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