UO E-clips, March 27

UO -- nothing but good vibes (OregonLive.com): 'Old Town' blog section (Full article with additional links available here: http://tinyurl.com/32vfyb): Tonight, or at least as I started writing this, I had just been the recipient, along with maybe 20 others from the neighborhood, of a tour of the University of Oregon new premises in Old Town Chinatown. ... Impressive. There will be a public open house and don't miss the opportunity. Terri Warpinski, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Community Engagement, and John Woelfle, facilities services manager, did an excellent job of taking us around and explaining the transformation.

Pregnant man sparks transgender discussions (KVAL 13): It's not your typical pregnancy and its turning heads all over the nation. An Oregon man says he's pregnant! According to the gay rights magazine "The Advocate" Thomas Beatie of Bend was born a woman but is now living as a transgendered man who is now supposedly five months expecting. ... Chicora Martin works at the University of Oregon's Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Bi-sexual support group. It's a group that works to secure rights for all students and staff and so far, Martin says has been a success. "Two years ago we were identified as one of the top 20 campuses in the nation in the area of sexual orientation and gender identity," she says, "One of the things that we've done is identified single use restroom facilities."

Oregon University's environmental program to be explained (News-Leader.com, Springfield, Mo.): Karyn Kaplan and Robyn Hathcock present "Saving the environment, one piece of paper at a time" at 11 a.m. on April 3, in Clara Thompson Hall. Kaplan and Hathcock relate the story of what happened when the University of Oregon campus made a commitment to environmental sustainability. Kaplan, program manager, and Hathcock, housing recycling coordinator, of the university's recycling program will tell the story of its creation and positive impact on the community. 

Internment was national shame (Register-Guard letter to the editor written by Garrett Epps, UO law professor): A March 14 letter to the editor engaged in the American equivalent of Holocaust denial - attempting to justify the crime of interning loyal Japanese and Japanese-Americans in detention camps during World War II. The writer says, "Of those Japanese in relocation centers, more than 40 percent were Japanese citizens. The rest were mostly their children, whose average age was 15.5." Why were so many of the Japanese residents of the West Coast not naturalized citizens? Because racist immigration laws made persons of Japanese birth ineligible for citizenship, even though they were legally admitted, law-abiding permanent residents. As for the American-born children of Japanese citizens imprisoned in the camps, the letter writer glosses over the fact that they were American citizens. None of the detainees was given even a semblance of due process. After the war, the government acknowledged that the secret evidence of disloyalty it claimed to have did not exist. The U.S. government has acknowledged formally the same thing, and Congress voted to reimburse survivors. Legislation passed in 1988 acknowledged "the fundamental injustice of the evacuation, relocation and internment of United States citizens and permanent resident aliens of Japanese ancestry during World War II." Even Ronald Reagan apologized for the internment. A few deniers -- knaves or fools -- try to explain away our national shame. But the shame is on them; it is our duty as citizens to point that out.

Legislators, scientists want to ease back throttle on marine reserve process (Newport News-Times): Buoyed by recommendations from the Oregon Ocean Policy Advisory Council's scientific advisors, all members of the Oregon Legislative Coastal Caucus have signed a letter to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, asking him to slow the pace of the state's nearshore marine reserves siting and development process. ... The committee features six well-tested scientists and researchers and one ocean and coastal law expert. Five are from Oregon State University, two from the University of Oregon.