« Protest: Residents say sale of complex would harm international students
Continued from page 1
amphitheater to Susan Campbell Hall,
where the offices for the Oregon Uni
versity System are located, to the steps
of Johnson Hall.
Protesters carried signs that read
“No Home = No Education” and
“Westmoreland is Diversity.” Others
were sitting in a cardboard box that
read, “Eyster Housing,” referring to Di
rector of University Housing and Assis
tant Vice President for Student Affairs
Mike Eyster.
“We are not fighting for ourselves.
We are fighting for our community,”
said Bing Li, rally organizer and chair
woman of the Westmoreland Tenants
Council. “They have no plan to take
care of us, nowhere for us to go. We
just want to protect our homes, our
community and our kids.”
University officials decided to try
to sell the Westmoreland property to
avoid high maintenance costs and
the high cost of repairs for major
structural damage to the 45-year-old
property. University officials aim to
use the money to improve student
housing closer to campus, although
they’ve said that some of it could be
used for other purposes.
The 21-acre Westmoreland property
is worth an estimated $15 million to
$18 million. Graduate student Teresa
Coronado is in her third year living in
Westmoreland.
“This is a huge blow to the multi
cultural and working-class communi
ty,” Coronado said. “They raised our
rent, which was difficult, and now
they’re selling our homes. By selling
Westmoreland, the University is
taking away the most affordable
housing available to grad students,
international students, non-tradition
al students and student families. ...
Most of us are living off a GTF salary
and/or student loans.”
Darlene Hampton, a graduate teach
ing fellow in the English department,
said the University’s representation of
Westmoreland residents is misleading.
Hampton said Westmoreland resi
dents come from countries such as
China, India, Malaysia, Poland and
Togo; she called Westmoreland a glob
al community that works.
“Westmoreland is diversity,” Hamp
ton said. “Spencer View and East Cam
pus isn’t enough. There’s already a
waiting list and even if there was
enough room, where are we going to
get the money for extra rent? What are
we going to eat?”
Graduate student Hasnah Toran said
in an interview that the rally’s turnout
wasn’t as big as it should have been
because the international students liv
ing in Westmoreland aren’t used to a
culture where rallying is accepted.
“A lot of countries don’t do this
sort of thing,” Toran said. “Interna
tional students are afraid of jeopard
izing their visas. Language barriers
are also an issue.”
Toran said international students liv
ing in Spencer View Apartments come
mostly from richer countries like Japan
and South Korea, and most students
living in Westmoreland can’t cope
with the extra rent it will take to move
from Westmoreland to another Univer
sity Housing option.
“We have students at Westmoreland
that come from Third World countries.
... We’re barely making it,” Toran said.
“We come here thinking we can
change our lives but by taking away
the only housing that the majority of
Westmoreland’s residents can afford,
the University is only making it more
difficult for all of us. ”
Hampton said in an interview that
the University’s decision comes at a
very difficult time for Westmore
land’s residents.
“It’s the middle of the term,” Hamp
ton said. “We’re grading papers, deal
ing with our own midterms and pa
pers and save our apartments in the
middle of all this. It’s not helpful.”
Contact the people,
culture, faith reporter at
bmcclenahan@ dailyemerald, com
Ghost: Midnight search for phantasm treks through nearby cemetery
Continued from page 1
successful supernatural investigation.
The Web site encourages investiga
tors to have an open mind because
skepticism will generate negative en
ergy. It also advises against smoking,
drinking, doing drugs or performing
seances during an investigation. In
addition, spirits must be asked
permission before having their pho
tograph taken.
The reporter followed these sug
gestions, but was unsuccessful in
her search. Two Emerald photogra
phers, who were also dispatched,
visited the cemetery around 12:30
a.m. on Sunday.
They weren’t alone.
Groups of students were reading
ghost stories there, surrounded by
the haunting blackness with only a
flashlight to read by. But no ghost.
The possible identities for the report
ed ghost seem endless. Could he be
the spirit of a murdered student revis
iting his old room or a peeping tom
with a fetish for college students?
Wahrmund’s experience doesn’t
quite fit previous descriptions of the
spirit, but maybe what Wahrmund
said he saw was the transparent en
tity of a spirit peering down on him.
Or maybe, he was still groggy from
his nap.
Wahrmund said he doesn’t mind
living in a potentially haunted room.
“It’s all right with me as long as it
doesn’t bother me or cause me
harm,” he said.
But he did say University Housing
should give him a discounted rate.
Contact the crime,
health and safety reporter at
kgagnon® daily emerald. com
Cussler: National Underwater and Marine Agency chases old shipwrecks
Continued from page 1
Paul Jones used to attack Great
Britain during the Revolutionary
War. Jones won the battle, but the
ship was so badly damaged that it
sank. After six expeditions to the
North Sea near Great Britain, Cussler
and company are still looking for the
ship. A seventh trip is planned for
next year.
These expeditions are more a labor
of love than a search for riches,
Cussler said.
“Everybody thinks I’m crazy and
belong in a rubber room because I’m
not looking for treasure,” Cussler said.
One of the agency’s success sto
ries was finding the CSS Hunley, the
first submarine to sink a ship in bat
tle. The submarine lost three crews
in three incidents.
After the third incident, the
submarine went missing. Cussler’s
group found it in 1995.
The silt filling the submarine pre
served its contents, which included
many valuable Civil War artifacts.
The bodies of the submarine’s final
crew were also preserved, so Cussler
and his crew extracted them and
buried them near the graves of the
second crew. They also found the
bones of the first crew underneath a
Oregon
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football stadium and put them near
the other two crews.
Cussler said 15,000 Confederate re
enactors showed up in uniform for
the burial.
Eugene resident Mike Cherba, who
attended the lecture, said he’s read at
least a dozen Cussler novels since a
high school girlfriend introduced him
to them about 10 years ago.
“They’re fun and they’re
different,” Cherba said.
Karen Lefkowitch, a nurse in Eu
gene, said she likes Cussler’s books
for their coverage of historical events.
“It’s always believable but always
a little more exciting than real life,”
she said.
Contact the business, science
and technology reporter at
esylwester@ daily emerald, com
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