Iraq protests UN
decision to spend
oil-for-food funds
Revenue originally slated for humanitarian goods in
Irac/ is now funding an investigation into corruption
BY EDIT! I M. LEDERER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS — Iraq has
protested a U.N. decision to use $30
million in revenue from the U.N. oil
for-food program for Iraq to help pay
for the investigation of alleged cor
ruption in the humanitarian effort.
In a letter obtained TUesday, Iraq’s
U.N. Ambassador Samir Sumaidiaie
argued that Security Council resolu
tions don’t support the use of oil-for
food money “for an investigation
into the internal practices of the Unit
ed Nations in carrying out its duties.”
“My government believes that the
use of such funds has no legal basis,”
he said in a letter dated Nov. 19 to
U.S. Ambassador John Danforth, the
current Security Council president.
Last month, Secretary-General
Kofi Annan told the council that
money for the probe headed by for
mer U.S. Federal Reserve chairman
Paul Volcker would come from an ac
count earmarked to pay U.N. admin
istrative and operational costs for the
embattled humanitarian program.
The oil-for-food program was
launched by the Security Council to
help Iraqis cope with U.N. sanctions
after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Saddam Hussein’s regime could
sell unlimited quantities of oil provid
ed the money went primarily to buy
humanitarian goods and pay repara
tions to victims of the 1991 Gulf War.
Under the program.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard
said Annan considered two ways to
pay for the investigation: going to the
U.N. General Assembly for a special
assessment which would be shared
by the 191 U.N. member states or
tapping the 2.2 percent fund.
Sumaidaie argued in his letter that
using money in the oil-for-food ac
count “potentially victimizes the
people of Iraq twice. ”
First, if the allegations of abuse
prove to be true, Iraqis were deprived
of needed financial resources to cope
with sanctions, Sumaidaie said. And
second, by requiring the people of
Iraq to pay for an investigation, mon
ey is being diverted from rebuilding
Iraq’s shattered infrastructure and
economy.
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Alcohol: Binge drinking not a social norm
Continued from page 1
treated for alcohol issues.
“It’s not a quick fix,” she said. “If
you had that on a regular basis, it’s
very hard to give up.”
Uncontrolled drinking harms in
dividuals in other ways.
Nationwide, at least 70,000 stu
dents between the ages of 18 and 24
are victims of alcohol-related sexu
al assault each year, according to a
National Institute of Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism study. About
400,000 have unprotected sex under
the influence of alcohol.
“It’s hard to talk about alcohol
without talking about sexual as
sault,” Dochnahl said. People may
take advantage of an incapacitated
drinker or a person may not remem
ber having given consent, she said.
In fact, because of alcohol’s im
pact on one’s mental faculties, the
University Student Conduct Code
states that a person who is drunk
cannot give consent because of
“mental incapacitation,” due the
“influence of a controlled or other
intoxicating substance.”
“The consent is huge and that’s
why alcohol with sex is really
murky,” Dochnahl said.
Drinking can put students
on the wrong side of the law
Students who drink excessively
might also find themselves at odds
with the law.
Criminal mischief related to alco
hol costs the school and the city a
substantial amount of money each
year. After students were involved
in several riots stemming from par
ties that got out of hand, the Univer
sity and the Eugene Police Depart
ment have invested extra time and
resources to curb future problems.
Each weekend, the Eugene Police
Department sends out a party patrol
unit to the West University neigh
borhood, which is heavily inhabit
ed by students.
“A typical weekend with this ex
tra focus patrol runs about $4,400 in
overtime costs,” EPD spokeswoman
Kerry Delf said. She said riot pre
vention is a high priority.
In 2003, there were 567 citations
for liquor violations in the West
University Neighborhood, 117 on
the University Campus and 92 in
the South Neighborhood, which is
also adjacent to campus, Delf said.
Violations include minor in pos
session, open containers and at
tempting to buy alcohol with false
identification.
Citation for these violations are
not cheap. A minor in possession
ticket could cost a student as much
as $311 in fines. And possession of a
fake ID is a Class C felony with a
hefty tag of up to $100,000 in fines
or jail time.
Hicks said DPS also makes a con
certed effort to prevent alcohol-re
lated crimes on campus, and it is
worth having extra officers out.
“Just having a visible presence
puts a damper on it,” he said.
DPS issued citations for 99 liquor
related violations in 2003. In addi
tion, 1,124 violations were handled
through the Office of Student Judi
cial Affairs, Hicks said.
The University’s Student Conduct
Code prohibits underage drinking or
furnishing alcohol to minors on Uni
versity owned property or at University
sponsored or supervised activities.
Students with alleged Student
Conduct Code violations are sum
moned to a hearing by the Office of
Student Judicial Affairs. If the
charges are substantiated, various
sanctions could be meted out, Stu
dent Judicial Affairs Director Chris
Loschiavo said. Students may be re
quired to take a 10-hour class called
BUSTED — Beginning Underage
Success Through Educational Diver
sion — perform community service,
or meet with a substance abuse
counselor. Some students might be
required to attend an Alcoholics
Anonymous meeting.
“The overall philosophy of the
code is to be educational,” Loschiavo
said. “Generally the idea is to get
(students) to see that they’re heading
down a path they may not want to.”
Loschiavo said part of the reason
some students drink is because they
aren’t ready for school and are try
ing to “figure out what they are do
ing here.” Part of the judicial affairs
process is to link these students to
resources that will help them
achieve their goals.
Barnhart and Riley Complex Direc
tor Stephen Jenkins, who also oversees
the Student Conduct Code process in
the halls, also emphasized the educa
tional nature of the sanctions.
“We can’t force behavior
change,” he said. “Students have to
make that decision themselves.”
Students with repeat offenses
may have to take an additional 20
hour class, BUSTED II, and might
eventually be evicted from tne resi
dence halls, Jenkins said.
Repeat offenders are very rare
though, administrators say.
“We have a marked decrease
from the first violation to the second
violation,” Jenkins said.
Even if they don’t cross paths
with law enforcement, drunk stu
dents still affect other students
around them.
Drunk students in the residence
halls are loud, disruptive and at
times destructive, Jenkins said.
“It definitely has a negative im
pact on the quality of life in the resi
dence halls,” he said.
Director of Resident Life Sandy
Schoonover agrees.
“We see a lot of vomiting,” she
said. “They come back to their
rooms and they are loud and it
wakes up the entire floor.”
While other students may initially
find it funny, they soon get tired of
the distraction because they cannot
sleep or study, Schoonover said.
Campus organizations
address alcohol issues
Several campus departments, in
cluding the Office of Student Life,
Housing, Department of Public
Safety and the Health Center, col
laborate in outreach, education and
enforcement efforts to address alco
hol related issues on campus. The
University has a Substance Abuse
Prevention taskforce made up not
only of campus representatives but
people from the community as well.
Associate Dean of Students and Di
rector of the Office of Student Life Lau
ra Blake Jones said the administration
recognizes that students will drink,
therefore the focus is on “harm-reduc
tion” rather than abstinence.
Blake Jones said the administra
tion employs social norm theory in
its outreach efforts — the concept
involves showing students that oth
ers actually drink less than they per
ceive, so excessive drinking is actu
ally not a social norm.
Most students assume others drink
more than they do: In a 2002 Univer
sity Health Center study, when stu
dents were asked how much they
thought their peers drink when they
go out, 30.4 percent estimated it was
three to four drinks, while 65.2 ap
proximated that it was more than five
drinks. In reality, results from the
same survey show 31.4 percent of
students said they had three to four
drinks at a time, while 23 percent had
more than five drinks.
If these misperceptions are ad
dressed, then high-risk drinkers
might drink less.
The University uses multiple ap
proaches, Eyster said, because
“there’s not (just) one thing you can
do to reduce high-risk drinking.”
Many of the University’s outreach
campaigns are conducted by other
students or peer health educators
who visit classes and residence
halls or go door to door before holi
days like Halloween giving out in
formation on responsible drinking,
how to keep parties in control and
alternative non-alcoholic events,
Blake Jones and Eyster said.
“It’s much more effective when
it’s student driven,” Eyster said.
She added that if students drink
they should be aware of their rights
and responsibilities.
“We all have rights, but in a com
munity we all have responsibilities
too,” Eyster said.
In the resident halls, the adminis
tration addresses alcohol as soon as
students move in, Schoonover said.
Overall, administrators said it’s
important for students to under
stand the impact of their drinking
and how to stay safe.
“We acknowledge that students
have the choice to drink or not, and
if you do choose to, here are the
consequences of drinking at differ
ent levels,” Dochnahl said.
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