Eugene weekly., January 21, 2010, Page 14, Image 14

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NOTICE TO FAMILIES
School’s open!
Visit
Vi
it your neighborhood
i hb h d school—and
h l
d more
e!
It’s school choice time in Eugene School District 4J! Most parents choos
ose
to have their children attend the unique, high-quality neighborhood
school near their home, but families who live in the district may enrolll
their children in any 4J school, provided there is space available.
You can enroll in your neighborhood school at any time. To request
enrollment in another district school for 2010–11, turn in a school choi
oicce
request form any time before March 19 at 5 p.m. Placement order is
determined by the annual school choice lottery.
School Visitation Weeks
Monday, Jan. 25–Thursday, Jan. 28
Monday, Feb. 22–Friday, Feb. 26
4J schools are open for visitors! Each school offers different
activities and times when parents can visit. Please phone
ahead or visit www.4j.lane.edu/choice for details.
School Choice Information Meetings
4J Education Center, 200 N. Monroe Street
Thursday, Jan. 21, 7–8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 23, 9–10 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 20, 9–10 a.m.
Learn about the school choice process.
Spanish translation will be provided.
chool choice
request forms
are due March 19
at 5 p.m.
More information is available at:
Eugene School District 4J
200 N. Monroe Street, Eugene
541-790-7570 www.4j.lane.edu/choice
Be among the first to
Through February 15, all procee
to Food for Lane County.
Help yourself. Help ot
14 JANUARY 21, 2010
Exit, Stage Right
Pacifica Forum protest grows chaotic
T
umultuous
interruptions
by
an enhanced legion of student
protestors at the Jan. 15 meeting
of Pacifi ca Forum (PF) sent self-
proclaimed neo-Nazi Jimmy Marr
scampering out the door with his
sporran between his legs. As Marr
beat a hasty exit, stage right, he
straight-armed the audience with a
string of his signature “Sieg Heils”
— a predictable tactic which,
while offensive, is growing less
effective from tedious overuse.
Last week’s event in Agate
Hall at the UO had been billed as
a “debate” between Marr and fellow
PF member Billy Rojas, an expert on
the benign historical nature of swastikas
prior to their adoption by German Nazis
under Hitler. The venue was a last-
minute switch instigated by the UO not
because of sensitivity issues brought up
by students opposed to PF’s use of the
Erb Memorial Union (EMU), but by a
realization that opposition to the PF on
campus had ballooned by several hundred
new members since last week.
Agate Hall is a far more “controllable”
space than the EMU, and seating was
limited to 200. However, while around
three dozen demonstrators had shown
up to protest PF on Jan. 8, this time their
ranks had swollen to nearly 10 times that
number.
While every seat inside was fi lled
(including roughly 10 PF supporters and
half a dozen media reporters), a long line
of demonstrators stretched around the
block hoping to get in, making it one of
the largest student protest movements in
recent memory.
The students’ original strategy was to
hold a silent protest, and many arrived with
mouths taped or covered with kerchiefs
or masks. However, the UO’s change in
venue also included an admonition for all
to remain seated, backed up by a contingent
of armed Eugene police offi cers rather than
the usual campus security staff who kept
watch over previous meetings. This meant
the demonstrators could not stand and
turn their backs toward PF in a nonviolent
gesture of defi ance as planned.
Student Cimmeron Gillespie, one of
several organizers of the protests, called
the use of gun-toting EPD offi cers on
UO grounds “a severe escalation by the
university to defend those who would use
our campus to recruit for hate organizations.
After Pacifi ca Forum invited the National
Socialist Movement here, we’ve also seen
an upswing in groups such as Volksfront,
which has been known to post photos of
students who oppose them on their website,
implying a threat of violence.”
On the morning of Jan. 15, Gillespie had
secured an appointment with UO President
Richard Lariviere, but when he arrived was
told, “Sorry, the president called in sick
today.” Instead, he was greeted by an aid
who informed Gillespie that the UO has
no intention to alter its policies and will
continue to be a bastion of “free speech.”
g
go
That’s right – Dari Mart is the first convenience store in Oregon
to offer reusable bags. They’re sized right, 12” x 14.” They’re
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EUGENE WEEKLY
BY JOSEPH A. LIEBERMAN
The students’ anti-
Nazi heckling rose
to top volume and
the heavy pounding
of their feet caused
the wooden-fl oored
building to shudder
with thunderous
echoes.
The result of that policy, for now, is a
level of chaos. Dusty Miller, director of
the EMU, stepped in at the start of last
Friday’s Forum meeting to list the rules of
engagement and try to calm the waters, but
with little effect. Some students assumed
he was a PF pawn and shouted him down
several times before any semblance of
order was reached. Rojas tried to speak
and was treated likewise until he made
it clear he was strongly antifascist and
was there to challenge Marr’s white-
supremacist principles. When students’
anti-Nazi heckling rose to top volume and
the heavy pounding of their feet caused the
wooden-fl oored building to shudder with
thunderous echoes, Marr departed.
A hearty cry of triumph arose, in the
wake of which Rojas was actually able to
carry on, with occasional testy questions and
interruptions, in his one-sided “debate.”
The continued access of PF on the
UO campus is still an issue. On Jan. 20 a
meeting was scheduled between President
Lariviere and several vice presidents and
deans, ASUO offi cers and various religious
and community leaders under the auspices
of the Eugene Anti-Hate Task Force.
Whatever the outcome of that meeting,
if unrestricted PF meetings continue on
campus as planned, with or without Marr’s
presence, more protestors are expected to
show up until this matter is resolved. ew
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