University of Oregon students organize book drive for state penitentiary library

EUGENE, Ore. -- (March 19, 2008) -- Students in the University of Oregon Robert D. Clark Honors College are collecting books for the Oregon State Penitentiary library.

The students worked with inmates at the penitentiary last spring as part of the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, a national project that provides prison inmates an opportunity to pursue higher education. The classes take place inside the prisons where inmates and university students study side-by-side.

The students have since organized two book drives in an effort to improve the small and heavilyused prison library. Organizers are requesting donations of textbooks in art, science, math, history, foreign languages and literary classics. Books can be dropped off until Friday, March 21, at the Clark Honors College lounge, 305 Chapman Hall, 990 E. 13th Ave. After March 21 donors can call 530-574-1105 to arrange for delivery.

"The book drive is cool because we are asking for something for a group of people we got to know as incredibly brilliant colleagues," said Grace Pettygrove, Clark Honors College student and book drive organizer. "The inmates all have access to a library but it is poorly stocked. They are really grateful we’re doing this."

UO Honors College students will return to the prison this spring for a literature and ethics class. The class will bring another 15 UO students and 15 inmates together once a week to study Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov." Participants were carefully screened for the limited openings in the course. Last spring’s course was the first Inside-Out course to be offered at the UO. The course is the first humanities class in the nation sponsored by the Inside/Out program.

For more information about the book drive, call Pettygrove, 530-574-1105. For more information about the Inside-Out literature course, call 541-346-3997.

About the University of Oregon Robert D. Clark Honors College
Established in 1960, the Robert D. Clark Honors College is one of the oldest four-year public honors colleges in the nation. The college offers a small liberal arts education within a larger research institution. Curriculum includes specialized courses, capped at 25 students and taught by faculty renowned in their fields and in the scholarship of teaching, a thesis in the student’s field of study, and access to faculty and fellow students in an intimate, enriched learning community.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest

Media Relations Contact: Pauline Austin, 541-346-3129, paustin@uoregon.edu

Honors College Media Contact: Therese Picado, 541-346-2442, picado@uoregon.edu

Link: Inside-Out course syllabus, http://honors.uoregon.edu/faculty/profiles/index.php?id=49

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