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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 23, 2004)
An independent newspaper http://www.dailyemerald.com Friday, April 23, 2004 Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Volume 105, Issue 140 A perfect four Senior Megan Hughes will graduate having left her markwith work onfour successful ASUO Executive campaigns By Moriah Balingit News Reporter Some people will do just about any thing to get themselves elected. And some people, such as campaign man ager Megan Hughes, will do just about anything to get someone else elected. \ Iughes, a senior advertising major who coordinated this year's campaign for ASIIO Executive candidates Adam Petkun and Mena Ravassipour, has been involved in successful ASIIO campaigns since her freshman year. I Iughes was also on board for Nilda Brooklyn and Joy Nair's cam paign in 2001, Rachel Pilliod and Ben Buzbee's campaign in 2002, and Maddy Melton and Eddy Morales' campaign this past year. So far, she's 4-0. And sometimes, the going was tough. Hughes described the lengths she went to in order to get Pilliod and Buzbee elected as ASUO president and vice president. "I would run around in a gorilla suit for three hours a day," she said, describing the unusual campaign tactics. Hughes got her start in ASUO politics as a legislative intern her freshman year. She said she felt "privileged" when she was asked to work for the Brooklyn-Nair cam paign and served as a part of the core group. "You want to make sure someone re sponsible gets elected," Hughes said. "It's something (that) fulfilled my goals for the year to make students aware of issues on campus." During her sophomore year, Hughes worked as co-manager on the Pilliod Buzbee campaign. Pilliod was her room mate and one of her best friends at the time. I Iughes and Pilliod met in the ASUO as freshmen when both served as interns. Together with fellow ASUO intern Sandy Newton, the three were recognized as ris ing stars and were dubbed "superstar in terns" within the ASUO, Hughes said. The three ended up rooming together the year Pilliod ran for executive. Last year, 1 Iughes worked as a co-organ izer for ASUO President Melton and Vice President Morales' campaign. When Melton and Morales won the primary with a slim 19-vote margin, I Iughes heavily in volved herself to secure the general elec tion victory. In spite of her perfect record, Hughes wasn't initially planning to work on a campaign this year. "I was very hesitant when Adam (Petkun) approached me," she said. Hughes feared the campaign would get in the way of her hectic class sched ule, but in the end, she chose to make the commitment. "I'm so far behind in classes it's ridicu lous," she said. "(But) it was important for me to see Adam and Mena get elect ed ... because I know they'll do a phe nomenal job." Petkun selected Hughes for the job be cause of her extensive experience and lim itless energy. "When you're feeling tired, she's still going," he said. Turn to HUGHES, page 5 Megan Hughes, the campaign manager for Adam and Mena, discusses voter apathy and campaign issues during an interview in the EMU’s Buzz on Thursday morning. Tim Bobosky Photographer Panel addresses history, legality of gay marriage Professors discuss parallels between the denial of marriage licenses to gay couples and historical bans against interracial relationships By Parker Howell News Reporter In light of the recent battle over the legali ties of same-sex marriages, a panel of political science and law professors discussed myths, interpretations, history and legal aspects of the controversy during a symposium Thursday evening. The presentation, entitled "Perfect Unions? The Politics and Law of Same-Sex Marriage," fea tured political science Associate Professor Scott Barclay from the State University of New York-Albany, New School for Social Research political science doctoral student Priscilla Yamin, University political science Associate Professor Julie Novkov and University law Pro fessor Dom Vetri. Each panelist touched on different aspects of the gay marriage debate. Barclay identified several "myths" about the is sue of same-sex marriage, such as that many state governments have always been hostile toward same-sex marriage and that legal action sur rounding the controversy is a recent occurrence. "This issue is neither new, nor is it likely to disappear soon," Barclay said. Yamin spoke about different interpretations of marriage. She said marriage has been viewed both as an institution for the good of society and for the welfare of private citizens. Yapiin also gave historical examples of instances when marriage was restricted for other groups, such as slaves and women who married foreign nationals. "Marriage has been both an enabling and a restraining process," she said. Novkov analyzed the history of anti-interra cial relationship sentiment in the United States, comparing and contrasting it with the denial of marriage to same-sex couples. She said the two issues are similar because they relate to society's "fundamental" idea of the family as central to producing offspring. Marriage has been used to Turn to PANEL, page 12 Psychology study earns publication Professor Edward Vogel's visual awareness study results were published in the April 15 issue of Nature magazine By Steven Neuman News Reporter A University professor has garnered na tional attention for his research into the number of objects a human can visually focus on at one time. Assistant Professor of psychology Ed ward K. Vogel and graduate student Maro G. Machizawa observed subjects while they performed a visual awareness test. During the test, the researchers discovered the brain activity that specifically relates to holding items "in mind." The research showed that although the human brain is acutely aware of the many objects in the world, people are only aware of three or four at any given time, demonstrating for the first time a direct relationship between brain nerve activity and memory capacity. "Despite our feeling of having a de tailed perception of our immediate en vironment, we are aware of only about three objects at any given time," Vogel said. "Some people are capable of being aware of more objects than others, and this ability greatly influences how good we are at performing many complex Turn to STUDY, page 3 NEWS BRIEF Special election ends today for Senate Seat 14 Special election voting to decide the winner of ASIIO Student Senate Seat 14 ends today at 5 p.m. Rodrigo Moreno-Villamar and Spencer 1 lardy, both political science majors, are competing for the position, which represents social science students. Social science majors may vote for the can didates using DuckWeb. Because of a DuckWeb error during the primary election, re sults for Senate Seats 10, 12 and 14 were thrown out. Seats 10 and 12 were decided in the general election, but Seat 14 required a special election because it had five competing candidates. The special election was the first of its kind in many years, said ASUO Elections Board spokesman Nathan Strauss. — Jared Paben WEATHER LOW 38 HIGH 63 INSIDE Campus buzz.4 Classifieds.11 Commentary.2 Crossword.11 Nation & World.5 Sports.7 NEXT ISSUE Club sailing to sell raffle tickets
