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Archive for October, 2009

Safety First, Children

October 31st, 2009 by D

First thing’s first: Congratulations Pete Carroll on a record-setting game!

Today the Ducks scored the most points ever on a Carroll-led USC team.

The concern now moves to the post game celebrations. With the increased amount of over-entitled DPS officers bicycling about the last few days, it’s only a matter of time before some cop bothers a law-abiding student just trying to walk to the next party in the West University neighborhood before someone gets fed up and throws a bottle or burns something.

Who wants to take the over-under on taserings? I’m setting it at 2.

In any case, I hope you’re all going to be safe out there… and that riots actually do not happen tonight.

By the way, kudos to TJ for intercepting that last pass. Eat it Pete Carroll.

Antivax

October 30th, 2009 by Vincent

Read this. Just do.

David Coleman – “The Dating doctor”

October 29th, 2009 by Kiefer

David-Coleman-Color-Headshot-small

Dating Doctor Dave Coleman appeared at the University on Tuesday

Last Tuesday, October 27th, the campus played host to David Coleman “The Dating Doctor,” who filled the EMU Ballroom to capacity for two, hour long, shows. A group of my friends, none of which are in fratorities, somehow heard of this event and invited me along. After pushing our way to the front of the crowd (you’d be surprised the little resistance people had, like it was a Dave Mathews Band concert or something) the group of friends I was with managed to make our way in, and snag some reasonably good seats. I have to say that we stuck out like sore thumbs, with our lack of rush T-shirts or bro-like demeanor, but we stayed and enjoyed playing audience to the obviously fratority catered event featuring “Americas Real-Life Hitch.”

Being a self described politically incorrect man, Mr. Coleman started off his show by being politically correct. He told his audience that his show is set up around analyzing the different aspects of dating and relationships by gender, and that his show was sexual preference neutral. Audience members needed to only follow along to the parts about women if they liked women, and men if they liked men. While being serious about acceptance, he managed to keep the room’s atmosphere light and lively, and quickly jumped into his presentation.
A lot of his show was based around the first stages of dating, actually meeting each other. That being said, there was definitely a reoccurring element in the show; pickup lines.

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Kallaway representative may be ineligible

October 29th, 2009 by Alex Tomchak Scott

The ASUO president may have appointed a student to the Student Senate ineligible to vote in the race for his own seat, although nobody I’ve yet talked to seems to know with certainty whether that’s the case.

The student is ethnic studies major Xavier Aranda, whom everyone on the Senate seemed Wednesday night to agree was personally qualified for Senate Seat 14, the seat whose occupant represents students majoring in ethnic studies and 24 other linguistic and social studies disciplines.

Aranda, however, is also a Cal. State East Bay student attending the University of Oregon through the National Student Exchange. NSE students are represented by seat 19, which also represents journalism students. Former ASUO Elections Coordintor Aaron Tuttle said said NSE students “probably only vote for that seat.”

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“The Governator” Strikes Back

October 29th, 2009 by Vincent

Yes.

Blackout

October 29th, 2009 by D

AutzenWS

As we approach Saturday let us take into account that Halloween has been a historically bad day for Eugene. Riots in the early 2000’s and late 90’s on Halloween night have been a catastrophe–just wait until you mix in a night game at Autzen coupled with the emotional high/low of the potential outcomes. The Commentator is no stranger to the riots. A former unnamed staffer is on the front cover of a late-90’s Daily Emerald ripping up a stop sign. It’s fun for the whole family.

It doesn’t help that, according to today’s front page article in the Emerald, the Bias Response Team was called when a student organized a “blackout Autzen” facebook group. Reactionists and non-sports fans alike came together to question the student’s motivation for the event and its “racial implications”.

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Problems with tickets?

October 28th, 2009 by Alex Tomchak Scott

Something about the way the Athletic Department is distributing tickets this year has spawned more complaints than last year from students who want tickets but feel they can’t get them because of the new system.

That has the ASUO nervous. What does the ASUO have to do with it? Well, it is the ASUO that the Athletic Department deals with in determining the number of tickets it gives to students, and the only direct, structural line of communication it has with the student body.

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Student Sen. Oct. 28

October 28th, 2009 by Alex Tomchak Scott

Dust in the Wind

October 27th, 2009 by Vincent

The Ol’ Dirty is reporting that OSPIRG has finally been kicked out of the space in the EMU that they’ve been using since being sent packing last year. Not only that, but ASUO Executive Emma Kallaway pointed out that OSPIRG shouldn’t have been there in the first place, since they haven’t been a student group in years:

The Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group was dealt another blow Tuesday when the EMU Board of Directors delivered notice that OSPIRG’s file cabinets have to be cleared from its spot in the east side of the EMU, its professional staff can no longer use incidental fee-funded resources and a recognized student group would soon move in to share quarters with the Survival Center and the Student Insurgent.

The explanation provided was that OSPIRG is no longer a recognized student group and therefore cannot occupy space in the EMU. The inconsistency, as ASUO President Emma Kallaway noted, is that OSPIRG has not been a student group for years. Until July, the ASUO had a contract for membership in the statewide organization. No one ever bothered to mention contracted services should not have been allowed space in the EMU.

Along with OSPIRG’s illegal occupation of the EMU, it seems they’ve been using other University resources such as phone lines and computers that they had no particular right to. That, of course, hasn’t stopped them from being a bunch of ingrates:

The EMU Board says OSPIRG staffers cannot use the phones paid for by the incidental fee. OSPIRG students say they use cell phones because the land line was cut in July. The board says OSPIRG can’t use the computer provided in its former office space; OSPIRG Chair Charles Denson said it was slow anyway.

Sorry the misappropriated computer in question wasn’t up to your standards, Chuck.


Obligatory Pinwheel Post

October 27th, 2009 by D

martell webster

Martell Webster finished with 14 pts, 3 rebs and a block.

Well opening night came and went for the Trailblazers and I have to say, they looked pretty good. After watching the new combination of Steve Blake/Andre Miller terrorize the Rockets, it may just be that the point guard situation in Portland becomes some kind of two-headed monster. There’s just not many teams in the league who can put out a 2nd string that’s as good as Miller and I think that he’s going to end up killing the second teams of a lot of good NBA teams.

Although he looked like a broken marionette on offense, Greg Oden looks to have improved his patience on defense substantially. He finished with 5 fouls in 26 minutes while accumulating 12 rebounds and 5 blocks (Not fouling out the first game is a good step for Greg). If he can be a presence defensively and create a “bubble” around the paint he can have the same effect Yao Ming had on the Blazers last year in the playoffs (only, you know, on our side).

Continuing with the “homer” theme, how good is Aaron Brooks going to get? All of us who watched him at Oregon knew he was a great college player, but when you see just how quick he is compared to the rest of the professionals in the NBA it really puts his talent into perspective. That guy is going to be good.

Anyways, tonight was a good start to a good year. See you at the Rose Garden.

Saved by the…power outage?

October 27th, 2009 by de lancie

Power outage in the Knight Library, PLC, and Condon (others too that I may not know of) comes at the most perfect moment…while I am writing a paper due at 2pm. All students were evacuated from the Library until further notice.

Update: Library back open. Paper now due at 5pm. Jump on it.

Sustainability Shmushtainability

October 26th, 2009 by D

Fall-Leaves

I was walking past the amphitheatre today when I noticed a university employee cleaning up gutters and sidewalks with a leafblower. Now the University of Oregon recently received a “B” on a fake “sustainability report card” by a group no one cares about.

I’m just wondering where the gas-powered leafblower fits into all this. Hasn’t anyone ever heard of a rake?

Conversely, I’m wondering how the universities who did poorly on their fake “sustainability report card” get rid of their leaves every fall.

My guess?

Gasoline.

Monday Pick Me Up’s

October 26th, 2009 by Drew Cattermole

Over at the Ol’dirty our favorite Emerald staffer, CJ Ciaramella has a great blog post on UO President Richard Lariviere’s guest commentary piece in Sunday’s Register Guard.  Lariviere’s commentary piece did not seem to make any mention of the ongoing problems he is facing with the UO’s faculty. The  Register Guard is reporting that the UO faculty are considering about starting a union.

The thought of unionizing the faculty at the UO has been up in the air since early 2007. The UO’s faculty is normally ranked at the bottom of Oregon College’s faculty pay scales, averaging about 80% of the average pay at other state schools in Oregon. Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, Western Oregon University and Eastern Oregon all have faculty unions. It’s ironic that President Lariviere’s guest commentary mentioned that Oregon was the “flagship university” in Oregon yet none of the faculty seemed to be getting paid on par with other Oregon state universities (actually one faculty member gets paid well, Frohnmayer, who will be paid $245,000 to lead a freshmen seminar).

Moving on, GAMEDAY is coming to Oregon for the USC game on Halloween night. The Riot Watch committee at the OC has moved the probability of a Halloween night riot from “maybe” to “definitely.” However, ODE thinks everything is going to be alright, in their “This Week in History” piece  it reads,

“In 1997 and 1998 when Halloween fell on the weekend, riots broke out in Eugene. In 1998, rioters town tore down street signs and set fires, and thirty rioters were arrested. This year the ASUO will provide free pizza on Halloween night, so everything should be fine.

Everything will not be fine, the ASUO’s promise of $2,000 worth of free pizza is not enough to save Eugene from impending riots. Police maybe, pizza no. I did the math and it goes: Halloween+Gameday+ USC+ Blackout at Autzen= riots. I’m suprised Robert Husseman’s article in todays ODE reads “Fan, save yourself for the weekend” and not “Fans, save yourselves this weekend.”

Start stocking up on canned foods and freshwater, this weekend is going to be one for the history books in Eugene.

Happy Birthday Oregon Commentator

October 24th, 2009 by D

Birthday Cake

The birthday cake, courtesy of 3 years of working at Baskin-Robbins in high school.

26 years ago today Richard Burr, Dane Claussen, Michael Rust and Robert Davis put out a newsmagazine on the campus of the University of Oregon. The first edition of the Oregon Commentator had commentary about the ASUO, OSPIRG and a wonderful article titled “Radical Moderation” that detailed one staffer’s journey from leftist to conservative (or rather, a “radical” moderate as the title indicated)

The Oregon Commentator‘s journey has been a long one. We’ve gone through cries of racism, vandalism, death threats and de-fundings. 26 years later, we’re still here causing a ruckus and acting as the voice of opposition on an overwhelmingly liberal campus.

Although we may not be exactly the same as the publication placed on newsstands October 24th, 1983, we still hold the same ideals published in our original mission statement from our founding editors, “We believe that the University should be a forum for rational and informed debate–instead of the current climate in which ideological dogma, political correctness, fashion and mob mentality interfere with academic pursuit.”

Happy Birthday Oregon Commentator. Here’s to 26 more years.

Don’t Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out

October 23rd, 2009 by D

Subject: EMU Board Question
From:
“Elise Presicci” <epresicc@uoregon.edu>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:55:20 -0700

Hello,

My name is Elise Presicci and I am the Chair of the House Committee for the EMU Board of Directors. I am sorry that it has taken me so long to respond to your question. I got your email from Max Boomer, whom you talked to at the EMU Board office. I was emailing you to answer a question that you had about OSPIRG’s office space in the EMU. OSPIRG is no longer a student recognized group at the University of Oregon and therefore by holding an office space in the EMU they are going against the EMU by laws. The House Committee has had a few discussions about this and we are currently in the process of informing OSPIRG of this problem. Hopefully we will meet with OSPIRG next week, I am currently setting up a meeting, and we they will begin the process of vacating the office if all goes well.

I hope I answered your question, I am not positive exactly what is was, but please don’t hesitate to email me back with any further questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Elise Presicci