‘Stewie UncensorecT hits the shelves I 5
Oregon Daily Emerald
An independent newspaper at the University of Oregon
www. dailyemerald. com
Since 1900 \ Volume 107, Issue 31 | Thursday, October 6, 2005
Design
begins on
ONAMI
building
The University's underground
building is underway as SRG
Partnership begins plans
BY EVA SYLWESTER
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
The Oregon Nanoscience and Microtech
nologies Institute — a collaborative research
effort between select Oregon University Sys
tem institutions, private companies and gov
ernment labs — is closer to getting its under
ground building on the University campus.
The underground building will be located
between Huestis Hall and Deschutes Hall.
The Campus Planning Committee reviewed
the location this summer.
The building will be underground to keep
the lawn as green space and to minimize the
impact above-ground noise and vibrations can
have on the sensitive research inside, chem
istry professor Jim Hutchison and University
Vice President for Research and Graduate
Studies Rich Linton told the Emerald in May.
Linton wrote in an e-mail that the architec
tural firm SRG Partnership has been hired to
design the new building.
SRG Partnership, which has offices in Port
land and Seattle, has taken on many projects
related to universities and science and technol
ogy institutions in the Pacific Northwest. It de
signed the University’s Lillis Business Com
plex and renovated McKenzie Hall and the
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, according to
its Web site.
SRG representatives have met with campus
administrators and faculty representing the
core planning group to develop designs that
will come to the Campus Planning Committee
for review and approval, Linton said.
“The current plan is to move through the
design and approvals processes over the
course of the next academic year, with site
preparation to begin next summer and the
opening of the new facility in about two years
from now,” Linton said in an e-mail.
“Our concentration at the moment is on un
derstanding the program that will go into the
building and analysis of the site and budget,”
SRG Partnership principal architect Dennis Cu
sack said in an e-mail. “We don’t have any
sketches yet and probably won’t for several
weeks.”
The new building will be one story,
Charlene Lindsay, a project manager for facili
ties services at the University, said in
an e-mail. It will house research
ONAMI, page 4
Parker Howell | Editor in chief
A new underground building for ONAMI will be built
between Deschutes and Huestis halls.
Ramadan holiday in Eugene
Nicole Barker | Senior photographer
Doctoral student Hasnah Toran and University graduate Nargas Oskui discuss the
traditions of Ramadan, a monthlong Islamic holiday that began Wednesday.
Members of the Muslim community reflected
on the meaning of Ramadan upon its beginning
BY BRITTNI MCCLENAHAN
NEWS REPORTER
Ramadan is a different holiday
in Eugene than it is in an Islamic
country such as Malaysia, where
graduate student Hasnah Toran is
originally from.
In Malaysia, restaurants close
during the day and there are tra
ditional food markets during the
month of Ramadan, Toran said.
“Ramadan in Eugene is so dif
ferent than celebrating in an Is
lamic country,” said Toran, a Col
lege of Education doctoral
student. “Fasting in Eugene real
ly makes me miss my family in
Malaysia. In Malaysia, the night
is so alive. There’s lights every
where. People put lights on their
homes, some electric — like
Christmas lights — and others are
traditional lights made out
of bamboo.”
Ramadan, a month-long Mus
lim holiday that began Wednes
day at sundown, is a time of
blessing, charity and reflection
for Muslims around the world.
It’s a time for cleansing the body
and soul and getting closer to Al
lah, the Arabic word for God, by
praying, fasting and giving
to others.
“There’s a distinct calmness
during Ramadan,” said College of
Education master’s graduate stu
dent Nargas Oskui. “There’s a
feeling of warmth that you don’t
experience all year. ”
Ramadan is a time to practice
self-restraint and patience by not
smoking, eating, drinking, having
sex or fighting, especially during
daylight hours.
“It’s a time to recharge your
battery and connect with the
community,” Toran said.
“During this time, there’s a
great feeling of solidarity,” Oskui
said. “We’re all fasting; we all
have the same common goal. We
empathize with each other and
set aside all material thinking.”
Iftar is a meal that breaks the
daily fast in the evening during
Ramadan and is often shared
with others. Iftar can be difficult
for students to balance with their
academic schedules. “Sometimes
I had to break my fast in class,”
Toran said. “It made me so sad
when I had to break my fast with
a cereal bar or a snack in class. I
would think, ‘I don’t want to
have Iftar in class.’”
During Ramadan, students
here have to balance their
spiritual lives and academics.
“Over here, you go to a
mosque to do your prayers and
then rush to class,” Toran said.
Oskui and Toran said that dur
ing Ramadan they feel blessed to
participate in fasting, charity
and prayer.
RAMADAN, page 16
Professor studies toxic algal blooms
Biology teacher Michelle Wood is researching Pseudonitzschia,
toxin-producing algae, to help predict when shellfish will he safe to eat
BY EVA SYLWESTER
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
A University biology professor is working
with satellite technology to make
seafood safer.
Michelle Wood is part of an effort to devel
op detection methods for toxic algal blooms,
which are ocean growths that can turn
ordinary seafood poisonous.
She and Oregon State University assistant
professor of biological oceanography Peter
Strutton are studying growths of
Pseudonitzschia, a type of one-celled algae
that produces a substance called domoic acid.
When birds and mammals eat fish, espe
cially shellfish, that have consumed
Pseudonitzschia, the side effects range from
an upset stomach to permanent short-term
memory loss to death because the domoic
acid from the fish’s tissues crosses into the
bird or mammal’s brain and interferes with
nerve-signal transmission.
Most of the adverse events involving do
moic acid on the West Coast involve birds and
non-human mammals, Wood said, adding
that people swimming in water with
Pseudonitzschia in it or people swallowing
mouthfuls of such water are not in
immediate danger.
“You pretty much have to eat a very con
centrated amount,” Wood said. “It kind of
takes concentration by something else
eating them.”
Wood said biologists at the University of
California at Santa Cruz suspect the aggres
sive behavior by a flock of sea birds in Santa
Cruz that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s movie
“The Birds” may have been the result of
Pseudonitzschia-induced brain damage.
Oregon Department of Agriculture officials
monitor the water along the Oregon coast for
domoic acid concentration and, based on the
findings, prohibit or allow the harvesting
of shellfish.
Currently, razor clam beaches from New
port to Waldport and Reedsport to Coos Bay
are closed because of their high levels of do
moic acid. Anything exceeding 20 parts per
million is considered unsafe.
A Sept. 28 statement on the Oregon Depart
ment of Agriculture Web site said: “These lev
els are still declining from 200 ppm seen at
the peak of this summer’s toxic algae bloom.
Razor clams accumulate the toxin in edible
tissue. It can take several months for the
clams to purge the toxin. ”
“That’s good, but it’s sort of a retroactive
way of looking for this,” Strutton said, react
ing to the department’s reports. He explained
that the goal of his and Wood’s research is
to be able to predict harmful algal blooms
with satellites and give health officials
advance warnings.
The research, funded by the National
Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, uses
data from satellites maintained by the Nation
al Aeronautics and Space Administration. The
satellites determine the color pigments pres
ent in the ocean by measuring light wave
lengths from the surface of the ocean.
BEACHES WITH HIGH TOXIN LEVELS,
For the week
of Sept. 19,
toxic domotc
acid levels at
these beaches
reached more
than 20 ppm,
exceeding safe
levels
Newport
Waldport ^
Chris Todd | Graphic artist
The satellites provide a “bird’s-eye view of
the topography of the ocean,” including vari
ous streams and rivulets within the water,
Wood said.
Sensors on the satellites also collect data re
garding the temperature of the ocean.
TOXIC, page 16