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2The Daily Tar HeelWednesday, January 8, 1 992 Student activist uncoils energy to further campus causes ByVickiHyman Staff Writer , "Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay," Erik Ose says to a redhead seated at the next table. "Have you bought your Chilton for town council T-shirt yet?" Lindsay shakes her head and rolls her eyes. She's heard this before. "Erik, I don't have the money." "Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay. ... You don't understand. You need this T shirt. Don't you support Mark? What's $20 in exchange for your candidate on town council? Lindsay. Lindsay. Come on." Ose gives her the hard sell, hiseyes pleading with her conscience and her wallet. "Erik, not today," she begs. "Please. I'll get one tomorrow." "Promise?" Lindsay nods and breathes a sigh of relief. Ose lets her off easy today. If he isn't hawking T-shirts, Ose is registering voters. ("Are you registered to vote? What do you mean you're registered in your hometown? This is where your vote counts.") And if it isn't voter registration, it's something else. With Erik Ose, it's always something. A junior history and public policy major from Bristol, R.I., Ose is a man Profile with a cause. Any cause, as long as it makes a difference in his world. This includes registering more than 1,000 people to vote this electoral season; working on cam paigns, both local (such as Mark Chilton's) and statewide (he cam paigned tirelessly last year for U.S. Sen ate candidate Harvey Gantt); organiz ing Musicians Organized for Voter Edu cation; and being a member of the Stu dent Environmental Action Coalition. But lots of people want to make a difference in their community. The dif ference with Ose is that he'll pester you unceasingly until you go along with him. If Ose were type, he'd be in bold. He's everywhere, in your face, all the time. Just mention the name to a person, and there's instant recognition be it a smile or a grimace. Everybody knows Ose, and everyone has something to say about him. Newly elected town council member Mark Chilton, a senior geography ma jorat the University, is very frank. "He's a madman," he puts simply, "and a workaholic, but I love the old coot." Ose contributed countless hours of work to Chilton'scampaign.thecouncil mem ber says, coordinating the mass voter calling and the distribution of fliers and posters. But Ose's enthusiasm, often taken as pushiness, turns many people off. Lind say Lowry, Ose's unsuspecting T-shirt customer in the cafeteria, also worked for Chilton's campaign. She said Ose called her as many as five times a day and sometimes as late as 2 a.m., asking her to distribute fliers or to tack up posters. "He worked really hard on the cam paign, and we won," said Lowry, a junior English major, "but I never want to see him again." Ruby Sinreich, a junior environmen tal protection major, has known Ose si nee they met through SEAC their fresh man year. Like almost everyone else, she pauses for a minute while she searches for the best way to describe him. "He has more energy than anybody I know," she says carefully. "He is really committed to the things he does, and he doesn't do anything halfway. He blows SPRING BREAK '92 DAYTONA INNS 2 Oceanfront Motels BROADWAY: weeks to Bandshell & Boardwalk SEABREEZE i block to SEABREEZE entertainment area POOLDECK PARTIES & LOUNGES DRINK, DANCE, AND MAKE NEW FRIENDS 1-800-874-1822 rnmrviftfl innw mini- gm$s mm wwmm S s. : ULJ (Jo" ou're Invited to the 30th Anniversary Party at the World's 1 Spring Break Destination, on the Hottest beach on earth, Feb. 22 -April 19, 1992! Call 1-800-854-1234 for your FREE 30th Anniversary Official Spring Break 1992 Guide! DESTINATION DAYTONA! Convention & Visitor's Bureau P.O. Box 910 Daytona Beach, FL 321 15 featuring authentic by Honey Hill FarmsJS Nonfat Frozen Yogurt Enjoy the taste keep the resolutions! 106 W.Franklin St. Downtown Chapel Hill (next to Pizza Hut) 942-PUMP 4711 Hope Valley Road (Hwy.751&Hwy.54) Woodcraft Shopping Ctr. 493-8595 UOGURTcO) V pump DTH DTH Enthusiastic student activist Erik Ose swears in new voters in the Pit DTH file photo you away with his enthusiasm." Caroline Philson, a junior anthropol ogy major who worked with Ose for Chilton's campaign, agrees. "Erik is a wonderful person whose personality is turned up three notches too high. He's intense, and he's annoying, and he wants what he wants and he wants you to see his point of view." Dana Lumsden, a senior political science and Russian literature major, said the Girl Scouts would love a guy such as Ose to sell cookies "because he would sell millions and millions of boxes." He's a hustler, and like any good hustler he's hard to keep track of. Try ing to get him alone is not easy, and getting him when he's not busy is im possible. It's 7 a.m., and Ose is doing his weekly two-hour shift at WXYC, the University's student-run radio station. His tall, wiry frame is a spring uncoiling all over the studio. He's at the micro phone doing a public service announce ment, then he bounces up to look for a certain album, then he's back setting the next record up for play, every so often tossing his head back to get his long, curly, brown bangs out from be'-; hind his glasses. "Sometimes I figure that people prob ably get annoyed at me when I try to get them to do things, or I come across as too strident," he says, resting for once back in his chair. "But I tend to harass people for good causes, and in that case, I really don't care what people think. People are so busy; they need a little encouragement." The campaigns, the voter registra tion these are all ways to make a big difference at the local level, Ose said. "Since high school, I've been interested in workingforchange trying to make the world a better place." He puts in so m uch time to his causes. "I neglect my schoolwork a lot," he said. But he always seems to enjoy himself. When Ose organized MOVE last summer, he had to travel across the state from Asheville to Greensboro to Wilmington to register voters at concerts. "It was a lot of fun," he shrugs. He has no complaints. It seems everything is "fun" to Ose. Would he ever do anything that's not fun? "If it meant getting something ac complished," he says thoughtful ly. "But if something has to be done, then make it as enjoyable as you can. "Life is too short, too crazy and too painful, so that a lot of people don't really devote any energy into trying to make things better," he said. "The only way to do it is by staying sane and staying positive." TONIGHT jMfrwaa i n I ! ii V WOmzn? liasiietasil US Ft iiirHiiiio Undefeated Heels take on the top-ranked Cavaliers! fomidiMl H TV h f 7:00 PIA Campus Calendar WEDNESDAY 5 p.m. CAA ticket distributors will meet in 218 Union for a scheduling meeting. ' 't 5:30 p.m. Newman Catholic Center will hold a student night with dinner and a social. 8 p.m. Sliced Bread, a campus satirical magazine-, will meet in 226 Union. ITEMS OF INTEREST Carolina Fever will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in 109 Fetzer to distribute tickets for the Clemson game. II resie des places a la Malson Francalse si vous aimez parler la langue, boire du bon vin, et rencontre des bons amis, donnez un coup de fit: 933-0945. Campus Y will hold elections for co-presidents, co-treasurers and secretary on Feb. 4. Applications are available at the Y and are due at 5 p.m. Jan. 23. Candidates must attend a mandatory meeting at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 16. Freshmen and sophomores: applications for the Honors Program are available outside 300 Steele Building and are due by Feb. 7. 12 Price Yogurt I Buy any size of our delicious Yogurt Pump yogurt and get a I i second yogurt of equal or lesser value at half-price! I I (excludes shakes & flurries toppings extra) I not valid with any other offers good thru January 8, 1992 4 Spring Vxcok 92 DAVTOUA BEACH From 3 Oceanfront Properties 1-4 Persons Per Room Pools, Jacuzzis, Large Sun Decks Games, Prizes, Contests Daily Restaurants, Lounges Efficiencies and Oceanfront Rooms Slightly Higher 5 Nights Minimum Stay Required 8G0-874-3SSS BEST WESTERN LAPLAYA RESORT HOWARD JOHNSON OCEANFRONT DAYS INN OCEANFRONT SOUTH 2500 N. Atlantic Avenue Daytona Beach, Florida 32118 ill ' .UN .iT.t II I
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