| Global update |
Today Friday Saturday
High: 56 High: 56 High: 56
Low: 41 Low: 44 Low: 44
Precip: 10% Precip: 30% Precip: 40%
IN BRIEF
Arafat dies at age 75
in military hospital
RAM ALL AH, West Bank — Yass
er Arafat, who triumphantly forced
his people's plight into the world
spotlight but failed to achieve
his lifelong quest for Palestinian
statehood, died Thursday at age 75.
The French military hospital where
he had been treated for since
Oct. 29 said he died at 3:30 a.m.
The Palestinian leader spent his
final days there in a coma.
Police investigate possible
arson at Turkish school
MELBOURNE, Australia — A fire
badly damaged three classrooms at
a TXirkish school early Thursday,
and there was speculation it was an
anti-Islamic arson attack.
Nobody was injured in the blaze
that ripped through Isik College in
the southern city of Melbourne dur
ing the early hours of Thursday
morning, Victoria state police said.
Police investigating the fire were
trying to determine whether it
was linked to graffiti on a sign at
the school.
TV reports showed the word
“pig” spray-painted on the sign,
leading to speculation it was an
anti-Muslim attack. Muslims con
sider pigs unclean and eating them
is banned under Islam.
Muslims in Australia have com
plained of an increase in attacks on
them since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror
attacks in the United States.
Bush names Gonzales
to succeed Ashcroft
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President
Bush on Wednesday nominated
White House counsel Alberto Gon
zales, who helped shape the admin
istration’s controversial legal strate
gy in the war on terror, to be
attorney general. He would be the
first Hispanic to serve as the na
tion’s top law enforcement officer.
“He is a calm and steady voice in
times of crisis,” Bush said, his eyes
glistening with emotion as he stood
next to Gonzales. “He has an
unwavering principle of respect for
the law. ”
High school teacher faces
criminal sex charges
CHICAGO — A Chicago high school
teacher was in jail Wednesday,
Environmental dass studies
human relations with nature
Richard York implores
students to analyze their
roles in conservation
BY AYISHA YAHYA
NEWS EDITOR
Imagine giving up driving for two
weeks. Or becoming vegan. Or liv
ing without electricity. These are
just some projects University stu
dents have chosen to do for a
sociology class to explore their
personal roles in environmental
conservation.
Assistant sociology professor
Richard York teaches the upper-di
vision Modernization and the Envi
ronment class, which currently has
25 students. He said the class focus
es on the evolving interrelation be
tween human beings and their natu
ral surroundings and how social
conditions lead to different environ
mental effects.
“A large historical component of
that... is looking at how human in
teraction with the environment has
changed,” York said, adding that
students delve into various
topics including industrialization,
modernization and the effects of
capitalism and their impact on
the environment.
To drive home the point, York
said he asked students to modify
their lifestyles for two to three
weeks, allowing them to choose
what they wanted to do in particu
lar. Students then have to chart their
progress and write a report on their
experience. Current and previous
projects include students opting’ to
become vegetarians, changing their
transportation means and working
to control the amount of water they
use or the trash they produce,
York said.
York said the goals of the project
are two-fold.
“It’s to give some kind of feeling
of what one can do about (conser
vation),” he said, adding that the
second aim is to show the sociologi
cal limitations of what one can real
ly do to create change. The lesson
does not lie only in whether a stu
dent succeeds or not, but also in
discovering the challenges he or she
may face in making any type of ad
justment when societal norms are
taken into consideration. Things
that might originally seem fairly
easy to do are “a lot harder than
you’d think,” York said.
“We as individuals operate in a
larger social context,” York
said, adding that conservation
efforts may not only depend on
Nicole Barker | Photographer
Professor York conducts class Monday afternoon. As part of the course, students were
asked to practice conservation by giving up a daily habit for two to three weeks.
personal choice, but also on the so
cial infrastructure.
For instance, a student who only
wants to buy locally manufactured
products may be hard-pressed to
find everything he or she needs.
Similarly, a person who chooses to
give up driving may discover that in
some communities, it is not always
possible to live without a car be
cause work areas or shopping areas
are far away from residential areas.
“We are not free-floating individ
uals,” York said. “Our behavior is
very much constrained by the social
world we live in,” he said.
Junior Andrew Harmon decided
to give up using his car — or any
car for that matter — for two weeks.
“I don’t like driving my car,” he
said. “Gas is very expensive
these days. ”
Harmon said he chose the project
because he wanted to get more ex
ercise — he had to walk about 1.5
miles back and forth from home to
school — and also to protest the
country’s dependence on oil.
“Whether we like it or not we’re
going to dramatically have to
change our lifestyle,” he said.
Harmon learned just how de
pendent he was on his car, saying
he had to pass up opportunities to
go out with friends to places not
within walking distance. Nonethe
less, he said the project can help
save a lot of money and someone
can always “stay home and read a
book” instead. And of course there
are environmental benefits as well.
“I have no plans of driving my car
to the extent that I used to,” he said.
Senior Kennon Kuykendall also
chose to give up his car for two
weeks, riding his bike or taking
public transportation instead.
“I thought it was pretty important
for minimizing the effects of global
warming,” he said. “The environ
ment can’t take everyone in Ameri
ca having more than one car. ”
However, Kuykendall said it is not
always feasible to live without a car,
especially in areas without access to
good public transportation.
“It’s not really a matter of individ
ual choice, there’s bigger struc
tures,” he said.
York said he is always pleased
when the project has long-term im
pacts on students’ personal lives. A
former student whose project was
to become vegan for the class called
him after she finished school to say
that she had actually become veg
an, he said.
Harmon said the class as a whole
has presented “staggering statistics”
about human beings and their con
nection to the environment. Ameri
ca, for instance, consumes a large
chunk of the world’s resources,
he said.
“For us to try to spread our way
of living to the rest of the world just
can’t work,” he said.
ayishayahya@dailyememld.com
accused of giving three teenage
boys money, alcohol and marijuana
to have sex with her, authorities
said.
Senorita R. Walker, 33, was
charged last week with three counts
of criminal sexual abuse, authorities
said. She remained in jail Wednes
day on $300,000 bond, according to
jail officials.
Walker allegedly met one of the
victims, a 15-year-old, at a school
where she worked, officials said.
r
She persuaded him and two friends,
both 16, to have sex with her be
tween Mayr and August and paid
them $100 per session, according
to police.
She also gave two of the teens
marijuana and alcohol in a Rock
ford hotel, prosecutors said.
Walker eventually told the teens
she had a boyfriend and didn't want
to continue seeing them, said Chica
go Police Lt. Robert Hargesheimer.
— The Associated Press
1
“40 years of Quality Service”
Mercedes • BMW • Volkswagen • Audi
German Auto Service
342-2912 • 2025 Franklin Blvd.
Eugene, Oregon, 97402
—
advertise.
get results,
call 346-3712.
OREGON DAILY EMERALDJ
I-1
From Florence
to Bend
and beyond,
find out why
it’s called the
G R EAT
Northwest!
Winter Recreation Preview on stands
Tuesday, November 23
Oregon Daily Emerald
| The independent newspaper for the UO community