Today Thursday
High: 54
Low: 35
Precip: 10%
High: 54
Low: 35
Precip: 0%
High: 58
Low: 35
Precip: 0%
IN BRIEF
Car bombs kill
at least 12 in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Car bombs
killed at least a dozen people in
Baghdad and another major city
Tuesday as pressure mounted on in
terim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to
avert a full-scale U.S. attack on the in
surgent stronghold Fallujah. Mean
while, the kidnappers of aid worker
Margaret Hassan threatened to turn
her over to an al-Qaida faction led by
Jordanian militant Abu Musab al
Zarqawi unless Britain agreed within
48 hours to pull its troops from Iraq,
Al-Jazeera television reported.
Afghanistan kidnappers
say demands flexible
KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban
splinter group threatening to kill
three foreign U.N. hostages said Tues
day there was “some flexibility”
about their demands, which include
the world body’s withdrawal from
Afghanistan.
Government officials were opti
mistic the Iraq-style abduction could
end with the foreigners’ release but
said they had no contact with the kid
nappers one day before a deadline on
the hostages’ fate.
Jaish-al Muslimeen, or Army of
Muslims, claimed it abducted Annet
ta Flanigan of Northern Ireland, Fil
ipino diplomat Angelito Nayan and
Shqipe Habibi of Kosovo in the
Afghan capital Thursday. All three
hostages were in the country to help
manage its Oct. 9 presidential elec
tion, apparently won by U.S.-backed
interim leader Hamid Karzai.
Sudanese surround camps,
forcibly move refugees
KHARTOUM, Sudan — The Su
danese security forces surrounded
several camps in the war-torn region
of Darfur on Tuesday, relocated
refugees against their will and denied
access to humanitarian groups, the
United Nations said. Sudan denied
closing off the camps but said angry
Arab tribesmen gathered in the area.
The U.N. World Food Program said
several camps were surrounded —
apparently in retaliation for the ab
duction of 18 Arabs by Darfur rebels
— and that the world body was
forced to pull 88 relief workers from
other areas where there has been an
upsurge in violence in recent days.
The World Food Program fears the
government may start forcing people
from the camps back to their home
villages, where there is less protec
tion from government-backed mili
tias known as Janjaweed that have
been attacking towns, said spokes
woman Christiane Berthiaume.
— The Associated Press
National: Preliminary daims
have no bearing on outcome
Continued from page 1
As for Bush, declaring victory is
nothing more than a weapon in po
litical warfare. It has no bearing on
who will serve as president a minute
past noon Jan. 20, 2005, but the
White House hopes the tactic will
undercut challenges and create a
sense of inevitability about Bush’s
second term.
Not so fast, said Kerry’s team. De
mocrats were considering sending
political and legal teams to Ohio, al
ready the scene of dueling lawsuits
over provisional ballots. Inside the
Bush campaign, an intense debate
waged into the wee hours as some
aides said parachuting teams into
Ohio would only create a political
stalemate in a state Bush hopes he
has already won.
Florida fell into Bush’s lap with rel
ative ease. Kerry*took New Hamp
shire from Bush — the first and per
haps only state to switch parties —
but it has just four electoral votes.
That left Ohio as Kerry’s only hope.
The holdup was over provisional
ballots — those cast by people whose
qualifications to vote were chal
lenged. At 3 a.m. EST, Bush had a
lead of 125,000 votes; there were
more provisional ballots outstanding.
You're always close to campus.
—> www.dailyemerald.com
Enrollment, diversity grow
in 'strong' freshman dass
Despite an increased enrollment of students of color,
the number of international students has decreased
BY MORIAH BALINGIT
NEWS REPORTER
A fourth-week head count of the
University population indicates a
larger and smarter entering class
with more non-resident students,
more students of color, fewer inter
national students and more students
enrolled at the University overall.
Fourth-week enrollment statis
tics show the University popula
tion at 20,339, a 306-student in
crease from last fall, according to
the Registrar’s Office.
Director of Admissions Martha
Pitts said applications to the Univer
sity were down this year at 8,598,
but the University did receive more
complete applications. She said
3,009 students accepted the Univer
sity’s offer of admission, which is
250 more students than last year’s
freshman class. She added that a
greater proportion of students who
were admitted actually enrolled at
the University than last year.
“The students (that applied) were
more serious about attending the
University,” Pitts said.
Additionally, Pitts said this year’s
freshman class has a slightly lower
average grade point average, but a
higher average SAT score.
“It’s a very strong class,” she said.
About a third of the freshman
class, 953 students, is non-resi
dent, which Pitts said meets the
University’s goal.
“We think that it’s important that
they learn in a University with stu
dents with a wide variety of back
grounds,” Pitt said. “And geographic
diversity is part of that.”
The number of students of color
increased this year from 2,623 last
year to 2,706 this year, Pitts said.
Students of color constitute 13.3
percent of the whole University
population, a 0.3 percent increase
from last year. Statistics on students
of color do not include interna
tional students.
While Pitts said she was "thrilled"
with the increase, she added that "it's
certainly not the critical mass to cre
ate the kind of climate and learning
environment we'd like to see."
Pitts said the University has
stepped up its recruitment of stu
dents of color in recent years.
While the University’s population
has increased, it is seeing declining
numbers in students from other
parts of the world.
According to the Office of Interna
tional Programs, the international
student population is down again
this year at 1,170 students com
pared to 1,273 last fall, with fewer
returning students. The number of
international students has been de
creasing since 2001.
International Programs Director
Magid Shirzadegan said there are
several reasons that contributed to
the decrease, including rising tu
ition rates.
“It could be that students
can’t afford to come for all four
years,” he said of the decreased
number of returning students. “It
could have to do with the in
creased cost of education.”
Shirzadegan added that in the af
termath of Sept. 11, it has become
increasingly difficult for interna
tional students to obtain student
visas, especially students from
Muslim countries. Some students
have even been denied visas be
cause they are considered security
risks, Shirzadegan said.
“The increased scrutiny by the
U.S. Consulate ... has scared a lot
of students from coming to U.S.
universities,” he said. “Parents of
students are worried (about) their
kids being harassed by govern
ment officials.”
He said the number of students
from Muslim countries has de
creased substantially since Sept. 11.
However, he said more students
have been coming from other re
gions of the world, including South
east Asia. Shirzadegan said there
were “a little more students from
Korea and more from Taiwan.”
moriahbalingit@dailyemerald.com
IN BRIEF
Nontraditional Student
Union hosts open house
The Nontraditional Student
Union will host an open house
in the basement of the EMU today
to provide information and re
sources for students who have tak
en a different path on the road to a
college degree.
The open house is part of Nation
al Nontraditional Student Week.
“I think a lot of people are non
trads and they don’t know it,” NSU
Director Cindy Ingram said. “We are
the largest growing population of
undergrads in the U.S.”
The National Center for Education
Statistics defines a non-traditional
student as one who delayed attend
ing college, has dependents other
than a spouse, never completed high
school, transferred from a junior col
lege or works lull time
while attending school.
If a student meets
three of the five crite
ria, he or she is con
sidered highly non-traditional.”
Ingram cited a 2002 study by
the National Center for Education
Statistics, which found that non
traditional students have a 50 per
cent chance of achieving their aca
demic goals.
“We are an at-risk population,
because primarily we’re the lowest
income of all students and a lot
of us have kids,” Ingram said.
“So this is why we have a
Nontraditional Student Union.”
Ingram says the open house
will be a chance for students
to learn more about how
the NSU can help
them achieve their aca
demic goals.
“A single mom in her
mid-thirties might have
different barriers to success than a
19-year-old white man,” she said.
Throughout the year, the
NSU provides a variety of re
sources in their office near The
Break in 20A EMU.
“A lot of what we do is just cre
ate a safe space for people who
feel different.”
— Gabe Bradley
READ MORE ONl^fllE
For more information, visit
darkwing.uoregon.edu/~nsu.
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