Ol’ Dirty Editor-in-Chief Laura Powers has filed three grievances against the Senate Vice President Patrick Boye, Sen. Billy Hatch and the remainder of the Senate over-realized fund committee for deliberately violating Oregon’s Public Meeting Law.

The Student Senate over-realized committee met last night in what members said was an unofficial meeting after no public notice of the meeting was provided 24 hours in advance, a violation of Oregon Public Meetings Law.

A notice of the meeting was e-mailed at 2:06 p.m. The meeting began at 7 p.m.

… Powers told the committee it would not be in compliance with the law and the meeting should be postponed. Senate Vice President Patrick Boye said the meeting would continue in an informal capacity.

The committee discussed the proposals for over-realized fund projects, did not take minutes, did not follow Robert’s Rules of Order and used a voting system of thumbs up, thumbs down, and sideways thumbs, Powers said. It is unknown if they took a recess to play Heads Up Seven up.

Senate President Athanasios Papailiou sent out public notice last night at 7:01:39 p.m. that the Senate over-realized committee will be having a meeting today at 7:00pm in Room 175 of the Law School – in order to approve the proposal that was created last night – and that the Senate meeting has been moved to 7:20 p.m. I hate to be a stickler, but the notice went out 23 hours, 58 minutes and 21 seconds before the meeting, making it also invalid.

Powers said she requested the senators be penalized one month’s worth of stipends.

This is the lede of the ODE’s front-page story on Ben Linder, a university student who was killed by contras while working in Nicaragua (emphasis mine):

Inspired by the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a socialist political party that ruled Nicaragua in the 1980s and helped some of the nation’s poorest people, Ben Linder of Portland moved to Nicaragua after graduating from the University of Washington in 1983.

That’s odd, considering what the Library of Congress Country Study on Nicaragua has to say (once again, emphasis mine):

In its eleven years in power, the Sandinista government never overcame most of the economic inequalities that it inherited from the Somoza era. Years of war, policy missteps, natural disasters, and the effects of the United States trade embargo all hindered economic development. The early economic gains of the Sandinistas were wiped out by seven years of sometimes precipitous economic decline, and in 1990, by most standards, Nicaragua and most Nicaraguans were considerably poorer than they were in the 1970s.

“Homeless frequent West University area”

The real prize in this ODE article, though, is a quote from a member of Eugene’s thin, blue line, Officer Jennifer Bills:

Bills said many homeless people also have co-occurring disorders: They may suffer from both a mental disorder and a dependency on alcohol or drugs.

“These people are not cool, not a novelty. They are mentally ill,” she said. “You don’t treat people with cancer like they’re a cool novelty.”

What?

The ‘Ol Dirty’s front page today has a big spread on all the Earth Day events on campus. Below the fold, however, is a nice little story headlined “Researchers link biofuels to food price increase.” From the opening paragraphs of the article:

A sign outside of the SeQuential Biofuels retail fueling station in south Eugene reads “fight global warming.” But recent studies and media reports have increasingly questioned biofuel’s side in that and another life-and-death planet-scale fight.

As food riots erupt across the globe, researchers and analysts have been scrambling to explain why food prices have exploded in recent months, and the crosshairs are increasingly focused on corn-based ethanol biofuels.

The article goes on to mention the increasing criticism of biofuel production coming from sources such as The Economist (subscription wall), The New York Times and Science. Reason has been all over the subject as well. With all this scrutiny, you would think the government would be less eager to push through new biofuel subsidies and laws. Well …

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Editor-in-Chief of the Oregon Daily Emerald Laura Powers is filing a grievance against Con Court for their recent ruling declaring that ASUO candidates can’t advertise with campus media. Powers is appealing the ruling on grounds of factual accuracy, since she can’t argue the Court’s actual reasoning. Powers, along with us, believes the ruling is complete bullshit:

“We’re not a university facility, we don’t reject ads based on politics and everybody has equal access,” Powers said. “Bitch, please!”

Con Court’s ruling seems to imply (although they won’t come out and say it) that since some people [read: Rock the Yellow] couldn’t afford advertisements it wasn’t equal access. I agree with Powers. Bitch, please!

P.S. How great is it that a grievance is being filed against Con Court to be decided by Con Court?

There are three noteworthy pieces in the Emerald today. First, a student came forward and accused Sara Hamilton of soliciting votes in the dorms for the Oregon Action Team.

Andrew McNulty contacted the Emerald Tuesday afternoon and said Hamilton identified herself by name and talked about her campaign for ASUO president last year.

McNulty, a political science major, said he was familiar with her name but he had no connections to the ASUO or any campaign. He said he had not been following this year’s election, but was surprised when he read recently that Hamilton had no formal role in the Oregon Action Team campaign.

This is just building up for Con Court’s big decision whether or not to order another executive election. It has been stated several times by Sam Dotters-Katz that Hamilton was doing things without his consent. If a new election was called, I am going to go around to every dorm and pressure as many kids to vote as possible. I’ll threaten one hall to vote for Kari and another hall to vote for Sam. With those two campaigns sabotaged, Thunderlove can slip right into the presidential position he deserves.

If Con Court does make this decision in favor of Rock The Yello, there is a chance that the University Administration would step in and not allow another election, and perhaps threathen to strip control from the current ASUO. All the rules have been thrown out the window by this point, so who knows what will happen?

Second, there is a breakdown of campaign spending in the election, which actually isn’t very exciting. The OAT spent a lot of money, but in terms of resources used, having control over the elections board pretty much evens out the playing field.

Finally, there is a nice write-up about the AFF blog contest, which we took second in. Thanks to Jill Aho for the coverage and to David Kirby of AFF for the kind words.

CORRECTION: I was just informed that McNulty is not a freshman, as I originally posted, he is a fifth-year senior living in the dorms. Sorry for the error.

A guest commentator in the Daily Emerald today added to the drumbeat of demands for the departmentalization of Ethnic Studies. Amidst all the usual complaints about how the University of Oregon is failing in its stated goal to be “more diverse,” Kit Myers, a graduate student in Ethnic Studies at U.C. San Diego, spelled out what a departmentalized Ethnic Studies might mean for this campus:

Departmentalization for ethnic studies will address many of the six major goals of the diversity plan. It means building a critical mass of faculty of color on campus; it means fostering a culturally responsive community; it means developing and reinforcing diversity infrastructures; it means more dialogue and critical engagement with issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and class, which improves campus climate; it means knowledge and growth; and for many students, staff, and faculty of color on campus, it means retention.

Such a formulation seems vague, to say the least. While increasing the number of minority faculty on campus is a laudable goal, Myers seems to be unintentionally implying that a departmentalized Ethnic Studies will adopt hiring practices that favor some candidates at the expense of other candidates who do not pass the skin color test. If this is the case, it is nakedly discriminatory and for this university or any other to purposely adopt a policy that is specifically formulated to exclude a large percentage of the population is unethical at the least, if not flagrantly illegal.

As for the assertion about Ethnic Studies “furthering the discussion of race” on this campus… well, I’ve just gotta call bull on that one. As certain members of our own student government amply prove on a seemingly weekly basis, the “discussion” of race on campus often amounts to little more than accusations of racism hurled around in nearly every imaginable circumstance, and is often used as a bludgeon to curtail free speech, stifle criticism, and shut down debate. How any of this “improves campus climate,” I do not know. I also do not know why “issues of gender and sexuality” are assumed to fall under the rubric of an Ethnic Studies department, but Myers seems to take it as a given.

Of course, my worries about departmentalizing Ethnic Studies may be entirely misplaced. Indeed, I hope they are since the Department of Ethnic Studies seems to be a question of “when” rather than “if” at this point. In fact, I am not necessarily hostile to departmentalization as such but as I’ve written elsewhere, there is precedent for such programs to become highly politicized and exclusive. To date, not a single proponent of departmentalization has to my knowledge bothered to address such criticisms and we’re treated instead to the usual blandishments about diversity.

Instead of moralizing to the student body about how necessary Ethnic Studies is, how about putting together an example of what a typical course of study in that department might look like? What about enumerating where exactly the gaps are in currently available courses and how Ethnic Studies might fill those gaps? How about actually answering some of the worries about exclusion and politicization in an honest and forthright way instead of characterizing critics as racists with no legitimate concerns?

Of course, such conciliatory gestures are probably unnecessary since, as I mentioned, departmentalization is pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point. Despite their loud commitment to “dialogue” and “discussion,” it’s clear that proponents don’t feel the need to spend their time convincing the portion of the student body that still holds reservations that a Department of Ethnic Studies is truly a boon to the University of Oregon.

Thus, we’re left wondering exactly what a departmentalized Ethnic Studies brings new to the table. So far, all we’ve been offered by the likes of Kit Myers is an empty plate and the promise that there’s all sorts of good stuff in the kitchen, if only we’d shut up and let them feed us.

‘Ol Dirty columnist Nik Antovich gives OSPIRG more bad press in today’s Emerald:

Lately OSPIRG has been under considerable public examination; I want to keep it that way, considering that the problems with this organization don’t deserve just lip service but action. This fiscal year we will be handing OSPIRG a check for more than $117,000- a ridiculous amount of money, none of which will be publicly accounted for by the corporation. However, we do know that more than two-thirds of that budget is used to pay the salaries of about eight researches and activists who work in Portland.

Antovich goes on to stump for CFACT, which is kind of the conservative version of OSPIRG, sans off-campus money dumping (allegedly). I have my reservations about CFACT; besides disagreeing with them on some key issues, I’m opposed on principle to increasing the incidental fee. However, it’s good to finally start hearing some substantial OSPIRG criticism on campus.

Is the recent bad press, as well as the election of Dotters-katz and Delashaw, whose platform included decreasing OSPIRG funding, a sign that the Great Hope might finally be realized? Holding your breath is probably inadvisable, although crossing your fingers couldn’t hurt.

I was just reading the Emerald’s story about the Oregon Action Team’s victory, and I noticed this interesting little tidbit:

 ”It’s easy to buy an election,” Sen. Nate Gulley, a Rock the Yellow supporter said after hearing the results.

The Commentator wonders if Senator Gulley can provide any evidence whatsoever to back up his statement, or whether he’s just speaking from personal experience.

For his part, Diego Hernandez was quoted as saying that he hadn’t “even processed it yet,” which probably stems from the fact that he’s spent a significant portion of his processing power lately fulminating against white people in the comments section of the Daily Emerald, producing such gleaming pearls as:

Diversity, in the mind of the average white, heteronormative male is obviously or should be non-European…White people suddenly want to be included in the term diversity. This is why Affirmative Action is becoming weaker and scholarships that are meant for people of color are going to white people because diverse means something different.

and leading off with:

Wake is an idiot, he needs to wake up and stop being a racist, uneducated baboso. 

I am guessing your not educated about “race,” especially because Wake’s comment is obviously ignorant and racist, and because you used the term “Hispanic.” I don’t get my definitions from the encyclopedia, especially socially related terms. Race and Racism is so complex that you can major on it and get a Doctorate from the topic. Suddenly, I have to stay silent when I speak about race, because if I talk about it then it might loose it’s meaning.  [emphasis added]

After someone in the comments section (whom Hernandez claimed was “Sean Jin himself or someone associated with him or the neoliberal, neoconservative, ignorant Oregon Commentator” [Gosh, it’s so nice that you’re always thinking of us!!]) pointed out that his sentiments were coming dangerously close to breaching the University’s definition of “discriminatory harassment,” Hernandez suddenly made an about-face, claiming:

But anyway if you read what Wake said, it is obviously not racist, but I thought I should just do it to see what kind of dialogue would come of it. Very interesting stuff…   [emphasis added]

Between churning out such confused vitriol and denouncing Sean Jin’s “hate speech” about the Multicultural Center, it’s no wonder that Mr. Hernandez has been suffering a dearth of CPU power needed for processing the Oregon Action Team’s victory, leaving it to Nate Gulley to instead insinuate election fraud and further drag what remains of the ASUO’s reputation through the mud.

Congrats to the Oregon Action Team for shaking these tossers up a bit.

The Ol’ Dirty stuck to its true form today by endorsing the corrupt Rock the Yellow slate and Kari and Jesse. It is almost unbelievable that they would root for the political machine that was responsible for the ruling that candidates cannot advertise in the ODE.

But the reason for the Emerald’s endorsement extends beyond platforms and policy positions. Herinckx and Hough have presented themselves as more in touch with students and their needs.

Laughable. Everything Sam and Johnny have done is in the name of perpetuating the average student’s voice, while Jesse and Kari, great student leaders but with too much baggage with them, have only defended their positions as cookie-cutter pinups for the current administration.

I am disappointed with the Emerald Editorial Board. Supporting a ticket run by an administration that has abused its power to limist free speach on campus is a pathetic stance to have.

There are two opinion pieces in the Ol’ Dirty today about Duck wrestling getting the ax. From the editorial:

The clearest explanation of why wrestling won’t be back next year is that there is no clear reason.

From a sports column by Doug Bonham:

Out of the research I’ve done, interviews I’ve conducted, and everything I’ve seen surrounding the end of the program, not one of the athletic department’s arguments holds much water.

My initial reaction was “isn’t Title IX a clear reason for having to cut wrestling?” But then I read this ODE feature from last week that reported:

Contrary to common belief, the decision to remove wrestling is not a Title IX issue; Oregon qualifies for Title IX under history of expansion of opportunities for women, which doesn’t require removing men’s sports.

I contacted Joe Giansante, associate athletic direct — external communications, asking if Title IX actually isn’t connected to cutting the sport. He said that Title IX was a factor in the decision, but only because it is a factor in every decision the department has to make. He said that Title IX and money have incorrectly been pointed to as the sole reasons for the sport being eliminated. From an e-mail: (more…)

The following is a letter to the editor by Sen. Diego Hernandez that will (probably) be printed tomorrow morning in the Emerald.   (more…)

Last Friday, as I was reading the ODE’s editorial and interview with Sue Jakabosky, Co-Chair of the Fairmount Neighborhood Association, regarding the construction of the new basketball arena near the Fairmount neighborhood. THe article made me a little upset. For I have lived amongst the Fairmount neighborhood for two years, enjoying the pleasant geography, citizens, and fellow Fairmount brethren.

It’s a fact that doesn’t sit well with some neighborhood residents, who have voiced displeasure over feeling left out of the negotiation process. Fairmount Neighborhood Association Co-chair Sue Jakabosky has been especially vocal. Throughout the negotiation process, she has cited land value concerns, adverse traffic conditions, litter and disorderly conduct as problems that will arise in the wake of the arena’s construction.

I do not know Ms. Sue Jakabosky, my so-called “voice” in the community as it pertains to the new basketball arena. However, one thing that was overlooked in the editorial, as well as Sue’s complaints, is that everything being complained about already exists! Every game day, whether it be football or men’s basketball, there is grandiose flaunting of automobile traffic, public drinking, trash, noise, and good ol’ fashion carrying on. Moving the arena a few blocks east of where it currently sits will barely change the logistical dynamics of a bunch of people getting together to cheer on Oregon sports. If anything, moving the arena closer to the new EMX will create less traffic. The use of the public transport system will likely increase substantially during events at the arena.

From one neighbor to another, “Keep it Down Out There!”

The Oregon Commentator isn’t known for its superb copy editing, but I am sure we would never print the opening line to an opinion by Matt Petryni in today’s ODE. (This was caught by my functional alcoholic roommate.)

So recently I was in a bar, which shall remain nameless for its own defense, and I ordered one of the standard gin cocktails (think: the “martini” or the “Manhattan,” for example).

Bourbon, Matt, a Manhattan is made with whiskey and/or bourbon.

President George W. Bush’s final State of the Union address last night was awesome! He even quoted Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The USA.” How cool is that? Well, he said “made in the USA,” but we all know “W” was rocking out in his head while he spoke.

Highlights at a glance: shedding 151 bloated government programs totaling $18 billion (harrumph); trust people with their own money (harrumph, harrumph); Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq and this enemy will be defeated (harrumph, harrumph, harrumph); and a well-deserved ovation for Bob Dole. Of course, the nit-picky democrats just had to respond indifferently. (more…)