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