Women defeat UCLA at Mac Court I 7
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Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 89 \ Friday, January 28, 2005
Governor hosts rally to support grant increase
The plan to enlarge the Oregon Opportunity Grant extends
assistance to a higher number of low-income students
BY ADAM CHERRY
NEWS REPORTER
SALEM — Gov. Ted Kulongoski
rallied Oregon Student Association
representatives and other students
Thursday around his plan to more than
double the size of the Oregon
Opportunity Grant fund.
Kulongoski spoke to a group of
about 150 students in front of the state
Capitol and invited about 20 OSA rep
resentatives from Oregon colleges to a
question-and-answer session in his of
fice about his plans for the Opportunity
Grant and higher education.
Under the governor’s proposed
budget for the 2005-07 biennium,
the funding allocated to the Oregon
Opportunity Grant would be expand
ed to $91.6 million, a 111.1 percent in
crease from the 2003-05 level. The
grant is intended to assist students in
the lowest income bracket. Whether
the increase will be approved by the
state Legislature as it sets the state
budget is yet to be seen.
“This is just a small step, the first
small step to a long-term investment
that we’re going to make out of this
building over the next 20 to 40 or 50
years in higher education,” Kulongos
ki said in the question-and-answer
session prior to the rally. “We are go
ing to have a mission ter create the
best educated citizenry of any state in
this country. ”
“We’ve got to do a better job for you
guys,” state House Rep. Peter Buckley,
a Democrat, said at the rally. “You guys
have been carrying the weight for
much too long with increases in tuition
and programs being cut back. It’s time
to turn it around.”
“The governor’s proposed increase
in the Oregon Opportunity Grant is go
ing to open the door to access for so
many Oregon students,” OSA Chair
man and ASUO President Adam
Petkun said to the crowd.
Sometimes in life you get an oppor
tunity to do something because you
KULONGOSKI, page 6
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
At the state Capitol, Gov. Ted Kulongoski talks to a group of Oregon Student Association
leaders about investing in the next generation of Oregon's higher-education prospects.
POLICY vs. PATRIOTISM
A University request to remove
an unauthorized decal garnered
nationwide media attention
BY MORIAH BALINGIT
NEWS REPORTER
“Support Our Troops” yellow ribbon
magnetic decal has generated national
A JL media attention and angered citizens
across the country.
Last week, the University asked delivery truck
driver Pete Baker to remove the magnet from his
car to comply with an Oregon state administra
tive policy that prohibits “unauthorized stickers”
on state-owned vehicles after another employee
complained. The only decals permitted, accord
ing to the policy, are those that identify the state
agency that owns the vehicle.
KEZ1-TV, Channel 9, Eugene, picked up the
story, but Andrew Padula reported that Baker
was forced to remove the decal because it may
constitute “a political message.”
“1 don’t know how they think they’re politi
cal,” Baker said in the news program. “I think
they’re patriotic.”
After the show aired, news of Baker’s mag
net spread like wildfire across political Weblogs.
Many Webloggers construed the story as an
egregious violation of Baker’s rights.
“Since when did the Bill of Rights have
to undergo perusal and permission of the
STICKERS, page 12
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
IN BRIEF
French vintners hope to convert
excess wine to industrial alcohol
PARIS — It wouldn’t quite be pouring good
wine down the drain, but close.
Stuck with hundreds of millions of bottles
they can’t sell in a toughening global market,
vintners want to distill some of France’s
winelake into industrial-use alcohol.
It wouldn’t just be swill heading for destruc
tion: Most of the 66 million gallons vintners
hope to recycle is considered high-quality.
Such destruction would be unprecedented
for “appellation” wines that carry France’s AOC
seal of origin and quality. Although nearly 71.3
million gallons were distilled into alcohol in
2002, that was second-rate table wine. This
time, 267 million bottles of AOC wines would
be boiled down in stills if vintners get their way.
“Generally, distillation is for the worst prod
ucts,” said Robert Beynat, chief executive of the
Vinexpo international wine fair.
That vintners are clamoring to destroy stocks
of wine that would nicely accompany a meal
underscores their difficulties. Vintners, some
bearing a mock coffin marked "Here lies the
last winemaker,” held protests in several cities
last month to appeal for government aid.
The average Frenchman still downs 13.2 gal
lons of wine a year, but that is half as much as
in 1961. A study for Vinexpo published Thurs
day predicted the United States will overtake
France as the leading overall wine consumer by
2008, although the French would still lead on a
per capita basis.
— The Associated Press
University employs electric truck to aid recyclers
University Facilities Services recently used student fees to purchase an electric
vehicle to help manage campus recycling.
BY ANTHONY LUCERO
NEWS REPORTER
The University is the proud owner of a
Tiger Thick — a vehicle that runs com
pletely on electricity. The truck, which
was paid for by student fees, will help
the University’s Facilities Services
in gathering recycling and compost
material on campus and at events.
The Tiger Thick, smaller than the
traditional step van that Facilities Ser
vices uses, is able to carry 1,200
pounds on its truck bed and will be
used mainly for handling recycled
cans, bottles and newspapers It will
also be used instead of bicycles during
winter term and during events such as
the ASUO Street Faire and Folk Festival,
Karyn Kaplan, the environmental
resource and recycling manager, said.
“We just got it last fall and it took us
a while — got it painted, licensed, in
sured — all that happened (during) the
first term and ended in December,” Ka
plan said. “We are just starting to break
it out. The first route is four hours. We
have to get our staff trained to use it.”
Kaplan said only one person so far is
certified to use it.
Yet, the electric vehicle has proven it
self useful already for Facilities Services,
managing recycling during the Street
Faire earlier this year and assisting in
gathering recyclable items on campus.
Current use includes “outside drop
off collections and some special collec
tions with odd items: books, compact
discs, Styrofoam peanuts,” Kaplan
said. “We’ll use it for campus events
with places that are tighter to get into.”
Kaplan added the truck will soon
become vital for Facilities Services.
“We have so many events coming
up in the next month and a half,”
Kaplan said, citing specifically
the Folk Festival and Sustainable
Business Symposium.
Though the Tiger Thick hasn’t been
fully implemented yet, the electric
vehicle is already lessening many
loads for Facilities Services and
University recycling.
For one, the Tiger Thick costs only a
little more than $300 to maintain per
year compared to the $1,400 Kaplan
estimates it costs to maintain the tradi
tional step van. While step vans have
fuel costs, among other maintenance
costs, only batteries and tires are re
quired for the Tiger Thick’s upkeep. A
traditional battery for the electric truck
TIGER TRUCK, page 12