UO E-clips, Jan. 19-22

University student found dead Sunday in Living Learning Center (Oregon Daily Emerald): News article follows in its entirety -- A 21-year old University student was found dead at 1:59 p.m. on Sunday in Living Learning Center South. Eugene police said the medical examiner is looking at the report and has taken the case. "At this point, the death does not appear suspicious," said EPD spokeswoman Melinda Kletzok. Counseling was offered in the Performance Hall of the LLC Monday night, and students can visit the University's Counseling Center, located on the second floor of the Health Center. Drop-in hours are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday through Friday. Students can also call the Counseling Center at 346-3227 to make an appointment or contact the Crisis Center at 346-4488.

Editor's Note & Update (from the Office of Public and Media Relations): The death has been ruled an apparent suicide. The student, a freshman who actually was 18 years old, was an undeclared major and had intended to study law.

MLK celebration urges youth to 'step up'(The Oregonian): Participants at a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a mixed message Monday: pride in what the civil rights leader accomplished, but gloom at the amount of work that still needs to be done. "It's our turn, young people," said Donnell Adair, co-director of the University of Oregon's Black Student Union. He was one of more than a dozen speakers at the 23rd annual "Keep Alive The Dream" gathering at Highland Christian Center in Northeast Portland.

In honor of King legacy, visitor speaks to community’s ‘oneness’ (Register-Guard): Motivational speaker Patrice Gaines came to Eugene Monday with a message that, on the surface, didn’t seem very motivational: “No one is special.” “You are, each one of you, divine,” Gaines assured the roughly 250 people who braved cold temperatures to attend Eugene’s 23rd annual celebration of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. “But you are the same as your neighbor, as the child in the wheelchair, as the drunk man in the street. … Joining Gaines in offering remarks on that legacy were Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, Lane County Commission Chairman Faye Stewart, Lane Community College President Mary Spilde and University of Oregon vice provost for diversity Charles Martinez.

IKEA 101: UO class inspired by retailer (Register-Guard): At first blush, it sounds like the kind of product placement that earns the marketing team a week in the Caribbean.IKEA, that global purveyor of all things furniture, is stepping into the classroom at the University of Oregon. Tables, chairs and beds made by the Swedish sensation will be held up as models for students in the architecture department, who will spend the next two months analyzing the stuff as a starting point for their own creations. You can’t buy that kind of advertising. But assistant professor Esther Hagenlocher said her new course is anything but a 10-week IKEA commercial.

Cities, countries work to lower landslide risk (The Oregonian): After slides damaged homes around Salem in 1996, the city and Marion County used some of the federal disaster assistance money to hire state geologists to map landslide hazard zones. The geologists found that areas that might seem stable could end up sliding, damaging roads and houses. … "They're a national, if not international, model," said Andre LeDuc, director of the Oregon Natural Hazards Workgroup at the University of Oregon. He said other areas have lagged for various reasons, including a lack of funds and reliable information about landslide risk, plus reluctance to regulate land use.