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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2005)
RecycleMania is back | 4 Oregon Daily Emerald An independent newspaper wurw. dailyemerald. com Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 95 | Monday, February 7, 2005 . BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Three members of the Residence Hall As sociation will repay individual fees for a No vember conference at which they later ad mitted to consuming alcohol, a violation of University housing policy and the confer ence contract, University Housing officials said Friday. The Residence Hall Association Council, the student governing body that oversees University residence halls, met Jan. 31 to vote on punishments after RHA President Todd Mann was informed of the violations by Assistant Director of Residence Life John Hollan on Jan. 19. Mann, a sophomore, said he launched an investigation with RHA National Communications Coordinator and Universi ty sophomore Evan Geier and canceled a re treat planned for Jan. 21-23 in'lightof the ru mored violations. The investigation lasted five days and re sulted in the three students being temporari ly suspended from their RHA positions after admitting to the suspected violations, Mann said in a Feb. 2 statement. The conference, a meeting of the Pacific Affiliate College and University Residence Halls, took place in Areata, Calif., Nov. 12 14 and was attended by nine RHA representatives. The RHA Council ordered the three to re pay the cost of attending the conference and to repay the cost of canceling the January RHA, page 6 Student starts petition to recall ASUO officials Silas Snider,; a University sophomore, needs to gather 1,800 signatures within one month for a special election to be held BY PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTER A University sophomore disgruntled with re cent student government actions filed paperwork Friday to begin a recall of the ASUO Executive and the ASUO St udent Senate^_1_ If the ASUO Constitution Court approves computer and information science major Silas Snider’s request, he will have one month to gather signatures of 10 percent of fee-paying students — about 1,800 signatures — to force a special election giving voters the option to recall the officials. A majority of voters would be needed to re move the officials from office, according to the Green Tape Notebook, which governs the struc ture of student government. Snider said he wants a recall because of stu dent leaders’ actions on and after the Oct. 8-10 Sunriver retreat, at which ASUO officials admit ted an unspecified number of the 39 members who went on the trip drank alcohol and smoked marijuana, a violation of the Student Conduct Code. “I am seeking this action specifically because of the incidents that occurred during the retreat to Sunriver this last October, as well as the atti tude displayed by the ASUO that they are gener ally above the rules and regulations that apply to the general populace,” Snider said in the written request. Taking group responsibility for the incident, the ASUO proposed several punishments, includ ing community service and paying back student money used for the trip. The final agreement be tween participants and Student Judicial Affairs Director Chris Loschiavo did not include repay ment because officials said it would not be feasi ble to raise the money or determine how much money would be necessary because much of the retreat was productive. RECALL, page 5 Main goal of state credit package is to help ease transfers The Oregon Transfer Module, a 45-credit package to be accepted at all public schools in the state, was approved for implementation this fall BY ADAM CHERRY NEWS REPORTER Beginning next fall, Oregon stu dents will have an easier time transferring credits between Ore gon University System and Oregon community college institutions with the establishment of the Ore gon Transfer Module. The OTM was unanimously ap proved Thursday by the state’s Joint Boards of Education. The module will not introduce any courses to Oregon schools. Public colleges will instead group an array of general education re quired courses together. When a first-year student completes the set at any college, he or she will be granted the OTM, a 45-credit pack age that all the state’s public schools will accept. Officials say they hope the mod ule will help facilitate the move ment between institutions, which already takes place. “More and more what we’re finding is that students don’t just come to one institution, take all their courses at that institution and graduate,” said Lorraine Davis, vice president for Academ ic Affairs. “Even if you’re picking up a course or program or term here and there, you can come in with this package of courses that can’t be unraveled, will be accept ed and will be a part of general education requirements.” The program targets students in their first year of college who aren’t certain of what they want to major in. Peter Gilkey, mathematics pro fessor and former president of the inter-institutional faculty sen ate, explained that the program will help plug a hole in the sys tem that schools use to transfer credits between community colleges and universities. The Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer Degree is a two-year de gree that can be earned at a com munity college, Gilkey said. How ever, students who want to transfer to a university to work on major requirements after just one year can’t get the AAOT. That means that classes have to be transferred over individual ly, which can sometimes result in lost credits. “(The GTM) will establish some clarity for students about expecta tions,” Gilkey said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a panacea, but it’s better than taking courses at random during the first year.” Davis described the OTM as a subset of AAOT courses. “Only about 40 percent of the students who were transferring were coming over with the AAOT,” Davis said. “So there should be a smaller subset of courses that (students) can bring over.” To obtain the OTM, Oregon stu dents will have to hold a cumula tive GPA of at least 2.0 at the time MODULE, page 4 Tim Bobosky | Photographer Freshman David Fertal and junior Tova Opsal dance at Viva Las Vegas, held in the EMU Ballroom on Friday. Viva Las Vegas The International Student Association held the Viva Las Vegas party Friday in place of a Valentine's Day event BY AIBING GUO DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER An international dance party staged in the EMU Ballroom on Friday night had music, re freshments and dancing, and at this party, all visitors were dressed up. Formal dress was a special requirement for the Viva Las Vegas dance party, hosted by the Interna tional Student Association. It was the first time in the organization’s history that a formal dance party was hosted instead of the group’s traditional Valentine’s Day party. "We are just trying to do something new and different this year, so we de cided to do this formal dancing in the ballroom,” said ISA Co-Director Ryohei Ishii. Ishii, a student from Japan who at tended middle school in the United States, understands that most interna tional students have never had a chance to go to a formal dance party, unlike American students who had for mal dances in their high schools. “For most international students, VEGAS, page 7
