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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes News: Happening People: Carolyn Ulrich ‘GREENING’ OF MENTAL HEALTH? Psychiatrists are wrestling with changes in definitions and diagnoses that will be included in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The final edition will have consequences for insurance reimbursement, research and individuals’ psychological identity for years to come, according to a Dec. 18 story by Benedict Carey in The New York Times. But will the content reflect any input from millions of mental health patients? “We definitely tried to have input and dialogue, and there was none allowed. Period,” says David Oaks, executive director of MindFreedom International, based in Eugene. MindFreedom was founded in 1988 to advocate against forced medication, physical restraints and involuntary electroconvulsive therapy, says Oaks. Members worldwide identify themselves as survivors of human rights violations in a mental health system heavily influenced by outdated practices and pharmaceutical interests. Oakes says Dr. Darrel A. Regier, a key figure in the new DSM, is also head of the special “research” wing of the American Psychiatric Association. APIRE, an independent component of the APA, publishes the DSM and “tends to get millions upon millions of drug company dollars.” “Even though Dr. Regier got federal money to hold international seminars on the ‘future of psychiatric diagnosis,’ he has absolutely refused to even respond to civil inquiries from anyone outside his closed-door process,” says Oaks. Oaks says a prominent official with the World Health Organization’s mental health section, “has twice personally asked Dr. Regier to respond to requests from MindFreedom about having mental health consumer input in the re-writing of the DSM,” and was told “no.” “So these few hundred unelected mainly rich, mainly white males are cooking up behavioral guidelines for us all, with zero input from the public who is impacted by these rules.” MindFreedom is working to break the undemocratic domination of mental health care by the medical establishment, says Oaks. “Our issue is kind of like where energy policy was in the 1950s, totally dominated by the system. Now we’re pushing for ‘greening of mental health,’ to allow for more holistic, empowering, non-chemical approaches, and especially direct involvement by citizens in helping to plan mental and emotional well-being programs.” The revised DSM, due out in about three years, is expected to reflect some public pressures. Early editions of the book defined homosexuality as a mental disorder. Protests by gay activists provoked a scientific review, and the diagnosis was dropped in 1973, replaced by “sexual orientation disturbance,” and then “ego-dystonic homosexuality.” Homosexuality as a disorder was dropped from the book in 1987. Some GLBTQ activists are now lobbying for similar changes regarding gender identity issues, but others are wanting to keep transgender identity as a formal diagnosis so that treatment or surgery can be covered by insurance. The story can be found by a web search for “NYTimes DSM,” and MindFreedom International’s website is www.mindfreedom.org — Ted Taylor FROHNMAYER HAS TIGHT GRIP ON BIG PAYCHECK
As the recession deepens, corporate executives and university presidents across the nation have volunteered deep pay cuts, but not UO President Dave Frohnmayer. UO economics professor Bill Harbaugh wrote in an Oregonian op-ed this month that Frohnmayer’s pay package has increased 387 percent since 2000 to more than $700,000 a year. Harbaugh points to salary surveys showing that at comparable universities, many much larger than the UO, presidents earn about a third less. Meanwhile, at the UO, average professor salaries are only 83 percent of peers. Many university executives are now volunteering pay cuts in the face of layoffs and plummeting endowment investments. Oregon Health Sciences University executives agreed to a 20 percent cut in pay. The Washington State University president volunteered a $100,000 pay cut. The University of Florida president donated $285,000 of his pay back to the university. The president of the University of Pennsylvania gave back $100,000. The University of Louisville president gave up $113,857 in pay. This fall Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski cancelled a 3.2 percent pay raise for state executives with the weakening economy. Fronhnmayer’s compensation package is almost five times greater than what the Oregon governor makes. —Alan Pittman
HOMELAND SECURITY QUESTIONS UNANSWERED Months after the May 30 Tasering incident, questions about both alleged police brutality and federal spying still go unanswered. Despite repeated requests as well as official complaints, a review of the officers involved in the Tasering and the arrests at the anti-pesticide rally has yet to happen, and local activists say they have not gotten response on a federal level either. Josh Schlossberg, who took part in the rally, says he asked Congressman Peter DeFazio’s office in July to look into Homeland Security’s involvement in the incident. According to Schlossberg, DeFazio’s office did not respond despite repeated requests into what Schlossberg calls, “the apparently routine practice of the federal government spying on law-abiding citizens.” Schlossberg says he called and faxed DeFazio’s office repeatedly without a response for six months. DeFazio is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security and Schlossberg wants to know: What is DeFazio’s position on this kind of surveillance? When the congressman’s office did respond to Schlossberg’s request in November, the letter he got said the office had not received Schlossberg’s requests. According to the letter, DeFazio had contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on behalf of the Oregon ACLU, and it summarized DHS’s response letter as: “It is the mission of the FPS (Federal Protective Services) to protect federal properties, so an officer visited the demonstration to determine if the federal building would be impacted by the rally.” The summary said that the letter from DHS “also noted the officer was permitted by federal authority and guidelines to monitor and gather information about persons engaged in a protected activity because it was for legitimate law enforcement purposes.” Schlossberg has sent another letter again requesting DeFazio to state his position on the DHS surveillance of the rally, which was not on federal property. He also asked DeFazio to say whether he knew of the surveillance in advance and for the congressman’s office to review information it “might have access to that is relevant to federal agencies monitoring Eugene citizens.”— Camilla Mortensen UO BACKS OFF ON CONFLICT OF INTEREST After backlash from faculty members about the new Conflict of Interest-Conflict of Commitment (COI-C) policy hastily implemented by the UO (EW 12/4), the school has now decided to suspend the planned January 2009 implementation of the plan. Faculty members objected not only to portions of the policy itself but to the way it was developed, without the faculty input required by state law. The proposed COI-C policy applied to faculty, graduate students, researchers and other non-classified staff employees of the UO and demanded they report their possible conflicts of interest or commitment annually. These conflicts included anything from holding elected office to owning a business. Faculty have expressed concern that the 14-page document seeks disclosure of not only their own activities but those of their immediate family; and that it alters the existing disclosure policy by removing an exclusion that relates to personal time. Under the current policy, outside activities not related to university duties that are undertaken during personal time are excluded from reporting. But according the FAQs, under the proposed new policy, when it comes to finances, “even if your outside activities are not related to your area of expertise, you should disclose them.” In an email sent out to UO faculty members Dec. 12, the school said after “thoughtful and substantive comments” from faculty colleagues the process would be suspended in order to “review and address the concerns.” The email announced that Faculty Senate President Paul van Donkelaar, “will convene a small ad hoc committee” to review the COI-C and suggest revisions to the policy so that it meets “essential legal and policy requirements with a keen sensitivity to academic freedom and the culture of a public research university.” The UO anticipates revealing the next COI-C draft at the March 11, 2009 meeting of the Faculty Senate. — Camilla Mortensen
ACTIVIST ALERT
• Attention all eco-oriented artists! Two groups are currently looking for designs. The Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) is looking for artwork for its poster and T-shirt that represents the 2009 theme: “Solidarity! United Action for the Greener Good.” The art should express the ideas of urgency, action and collaboration. PIELC is offering prize money of $200. For more details, email Andy Engel, aengel@uoregon.edu. You can also try your hand at a design for the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC). The folks at CLDC are looking for a design for T-shirts and a poster reflecting CLDC’s commitment to environmental, animal rights and anarchist activists targeted in recent years by the government. The CLDC says, the design should illustrate a love of nature and living things and show respect for those who have ended up in prison and have maintained their integrity to a greater movement. Contact Lauren Regan for more information at lregan@cldc.org • Looking past the holidays, the annual Citizens State of the City and County address is planned for noon Monday, Jan. 12, at Harris Hall, 8th and Oak in downtown Eugene. Organizers are calling the event “a grassroots initiative to highlight practical approaches to the interconnected ecological, energy and economic crises.” After that, Citizens for Public Accountability will hold its annual meeting at 7 pm Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette. The tentative list of speakers includes Dawn Reynolds, Carol Berg-Caldwell, Tim Lewis, Bonny Bettman, Kate Wilkinson and Juan Carlos Valle. To get on CPA’s email list, send a note to cpa@lists.opn.org WAR DEAD Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003 (last week’s numbers in parentheses): • 4,212 U.S. troops killed* (4,209) • 30,879 U.S. troops injured* (30,871) • 167 U.S. military suicides* (167) • 314 coalition troops killed** (314) • 1,123 U.S. contractors killed (accurate updates NA) • 98,218 to 1.1 million civilians killed*** (98,133) • $581.7 billion cost of war ($579.8 billion) • $165.4 million cost to Eugene taxpayers ($164.9 million *
through Dec.22, 2008; source: icasualties.org; some figures only updated
monthly
EARLY DEADLINES Christmas and New Year’s Day both fall on Thursday, our usual publishing day, so EW is publishing a day early this week and next week. Our offices will be closed Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, and close at 3 pm Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Early deadline for reserving display ads for the Dec. 31 issue will be 3 pm Wednesday, Dec. 24. Deadlines return to normal Friday, Jan. 2, for the Jan. 8 issue. Questions? Call 484-0519.
CAROLYN ULRICH
In the six months since she started working at the Oakway Fitness Center, Carolyn Ulrich has attracted an enthusiastic following to the “Silver and Fit” exercise program that she designed. “It’s like senior boot camp, getting people in shape for everyday tasks,” she says. “The age group is 50 to 95. We listen to a variety of music to get people moving and to have fun.” Ulrich didn’t think of herself as athletic until she took up jogging in her junior year at the University of Alabama and found herself winning races. In learning to rehabilitate herself after an injury, she became a pioneer in water exercise, developed a water aerobics program for the city of Columbia, Md., and took a degree in exercise physiology from the University of Massachusetts. In 2001, a year after she arrived in Eugene, she was severely injured and partially paralyzed in a car accident. After multiple surgeries and years of recovery, she resumed her teaching of water aerobics at the Downtown Athletic Club in 2004. “I got so much support from members and staff,” says Ulrich, who left the club earlier this year when it cut most of its programs for seniors. “I still can’t work full-time, but I love teaching seniors. They’re different from other age groups, less egocentric. They’re looking for socialization and help in overcoming things.”
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