Oregon daily emerald., April 13, 2005, Image 1

Peeking into the life of an avid climber I 9
Oregon
An independent newspaper
www. da ilyemerald. com
Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 133 \ Wednesday, April 13, 2005
OfflSUO
” elections
Executive tickets square off in general election
The two pairs of candidates debate their views on a
tuition freeze, campus safety and community relations
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
ASUO Executive candidates Adam
Walsh and Kyla Coy begin challeng
ing Ashley Rees and Jael Anker-La
gos for student government’s top po
sition today in the ASUO General
Election, presenting contrasting plans
for a tuition freeze, community rela
tions and campus safety.
Rees and Anker-Lagos received the
most votes in last week’s primary
contest, garnering 907. Walsh and
Coy took second with 445 votes, sur
passing third-place challengers Jacob
Daniels and Adi Cargni by just
22 votes.
A key issue in April 6’s executive de
bate, a tuition freeze, continues to dis
tinguish the candidates.
Walsh told the Emerald he would
support a freeze but not at the expense
of the Oregon Opportunity Grant. He
said his opponents’ plan would cut the
program to fund the freeze, reducing a
form of aid for students who already
struggle to pay tuition.
“It will be hard to get, but it’s some
thing that students want and some
thing we’d continue to advocate for as
long as it doesn’t affect the Oregon Op
portunity Grant,” Walsh said. “The re
ality of it is that any ASUO Executive
candidate who tells you they’re going
to get the tuition freeze for you is lying
to you.”
Coy said the ability to obtain a
freeze is ultimately outside the
purview of the executive. If it happens,
it’s because the Oregon Legislature
found the money, he said.
But Rees said the freeze is her tick
et’s “main issue,” saying it is feasible.
“A lot of the other candidates are
claiming this isn’t something we
can win, that this isn’t possible,”
she said. “We want to make it clear
that this is very possible to win as
long as you have dedicated students
working on it.”
Rees said students won a freeze
from 1997 until 2001, adding that the
House, Senate and governor have pri
oritized the freeze in their budget
proposals. She said her executive
would continue to lobby to preserve
the funding.
Rees and Anker-Lagos also coun
tered the Walsh-Coy ticket’s assertion
that stronger campus-community rela
tions are necessary. Anker-Lagos said
campaigning for a housing standards
code earlier this year was “one of our
great victories.”
“There is this bridge that we’ve built
with the community, especially work
ing on housing standards,” she said.
“It’s unfortunate that Adam doesn’t
see this bridge because he’s never ac
tually walked on it and participated in
the housing standards. He was not at
the hearings.”
Yet Walsh said although the execu
tive currently has a community out
reach position, he wants to “really step
up the work that they’re doing and
make sure they work side by side with
city councilors.”
He added that the person filling the
position needs to be aware of not just
the city council but of what’s going on
with neighborhood organizations.
“For them to say that it’s a non-issue
just really emphasizes how narrow of
a scope their platform has,” he said.
Walsh targeted his opponents’
position on increasing safety light
ing at night. While he said the path
to Autzen Stadium is windy and
“there are dark spots,” which could
possibly be improved, he said stu
dents can already obtain a map
from the Department of Public Safe
ty showing lighted walkways.
“When you look at it... there’s lines
in yellow for every route on campus
that is lit,” he said. “It’s basically a grid
of yellow. So when they talk about not
having enough lighting on campus, I
really think they should do their re
search a little bit better. ”
Coy said crime statistics show there
is more arson than assault on campus.
Walsh said safe walk programs,
like those currently in place at other
schools, have not been utilized
by students.
Rees said in addition to lighting the
Autzen area and starting a walking
service, her ticket wants to go “beyond
physical safety” to address students’
ability to feel safe on campus. She said
a more holistic approach is necessary
ASHLEY REES
FOR ASUO PRESIDENT
1
-_i
ADAM WALSH
FORASUO PRESIDENT
r
[AEL ANKER-LAGOS
FOR ASUO VICE PRESIDENT
KYLA COY
FORASUO VICE PRESIDENT
to address the campus climate.
Walsh said he would change the
DPS policy on citing underage stu
dents experiencing alcohol poisoning
with a violation charge of minor
in possession.
“It seems ironic that the name
would be ‘Public Safety’ if really we’re
putting students in jeopardy because
...it truly is a very dangerous thing to
be taking the chance that any student
might not call for help for a friend who
is potentially going to die,” he said.
Coy said her ticket’s role as out
siders to the ASUO will be beneficial.
“I think a fresh outlook is priceless
because you’re seeing things from a
different angle than you would from
the inside; you can approach problems
from a different way,” she said.
ELECTIONS, page 8
Long-range plan meeting runs short
No one from the public attended
the meeting, held to address the
updated campus development plan
BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
A campus planning committee meeting
scheduled to last an hour and a half was ad
journed after just seven minutes Tliesday after
noon, something University Planning Associate
Christine Thompson said was not unexpected
given the number of public hearings and the at
tention that planning issues has received in the
past few months.
The meeting’s focus was the Long Range
Campus Development Plan, but because the
updates being done to the plan are in their
final stages, Thompson said the need for
community members to voice opinions or
concerns may not seem as pressing to them
as it was a few months ago.
The campus development plan is being up
dated for the first time since 1991, with changes
focusing on increasing development capacity
while maintaining the beauty and open spaces
mandated in the original plan.
The meeting agenda included time for a pub
lic hearing, but no members of the public
showed up to speak.
“I don’t think it was for lack of interest,”
Thompson said after the meeting, referring to
the number of chances the public had in previ
ous months to voice concerns.
The remainder of the meeting was devoted to
Thompson’s informing the committee about the
next steps in the update process, something that
♦
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
Left: Associate professor of architecture Peter Keyes displays basketball arena designs
made by architecture students in a fall term course. Right: University Planning Associ
ate Christine Thompson discussed updates to the Long Range Campus Development
Plan during Tuesday’s Campus Planning Committee meeting.
took just a few minutes.
“This is the fastest campus planning com
mittee meeting on record,” said Carole Daly,
committee chair and senior director of
development opportunities.
Members stayed after the meeting ad
journed to discuss various happenings at the
University and in the planning department,
such as the University’s plans for a basketball
arena, and development on Franklin Boule
vard near the Williams’ Bakery site and the va
cant car lot recently purchased by the Univer
sity of Oregon Foundation.
Associate professor of architecture Peter
Keyes brought a laptop computer with arena de
signs that students in the architecture depart
ment completed for a course that architecture
professor emeritus Michael Utsey offered fall
term. University graduate Bob Thompson, who
is Nike CEO Phil Knight’s primary architect,
worked with the students throughout the term
and critiqued the finished designs with other
architecture experts.
University Planning Director and Architect
Chris Ramey attended the design presentations
in December, as did Karl Wagenknecht, a den
tist with an office on the same block as the bak
ery site, and his wife, Jeanne, a University
business professor.
Allan Price, vice president for University Ad
vancement, said in a Feb. 10 Emerald article that
the University must purchase a medical build
ing, a video store and a 7-11 store if the arena is
to be built on the site (“University finalizes bak
ery site purchase”). Fairmount Neighborhood
Association Co-Chair Jeff Nelson announced at
the group’s March 31 meeting that Wa
genknecht has expressed to him his unwilling
ness to relocate his office.
CAMPUS, page 8
Waterless
urinal takes
a trial run
in restroom
The EMU Board chose to install
the donated fixture because of its
potential to conserve water
BY EVA SYLWESTER
NEWS REPORTER
Male University students now have a unique
opportunity to help conserve water on campus.
A waterless urinal was installed in an EMU
men’s restroom near the ASUO office during
spring break.
The idea came from Brandon Rhodes, vice
chair of the EMU Board of Directors and chair of
the building’s long-range planning committee.
Rhodes, a senior majoring in political science
and environmental studies, said he first heard of
waterless urinals in Environmental Studies 411:
Campus Environmental Sustainability.
“Someone just mentioned it offhand in class,”
Rhodes said. He said he made a note of the idea
because he thought that, as a member of the
EMU Board, he could do something with it.
“This is the students’ building, and part of
what students believe in, broadly, seems to be
sustainability,” Rhodes said.
URINAL, page 12