Welcome to (or back to) campus, reader. While the academic school year may stop
in June, the news does not. To catch our readers up to speed, we’re dedicating
the editorial space to a discussion of the summer’s most important news stories
from campus and the community.

• Summer opened with sad news: Longtime University architect Garry Fritz died
  of cardiac arrest June 9 (link
  to story),
  and University pre-journalism major Michael Joyce died when he was hit by
  a vehicle on East 13th Avenue
  on June 12 (link to story 1
  & 2).
• Former Eugene police officer Roger Magaña was convicted of 41 counts
  of various crimes, including rape, July 1, and was sentenced to 94 years in
  prison July 13. (view story1,
  2,
  & 3)
• In mid-July, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education proposed a $710
  million budget for the 2005-07 biennium that increases tuition for students
  by 5 percent, a hike that the board said it hopes will keep education “accessible
  and affordable.” (view story 1,
  2
  & 3)
• A divided Student Senate Summer Committee debated in its July 15 meeting
  whether it could assume the full senate’s authority to pass resolutions
  (view
  story), like the motion it passed June 24 supporting the Graduate
  Teaching Fellows Federation in its stalled labor negotiations with the University.
  In addition, the Senate was unable to supply the administration with documented
  minutes, because of technical difficulties.
• Courtesy of a Department of Defense appropriations bill passed July 22,
  the University snagged $8 million
  for research. The allocation included a $3 million grant for the Brain, Biology,
  and Machine Initiative and $5
  million for the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute. (view
  story)
• Some 5,657 young athletes converged on Hayward Field July 27-Aug. 1 to compete
  in the 2004 USA
  Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, packing area hotels. (view
  story 1,
  2
  & 3)
• A day after holding “Empty Campus Day” Aug. 4 — in which
  many GTFs held classes off-campus in what they called a show of solidarity
  before entering arbitration with the University — the GTFF reached a
  contract settlement with the University that union President Eric Lindgren
  said was “twice what we asked for.” (view story 1,
  2,
  3,
  & 4)
• Both Presidential candidates, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.,
  campaigned in Portland Aug. 13, touting their qualifications. (view
  story 1,
  2,
  & 3)
• In mid-August a conservative Eugene group launched a campaign asking outgoing
  Mayor Jim Torrey to consider a write-in campaign against primary winner Kitty
  Piercy this fall. Torrey announced Sept. 9 that he would not run for a third
  term. (view story 1
  & 2)
• Also on Sept. 9, the Eugene-based anti-war group Justice Not War held a
  candlelight vigil to honor the 1,000 U.S. soldiers who have died since major
  combat began in March 2003. (view
  story)
• Finally, parcels of campus were Cyclone-fenced off for much of summer as
  construction workers built several new and in-progress sites around the University,
  including the Heart of Campus, the Living Learning Center and the Many Nations
  Longhouse. (view story 1,
  2
  & 3)