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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2004)
An independent newspaper www.dailyemerald.com Tuesday, July 27, 2004 Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Volume 106, Issue 11 REPRESENTING OREGON Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor Members of the ASUO met with Oregon Representative Phil Barnhart at the McMenamins East 19th Street Cafe Thursday afternoon to address tuition and other higher education issues. On behali or students Oregon Representative Phil Barnhart and student leaders discuss higher education concerns OMIE DRAW HORN NEWS REPORTER It was a lazy Thursday afternoon at The McMenamins East 19th Street Cafe. Customers enjoyed burgers, brews and sodas, while laughing and joking, but ASUO President Adam Petkun and other representatives from ASUO and Lane Community College were there to talk politics with a man who knows the ropes in the state legislature — Oregon Representative Phil Barnhart. The setting was casual, and the tone lighthearted, but both sides were there with an agenda: Petkun said the meeting was part of a statewide effort in which college representatives meet with legisla tors to talk about higher education. The representatives from the Oregon Student Association, ASUO and LCC concentrated on issues such as improving voter registration, the Childcare Block Grant, and the Oregon Opportunity Grant, allowing undocumented immi grants to pay in-state tuition to attend col lege, and the funding of the Oregon Uni versity System. OSA representative Courtney Hight said that OSA's goal is to register 30,000 students statewide, in cluding 7,500 at the University. "Not only do you have to make sure they get registered, but once you've got them registered, you have to get them to vote," Barnhart said. ASUO acknowledges this is an issue it will have to work on. Another issue important to students is the Childcare Block Grant, LCC Student Body President Tony McCown said. rlhe legisla ture allotted $ 1 million for this grant which gave childcare to 230 families that wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise. "We are asking for another half-million dollars to allow another 100 families to receive that childcare," McCown said. A family of four must have an annual income of less than $31,000 to qualify for Please see BARNHART, page 3 East Campus expansion plan moves forward The University will review land-use plans with the Fairmount Neighbors association and the city will fund a study of traffic in the area BEN BROWN NEWS REPORTER After more than a year of negotiations, the University Planning Office and the Fairmount Neighbors association have reached an agreement that will allow the University to expand into the resi dential land east of campus. During a June 23 meeting, the Eugene City Council performed a final review of the University plan for the East Campus project area, which includes most of the land bounded by East 15th and East 19th avenues and by Agate and Villard streets. The University hopes to use this land for housing, additional parking and expan sion of the Knight Law School, according to University Planning Director and Architect Chris Ramey. Preferring not to fight a long, drawn-out battle with the people living in the surrounding Fairmount neighborhood, University Planning Associate Christine Thompson told members of the City Club of Eugene Friday that the University arranged meetings with the people living in that area to review and amend the planned expansion in order to create a plan both sides would be happy with. At the meeting, Eugene City Planner Alan Lowe praised the Please see CAMPUS, page 3 NEWS BRIEF High School Equivalency Program funding extended The University has recently secured a $455,000 grant to con tinue its High School Equivalency Program. The program — which must reapply for funding every five years — helps youth and young adults obtain their high school diplomas. "This is a win-win program," University HEP Director Emilio Hernandez said in a press release. "Students that participate in the program have a rare opportunity to be exposed to a Univer sity setting, and many often go on to attend college." Hernandez thanked U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) — who called HEP an "invaluable" program — for his work in extending the program's funding, whose future was in doubt until recently. The University has offered its HEP program, among the longest-running in the nation, since 1967. — Travis Wilke Heat-triggered sprinkler causes Agate Hall flood Thousands of dollars of damage was caused by flooding Friday in the Oregon Bach Festival office OMIE DRAWHORN NEWS REPORTER A heat-sensitive sprinkler head located near a sky light in Agate Hall set off the building's sprinkler sys tem Friday, causing thousands of dollars of water damage in the Oregon Bach Festival office. Computers, printers, files, electronics and carpets were destroyed or damaged when the sprinkler head, which sits behind a skylight blind that presumably trapped in heat, reached 130 degrees and set off the system, Building Manager Jima Britain said. The sprinkler head has a fusible link, which melts when the temperature gets high enough, said Ron Bloom, operations manager for Facilities Services. "When the link melts, water flows," Bloom ex plained, adding that the sprinkler system released hundreds of gallons of water, leaving over an inch of water on the floor. Nobody was in the office — a central office area with five work stations — during the incident, but sev eral people were working in adjacent offices. About 11 people were affected by the damage. "I heard a loud crash," said festival accountant Sandy Cummings, who was working in a nearby of fice when the incident occurred. Cummings then said she heard a sound which she later found was running water, and rushed to call Uni versity Facilities Services. "The whole floor flooded for like 10 minutes (be fore Facilities Services arrived)," she said. Please see FLOOD, page 4 Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor University Facilities Services laborer Kyle Spangler assists in the cleanup of the Oregon Bach Festival office after a sprinkler, triggered by the extreme temperatures of a recent heat wave, flooded the Agate Hall offices Friday afternoon.
