ASUO Senate welcomes
new members, approves
requests
The ASUO Student Senate emerged from the EMU Board Room in impressive time on Wednesday night. The senators welcomed two new members to the senate and dispatched with several minor requests in less than thirty minutes.
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History and art history major Steven Lockfield gained confirmation to Senate Seat 12 by a unanimous vote. No one ran for that seat during last year’s elections.
The senate confirmed law student Joseph Jenkins to Senate Seat 18 after the elected representative for that seat, James Jensen, quit.
“I feel lucky and grateful that this position came open,” Jenkins said. Jenkins lost an election battle with Mena Ravassipour last year for a Student Senate seat.
When Student Senate positions open, the ASUO Executive forms a hiring committee.
Senate President Ben Strawn was on the committee that hired Lockfield and Jenkins.
“It’s sort of like an application for any other job,” Strawn said.
The senate approved a $459 request by Land Air Water, an environmental law group, for telecommunications costs related to that group’s conference last year. Chairman Michael Gustafson, who represented the group at the meeting, said University Telecommunications Services didn’t bill the group until September. Land Air Water hosts the largest environmental law conference in the country, Gustafson said.
“This is money that they rolled over into surplus, so they are, in some way, entitled to it,” Strawn said.
The senate approved a $75 transfer request between food accounts of the Sustainable Business Symposium and a similar request for $400 from the Asian Pacific American Student Union.
No one from the Native American Student Union was in attendance to represent that group’s request.
— Chuck Slothower
Neighborhood Association elects board members
The West University Neighborhood Association — after several years of dormancy — was given a jump-start Wednesday night when residents of the neighborhood elected new board members.
The new executive board includes a 1975 University graduate, a Eugene city councilor and a University architecture student, among others. All of the board members are residents of the West University neighborhood, which borders the University’s western boundary.
In a meeting held at the Central Presbyterian Church on East 15th Avenue, about 30 community members gathered to discuss issues concerning the neighborhood.
Diedrich “Drix” Rixman was voted chairman and Wanda Jo Lang and Steven Baker were voted 1st vice chairwoman and 2nd vice chairman, respectively.
Rixman, a 1975 University graduate who received a bachelor’s degree in broadcast communications is an eight-year resident of the neighborhood who also lived in the area as a student. Rixman expressed an enthusiastic fondness for the neighborhood and was optimistic about the future of the area.
“I love Eugene, and I love this neighborhood,” he said. “We’re on an edge right now, and it could go great.”
Also elected to the board were Ward 3 City Councilor David Kelly, Sarah Donelson, Steve Jarvis, Ron Lewis and Caroline O’Leary. Deborah Healy was elected board secretary.
O’Leary, a University senior majoring in architecture and political science, said she decided to get involved after learning about the old neighborhood association and then receiving a postcard notifying her about the newly started meetings.
“I was kind of hoping that (the neighborhood association) would come back,” O’Leary said. “What I want to do is listen to what the neighborhood wants and see what the association can do about its needs.”
Lewis, who has been living in the neighborhood for 10 years, said he wanted to make sure that important neighborhood matters could be discussed through the association.
“I want to keep this organization alive and make sure that there is a forum for issues,” Lewis said.
The issues that face the neighborhood are numerous. The area is mostly populated by students who usually live there during the school year and leave for the summer. This leaves very few residents who have a long-term investment in the neighborhood. The area has been the scene of several alcohol-fueled riots over the past six years and is also home to several transients. Residents frequently complain about loud parties and noises to the Eugene Police Department. Many alleys are unpaved and dimly lit.
The neighborhood association aims to improve conditions in the area, which stretches east to west from Kincaid to Willamette Street and north to south from Franklin Boulevard to 19th Avenue.
“We’re going to have fun and make friends,” Rixman said. “Instead of butting heads with students, we’re going to try to create a flexible relationship and make students feel welcomed.”
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