,
most people still rank television as the medium they use most.
When voters do turn to the Internet they feel most comfortable
using the Web sites of news organizations that have a strong
basis in older mediums. Twenty-eight percent say they regular
ly or sometimes leam from major news organization Web sites,
compared to 8 percent who leam from online-only news mag
azines and opinion sites.
The Pew survey also found more people are going online for
the sole purpose of getting news or information about the 2004
elections. Overall, 22 percent of all Americans who go online
turn to the Internet with the goal of informing themselves
about the election, and 21 percent of young people reported
that they regularly get campaign news from the Internet.
The same amount said they regularly watched from comedy
shows such as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "Satur
day Night Live" for political coverage, according to the report.
Relying on the Internet as a source of campaign information is
strongly correlated with knowledge about the candidates and
the campaign, according to the survey. As Americans become
more Internet-savvy, campaign Web sites have become the focal
point for politicans in the national, state and local races to mo
bilize supporters, raise funds and tout their platforms.
In the past year Democratic presidential hopeful and former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean used his Web site to mobilize a le
gion of supporters and raise approximately $40 million, large
ly in small donations, according to the survey.
Even candidates for more small-scale positions recognize the
power of the Internet.
ASUO Executive candidates Adam Petkun and Mena Ravas
sipour, who won a slot in the general election after a victory in
die primaries Wednesday night, made an early choice to have a
Web site, http://www.AdamandMena.com, to provide detailed
information about their platform and experience.
"The idea was that when we would make contact with people
on the street or wherever we could give them more detail and
have more impact," Petkun said. "We talked with a lot of peo
ple about campaign strategy who had done this kind of thing
before and we heard that it was something that a lot of people
had mentioned."
Petkun said the campaign still included posters and fliers,
but that each flyer had the web address in addition to other
messages.
Ravissipour said as a student she knew how powerful the In
ternet could be as a research tool.
"I know that I'm online a lot and when I'm researching dif
ferent things I use the Internet," she said "We wanted to make
sure that students and the voting population were properly ed
ucated about our information."
However, Petkun and Ravassipour were the only ASUO ex
ecutive candidates to put up a site and promote it.
Candidate Ben Strawn, who is also running for the executive
position in the general election, said his campaign made a con
scious choice not to use a Web site.
"We felt it was a passive move, to just put information out there
Turn to CAMPAIGN, page 6
WEATHER
LOW
45
HIGH
58
M ♦ M
INSIDE
Campus buzz.8
Classifieds.14
Commentary..2
' ♦ / • * * ♦
Crossword.15
Nation & World.5,14
Sports.9
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