Group receives $100,000 for natural disaster plan | 3
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Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 106 | Tuesday, February 22, 2005
City employee to file lawsuit
over alleged racial profiling
The claim comes from an incident last September in
which officers searched Cortez Jordan for weapons
BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
A city employee intends to sue Eu
gene and Lane County over an incident
with Eugene police that he alleges oc
curred because he is black.
Cortez Jordan’s lawyer, Kevin Lafky,
filed notices of the lawsuits Friday,
which stem from an incident last Sep
tember when a Eugene police officer
and an off-duty Lane County sheriff’s
deputy stopped Jordan while he was
walking along Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard with four friends.
Officer Wayne Dorman searched
Jordan, while his four friends, who
are white, were not searched. Dor
man later said he suspected Jordan
was carrying a weapon because of his
physical demeanor.
The Lane County District Attor
ney’s office launched a two-month in
vestigation that upheld the legality of
the search and concluded Jordan’s
complaint of racial profiling
was unjustified.
Jordan’s aunt, Marilyn Mays,
president of the local chapter of the
National Association for the Advance
ment of Colored People, left her posi
tion as the city’s diversity coordinator
in January and announced her plans
to move out of town, citing the city’s
handling of her nephew’s complaint
and the difficulties combating racism
in the city as reasons for leaving.
The notices allege police violated
Jordan’s civil rights and caused him
emotional distress. Lafky told The Reg
ister-Guard he will begin negotiations
with the city about the complaints in
the coming weeks.
“It will be up to the city to decide if
it wants to proceed with meaningful
negotiations,” Lafky said. “If negotia
tions are not successful, the next step
is a lawsuit.”
Ward 3 City Councilor David Kelly,
a member of the Eugene Human
Rights Commission, said the HRC has
not been formally involved with Jor
dan’s case but is following the
situation closely.
“A great many of the HRC
commissioners, myself included, were
concerned and indeed devastated
about the treatment that Mr. Jordan re
ceived, but the commission has not
taken any specific position,” Kelly said.
The Eugene Police Commission is
currently examining complaint process
models and different methods for citi
zen oversight and is expected to have
recommendations for policy and proce
dural changes by September, according
to the commission’s Main Tasks and
Tentative Timeline. They are examin
ing these models in the hope of en
abling the city to deal more effectively
with complaints made about police.
In 1998, Eugene voted against a bal
lot measure that would have estab
lished an independent external police
review board. The idea has since
gained more support as Mayor Kitty
Piercy touted the formation of such a
board during her Jan. 3 State of the
City address.
Kelly said the HRC is closely follow
ing the work of various community
groups like Communities United for
Better Policing, which was formed in
late 2004 to work with the Eugene Po
lice Department to examine concerns
and create action items to address any
CORTEZ, page 8
Tim Boboski | Photographer
Economics GTF Mike Visser showed off the motion-sensing power strip in his office on the fifth floor of PLC on Monday.
ASUO energy-saving efforts target
problems with 'inefficient' PLC
The installation of 150 motion-sensing power strips into
PLC offices may save the University $10,000 per year
BY EVA SYLWESTER
NEWS REPORTER
Prince Lucien Campbell Hall is the
target of ASUO Outreach Committee
efforts to decrease energy use on
campus. During Energy Week, which
ran Feb. 14-18, the committee distrib
uted energy-saving light bulbs and
motion-sensing power strips to
graduate teaching fellow and faculty
offices in the building.
“PLC’s really energy inefficient,”
ASUO Outreach Director Taylour
Johnson said. “If you’ve ever been up
there in the middle of the day, it gets
really hot and uncomfortable.”
The PLC project was a long time in
the making. ASUO Outreach
Committee intern Ben Hart said that
a few years ago, student government
and the facilities department acquired
numerous energy-saving fluorescent
light bulbs and motion-sensing power
strips to distribute in PLC.
Economics GTF Mike Visser said he
received a motion-sensing power
strip from the first equipment distri
bution a year or two ago. He has two
computer monitors, speakers, a print
er, and some personal digital
ENERGY, page 3
Access to campus
services subject
of fee dispute
A number of out-of-town and part-time students
have questioned the mandatory enrollment fees
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Numerous questions from
out-of-town and part-time Uni
versity students concerned they
are not receiving the full benefit
of their enrollment fees have
prompted University adminis
trators to form a committee to
determine whether some
students are paying an
unfair amount.
Full-time students pay $471
per term m
“mandatory en
rollment fees,”
about $180 of
which is desig
nated as the “in
cidental fee”
the student gov
eminent uses to iuna stuaent
programs. Yet many part-time
students and students at satel
lite campuses in Portland and
Charleston are not receiving the
services for which they pay
full price.
The students have ap
proached ASUO officials and de
partment-level administrators to
try to remedy their problems.
Those officials and students in
volved are looking to University
administrators to address the is
sue, but a group of administra
tors who are analyzing the fees
aren’t sure they will recom
mend any changes to system
for next year.
PSAC problems
One or the most vocal ott
campus groups, the Portland
Student Action Council, was
formed by graduate architecture
students studying at the Univer
sity’s Portland Center to advo
cate for equal distribution of
fees. Students started the group
because of concerns that stu
dents in Portland have paid full
fees for several years, but have
not had the same access to
recreation facilities and trans
portation provided to students
in Eugene.
Although PSAC students re
ceive health care through Port
land State University, they have
struggled to gain free access to
public transportation and PSU’s
recreation center. Incidental fees
pay for those services at the
University’s main campus.
ASUO Vice President Mena
Ravassipour previously told the
Emerald that ASUO officials
were not aware that about
80 students were not receiving
the same amenities as students
in Eugene until earlier this year
when PSAC began to form, but
said the ASUO would work to
address concerns.
“It’s kind of early to say
what’s going to happen, but
right now we’re doing a lot of
research to see if there’s a way
to partner with (Portland State
University) to work with part
ner services they could use up
there,” she said.
After struggling to remedy
their problems since the group
was formed in October, PSAC
leaders said they are perplexed
by the varying layers of red tape
they have encountered with the
ASUO and elsewhere in the ad
ministration.
“We want to
make change
and we want to
do it positively
... but there
are so many
hoops that it
aoesn t seem worm u,
Vice President Britt Nelson said.
“It’s really frustrating.”
PSAC President Gary Black
well said although the group
has held meetings, he has had
trouble getting students in
volved because group members
have questioned why changes
aren’t taking place despite
their efforts.
Nelson said the group “hasn’t
been moving forward at all” on
getting equal funding, and
group leaders haven’t heard
back from ASUO officials.
“Initially, it seemed pretty
positive with working with the
ASUO. But to be honest with
you, we’re frustrated up here,”
she said. “We haven’t heard
back from the ASUO about how
we’re moving forward. For
10 years we’ve been having to
deal with this.”
Although the group received
$300 for next year, the maxi
mum a new group can receive,
the money will go to enhance
the Portland Architecture Pro
gram and pay for an alumni
roundtable discussion, an event
to display student work and a
publication of student work.
Blackwell said ASUO officials
have been “apologetic” while
the group doesn’t know the sta
tus of its push for fee equality.
“It’s a lot of ambiguous lan
guage, usually never really clear
what the goals are,” he said.
“That’s really translated into a
lot of frustration.”
If the group’s concerns aren’t
remedied, Blackwell said he
would encourage everyone in
the council to file grievances
with the ASUO early next term.
"I’m not going to be discour
aged,” he said, adding that stu
dents are being “taken advan
tage of.”
Blackwell said students are
“just tired of dealing with these
sorts of trivial issues” and want
MONEY, page 4
PART 1 OF 2
Today: Administrators form committee
to analyze fee equity
Wednesday: Out-of-town students
continue to struggle with fee equality