UO E-clips, Oct. 2

Eugene neighbors see progress in arena plan (OPB News): Eugene city planners are recommending approval of the construction of a new $200 million basketball arena next to the University of Oregon campus. The plans include many changes that locals asked for in an appeal they filed with the city earlier. The Fairmount Neighborhood Association says some concerns remain. The arena project is considered by some measures to be the most expensive college arena in the country.

Foundation to host UO chief Frohnmayer (Lake Oswego Review): Lake Oswego School District Foundation is thanking the business community for its support with a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception on Thursday, Oct. 16. The event features a lecture, “The Role of Education in Building Business and the Economy” by Dave Frohnmayer, president of the University of Oregon. The event is co-sponsored by the foundation, the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Lake Oswego.

Conservatives seek to shift blame for crisis onto minority housing law (Huffington Post, online newspaper): Blame for the current economic crisis has been laid on many doorsteps, including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999; credit default swaps; hedge funds; the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000; Alan Greenspan; and Phil and Wendy Gramm. ... Along similar lines, University of Oregon economist Marc Thoma also cited for the Huffington Post the long delay between enactment of CRA and the current crisis and the fact that only 20 percent of subprime loans were made by CRA-regulated lenders, adding two other points: that "subprime loans grew twice as fast in institutions that did not have to meet the conditions of the CRA" and that the scope of coverage of CRA was reduced in 2004 under the Bush administration, "but even though fewer banks were subject to CRA restrictions, the growth of the subprime market continued unabated."

Foreign Student Series: Public or Private? (Voice of America): This is the VOA Special English Education Report. Today, in week four of our Foreign Student Series, we discuss differences between public and private in American higher education. A big difference involves money. Public colleges and universities charge for an education just like private schools. But state schools cost less because they get money from the states that started them to educate local citizens. … The University of Oregon, located in Eugene, is one of the campuses in the Oregon University System. The cost for undergraduates this year is six thousand dollars for state residents. Housing is an additional eight thousand. Nonresidents pay the same for housing -- but almost twenty thousand dollars for tuition and fees.