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Oregon Daily Emerald
An independent newspaper
www.dailyemerald.com
Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 56 \ Friday, November 12,2004
Author
changes
focus after
shipwreck
Travel writer Eric Hansen
chronicles his travels through the
Yemeni desert in his new book
BY THOMAS MUNRO
FREELANCE REPORTER
When the Ethiopian goat smugglers of
fered him a boat ride to Yemen, Eric Hansen
was not a writer. He knew he would have to
walk ten miles through the soft sand of the
Yemeni desert after the honorable thieves
dropped him off, so he brought water, a
compass and a sailor's chart, but he could
not justify bringing his notebooks. Instead,
he wrapped them in plastic and buried them
on the uninhabited desert island where he
had shipwrecked several days before.
Hansen began a reading in the Knight Li
brary Browsing Room on Wednesday with
this unlikely tale because three stories in his
new collection, “The Bird Man and the Lap
Dancer: Close Encounters with Strangers,”
came from those notebooks, which he re
covered ten years later. However, many of
the other stories by the renowned travel
writer represent a change of focus.
“I want to do some stories that are a little
closer to home,” he said.
It makes sense that Hansen should be
gin to look next door rather than across the
ocean for his stories, since he said he has
always been driven to travel less by a cu
riosity about places than by a curiosity
about people.
“I have a habit of letting people be who
they are,” he said.
This openness to strange and surprising
characters was the catalyst of “Bird Man”
and somewhat explains the attraction of his
earlier books.
Associate Dean of Humanities Wendy
Larson, an audience member who has read
all of Hansen's previous works, described
his appeal.
“It always has to do with the social
world,” she said. “He grasps the interest of
social life in a way I find very revealing and
very enlightening.”
Hansen read from the title chapter of the
book, which tells the tale of a friendship be
tween a “pear-shaped,” middle-aged bird and
slug enthusiast and a group of strippers. Early
in the story, the birder explains at length the
elaborate mating rituals of the banana slug,
whose body and genitalia are both more than
half a foot long, and which follows hours of
“foreplay” with a day and a half of inter
course. Later the chapter adopts a more con
templative tone as Hansen introduces the
strippers, whose complicated stories chal
lenge the assumptions that made the theme
of the story so intriguing.
Hansen expanded on the story at the
reading, describing the close relationship he
developed with one of the strippers, who
had called the author out of the blue when
her daughter suddenly fell gravely ill.
Hansen held her hand through a 92-day or
deal of hospitalization, and he shared with
the audience his wonder at where a story
about a slug fancier had led him.
“If you don’t know where you're going,
any road will get you there,” he said.
Hansen’s last book, “Orchid Fever,”
HANSEN, page8A
Danielle Hickey | Photo Editor
The Sigma Nu fraternity house, located on 11th Avenue, now stands silent. The University’s first fraternity lost its
affiliation in December 2002 because members missed the signing deadline of a contract regarding alcohol use.
Sigma Nu first to
open, latest to close
Alcohol violations, financial problems and a failure to fulfill
reinstatement requirements contribute to the end of Sigma Nu
BY MORIAH BALINGIT
NEWS REPORTER
l he exterior of Sigma Nu’s house on 11th
Avenue seems to personify the legacy of
A. fraternities on the University campus.
The facade features six white columns, red
brick and a wide sweeping porch; on the inside
the halls are quiet, the rooms vacant. The build
ing stands empty, silently marking the end of a
104-year legacy of the fraternity on campus.
The organization, which was the first Greek
organization in Oregon, succumbed to
financial troubles and closed its doors at the
beginning of this school year after an eight
month struggle to become reaffiliated with
the University.
“It’s hard to walk by and see nobody’s liv
ing inside,” former chapter President Andy
Newsom said.
The chapter lost its affiliation with the
University on Dec. 15, 2002, when the Univer
sity implemented its new endorsement pro
gram. The program required, among other
things, that houses sign a contract to be sub
stance-free.
“The expectations we have for them are the
same expectations that their own national or
ganization expects,” Greek Life Coordinator
Shelley Sutherland said.
But University graduate Spencer Miles, who
was the chapter president at the time, said the
Sigma Nu national organization took issue
with the contract’s wording, which would
have placed much of the legal responsibility
on the chapter president and the executive
board. The national chapter was in the
process of negotiating the provisions of the
contract when the deadline for the contract
passed, Miles said.
“They couldn’t come to a consensus before
we had to sign to go dry,” Miles said. “It was
out of (the students’) hands.”
A few months later, Sigma Nu hosted a par
ty that was broken up by the Eugene Police
Department. The police issued four minor in
possession citations, and Miles received a
citation for an unlabeled keg and for furnish
ing alcohol to minors.
Shortly afterwards, the national chapter in
tervened and “reorganized” the local chapter,
meaning that half of the members were made
into “matriculated alumni.” The fraternity lost
half of its members, including many of the
older, more experienced members.
In winter term of 2004, Newsom said he be
gan the process of getting the chapter reaffili
ated with the University. He added that the
national chapter was threatening to revoke
the fraternity’s charter if it didn’t start moving
toward reaffiliation. Newsom, who had no ex
perience with the Greek Life Office, said he
appealed to Sutherland to start the reaffilia
tion process.
As per Sutherland’s request, Newsom put
together a chapter governance folder, a 200
page document outlining the chapter’s proce
dures, bylaws, community service and philan
thropic activities.
“We did all the things a normal fraternity
does,” he said.
However, Sutherland affirmed they
hadn’t fulfilled all the requirements to be
come reaffiliated.
Newsom said he didn’t think Sutherland
provided him with the proper guidance to be
come reaffiliated. He said Sutherland had not
even reviewed the document when he con
tacted her at the end of the summer.
Miles said relations between Sigma Nu and
the Greek Life Office had been strained since
Sigma Nu became lost its affiliation.
“They didn’t like that we were questioning
the dry policy,” he said.
Newsom concurred.
“I think (Sigma Nu) got singled out and ...
vilified,” he said.
However, Newsom admitted that he told
Sutherland that Sigma Nu was substance-free,
when in fact it was not.
“I can’t defend us because the fact is we
were breaking the rules,” he said.
Newsom added, however, that fraternity
members were planning to make the house
substance-free this year and would have con
tinued its process toward reaffiliation if it
weren’t for the fraternity’s financial trouble.
In mid-September of this year, Sigma
Nu’s alumni board voted to raise the rent
from $750 to $900, which would help pay
off the debts incurred from renovations done
three years ago, pay for the mortgage and pay
for a $40,000 sprinkler system that the
SIGMA NU, page 4A
Students
elemental
in inspiring
learning
Students generally rely on fellow
classmates for academic help,
hut other services are available
BY ANTHONY LUCERO
NEWS REPORTER
Students strung out on difficult math
problems or stumped on the first lines of
their essays have many places to turn for
help at the University — but the resource
students use most often is help from fellow
students. In addition to the University’s Aca
demic Learning Services, student tutors help
on an individual basis, with test prep com
panies like Kaplan and student-faculty pro
grams offering additional services that allow
students to get a better grasp of their work.
Student tutor Daniel Occhipinti is a free
resource for underclassmen in the Greek
system at the University. Occhipinti, a sen
ior, said he began tutoring in his sophomore
year and estimates he has helped 35 to 40
students since.
“I treat tutor
ing as a com
munity service,
and I want
to help out,”
Occhipinti said.
“Being in the
Greek system,
you see a lot of
young students
who need help.
What got me
started was a
need for assis
tance.”
Occhipinti
SO YOU NEED A TUTOR?
In addition to advertisements on
announcement boards in the EMU
and McKenzie Hall, many depart
ments offer their own tutors to as
sist students in department cours
es. Free tutor service at Academic
Learning Services covers all sub
jects. Drop by the ALS office in 68
PLC or call 346-3226.
Also, Kaplan Test Prep, which of
fers test preparation for students
entering college, graduate or pro
fessional programs, is located at
720 E. 13th Ave. The number is
3464420.
said he observed fellow students suffer with
writing essays or taking tests. So he began
tutoring, specializing in writing, essay or
ganization and test-taking strategies.
“It’s rewarding when someone you tu
tored calls the week after a test you helped
him out on and says, ‘Hey, I just wanted to
let you know I got an “A” on that test.’ For
some guys, it’s their first ‘A’ in college,”
Occhipinti said.
A common problem for students, Occhip
inti said, is that the essays need more argu
mentative focus, a clearer thesis, citations or
other technical aspects of essay writing that
may not be up to professors’ expectations.
Occhipinti said his free tutoring service is
not an inconvenience to his schedule, and
that he typically spends about an hour with
each student who needs help.
“There’s a lot of places for students to
go (if they) need help, but in many regards
students are hesitant to use these servic
es,” he said. “They feel rigid sometimes for
students, whereas I can just get called for
help and have an informal session with
a student at Starbucks or somewhere
they choose.”
Sitting in the ALS writing lab, sophomore
Allison Cody said the need for help in writ
ing and math outweighs any hesitancy.
“When I needed math help, I really
needed it so I couldn’t be shy to ask for it,”
she said.
Typically, Cody uses ALS in addition to
lectures because one-on-one assistance
with a fellow student and the ability to
TUTORING, page 8A