FCC: University is granted short time to make changes
Continued from page 1
not impose such a substantial burden
of cost to the community,” Luker said.
Barta said that in his 16 years at the
University, the University has not re
ceived a wiretap request from the gov
ernment, even though the govern
ment could have made such a request
under the 1994 act. He has not heard
of other schools receiving such re
quests, although he said he assumes
it must have happened somewhere.
“We’re only speculating as to
what would prompt (a wiretap
request),” Barta said.
Barta said he is concerned about
what complying with the rule could
do for the University’s efforts to
protect computers from hackers.
Computer technicians spend a lot of
time trying to thwart hackers’ cre
ativity, he said, and diverting their
energy to redoing the system could
give hackers an advantage.
“Here we are being asked by the
government to basically poke a hole
in the system,” Barta said.
Another issue is the short amount
of time allotted, Barta said.
Barta said that some of the technol
ogy necessary for the University to
comply with the new regulations has
not even been developed yet.
“The technology is very much a
moving target right now,” Barta said.
The act is not a done deal, Barta said.
On Monday, the American Council
on Education filed an appeal in the
District of Columbia’s federal appel
late court to challenge the regulations,
according to a news release.
Barta said there has been some dis
pute over the accuracy of the council’s
statistics. Its lawsuit regarding CALEA
is not universally supported in the
realm of higher education, he said.
“To generate meaningful numbers
now is guesswork at best,” Barta said.
Contact the business, science and
technology reporter at
esylwester@ daily emerald, com
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Westmoreland:
Tenants search
for answers
Continued from page 1
permission to sell by discussing the
need for improved on-campus hous
ing and by discussing the high cost
of maintaining the apartments into
the future.
Many attendees questioned what
was wrong with the infrastructure of
the apartments, asking why the Uni
versity did not feel it would be cost
efficient to maintain the apartments.
Eyster said the quality of the build
ings is a judgment call but also said
the University is “anticipating the in
frastructure failing. ”
One person suggested taking out
bonds to pay for the future upkeep of
the apartments, but Dyke said getting
the state legislature to approve such a
thing would be next to impossible.
“It seems extraordinarily unlikely
that we would be able to secure bonds
to renovate this property,” Dyke said.
Bing Li, chair of the Westmoreland
Tenants Council, questioned why no
public hearing had been held in front
of the Family Housing Board as state
law requires, and Eyster said such a
hearing will be held at the next board
meeting, assuming the higher educa
tion board grants the University per
mission to sell the property.
Many attendees expressed concern
that they will not be able to find anoth
er place as diverse as Westmoreland.
“You’re not talking about dollars
and cents here — you’re talking about
families and lives,” graduate student
Hasnah Toran said. “It’s really like
home here. It’s a global village.”
According to a University press re
lease, 25 international students live at
Westmoreland, but many attendees
disputed that number and said it’s ac
tuily much higher. One person said
he recently moved in and was not
asked his country of origin on the ap
plication, and he questioned how the
University could track the number of
international students without asking
that question.
victoria Koariguez, a Westmore
land tenant and University student,
said the decision to get rid of the
apartments for the purpose of im
proving on-campus housing was a
discriminatory act.
“I personally feel that this is discrim
ination against age,” she said. “There
is no availability, and there hasn’t been
in the two years I’ve been here,” refer
ring to University Housing’s other off
campus housing.
The University has said it will give
priority to married students with chil
dren who live at Westmoreland and
would like to move to other University
Housing apartments, but many atten
dees said those options are too limited
and just aren’t affordable.
Darlene Hampton, a GTF in the
English department, said she pays
$355 for her Westmoreland apart
ment and will not be able to find a
better deal anywhere else.
“I’m on a fixed income,” Hampton
said. “For $355 a month I could live in
a cockroach-infested apartment on
Seventh and Blair.”
Units in the other apartments op
erated by housing are difficult to ob
tain because of the high demand,
Hampton said, and the majority of
the Westmoreland tenants will not
be able to move there because of
cost or demand or both.
“You’re displacing 600 people,”
Hampton said. “Have you not
thought about what you’re going to
do with all of us?”
Hampton said the Graduate Teach
ing Fellow Federation, the union for
GTFs, is against the sale and members
will be traveling to Portland to speak at
the State Board of Higher Education
meeting next week.
Contact the news editor at
mcuniff@dailyemerald. com