University janitor
leaves scholarship
legacy behind
Attorney gives $25,000 to establish the George
Weyrens Scholarship Fund for University students
BY KARA HANSEN
NEWS REPORTER
A former University custodian had
few experiences with students and
workers around him in his 19 years on
the night shift, but it was for that rea
son that a friend decided to set up a
scholarship in the man’s name.
George Weyrens worked as a cus
todian at the University from 1968 to
1987. His attorney and friend, Marc
Perrin, recently donated $22,000
from Weyrens’ estate, as well as
$3,000 of his own money, to establish
the George Weyrens Scholarship
Fund at the University.
Perrin said he was probably “about
the only family George had” after
Weyrens’ brother died in the 1990s. He
described Weyrens as developmentally
disabled and "painfully shy,” but said
he always did the right thing.
“In spite of the barriers George faced
in his life, he worked hard, he saved
his money, he paid his taxes and he
never hurt a soul,” said Perrin, who
met Weyrens in 1982 when he began
helping him with his tax returns. “He’s
sort of an American success story on
the small scale, so it’s important for us
to remember people like George.”
Weyrens lived a quiet life, Perrin
said, with few to no friends. He had
one plate, one spoon, a coffee cup, a
couple of pots and no television, ac
cording to a University press release.
Newspapers and the radio provided
his only sources of entertainment,
the release stated.
When Weyrens died of a stroke in
2001, he left money to Meals on
Wheels, St. Mary’s Catholic Church
and $22,000 to his attorney to handle
as he saw fit.
University custodian Rodney
Jensen worked with Weyrens for a
few years, but said Weyrens mostly
kept to himself.
“Nobody really knew him that well,
to be perfectly honest with you. But it’s
wonderful someone can do this, espe
cially a custodian,” Jensen said.
The $25,000 will accumulate value
for an unknown number of years,
Perrin said, and he plans to add mon
ey annually. He hopes the principle
will grow to $100,000 so it can pro
vide funds to students, especially
those who are children of University
Facilities Services employees or those
with special needs.
The scholarship endowment is an
important example of how one per
son can impact the lives of others,
University President Dave Frohnmay
er said in a press release.
“How wonderful that a man who
never went to college and who, in
fact, was developmentally disabled,
was able to establish a legacy that
will help students obtain a university
education,” Frohnmayer said.
karahansen@dailyememld.com
toufE's mm
947 Franklin Blvd. (near UO) • 343-4480
Individual, Family Style, Banquets to 100, Take Out
Tues.-Thurs. 11-10:30, Fri. 11-11 Sat. 12-11, Sun.
Restaurant and Lounge
Authentic Chinese Cuisine
Fresh, Quality Ingredients
MAN’S
WORLD
For that off-campus quality
For appointments
call 342-7664
966 Oak
Find us under Barbers
in the Yellow Pages
IN BRIEF
Court maintains verdict
against Portland schools
PORTLAND — The U.S.
Supreme Court denied a request
from Portland Public Schools to re
view a $1 million jury verdict
awarded to a former special educa
tion teacher.
Pamella Settlegoode’s contract was
not renewed in 2000 after she repeat
edly complained about services avail
able to students. She filed suit, con
tending that the district violated the
Disabilities Act of 1978, her First
Amendment rights to free speech and
the Oregon Whistleblower Act.
A jury deliberated nine hours be
fore awarding her $1 million in 2001.
A federal magistrate set aside the
verdict, but the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals restored the judg
ment earlier this year.
Settlegoode started teaching in the
district in the 1998-1999 school year
after earning a doctorate in education
from the University of Oregon.
She was hired to work with dis
abled high school students in phys
ical education. Settlegoode devel
oped her own curriculum and had
students taking part in track, ten
nis, hiking and self-defense classes.
She complained that some of the
equipment was missing or unsafe,
and it was tough to find locations to
teach her students.
— The Associated Press
Evolution: Team challenges other models
Continued from page 1
likelihood model, a statistical and mathematical based
model, assumes that evolution is homogeneous for
every gene, meaning every gene evolved at the same
rate, a Denavior tnat is not manitestea
in the natural world.
“There’s a tendency for people to
say maximum likelihood is right,”
Thornton said. “We hope people will
evaluate maximum likelihood. (Our
research is) more of an effort to be
critical with maximum likelihood
and try out different models.”
Kolaczkowski said he designed the
program, which runs on three Apple
dual-processor G3 computers, to han
aie tne intensive loaa tnat tne evolution simulator requires.
He added that the simulation uses Apple’s Mac OS X oper
ating system for its Unix code.
“This is a very pathetically simple simulation right
now that’s not close to real life as of now,” Ko
laczkowski said.
Right now, the team said the simulation is working
in a wide range of parameters, trying to determine the
pattern of problem occurrences from small- to
large-scale genetic evolution.
“We used a variable rate — a range of rate observed
for real biological circumstances,” Kolaczkowski said.
“We wanted to try out many of our hypotheses to see
how well thev worked.”
HOW DOES THE SIMULATION
SHOW EVOLUTION?
Associate Professor Joe Thornton and
graduate student Bryan Kolaczkowski used a
model called maximum parsimony, which
maps out a phylogenetic tree by using the
fewest steps of evolution possible to explain a
given set of data. The simulation then maps an
evolution tree that can display genetic
relationships between different species.
The project was funded by
a National Science Foundation grant to
train graduate students in interdiscipli
nary research in evolution, develop
ment and genomics, according to a
University press release. Thornton said
in the future this project will create
more complex evolution simulations.
The two men are still working with
maximum likelihood and other
models so they can improve their mod
ulo
“When you’re using a computational or scientific
method, you automatically have assumptions and
questions you’re looking for that are built into the re
search you do,” Kolaczkowski said. “You need to try
different approaches to see what assumptions come
with every model.”
anthonylucero@ daily emerald, com
Bush: President may reshape federal judiciary
Continued from page 1
are against abortion were unlikely
to be confirmed.
Assistant Law Professor Robert Tsai
said Bush may use his “capital” is to
shape the federal judiciary by appoint
ing judges, including filling potential
openings on the Supreme Court. Tsai
said Bush, who has appointed about
170 judges to federal positions, may
even have an opportunity to match
President Ronald Reagan’s efforts to
remake the judiciary — Reagan ap
pointed about 350 judges, including
three Supreme Court Justices.
Bush might be able to replace be
tween one and four justices during
his second term, as Chief Justice
William Rehnquist suffers from thy
roid cancer and several other jus
tices of age, Tsai said.
Tsai said the “strong assertion of
executive power by this particular
administration” related to Guan
tanamo Bay detainees and security
issues leads him to believe Bush
will seek people with executive ex
perience or who are open to broad
executive power.
r
Novkov agreed that judicial
appointments will be extremely
important.
“There’s a possibility for a funda
mental debate on the constitutional
level of executive authority depend
ing on what judicial appointments
are made,” she said.
Tsai said Bush decided to confront
difficult issues by focusing on both
Social Security and Internal Revenue
Service tax code reform.
“He gets points for being ambi
tious,” Tsai said.
Tsai said there is a possibility for
consensus on both issues, but he
said Democrats will probably be
more open to changes in the tax
code if Bush’s changes are designed
only to simplify the code and not
make it a “less progressive tax.”
However, Tsai said attempts to re
vamp or privatize Social Security
will meet with opposition from
across the isle.
“My guess is Democrats will fight
tooth and nail on that one,” he said.
He added that even minor progress
on tax reform will give Bush credit.
“I think these issues are being
pushed for a particular reason,” he
said, adding that a positive Bush lega
cy would help whoever is running on
the Republican ticket in 2008.
“When you personally no longer
have an election hanging over you,
you start thinking about your lega
cy,” Tsai said.
Bush said there will be changes to
his cabinet, but he has not specified
what these changes will be.
Past presidents have also faced po
litical difficulties during their second
terms. Bill Clinton underwent im
peachment by the House after admit
ting to an affair with intern Monica
Lewinsky, and the Iran-contra scandal
marred Ronald Reagan’s second term.
“We expect too much. Second
term presidents get careless and
cocky,” said Stephen Wayne, a politi
cal science professor at Georgetown
University, according to an Nov. 6 As
sociated Press article. “They either
overreach, or do something illegal, or
don’t manage the way they should. ”
parkerhowell@ daily emerald., com
BRECON DAILY EMFRALD 1
newspape
Two I Tuesday p
86-5808
'■ 1 .
Satfcfe
/VnT-T“
ipeline
*“Cnht i»i+H Cnhc
“Subs with Substance"
jsl <SE SS
824 Charnelton • Eugene, OR • 97401
Sun-Wed: 11 am-1 am Thur-Sflt; 11 am - 2 am
Two 16 1 topping pizzas
4 free 24 oz. drinks m &%qq
expires 11/9/04 ^ T
fjp!T71
Kid
824 Charnelton. Eugene, OR
Not valid with any other offer
97401
Two 14 1 topping pizzas
4 free 24 oz. drinks $ ^| ^| 99
824 Charnelton • Eugene, OR • 97401
Not valid with any other offer
expires 11/9/04
Two 12 1 topping pizzas
2 free 24 oz. drinks £#%qq
expires 11/9/04
824 Charnelton • Eugene, OR • 97401
Not valid vvith any other offer
Eugene • 686-5808
Need Cash?
extra money for
back-to-school expenses?
Earn $180/month
donate
plasma
683-9430
IBR Plasma Center
I block east of Garfield on 8th
I90I W 8th Ave.
New donors: bring in this
ad for an extra $5 on first visit