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Bill Clinton's 'My Life' Page 9
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 106, Issue 12
JUNIOR OLYMPIANS
Photo Illustration Erik R. Bishoff
Athletes from around the country converge on Hayward Field Wednesday to take part in the 2004 Junior Olympics, the largest track and field event ever held on campus. The
competition will continue through Sunday.
TRACK in business
Hayward Field hosts the Junior Olympics and Eugene works to accommodate the influx of athletes and supporters
MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
FREELANCE REPORTER
What is the city of Eugene
expected to do with
5,657 Junior Olympians
and their families?
Why feed them, house them, and
entertain them, of course.
Starting Tuesday and continuing
through Sunday, Hayward Field is
host to the 38th annual USA Ju
nior Olympic Track and Field
Championships, the largest track
and field event ever held in the
Willamette Valley.
The event's effect on the city of
Eugene is tremendous. Every hotel
in Eugene and the surrounding area
is full and many visitors are being
forced to stay as far away as Florence
or Salem, said Pat Phillips, vice pres
ident of conventions marketing for
the Convention and Visitors Associ
ation of Lane County Oregon.
"It's definitely impacting, in a
positive way, the hotel communi
ty," she said.
The influx of people was expect
ed, Phillips said, and something the
city has been preparing for since
USA Track and Field announced Eu
gene as the selected host city nearly
three years ago.
"We knew what the impact was
going to be for the community,"
Phillips said.
Part of the reason for the shortage
of vacant hotels in the Eugene area
comes from the unexpected loss of
the Doubletree Hotel, which recent
ly shut down, Phillips said. The
hotel had more than 200 rooms fit
to occupy multiple people. "That's a
whole bunch of rooms that are now
not available," she said.
With one fewer hotel available
for shelter-seeking sports fans, the
University's residence halls are
housing more than twice as many
people as was originally expected.
Housing officials originally set
aside 400 beds for the occasion;
1,000 are currently occupied, Uni
versity Housing Food Services Di
rector Tom Driscoll said.
"The residence halls are there to
provide a sort of'serve space,' in case
community hotels cannot handle
the influx of people," Driscoll said.
Corvallis is hosting the Oregon
Special Olympics this same
week, making even fewer hotels
available and thus making the
space provided by University
Housing much needed.
With more than 1,100 participants,
the Special Olympics has about one
fifth as many participants as the Ju
nior Olympics, but still decreases the
number of rooms in the area open to
Junior Olympic participants.
"There's not as much space avail
able in Corvallis as there would typ
ically be if the Special Olympics
were not there," Phillips said.
But, with opening ceremonies
that began Wednesday night for
the Junior Olympics, Phillips said
housing has been the only press
ing problem organizers have en
countered. Feeding and
Please see OLYMPICS, page 3
Medieval
Studies
major to
start in fall
The program aims to enhance its
ability to attract competitive
students and faculty members
BEN BROWN
NEWS REPORTER
Break out your doublet and hose and
crack open those Old English epics, for
thou art about to enter the kingdom of
medieval knowledge.
You may have read your Chaucer, and
you might even be able to recite the casu
alty reports from the Battle of Hastings.
You may even have built a trebuchet in
your backyard as a kid, but thanks to re
cent approval by the Oregon University
System, you will be able to get a four-year
degree for it.
History Professor John Nicols said that
for the past eight years there has been talk
of making medieval studies its own major,
but until this summer, the paperwork had
not been submitted. Now that it has, Uni
versity students can start taking classes
from a new, independent Medieval Stud
ies Program in the fall.
For the past decade, the University has
offered medieval studies both as a minor
and a focus in the humanities majors.
Associate Professor of English Martha
Bayless said the plan has always been for
medieval studies to become an inde
pendent program. It started as a subdivi
sion of humanities, because the smaller
Please see MAJORS, page 4
Museum
opening
postponed
until '05
Curators will work to move
and display the museum's
thousands of pieces of art
BEN BROWN
NEWS REPORTER
The opening of the University's newly
renamed Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
has been delayed yet again, from October
2004 to January 2005.
Museum spokeswoman Katy Sproles
said the opening was rescheduled by the
museum's board of directors because of
the complexity of moving and unpacking
more than 12,000 pieces of art.
Sproles said the board delayed the
opening to ensure the safety and effective
Erik R. Bishoff Online & Photo Editor
Lile Moving and Storage employee Rick Holcumb moves artwork into a new 4,000-square-foot gallery
at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art Wednesday morning.
display of the art, Sproles said.
"We weren't going to be able to provide
our visitors with the experience they de
serve," said Sproles.
Temporary walls and fixtures must be
built to display the art, but Sproles said this
work had to wait until all of the galleries
were complete, because it must be done in
side the building — formerly named the
University of Oregon Museum of Art. This
has been made especially complex because
the building has doubled in size, allowing
curators to display approximately four
Please see MUSEUM, page 3
NEWS BRIEF
Bill funds brain research,
nanotechnology at University
The University is slated to receive a total of $8 million
dollars for brain function research and nanotechnology
from the federal government, thanks to a Department of
Defense appropriations bill passed July 22 and awaiting
President Bush's signature.
The bill includes a $3 million grant for the Brain, Biology
and Machine Initiative (BBMI) and an additional $5 mil
lion for the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies In
stitute (ONAMI). The passage of the bill will marks the sixth
consecutive year that the BBMI has received federal funding.
University Vice President for Research and Graduate Stud
ies Rich Linton joined University President Dave Frohnmay
er in characterizing the continued support as recognition of
the University's research prowess and as welcome publicity.
'The new hinds will accelerate the pace and impact of the
research, will deepen collaborative partnerships, will en
hance the quality of the UO's research facilities, and will
help UO scientists garner additional grant funding," Linton
said in a press release.
Frohnmayer said the grant was good news for the University
and the state as well.
"Our researchers will be working on the development of new
products and processes that could have broad applications in the
lives of Oregonians," Frohnmayer said in the release.
The BBMI program 'integrates the UO's internationally recog
nized strengths in cognitive neuroscience, molecular
Please see BRIEF, page 3