programs for transition, along with drug
and alcohol treatment in prisons.
“They have reduced the very programs
which would make a successful transition
a more likely income,” says Chase.
“Research based cognitive restructuring
programs are the core of offender rehabil-
itation programs … which would reduce
recidivism and consequently reduce incar-
ceration costs.”
Chase blames not only the governor,
but also the DOC and the Legislature:
“What this says about our priorities as a
state and our hopes and dreams for the
future is not encouraging,” he says.
The DOC’s mission statement is to
“promote public safety by holding offend-
ers accountable for their actions and
reducing the risk of future criminal behav-
ior.” — TJT
PRETEXT FOR
PROFILING
Cortez Jordan’s allegation that police
stopped and searched him while walking
on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
because he is black has sparked a storm of
criticism of Eugene Police and calls for
reform.
The police investigated themselves and
cleared themselves of wrongdoing. A sum-
mary of the police investigation of the
complaint against police states that the
stop was legal because officers may legal-
ly stop an individual who commits a traf-
fic violation. What was Jordan’s alleged
“traffic violation?”
Hundreds of white people do it every
day in Eugene without police stopping
them. Jordan allegedly violated Eugene
Municipal Code Section 5.425 which
states, “A pedestrian shall cross a street at
a right angle, unless crossing within a
crosswalk.”
Since most people don’t walk with pro-
tractors, such a broadly worded ordinance
in effect gives police a legal pretext to stop
anyone they want.
But EPD hasn’t used the ordinance to
sweep up violators in North Eugene cul de
sacs. Police, of course, have enforced this
ordinance with a high degree of selectivi-
ty. Police reform protesters in the 1990s
complained that the police had singled
them out for “right angle probation” viola-
tions. Jordan now complains he was tar-
geted because he’s black.
Statistically, Eugene police stop blacks
at a much higher rate. A Eugene police
department study of 18,000 traffic stops in
2002 found that officers chose to stop
black drivers at a rate 2.3 times higher
than whites. Police officers then chose to
search those black drivers at a 37 percent
higher rate.
The rate at which police stopped young
black males (like Jordan) was especially
high. There are only about 280 black
males aged 18 to 29 in Eugene, according
to Census data. But Eugene police report-
ed 151 traffic stops among this small
group in 2002. That’s an annual rate of
more than one stop per two young black
men in Eugene. — Alan Pittman
EVEN TORREY
NOW BACKS IT
open and transparent to the public and
have real strength and teeth; “otherwise
it’s just a waste of time.” — Alan Pittman
Sex abuse and racial profiling scandals
at the Eugene Police Department have had
an impact. No one now appears to openly
oppose creating an independent citizen
police review board for police complaints.
Mayor Jim Torrey opposed creating
such a board in 1998, when a measure to
create one failed by less than 1 percent.
But at a Dec. 6 council meeting Torrey
announced, “I’m convinced it is now time
to move forward with a civilian review
effort.”
The Police Commission that Torrey has
largely packed with uncritical police
boosters for the past four years has also
come around. At a Dec. 9 meeting, com-
missioners unanimously voiced support
for creating a citizen review board.
But Police Commissioner Angie
Sifuentez pointed out, “the question is not
if we need an external review board, but
what is the best external review board for
the community.”
Deciding that next year could be a
tough political fight for advocates of
meaningful police reform. Police
Commissioner and City Councilor Bonny
Bettman said she “wholeheartedly sup-
ports” external review, but warned, “I will
not hesitate to oppose a body that lacks
empowerment.”
Police Commissioner Tim Laue also
warned that real external review has to be
UNDERCOVERED
VOTE FRAUD
• Michigan Congressman John Conyers
of the House Judiciary Committee stated
last week that he and others are “prepared”
to formally challenge the Ohio electoral
votes when U.S. presidential votes are
counted in Congress on Jan. 6. However,
Conyers has not yet decided to proceed. At
least one senator willing to join a chal-
lenge is also necessary, and many grass-
roots groups are working to find a senator.
• Locally, members of truthinvoting.org
are holding a Vigil for a Fair Vote in the
Eugene offices of U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
and Sen. Ron Wyden, asking them to agree
to join in a challenge if it is brought by
Conyers and/or others (www.truthinvot-
ing.org).
• Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth
Blackwell delayed the beginning of his
state’s recount until Dec. 13 — just in
time for Ohio’s electors to cast all their
votes for Bush. They did this despite a
lawsuit asking for a court order to stop the
electors’ meeting, and a request by
Conyers and others to delay or treat the
electors’ vote as provisional until the
recount could be completed. The recount
is now proceeding but so far shows little
change in vote totals. The lawsuit, brought
by a group of Ohio voters, demands an
overturn of the state vote, alleging that
Kerry won. Dismissed on a technicality
Dec. 16, the suit was refiled the next day.
• Reports of voting irregularities and
recount sabotage surface on a daily basis,
and major newspapers such as the New York
Times and Washington Post have begun to
cover them. An employee of Triad Systems,
which provides vote-counting software for
almost half Ohio’s 88 counties, allegedly
arrived at a county elections office before
the recount and dismantled a machine,
apparently replacing parts, then suggested to
elections employees that they post machine-
count totals inconspicuously in their office
so they could make hand-recount numbers
match exactly. Conyers has asked the FBI to
investigate. Elections officers in one Ohio
county took polling books away from
recounters, reportedly on Blackwell’s
orders, then left the books and ballots lying
in an unlocked building all night.
• John Kerry has now written a letter to
election boards in all Ohio counties, ask-
ing a series of questions about the vote
count. However, Blackwell has refused to
answer any of Conyers’ 36 questions about
state election irregularities. “If these alle-
gations are obviously baseless as you have
claimed,” responded Conyers, “it would
seem you could perform a public service
by dispelling them. The voters deserve no
less.”
For frequent news updates, see
www.solarbus.org
and
www.audit-
thevote.org — Kate Rogers Gessert
BLUEPRINT
FOR DIVERSITY
Participants in the first two public diversity conversations
offered suggestions such as improving the complaint-resolution
process and holding supervisors responsible for diversity issues
within their units. The family member of one student of color said
that the student felt isolated on campus and was thinking about
By Kera Abraham
leaving the university. “Our goal is to keep that to an absolute
he UO’s year-old Office of Institutional Equity and minimum,” Vincent says.
The numbers of underrepresented students at the UO is at a
Diversity (OIED) is taking steps to create a diversity action
historic high of 13.3 percent, partly due
plan for the university. OIED has formed
to the university’s diversity-building
a work group and an advisory group to
scholarships and minority recruitment
lay out the plan, assist with consulting
programs, Vincent says. Although the
and incorporate feedback from a series
proportion of minority students is lower
of public “diversity conversations.” The
than that at some other universities (UC
goal is to align diversity initiatives and
Berkeley’s student body is 65 percent
resources “so we can get the best bang
non-white), Vincent says that the num-
for our buck,” says Vice Provost of
bers are heartening given Oregon’s
Institutional Equity and Diversity Greg
racist history.
Vincent.
“I’m certainly aware of the unfortu-
The diversity action plan has five
nate history of Oregon, and I think that
prongs: developing cultural competency,
did artificially keep the numbers [of
building critical mass, expanding the
underrepresented students at the UO]
“pipeline” (a metaphor describing the
low, but then we have these other demo-
student’s journey from high school
graphic realities of Oregon — a grow-
through college and into the work force),
ing Latino population, for example,”
strengthening community, and develop-
Vincent says. “All of the growth is in
ing the diversity infrastructure.
the minority populations.”
John Shuford, director of the Center
The UO’s diversity action plan will
on Diversity and Community (CoDaC),
Vice Provost Greg Vincent
draw from similar programs at the
is involved in the cultural competency
aspect of the plan. “Cultural competency is basically the posses- University of Wisconsin and Ohio State, Vincent says. If the
sion of the awarenesses, knowledges, skills, values, and beliefs development process goes smoothly, the diversity action plan will
that are necessary to effectively engage and serve a diverse pop- be implemented by January 2005.
“People here are really excited about this,” Shuford says. “It’s
ulation,” he says. “Diversity demographics change constantly.
an area that a lot of folks have wanted to work on in a more struc-
There’s an ongoing need for skill-building.”
Vincent, who runs the OIED, is responsible for leading and tured way, and I think that the creation of this new office [OIED]
coordinating the diversity action plan across campus. He says that has created the conditions to do that.”
The next public diversity conversation will take place Jan. 18
community members as well as senior university officials have
from 9:30 to 11:30 am in the Knight Library Browsing Room.
expressed a commitment to bolstering diversity at the UO.
T
DECEMBER 23, 2004 9