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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2005)
University child-care volunteer under criminal investigation I 5 Oregon Daily Emerald An independent newspaper uninv. dailyemerald. com Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 73 \ Wednesday, January 5, 2005 Commentator's mission rejected The University journal objects theASUO committee's decision to cut its funding BY AYISHA YAHYA NEWS EDITOR The Oregon Commentator, the University’s conservative journal of opinion, is contesting a contro versial decision by the ASUO Pro grams Finance Committee to re ject the magazine’s mission statement — a decision the Com mentator says the PFC had no ju risdiction to make and one whose merits the PFC is now debating. PFC rejected the mission state ment at a hearing in December, but later decided it would recall that decision at the Commenta tor’s budget hearing Feb. 1. The PFC, which allocates incidental fees to campus groups, must ap prove mission statements for stu dent fee-funded groups such as the Commentator before reviewing their budgets. Oregon Com mentator Editor in Chief Tyler Graf said the maga zine has had the same mis sion for the past 21 years and the PFC had no reason to reject it. “We’ve never had our mission statement rejected,” Graf said. “We felt we were being treated unfairly.” No other groups’ mission state ments were rejected. Graf said the PFC did not ini tially give a sufficient reason for why the statement was rejected. However, Graf said the Commen tator later learned that the mo tion to ecline the state m e n t stemmed not from the mission itself, but rather con cerns with the magazine’s content. “There were ques tions to our content and whether they perpetuated hate,” he said. These concerns arose from a student who approached a PFC member about the Commenta tor’s content, which he or she deemed offensive, PFC Chair Per sis Pohowalla said. The Commentator published information that made students feels unsafe on campus, Pohowal la said. “A student did come and complain to one of the PFC mem bers, and the PFC felt it was nec essary to take action.” PFC member Mason Quiroz said he brought the issue to the PFC after the student complained to him because he thought it was necessary to explore the issue and find a possible course of action. “It seemed to me that the COMMENTATOR, page 7 Family therapy major Siva Arumugham, center, Leslie Brockelbank, left, and others from all walks of life came to this tsunami relief meeting looking for ways to help. Tim Bobosky | Photographer Tsunami affects hearts, minds in Eugene Area groups create relief, such as a candlelight vigil and a benefit dinner, to help survivors AMANDA BOLSINGER & JARED PABEN NEWS REPORTER & NEWS EDITOR People around the world are searching for ways to send relief to the victims of a devastating tsunami that so far has killed about 150,000 people, according to The Associated Press, and left millions in need. Locally, several campus and community groups are scrambling to pull together events to raise money for the approximately five million survivors of the tsunami in need of help. One group, the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group, has already hit the streets and raised money for an international organi zation operating in the affected regions. In another effort, students and community members have joined to form a Eugene Tsunami Relief Fund and are planning a fundraiser later this month. The ASUO also wants to raise funds by putting on a candlelight vigil for victims of the tsunami. Kate Ritley, campus organizer for OSPIRG, said her group asked for donations on the comer of University Street and East 13th Avenue on Monday and in three hours managed to raise $425 for Oxfam, an interna tional relief agency operating in the affected regions. RELIEF, page 8 Students studying geological sciences learn about past tsunamis on the Oregon coast BY ANTHONY LUCERO NEWS REPORTER As the death toll skyrockets from the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia last week, the damage from other tsunami catastrophes in Earth’s histo ry pales in comparison. Yet Oregon has suffered from the same size and scope of tsunami that leveled parts of Southeast Asia many times in its past, said University professor of geological sciences Ray Weldon. Students in his classes study the conflicting tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean — the Juanda Fuca plate and the North American plate — that Oregon rests on. As the two plates collide, the North Ameri can plate stretches outward and upward, suppressing the Juanda Fuca plate underneath. Weldon’s classes, Oregon Geology, Survey ing and Neotectonics, attempt to explain the collision of these two tectonic plates and the deadly results it causes. The tsunamis that afflict the Oregon coast are usually, but not ex clusively, caused by a tectonic plate on which Oregon rests that moves westward one inch per year while the Juanda Fuca plate shifts eastward, which creates tension that must be released, James Roddey, community educator at the Oregon Department of Geology PROFESSOR, page 8 Committee formed to advocate for equal perks Students at the University's campus in Portland want to share in benefits of incidental fees BY PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTER For more than six years, graduate students studying architecture at the University’s Port land Center have paid the same incidental fees as students in Eugene. Yet unlike students at the main campus, the nearly 80 students in Port land aren’t getting the services they’re paying for. They do not have easy access to the public transportation system, recreation center or sports tickets provided by student fees in Eu gene. To counter this inequity, a group of students have formed the Portland Student Action Coun cil, a new group designed to advocate for equal distribution of the fees and enhance the Port land Urban Architecture Program. Interim PSAC Vice President Britt Nelson said students in Portland are concerned they’re not receiving the full benefits of their fee money. “The majority of people understand they’re paying fees to the campus down in Eugene that they’re not seeing,” she said. “We know now that some things like transportation and rec centers are not being provided up here. ” Group members are asking for $300 in stu dent money, the maximum amount a new group can receive under ASUO rules. The mon ey would pay for an alumni round-table discus sion, events displaying student work and a pub lication of student work. Although the group has been recognized, members won’t know if they received funding until the group’s hearing before the Programs Finance Committee on Jan. 13. PSAC, page 6 IN BRIEF Marche Museum Cafe opens The new cafe and gift shop at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art opened for business Monday, giving students, faculty and staff just a taste of what to expect when the full museum opens on Jan. 23. Marche Museum Cafe and the Museum Store, a gift shop operated in conjunction with the Uni versity Bookstore, opened without fanfare or pub lic notice, but the cafe managed to draw its first rush of customers Tuesday, cafe Manager Leah Pearl said. “I’m really excited for the museum to open,” Pearl said. “I think that if you go to museums in larger cities they have tasty cafes in them. And I think that we hope to follow in that vein.” Customers for the first two days were mostly University staff, but Pearl said she hopes to see more students take advantage of the location, which also has wireless Internet capability. Katie Sproles, spokeswoman for the museum, said the gift shop will stock gifts relating to current exhibits at the museum. Currently, the shop hous es Andy Warhol gifts and memorabilia to accom pany the new museum’s first exhibit. Prior to the expansion, the museum had a smaller gift shop. “I think it’s just a great way for people to extend their visit and a great gathering in place for people on campus and the commu nity,” Sproles said. — Jared Paben
