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Oregon Daily Emerald
An independent newspaper
www. dailyemerald. com
Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 74 | Thursday, January 6, 2005
Examining ASUO
ASUO leaders might not repay funds from trip
ASUO members decide to focus on more beneficial
goals as self-punishment for conduct code violations
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Student government leaders who
violated the Student Conduct Code
during an October Sunriver retreat
will probably not pay back the ap
proximately $3,200 in incidental fees
used to pay for the annual trip. ASUO
officials told the Emerald in an Oct.
28 interview that retreat participants
would refund the money used on the
fall finance retreat through fundraisers
or garnishing wages.
The ASUO admitted multiple
retreat attendees smoked marijuana
and drank alcohol on the Oct.
10-12 trip but has refused to disclose
their names or how many students
were involved.
ASUO Public Relations Director
Nathan Strauss said Wednesday
that some members of the ASUO do
not support repayment of the
money used to pay for the trip, and
that while repayment is still a possi
bility, it may not be feasible to raise
the funds.
“Some of us feel it sends the mes
sage that the purpose of this retreat
was not fulfilled,” Strauss said.
Senate President James George
said ASUO members wanted to focus
on goals that would benefit multiple
groups, such as the creation of a re
treat committee and a “dos and
don’ts” video.
“We didn’t want our focus to be
fundraising to erase the fact that the
retreat did happen,” he said.
ASUO officials said in a Nov. 22 in
terview that they previously proposed
cleaning McArthur Court to raise
money to pay back the student fees
used for the retreat, but had discov
ered that the sign-up deadline had
already passed.
In a letter delivered to Student Ju
dicial Affairs Director Chris Loschi
avo on Nov. 19, retreat attendees
proposed paying back all of the in
cidental fee funds used on the trip,
the forming of a retreat committee,
the creation of the video for future
retreats, community service and ad
ditional office hours for student
leaders as punishments.
Loschiavo approved of the com
mittee, video and community
service. Repayment was not includ
ed in the final agreement because it
would not be feasible to raise the
money or to even determine how
much money would be appropriate
since most of the activities on the
retreat were productive.
Details about where and when
the student leaders will perform
community service remain unclear.
Potential opportunities may include
working in the West University
neighborhood and participating in
University Day, an annual campus
beautification project held in the
spring, Loschiavo said.
ASIIO, page 3
jA* Tech Thursday
Upgrade to
Webmail's
server slows
user access
Problems such as long waits
and errors will likely last a few
more days for Darkwing users
BY ANTHONY LUCERO
NEWS REPORTER
With the advent of e-mail came the intro
duction of the plirase “snail mail” to describe
the speed of regular postal service mail. But
a new competitor is vying for the title: the
University’s graduate student and faculty e
mail server, Darkwing, which boasts a slow
as-molasses fifteen minute or more wait for
those who receive their e-mail through the
University’s Webmail.
The Webmail slowdown, expected to last
at least a couple more days, according to
University’s Microcomputer Services Net
work Specialist Dan Albrich, has caused sev
eral problems that range from not being able
to field students’ questions to missing dis
cussion courses. Albrich said the sluggish
performance is due to upgrading the old
server that hosts Darkwing.
Graduate student Danny Landers is one
Darkwing user plagued with long waits and
an error-ridden inbox. Landers said from the
time of logging in to his Darkwing account
until reading the first e-mail he selects, his
average wait is a quarter-hour.
Sitting in the library on Wednesday, Lan
ders read other Web sites while waiting for
his inbox to load. When he switched back
to the e-mail window after about 10 minutes,
the title bar along the top had loaded but nei
ther the menu nor the inbox frames had.
Then came an error message along the left
hand menu, which meant he’d have to re
load if he wanted to click the options to
compose a new e-mail or log out — anoth
er 15 minutes.
It has been like this since the beginning
of the week, Landers said.
A graduate teaching fellow for the politi
cal science course Mafia & Corruption in
Russia, Landers said his inability to get ac
cess to new e-mails has caused him
WEBMAIL, page 16
Photo illustration by Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Inexperienced students are often faced with finance problems when they overuse their too-convenient credit cards, especially after the holidays.
Annual credit reports are free and help students
to manage and understand their credit history
BY KARA HANSEN
NEWS REPORTER
Some students learn about
maintaining their credit the
hard way.
That’s because credit cards,
which offer convenience and the
ability to purchase large items, are
too convenient for some people,
said Jeanne Wagenknecht, a Uni
versity finance instructor who
teaches personal finance at the
business school.
“They can make it possible for
you to spend crazy, irrational, im
pulsive amounts of money,”
Wagenknecht said in a recent
e-mail explaining student issues
with credit.
A new tool available to Oregoni
ans since December can help the
more than 80 percent of students
who carry credit cards understand
and manage their credit history by
providing access to free annual
credit reports.
The free reports are part of a
federal law, the Fair and Accurate
Credit Transactions Act of 2003,
which requires national credit bu
reaus Experian, Equifax and TYan
sllnion to offer free annual reports
to consumers. Credit reports previ
ously cost about $30 to obtain.
Students double their average
credit card debt and triple the
number of credit cards in their
wallets between the time they ar
rive at college and graduation, ac
cording to a 2001 survey by student
loan company Nellie Mae.
With a record number of stu
dents carrying credit cards — 83
percent of undergraduates carried a
credit card in 2001, compared with
59 percent in 1998, according to
Nellie Mae — it’s important for
them to be aware of their credit his
tory, Wagenknecht said.
“If a student has a bad credit his
tory and they find out about it, it
will help them modify their own be
havior and get on a better track,”
Wagenknecht said. “The sooner this
happens the better.”
Avoiding credit cards in general
isn’t necessarily a good thing. Estab
lishing a credit history is essential
for people who might want to rent
an apartment or buy a car in the fu
ture, Wagenknecht said. She
CREDIT, page 16
UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES DO YOU USE A CREDIT CARD?
Timothy Ngai | freshman
"I use a credit card when I'm
out of cash in my wallet."
“I fry to use it for things like
making reservations or buying
things online - things I can't
pay for in another way.”
Jasen Lawrence j senior
"Usually I just use a credit card
when I don't have money, but I
realize I have to have money
to pay it off."
Angela Comthni | senior
“If it's a big purchase, I’ll use
my credit card. If it’s small
petty cash, I’n use my cash."