UO E-clips, May 14

Obama gets young people back in the race (Seattle Post-Intelligencer): Watching Democratic events in Washington, say at a town meeting where Jim McDermott vows to repulse "attacks" on Social Security, the casual observer can conclude that liberal activists are getting old and clinging to old issues. The 2008 campaign, especially Sen. Barack Obama's candidacy, has changed all that by re-engaging young people and young adults. The May 20 Oregon primary is a laboratory of activism reborn. ... "Whatever else this campaign has done, it seems to have ended, at least temporarily, a long period of apathy and cynicism toward politics among university students," said Stephen Ponder, a University of Oregon communications professor.

Noise from future arena site not falling on deaf ears (Oregon Daily Emerald): On the mornings when Spencer Smith and Aaron Czyzewski don't have early classes, they're jolted from bed by the sound of grinding metal and falling concrete. "It sometimes shakes the building," Czyzewski said. The two freshmen are residents of Bean's Wilcox hall, and their second story room is about as close as a Bean resident can be to the demolition of the old Williams' Bakery building, the site where the new arena is set to be built. But what's more bothersome to some than the sound of dump trucks is the sound of what's not being built -- new residence halls.