UO E-clips, March 4
Top stories for March 4, 2008: A local writer and former UO student admits her gang memoir, "Love and Consequences," is fiction, reports The New York Times in a story used by media around the world today; on campus, students gathered to discuss a litany of concerns regarding administration controls on campus, reports the Daily Emerald; and, finally today, the UO’s Charlie Alexander, a redshirt freshman heavyweight wrestler, is featured by Register-Guard in coverage of last night's UO-hosted Pac 10 tournament and the apparent end of wrestling at UO
Gang memoir, Turning Page, is pure fiction (The New York Times, similar article appearing in The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Times Online, The Register-Guard and others - also on NPR): In "Love and Consequences," a critically acclaimed memoir published last week, Margaret B. Jones wrote about her life as a half-white, half-Native American girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child among gang-bangers, running drugs for the Bloods. The problem is that none of it is true. Margaret B. Jones is a pseudonym for Margaret Seltzer, who is all white and grew up in the well-to-do Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley, with her biological family. She graduated from the Campbell Hall School, a private Episcopal day school in the North Hollywood neighborhood. She has never lived with a foster family, nor did she run drugs for any gang members. Nor did she graduate from the University of Oregon, as she had claimed.
Students discuss control of campus (Oregon Daily Emerald): More than 100 students filed in to 100 Willamette Monday night to hear presentations on a litany of grievances against the University administration as a part of an event to take control of campus. Supporters of the wrestling team joined those angered by the loss of Holy Cow restaurant in the EMU, international students upset about the dismissal of faculty, and students campaigning to make ethnic studies a University department. They were joined by those concerned with the prospect of a proposed University police department with 25 to 55 officers and those who want to fund composting on campus. Student government representatives were also there to explain what the ASUO does and how it operates.
Alexander leaves with a heavy heart (Register-Guard): He bounced and bobbed, ducked and weaved. His arms swung from side to side with the energy of child at a birthday party. This was his normal routine, but something about this next match was more significant than any of the previous. And this was far from a party. ... In addition, Oregon Senator Ben Westlund, who used the public address system prior to the championship matches to voice his support for the program, said a letter signed by 24 state representatives and senators has been sent to Kilkenny and University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer to save wrestling.