Oregon daily emerald., April 14, 2005, Image 1

Gore collaborates on television project I 8
MERALD
An independent newspaper
www. dailyemerald. com
Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 134 \ Thursday, April 14, 2005
State employees rally to support senate bills
1 •
Tim Bobosky | photographer
University Graduate Coordinator Star Hoimberg and other members of the Services Employees International
Union Local 503 rally Wednesday at the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Agate Street for health care coverage.
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promoting five bills regarding health care-related issues
BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
University classified employees and service
workers from around Eugene gathered in the
rain Thesday evening on the corner of Franklin
Boulevard and Agate Street to gain support for
their contract negotiations with the state and
the Oregon University System and to rally for
senate bills addressing health care coverage.
Negotiations for the next contract between
the Service Employees International Union Lo
cal 503 and OUS began Feb. 4, and union rep
resentatives said they will do whatever it takes
to ensure they maintain the fully paid health in
surance the state is threatening to take away.
Union representatives said they are also fight
ing a larger battle: the battle for affordable
health care for all Oregonians.
The state is proposing a contract that in
volves payment from employees to maintain
health care coverage. Union members said this
will counter the wage increases offered by re
ducing the amount of money employees will
end up taking home.
“We are feeling stuck, real frustrated, real an
gry,” University employee and union bargain
ing team member Star Holmberg said. “This is
a testimony to our feelings,” she said, a refer
ence to the number of rally-goers, approximate
ly 50, being pummeled by wind and rain.
The state department of administrative
services is handling the negotiations regard
ing what OUS director of labor relations Rick
Hampton said were the three biggest issues in
the contract: pension, retirement and across
the-board wage increases. Hampton said he is
under the impression the governor wants con
sistency in those three areas for all state
contracted employees.
Holmberg said negotiations with the state
began in December.
Hampton said the union and OUS agreed to
let the state handle negotiations on those issues
while OUS bargained on other issues like work
rule changes and other minor matters.
At the bargaining table the union represents
nearly 20,000 workers across Oregon, with
about 1,200 employed at the University. The
union represents classified employees at the
University, including groundskeepers, custodi
ans and office clerks.
Hampton said there is discussion regarding
UNION, page 8
Facebook
allegiances
prove weak
in election
Numerous groups popped up on
Thefacebook.com promoting and
disparaging ASUO candidates
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Colorful campaign T-shirts and bulletin
boards plastered with political posters are com
monplace during ASUO election season. But
this year, some candidates have also turned to a
new online social network for college students
to spread the word about their platforms and
enlist volunteers.
Web-savvy candidates and their supporters
have used Thefacebook.com, a directory of stu
dent profiles frequented by many at the Univer
sity, to create virtual groups centered on voting
for or against certain candidates. About 1,600
students have joined groups for six of the seven
Executive candidates who ran in the primaries.
Yet after the results of last week’s primary elec
tions, some candidates doubt the usefulness of
Thefacebook groups for getting out the vote.
Any student with a University e-mail address
can create a profile on the service, initiate
groups and join other groups, such as those for
the candidates. Once a student joins a group,
they can send and receive group announce
ments. Some groups also allow members to
post messages.
Although Thefacebook started Feb. 4, 2004,
this is the first year it has been used for ASUO
elections, Election Board Coordinator Kelly
Cheeseman said.
She said the board, which created a profile
on Feb. 17, was one of the first groups to take
the election to cyberspace.
Actual voter turnout numbers show that The
facebook supporters don’t necessarily translate
FACEBOOK, page 7
Students gather for Day of Silence march
Members of the LGBTQA and
other organizations walked to
raise discrimination awareness
BY AMANDA BOLSINGER
NEWS REPORTER
More than 30 students gathered in the
EMU amphitheater Wednesday afternoon to
march to South Eugene High School for the
Day of Silence rally. Many of the students
were members of the University’s Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Alliance.
The students stood quietly, many with
red tape Xs over their mouths, others with
duct tape across their lips. Many wore
small signs stating that they were partici
pating in the Day of Silence. They held up
signs reading “Silence = Death" and
“What will you do?” as they lined up in
pairs to march to the high school.
The rally was for local high school stu
dents and drew participants from six differ
ent schools. Some University students who
attended the rally hope to formulate a coali
tion between the organizations involved.
SILENCE, page 5
Lauren Wilmer | Senior photographer
LGBTQA members Pira Kelly, left and Stacy Borke, right, gather in the EMU amphitheater to march to South
Eugene High School for the Day of Silence rally.
Feminist explains what it takes to be a patriot
The distinguished author covered a wide array of topics, including
empire-building, democracy, militarization and immigration
BY EMILY SMITH
NEWS REPORTER
Renowned feminist, author and educator
Dr. M. Jacqui Alexander said “Mark this mo
ment, not as a moment of democracy, but a
moment of empire-building and militariza
tion,” during a speech to a diverse audience in
the EMU Ballroom Wednesday evening.
Center for the Study of Women in Society
Director Sandra Morgen introduced Alexander
as “a scholar who has been enormously influ
ential in shaping feminist scholarship.”
Alexander’s talk, entitled “Not Just Any
body Can Be a Patriot: The Militarized State of
the Empire,” covered an array of subjects hav
ing to do with what she calls the “privatiza
tion, militarization and imperialization” of the
United States during this historical moment
of crisis.
Alexander points to The PATRIOT Act of
2001 and 2002, and the national security act as
examples of how the U.S. government is
“building a new empire” based on a sort of
neo-imperialism in which ordinary citizens are
being drawn into surveillance of each other
and an “army of cops” maintains a constant,
known presence.
The purpose of the lecture, Alexander said,
was to reveal the link between immigration,
militarization of the U.S.’s police forces, home
land security, the threat of weapons of mass
destruction, “heterosexism” and the “empire
of imperialism that is happening in our geo
graphic boundaries.”
Cuts in public assistance led many desper
ate men and women into the armed forces,
said Alexander, thus perpetuating militariza
tion even further. She also said there are pro
grams that encourage welfare moms to get
married in an attempt to get them off public
assistance in a heterosexism fashion.
Alexander said in order for the United States
to feed its war-based economy and build its
imperialistic empire, it manufactured enemies
both inside and outside of itself. She went on
SPEECH, page 5