UO eclips, Nov. 30

Program to give UO students free ride -- The Register-Guard (Low-income students will be able to attend the University of Oregon for free as part of an ambitious scholarship program, set to begin with next year’s freshman class. University President Dave Frohnmayer is expected to announce details surrounding the program next month, but preliminary reports indicate students who are eligible for the federal Pell grant, given to low-income college students, would qualify for the university’s program. Last year, 3,680 University of Oregon students received the federal grant, according to the university.)

UO to cover tuition and lower fees for low-income students -- The Associated Press, appearing in the Oregonian (The University of Oregon is launching an ambitious new program that would allow lower-income students to attend the state's flagship campus tuition free, beginning with next year's freshman class. Details of the new initiative are still sparse. University President Dave Frohnmayer is scheduled to release more information at a news conference next month.)

Freedom of association in the workplace -- The Ithaca Journal (Everyone, states the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has the right to form and join trade unions. The Tompkins County Workers Center believes that the “everyone” referred to above includes housekeepers, food service staff, custodians and others. It also includes Ithaca resident and former hotel worker Michelle Lopez. … An election where one party controls the media, requires voters to attend its rallies, enforces a gag order on opponents and fires voters for backing the opposition, says University of Oregon professor and expert on union elections Gordon Lafer, is un-democratic and un-American.

 UO researchers' study of RNA may help cure disease -- The Oregon Daily Emerald (Myotonic dystrophy may be a case that not even TV's brilliant doctor House could solve. Doctors and scientists have trouble diagnosing the disease because its symptoms - which include an irregular heartbeat, or cardiac arrhythmia - are often seemingly unrelated. There is currently no cure for the disease. University researchers Bryan Warf and Andy Berglund tried to make more sense of why symptoms occur together, and they discovered that protein directly interacts with mis-processed RNA. Their results will be published in the December edition of the journal RNA. "It doesn't necessarily bring us closer to finding a cure, but it helps us understand what's going wrong," said Warf, the lead author in the study. "It's a really complex puzzle, and this is just another piece of it.")