Film showings in Portland and on campus in Pulse I 5 Oregon Daily Emerald An independent newspaper www. dailyemerald. com Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 103 | Thursday, February 17,2005 Bush plan eliminates education programs The president's new budget proposal will cut an estimated $500 million from education BY ADAM CHERRY NEWS REPORTER Members of the University community react ed to President Bush’s proposed budget with mixed feelings. The budget suggests the elimi nation of 48 educational programs, including the Perkins Loan Program, but increases the maximum amount a student can receive in Pell Grants by $100. In the proposal, funds for the federal Depart ment of Education were cut by about half a bil lion dollars, or approximately 1 percent. If passed, it would represent the first cut in overall education spending by the federal government in a decade, according to The Washington Post. Programs like Upward Bound, Talent Search, GEAR UP and LEAP have, reportedly, found themselves on the budgetary chopping block. However, sources stressed that it’s still too early in the process to get a definitive idea of what the final budget will look like. “The budget that congress will finish with won’t resemble the budget that the president EDUCATION, page 4 Potential cuts come under scrutiny at state level Job losses and cuts to Medicaid may be among the consequences if Bush's new budget is passed BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF SENIOR NEWS REPORTER President Bush’s proposed federal budget is raising questions in Oregon about which state programs will be most affected, and policymak ers and other experts are examining the budget in hope of gaining a clearer perspective of the state’s fiscal future. Many have discussed the proposed budget’s effects on the Oregon Health Plan and the Bon neville Power Administration, a company that provides nearly half of the Northwest’s electric ity, saying the plan will have a negative impact on Oregon. A Feb. 12 report by Robert McCullough, man aging partner of McCullough Research, said Bush’s proposal to raise BPA’s rates by 20 per cent per year will result in more than 40,000 job losses in Oregon and Washington. Michael Leachman, a policy analyst with the Oregon Center for Public Policy, said the federal budget proposal would mean a $47 million loss for Medicaid, which could result in the disqual ification of approximately 16,000 children from Oregon Health Plan eligibility. BUSH, page 4 Nicole Barker | Photographer Top: Molly Bedford represents Alpha Chi Omega in Wednesday night’s third annual Ms. Greek competition, a fundraiser for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Bottom: Laura Tarkon from Gamma Phi Beta lifts 250 pounds for the talent section of the competition. In addition to showcasing talent, contestants donned formal wear and participated in a question and answer session. Ms. Greek Beta Theta Pi fraternity hosted the Ms. Greek pageant to raise money for Mothers Against Drunk Driving ROBERT X. FOGARTY DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER he waning summer days of August 1973 brought bicycles out of Eugene garages and reunions to the city parks, but for Barbara Sto JL effler it was the summer she lost her son. Mark was on his bicycle one minute and on the side of the road the next. The 16-year-old died in stantly after being hit by a motorist who had been drinking at a high school reunion. Stoeffler later founded Lane County’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter. On Wednesday night, before a crowd of 450, the Beta Theta Pi fraterni ty and the University’s eight sororities combined to raise an estimated $6,000 for Lane County’s MADD chapter in the third-annual Ms. Greek competition. The contestants displayed their talents, competed in a for mal question-and-answer session and received a public recommendation from another member of their respective sorority. From a “Napoleon Dynamite” dance to a weightlifting display of more than 250 pounds, the nominees for Ms. Greek did not disappoint their peers. But the purpose of the competition was to raise money and awareness about the dangers of drunk driving. “Mothers Against Drunk Driving is fighting a problem that plagues the Eugene campus,” Beta Theta Pi Social Chair Daniel Scheinman said. “We want to do everything we can to support them in their cause.” Last year, the Ms. Greek competition raised more than $4,300 for MADD, but going into Wednesday night the eight University sororities had raised about $5,000 through “Ms. Greek” T-shirt sales and donations, Scheinman said. This year’s Ms. Greek competition is the largest philanthropic event in the Beta Theta Pi chapter’s history, Scheinman said. Pi Beta Phi’s Caitlin Cushing, who won the contest with her rendi tion of the Jackson 5’s hit “One More Chance,” individually raised MADD, page 3 Judge speaks on role of women in law In a talk Wednesday night, Judge Schroeder identified a need for diversity in the judiciary BY AYISI LA YAHYA NEWS EDITOR Women and minorities have come a long way in the judiciary, but there is still room for improvement, Chief Judge Mary Schroeder of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said. Judge Schroeder, the first woman to be appointed to the chief judge position in that court, gave a speech titled “Whatever Happened to Di versity” on Wednesday night at the Knight Law School. The Women’s Law Forum sponsored the event. “Diversity in the last cen tury was seen as a positive value — it was something good in and of itself,” Schroeder said. “(However) diversity is different from equal opportunity.” Schroeder described how the judiciary has evolved to allow more women and mi norities among its ranks. However, it has not been an easy journey for female judges like Schroeder. Schroeder said before Jim my Carter’s presidency, only two women had served as appellate judges. At the time, no woman had ever been ap pointed to the Supreme Court. In fact, women had a hard time just getting through law school in the “bad old days,” as Schroeder called them. When Schroeder attended the University of Chicago Law School in 1962, there were only six women in her class. Women were not allowed to live or eat in the law school residence halls and had to make a three-mile round trip trek to their living quarters, “through the tundra.” “This was before global warming,” Schroeder said, referring to Chicago’s frigid winter. Professors picked on the women with questions that at times were impossible to answer. “Most law schools didn’t have to discriminate in ad missions because women didn’t apply,” she said. Finding a job as a female lawyer was also an uphill battle. Nonetheless, anti-dis crimination laws in the 1960s helped open doors for women and minorities, who JUDGE, page 3 Lauren Wimer | Senior photographer Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals converses before her speech at the Knight Law School on Wednesday night.