University’s Child and Family Center awarded $3.7 million grant |
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An independent newspaper at the University of Oregon
uninv. dailyemerald. com
Since 1900 | Volume 107, Issue 006 | Thursday, July 7, 2005
Gender discrimination suit setded
Sally Harmon, a former assistant track and field coach, was awarded
$375,000 in the settlement of a lawsuit she filed last year
BYGABE BRADLEY
NEWS EDITOR
Last week, Sally Harmon and the University
reached a $375,000 settlement on the
$1.1 million gender discrimination lawsuit
Harmon filed late last year. The settlement
contains no admission of wrongdoing by
the University.
In 2003, the University consolidated the
men’s and women’s track teams. Olympic
hammer thrower Lance Deal, who had been a
volunteer men’s throws events coach for
about a year, was selected to coach the com
bined throws events.
In the suit, Harmon alleged that selecting
Deal to coach though he had “no paid Divi
sion I coaching experience,” and little volun
teer coaching experience was a part of a pat
tern of gender discrimination in the
University’s athletics department.
SALLY HARMON
FORMER ASSISTANT
TRACK AND FIELD COACH
The University denied
that the decision to ter
minate Harmon was
made based on gender.
“I think it’s a really
lair settlement,” Univer
sity General Counsel
Melinda Grier said. “It
was time for everyone to
move on.”
Grier said that al
though the settlement
amount was less than a
LAWSUIT, page 12
PREPARING THE FAIR FOR ITS 36TH YEAR
The curtains
are ready to
be opened at
Stage Left for
the Oregon
Country Fair.
Cast
members
and friends
spent the
week leading
up to the fair
preparing
The
vaudeville
style
production,
“The Red
Ukulele,” for
shows over
the
weekend.
See the full
story on
page 7.
Scientists develop telemedicine service
This new technology provides
a non-invasive way to analyze
the brain activity of patients
BY YEONG DOO MOON
FREELANCE REPORTER
Within six months, scientists at the Univer
sity's Neuroinformatics Center (NIC) will of
fer a telemedicine service that provides infor
mation on the brain activity of remote patients
with epilepsy and other brain disorders
through the Internet. The remotely analyzed
brain information is as accurate as information
obtained through more invasive measures, but
requires no direct physical contact to a patient.
The development creates new opportunities
for both clinical treatment of brain disorders
and basic research on brain function.
The University and two professors recently
established a private company, Cerebral Data
Systems, said psychology professor Don Hick
er, who is in charge of the project. He is also
the CEO of Electrical Geodesics, Inc. , a spin
off private entity located at the University's
Riverfront Research Park.
“If clinics and research labs sent us CT and
MRI images of a patient getting prepared for
neurosurgery, we would analyze the data,
build an accurate computing head model and
report it back,” T\icker said.
The new project is the product of a recent
discovery by Thcker and other scientists at
NIC. Using the ICONIC Grid — the Integrated
Cognitive Neuroscience, Informatics and
Computation Grid, which is the University's
• BRAIN, page 5
Don Tucker, CEO
of Electrical
Geodesics, Inc.,
wears a Geodes
ic Sensor Net to
demonstrate the
camera system
used to map the
electrodes that
measure brain
conductivity.
UM DUbUAKY I rnUIUtUMUK
Harassment
grievance
filed against
professor
Mary Thomson issued a grievance
of sexual harassment against
Professor Weston spring term
BYGABE BRADLEY
NEWS EDITOR
A student who filed a formal grievance
against a biology professor spring term for
sexual harassment says it’s unclear what,
if anything, will be done to hold the pro
fessor accountable.
Psychology major Mary Thomson was
in professor Jim Weston’s Reproduction
and Development class when Weston al
legedly leered at her and made an inappro
priate comment during week four of
spring term.
Thomson referred to the experience as a
“visual rape.”
“It invaded my whole perspective on
how this University is,” Thomson said.
The next class session, Thomson’s then
fiance took her to class where she decided
to sit in the back row.
“I was scared to sit in front,” Thomson
said. “He yelled at me to sit in front.”
After that, Thomson dropped the class
and filed a formal grievance.
Thomson said she was told that the pro
fessor would be reprimanded and a note of
the incident would be made in his person
nel file. She was also told that no further
action would be taken against the profes
sor because the conduct was not found to
be pervasive and ongoing.
It is the policy of the Office of Affirma
tive Action and Equal Opportunity not to
discuss grievance proceedings.
“I think what we find once again is that
the University has found someone
culpable but not accountable,” said
ASUO Women’s Center interim director
Erin O’Brien.
O’Brien said complaints of sexual ha
rassment are often not taken seriously.
“This is not the first time that they have
said, ‘Well, yes he said something wrong,
but he didn’t do it every day,”’ O’Brien
said. “I think that’s unfortunate.”
O’Brien said the reprimand was a
necessary but inadequate response to
sexual harassment.
“Just a note on your record doesn’t
do too much if you’re in a tenure track
position or if you’re not looking for
GRIEVANCE, page 12
IN BRIEF
Memorial service for Phillip
Gillins to be held in Portland
The memorial service for Phillip Gillins
will be held Sunday, July 10 in Portland.
Gillins, a University advertising major,
died last month from brain injuries sus
tained when he was assaulted on 13th Av
enue the morning before he was to walk in
graduation ceremonies.
The service will take place at 2 p.m. in the
Montgomery Park building atrium at 2701
NW Vaughn St.
The family has asked that memorial con
tributions be given to the Humane Society.
— Gabe Bradley