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asking that the plan be withdrawn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