Oregon daily emerald., May 25, 2005, Image 1

Professor to take national position in special education research I 4
Oregon Daily Emerald
An independent newspaper
www.dailyemerald. corn
Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 163 | Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Executive farewell
The former ASUO president and
vice president reflect on their
accomplishments this year
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
hey have tackled a citywide housing
standards program, helped register
X thousands of students to vote and advo
cated for a state higher education tuition
freeze. But former ASUO President Adam
Petkun and Vice President Mena Ravassipour
still had not tackled the mess of papers on
their desks when they left office Tltesday.
Petkun and Ravassipour found themselves the
victims of an April Fool’s Day joke this year when
the contents of their desks were switched. But in
stead of moving the mess back, they just
switched-desks.
“Adam’s really messy, and I’m, like, pretty
clean. And so you can totally tell on the tops of
our desks whose desk it is,” Ravassipour said.
“Adam and I, we still haven’t cleaned our desks
or switched it back.”
Their reaction to the joke represents an
executive duo who have taken issues serious
ly but have not been afraid to have a little
fun along the way.
“I’ve been impressed with how we’ve been
able to ... approach everything — so many seri
ous things that are so important to so many peo
ple — with a sense of humor,” Petkun said. “We
never took ourselves too seriously, although we
... were able to laugh at almost everything.”
Petkun and Ravassipour, both 22, reflected
Tiiesday about their year-long tenure as the lead
ers of the student government. Petkun said he
plans to work for the Oregon Bus Project over the
summer while he’s on a “figurative bus ride to
figure out where I’m going in life," although he
eventually wants to apply to law school. Ravas
sipour said she will take classes over the summer
and prepare to apply to law school.
Petkun said getting the Eugene City Council
to pass the housing standards ordinance
in November was one of the executive’s
major accomplishments.
“That’s the most significant because it’s some
thing that affects the most number of people in
the city and on campus, and it’s something that
FAREWELL, page 6
Tim Bobosky | Photographer
Former ASUO President Adam Petkun and Vice President Mena Ravassipour left office Tuesday after a year of
working on campus, city and statewide issues.
Lab team develops
wearable computer,
will begin testing
The small plastic boxes, called MoteLabs, are part
of a plan to assist people who have brain injuries
BY EVA SYLWESTER
NEWS REPORTER
Within the next month, a semi
nar room in Deschutes Hall will be
transformed into a model apartment
with all the accessories of modern
life, complete with a television and
couches. This will serve as a test
laboratory for MoteLabs, small plas
tic boxes that emit information
packed ultrasound waves from tiny
computers inside the boxes.
The University’s Wearable Com
puting Laboratory, led by computer
and information science professor
Steve Fickas, is producing these as
part of its plan to help people who
have brain injuries.
Fickas said the project began
five years ago when McKay
Sohlberg, an associate professor in
the College of Education, asked
Fickas about technology that could
help with her work in cognitive
rehabilitation. People with brain
injuries often have difficulty
remembering things and become
homebound because even the sim
ple tasks involved in leaving one’s
house on routine outings require
the ability to mentally keep track
WEARABLE, page 8
Zane Rii i | Photographer
Computer and
information
science professor
Steve Fickas and
his team have
developed
computer chips
that attach to
various items to
help users to not
forget their
belongings. The
project has been
in development for
five years and is
designed for those
with brain damage
or the elderly.
DPS given
discretion
in alcohol
citations
The revision, approved by the
Public Safety Advisory Group,
reconciles two conflicting policies
BY STEVEN R. NEUMAN
MANAGING EDITOR
The Department of Public Safety is giving offi
cers the discretion not to cite students when
responding to calls for assistance involving alco
hol or drug overdoses. The change, spurred by a
committee of students, University staff and
community members charged with advising
DPS, helped the organization move toward
reconciling two conflicting University policies.
In its final meeting of the year 'Iliesday morn
ing, the Public Safety Advisory Group unani
mously made a formal approval of the revision.
Previously the Office of Student Life and DPS
had discrepancies between their policies for cit
ing minors who call DPS seeking medical assis
tance for alcohol poisoning. The office’s policy
of not citing students if they call seeking med
ical treatment for alcohol poisoning conflicted
with the DPS policy of always issuing citations
in such situations.
The revision of the DPS General Order marks
the first time that PSAG, a 2-year-old committee
plagued with low attendance and subsequent in
action during its first year, was able to effect
change through recommendations to DPS.
Group chair and University senior Corey
Harmon helped draft the recommendation
over several months.
PSAG, page 7
Campus's
long-range
plan nears
final stage
The building and development
project awaits University President
Dave Frohnmayer's approval
BY Mix;IIANN M. CUNI11
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
After months of revisions, discussion and more
revisions, the Campus Planning Committee voted
Tuesday afternoon to send its updated Long
Range Campus Development Plan, which pro
vides a framework for the next 10 years of build
ing and development on campus, to University
President Dave Frohnmayer for his approval.
The committee had three goals when updating
the plan: make it easier to read, strengthen its
components and increase development capacity
on campus while maintaining the same propor
tion of grassy areas and open walkways.
It may not have been the most exciting
process to go through, but committee mem
bers said the revisions will go a long way to
PLAN, page 8