So i was going through some really old files from the email account I have had since middle school and I stumbled across an absolute gem. In the year 2000, I made a drawing of what I pictured I’d be doing in the year 2020.

As you can see, my 11 year old past self pictured my 31 year old self living in a zombie infested world with a chainsaw for an arm and a machine gun for a leg, as a tattooed, cigar smoking lunatic warrior. I have ten years to go and I’m already a tattooed, cigar-smoking lunatic, so ten years from now I could easily have a machine gun leg.

So what does everyone else picture the year 2020 to be like?

Feel free to email us your answers at [email protected] or drop off a photo at our office: EMU Ste 319…

If it’s something I like maybe I’ll get you a T-shirt or something.

Special Senate meeting, May 10, 2010

Alright, kids. Have fun with this one (emphasis added to maximize hilarity):

Eugene police arrested a woman Friday at the Pacifica Forum meeting on campus, while others were given citations after protesters deployed a stink bomb to disrupt the meeting.

. . .

The Emerald was unable to confirm how many protesters received citations on Friday. DPS spokesperson Sgt. Adam Lillengreen declined to comment, saying the report first had to be released at its scheduled time later today. Protesters who were given citations are not allowed back onto University property for 18 months.

. . .

Black Tea Society spokesperson Damage, who declined to give his legal name out of safety concerns, refused to give names of the other protesters who received citations. Damage also said he thought six Black Tea Society members were issued citations on Friday.

Well It’s time for me to ride my white stallion into the sunset as this will be the last Issue I am the Editor-in-chief for.  Don’t forget your SudSquatch tickets! And yes I purposely closed the comments on my Mother’s day post, my staff can get mean.

See y’all later!

It’s Mothers Day.

For all the moms, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

I truly thought all the ASUO senate hullabaloo was over for the term, until I grabbed the most recent Ol’ Dirty. Last night seven ASUO senators were absent from last nights meeting preventing a quorum. This prevented club presentations for funding from being heard. This cancellation was after the senate desperately attempted to have Paige Libadisos”attend” the meeting through video chat.  Prior to the senate meeting Sen. Libadisos  sent out an E-mail saying she would not be attending the meeting due to family reasons. Which makes it  rude that the senate had to disrupt her to try to have a quorum, there were six other senators not there.

It is safe to assume most of the senators missed the meeting due to yesterday being Cinco De Mayo. We did not even send a reporter to the meeting, but we are psychic like that. Apparently one senator did not skip for celebration reasons but out of protest (ASUO accusations of racism DRINK!). Sen. Jairo Castaneda refused to go to the meeting last night due to Sen. Fisher telling the women’s lacrosse team “don’t forget to take (their) birth certificates” when they go to Arizona.

So a bad joke turned into a missed oppurtunity for student programs looking for funding.

This Arizona law is a serious issue and will be joked about. I mean it is a ridiculous law, but I do not see how mocking it can be seen as racist. It is a law that leads to racial profiling but does mocking it make you racist? Furthermore does one misguided joke qualify for skipping out on your job? I think not.

Sen. Castaneda skipped out on the meeting and his job due to this misguided joke. However he was able to write out an opinion piece marginalizing all students. In his letter to the Ol’ Dirty he writes, “The Daily Emerald completely ‘forgot’ to mention something that transpired during the Senate meeting on April 28. The comment made blatantly speaks to how lightly and comically the University and its students view issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and diversity.”

Maybe the Ol’ Dirty wanted to write something that was not about race issues, or maybe they saw it as everyone else did a small joke that caused some giggling. It’s a bad joke, and this situation could have been handled differently. I’m on the side that the ASUO is amateur politicians  and that the Ol’ Dirty are amateur journalist.

So my question to our readers is: was Sen. Castaneda’s response to the joke handled correctly or mishandled?

PS I know Lyzi beat me to the point, but we’re also amateur bloggers.

First of all, let me say that today’s Ol’ Dirty is full of gems. I suggest you pick up a copy.

I’m here today, however, to talk to you about one of the most absurd acts of protest I’ve ever heard. Last night’s ASUO Senate meeting did not carry on as planned, due to lack of quorum (to be a legitimate voting body, the ASUO Senate needs two thirds of its members present, or 13 people). They were planning on having exactly quorum, until Sen. Jairo Castañeda failed to show up without notification. His reason? I’ll let Tomchak’s article speak for itself:

Castaneda said his absence was a deliberate attempt to make a statement about an incident at the April 28 Senate meeting.

There, the Senate gave the club women’s lacrosse team funding to go to its national championship in Scottsdale, Ariz. While voting for the funding, Sen. Ben Fisher told members of the team to “bring your birth certificates,” a reference to Arizona’s recently passed immigration law, which critics have said will lead to racial profiling.

“I believe that was highly disrespectful,” Castaneda said after the comment, at which many senators and audience members laughed.

Fisher said the comment was intended as a joke criticizing the Arizona law, which he, like Castaneda, opposes.

“The whole reason for me not going to tonight’s Senate meeting was not Fisher,” Castaneda said. “It was the climate that allows things like this to be said.”

The best part of all of this is the only group who had time constraints on receiving money was the Multicultural Center, a group largely considered to be the greatest advocate for marginalized communities:

The only group seeking funding whose members said it needs the money before the Senate’s next meeting was the Multicultural Center, looking to pay for two speakers coming May 12 and 13. [Senate President Nick] Gower told the MCC’s representatives the Senate would hold a special meeting for them if necessary.

“Unfortunately, a few senators who don’t want to represent their constituents are the reason we don’t have quorum tonight,” Gower said.

Sen. Gower really hit the nail on the head there. You want to talk about respect, Sen. Castañeda? Not allowing a public meeting to go on as scheduled and postponing potential funding for at least seven student groups is, to quote Sen. Ben Fisher, “stupid,” as well as one of the most asinine forms of protest I’ve heard of. You are an ASUO Senator, and it is your job to show up to your meetings and dole out student money. So do your job, or get the fuck out.

P.S. I saw you last night at the bars while you were supposed to be serving the student body. Real classy.

Have you ever wondered what it’d be like if On the Rocks took LSD and performed?

I did too…

Just in case you were getting depressed from hearing how badly the ASUO is mishandling our cash.

(more…)

One minute you’re walking to the library, the next minute a toked out druggie is screaming in your face. That was the case for Natalie, one of dozens of students who encountered an incoherent adult male on the north Knight Library Lawn today.

(more…)

We may have damaged livers, but not damaged hearts. In partnership with the American Red Cross the Oregon Commentator is proud to present SudSquatch. All proceeds for the event will be donated to the Haiti reconstruction effort and low income families in Eugene that have been affected by flood or fire damage.

It only cost five dollars to spend a lovely Friday afternoon jamming out to Indubious and Sea Bell on the EMU lawn.  You can even charge it to your student account!

2009-2010 total PFC Budget (last year’s budget process): $1,782,269
Amount of that that was stipend: $198,025
Percentage: 11.1%
Amount per student for program stipends assuming 22,000 students: $9.00

And that’s just PFC, not including DFC, ACFC, or EMU Board. So, basically, at very least $9 of YOUR money went not to events or something tangible, but straight into someone’s pocket. Most groups are limited to four stipends per group, but there are some exceptions (the MCC has 5, the Women’s Center has 10).

I’ll also note that the Commentator staff do not take stipends, even though they are eligible for stipends. Eligibility is based on the size of the programming portion of a group’s budget (not including administrative expenses) and the more money you have, the more stipends you are eligible for. Because obviously, a larger budget means that you deserve more stipends.

The best part? Once a stipend has been in a group’s budget for five years or longer, it takes a unanimous vote of PFC to remove it. Interesting, no?

Government transparency is important. In that interest, I give you something useful: incidental fee budget allocations per group both for 2009-10 and 2010-11. I went ahead and divided each number by 21,000 for 09-10 and 21,400 for 10-11, just so you can see how much YOU pay for each of these groups. Click on the image to see the whole file (too big to put on the blog as an image). Enjoy!

Notes:
1. If a group received money for 2009-10 and not for 2010-11, it is likely because they didn’t turn in a budget packet.
2. There are two groups that are listed as n/a for 2010-11 in the PFC budget — Forensics and Service Learning Program. Forensics was moved onto the DFC budget, and Service Learning Program was absorbed into the Holden Leadership Center.
3. All dollar amounts per student are rounded to the nearest cent, so each column does not come out to exactly $585 (or $576 for 2010-11). I didn’t include totals because the numbers were so skewed from rounding.
4. 2009-10 amounts don’t include surplus requests or other monies not obtained through the fee allocation process.
5. EMU Board Programs only receive a portion of funding from the incidental fee. Numbers listed for these programs are incidental fee allocations, not whole budget numbers.
6. If there are any questions about any particular funding decision, leave a comment and I’ll try to answer.