Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2005)
Senators speak out, part two I 4 MERALD An independent newspaper www.dailyemerald. com Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 167 | Wednesday, June 1, 2005 Students, law experts respond to OMAS rule The policy reserving class seats for minority students has caused debate throughout campus BY JARED PABEN NEWS EDITOR Some say it’s reverse racism. Others say it’s necessary and effective. To press their cases, students debating a University policy that reserves class seats for minority students have held or planned rallies and filed complaints. The policy has even divided law experts with years of experience in affirmative action debates. The University’s Office of Multicultural Acad emic Support administers seven lower-division math and English classes in which the first 10 slots of the 18-student classes are reserved for mi nority students. Other students must meet with an OMAS counselor on the morning of the first day of class to enroll in the remaining slots. Linda Liu, advising coordinator and academic adviser for OMAS, told the Emerald that in the seven years she’s admitted students to the class es, which are smaller than other sections of the OMAS, page 6 5-year plan for diversity draws critics, supporters 24 faculty members wrote a letter to President Dave Frohnmayer asking that the plan be withdrawn BY ADAM CHERRY & AYISHA YAHYA NEWS REPORTER & NEWS EDITOR The University’s Five-Year Diversity Plan draft has come under increased scrutiny in re cent weeks, with the plan’s drafters defending it and critics voicing dissent on its feasibility and purpose. In a recent open letter to University President Dave Frohnmayer, 24 faculty members called the text of the 21-page draft “frightening and offen sive,” adding that if the plan is implemented even partially, “this program will do immeasurable damage to our University.” They went on to de mand the plan’s withdrawal. Greg Vincent, vice provost for institutional equity and diversity, said most of the debate has centered on the many recommendations within the plan’s six broad strategic directives. “We have over 25 recommendations in there, so it may be that some of those ... need to be revised and refined,” Vmcent said. Vincent has been spearheading the Univer sity’s efforts to improve diversity on campus, and he helped present the diversity plan draft, which has also been referred to as the “Diver sity Action Plan,” on May 2. The plan’s six DIVERSITY, page 5 Community grieves student's death Courtesy Friends recall University student Joel Nathan Meyer’s “goofy ass smile" when reflecting on his life. Joel Meyer, who drowned Sunday at Lake Shasta, is remembered by friends and family as being "kind, intelligent, and funny as hell" BY BRTITNIMCCLENAHAN NEWS REPORTER “Every man dies, not every man really lives.” Joel Nathan Meyer quoted the movie “Braveheart” on his Internet profile on The facebook.com, summing up the philosophy of a man who often seized the moment and found fun at every opportunity, his friends, family and professors said. Meyer’s sudden death has resonated with in the community as family, friends, stu dents and faculty members remember how he enriched the lives of everyone he en countered. The 21-year-old journalism stu dent from Sisters drowned Sunday at Lake Shasta after hitting his head on the side of a boat moored near Slaughterhouse Island. He was taken by helicopter to Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding, Calif., where he was pronounced dead. Friends who were with Meyer at the time called it “a freak accident.” “He was just having a great time, we were all having fun,” University student Mark Griffin said. “He was a lifeguard, so he was constantly looking out for everybody else and making sure that everyone was having a good time,” University student Katrina Eisenbarth said. “It was a tragic accident.” MEYER, page 3 Bike thefts on upswing in campus area Public Safety and the Eugene police say thieves are stealing bikes with less monetary value BY EMILY SMITH NEWS REPORTER Nearly half of all bike thefts in Eugene take place in the University area, and in recent weeks Eugene police and University public safety officers have noticed a significant in crease in the number of bikes being stolen in the area and a decrease in the monetary value of the bikes thieves are taking. “It seems to me that (bike theft) is higher this term and the last half of last term than it’s ever been,” Eugene police officer Randy Ellis said. According to a Eugene Police Department special report, 422 bikes with values totaling $196,702 were reported to the EPD as stolen from the West University neighborhood dur ing the last fiscal year. Only 35 of them were recovered. During the previous year, 345 bikes had been reported stolen, valued at $176,205, with 39 recovered. The average bike value in the 2004-05 EPD THEFT, page 12 Tim B< ibosky | Photographer The owner of this bike, located near Lawrence Hall, used two locks to ensure its safety. Department of Public Safety officer Chris Fosnight suggests using both a cable lock and a U-lock. DPS 'desperate' for new headquarters Concern over how the office would function in the event of a disaster reopened talks for relocation BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFI SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Located down an alley in an of fice carved from residence hall rooms, the Department of Public Safety headquarters may not seem like a focal point of campus activi ty. But if a disaster ever struck the University campus, that’s exactly what it would have to become. A group of University represen tatives and government officials toured the campus in February af ter the University received a grant to help the campus prepare for natural disasters and noted the in adequate size of the DPS office, which is supposed to serve as campus headquarters in case of an emergency. “Just one walk through and the group got a pretty good idea that that would be pretty hard to do,” DPS Interim Director Tom Hicks said. The current office is approxi mately 3,300 square feet, with about 2,300 usable feet, Hicks said. A planning office assessment in 2003 estimated DPS’s needed space to be about 9,000 square feet, with 6,400 feet of it usable. The University added a new DPS facility to its list of needed capital construction projects two years ago, but a variety of factors such as financing and land space have prevented anything from starting. Perhaps the biggest obsta cle in the quest for new office space is questions the University has about the future of public safe ty on campus, University Vice Danielle Hickey | Photo editor The Department of Public Safety office, located in what was once an residence hall, is on the University's list of capital building projects, but University officials do not have a timeline for the project. President for Administration Dan Williams said. “The choice is to continue the way we are or entertain the possibility of having our own police force, but we haven’t, obvi ously, made that decision,” Williams said. DPS, page 8
