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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1962)
The OrtfM Mfy Death of a Good Thing Oregon Union Wasn’t Killed, It Was Just Permitted to Die 'l'lie Oregon Union, alter a year's attempt to provide the University with debates of questions of significance, seems destined to failure. Conceived as a means of drawing together divergent views on crucial ques tions for open debate and cross-questioning, the Oregon Union would have been a definite asset to the University by pro viding a platform for such discussion. But the Oregon Union is failing. ONE MIGHT be tempted to look upon the demise of the Oregon Union as the happy elimination of another surplus ac tivitv. But this would be a mistake. The value of the Oregon Union is. or was, that it would provide a rare chance to allow those of different opinions to present their respective arguments on a public platform and to be put to the test of questions, both from the public and from the opposition. That an endeavor which gives expression to the basic principles of the free exchange of ideas and opinions in a university must perish is a sad comment on the intellectual vitality of the school. At almost the same time the campus enthusiastically supports a new activity like Angel Flight, which seems vestigial at birth. THE BASIC REASON for the failure of the Oregon Union is the refusal of indi viduals to commit themselves to speak for and defend one side or the other of a con troversial question. The faculty gave unani mous approval to allowing Ous Hall to speak on campus. Yet, members of the same faculty refuse to defend in an Oregon Union debate a position which they will state in a classroom or promulgate in a public lecture. POSSIBLY THIS reluctance to defend publicly what might be an unpopular posi tion is symptomatic of our time. Admitted ly, someone who defends a view unaccept able to some group which sets its self up as the arbiter of what others may think will be subject to much criticism. Yes. if this hesitation is carried to an extreme, there would be no new ideas—no one would dare propose them. It is to be hoped that this fear does not exist on our campus. YET TO WHAT other cause can this reluctance to publicly speak out on a (|ues tion be attributed? Surely a reluctance to defend one’s ideas against a knowledgeable opponent is beneath the intellectual level of the university, especially the faculty. This is intellectual cowardace. STILL, THESE TWO reasons seem to be tile cause of the death of the (>regon Union. Evidently people are either afraid that they will be condemned for the views that they express, or they are fearful that their opinions w ill be shown to be logically indefensable. The loss of an institution such as the Oregon Union will not be the loss of merely another activity; it will be a loss of a part of tile University itself. Letters to the Editor J Freud, Not Football Emerald Editor: In Monday's Emerald it was noted that the president is go ing to speak at a Coos Bay al umni meeting, and that he is taking along the athletic direc tor and football coach. It caus es no surprise that the presi dent, w'ho likes to be able to do what other faculty do and have been known to do, to take off Fridays and fly to football games in the Fall, when we play football. That he is be ing accompanied by men of the athletic department should cause no surprise either, as it is his position to do so and his business, concerning who shall accompany him to the Alumni dinner in Coos Bay this week end. His recent statement re garding his position on medio crity in athletics, compared with his statement that academic “c” students be admitted is quite consistent with the mod ern view on the accessibility of educational facilities to every body who wants an education in higher institutions of learn ing. and does not seem to em phasize one aspect of educa tion. IF SOMEONE wants to play football, I say that he should be allowed to if he has the abil ity. If someone wants to go to college, I say he should be al lowed to if he has the ability. Or are we to restrict the field of curriculum to Freud only ? I think that if we d i d, we would be in a bad way. Every body would be analyzing every one else and it would therefore be very bad. Of course, if one takes a narrow view, a political view concerning issues of the mo ment, i.e.: it is always nice to avoid the issue by not referring to it directly, but by smearing or attempting to smear the character of people connected with these issues. Over-empha sis is something hard to meas ure, indeed, statistics can be twisted any way one wishes to twist them. But being practical and objective, this is hard to do. Get out into the fresh air, Mr. Fischer [ sic ] and look around and tell us what you see. You may be more amazed than we. John B. Bergeson, Senior majoring in his tory. * * Not Unique Emerald Editor: It’s unique. ’Neath the dismal slate-gray mist,” the United States, indeed, the free world, awaits the return of Friendship Seven. (Carson Two girls do the Twist.) It has given us a kind of unity and a feeling that we are sharing a common cause. We’re pretty serious about it.” Especially on this day, such front-page items seem to in dicate an immature public. In a world so full of chance, each change effecting (sic) our chil dren and theirs, it is strange that anyone should want to be remembered for perpetuating such nonsense. It would be more fitting if five hundred consec utive hours of volunteer work were donated to the Red Cross, a hospital, or visiting shut-ins. Dr. Albert Schweitzer is unique; Books for Asia is I unique: a blood donor is unique; Carson Two doing the Twist is not unique. George Holdorf, A A * « Another Rebuttal Emerald Editor: Since Mr. Monger (sict has levied (sic) his first barrage against athletics only to fol low it with another . . . rebut tal, I have waited for someone to expose his mistakes with ex amples. Mr. Monger (sic) appar ently does not read beyond the letters collumn (sic I, for if he had read the Jan. 4 Emerald, he never would have issued his first statement. THE ALL-ATHLETE grades have consistantly (sici been above the all-men’s and all campus average. The baseball team, which practiced during much of fall term, managed to place f ve men above a 3.0. The track team which has run two hours a day. seven days a week since September, had over ten men above a 3.0. A notable baseball player, All-Northern Di vision catcher, Hay Haroldson, pulled a 3.28. Some outstand ing track men were Vic Reeves (3.2), Ted Abram (3.3), Jerry Larson (3.4), and Clayton Steinke (3.27). It might also be a horrible shock to Mr. Mon ger (sic) to learn that Varsity football player Dennis Maloney made the honor roll with a 3.6. Be wasn’t alone as trackman Dan Tonn got on it with a 3.82. But there is more. A transfer distance runner from Texas named Paul Levering just hap (Continued on pane 3) Little Man on Campus *-ANt7, UNLESS YOU AAAiltfTAlN A /SAORE SCHOLARLY ATTITUDE. I WILL SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE EXPEL LEI? FROM £LAS5// Carrie cjCearmont Oregon Should Encourage New Industry—Starting Now Editor's Note: This Is the third and last article on the suh jwt of Planning by Karri*- I>-ar mont. a fifth-year Architeeture student. The end of the Second World War saw the beginning of what has come to be known a« the technological era an era with a technology based on the most advanced concepts of science, and an era exemplified by such new industries as electronics, nuclear power and space-age research. SO FAR this new technology has tended to concentrate in two main areas of the coun try New England and South ern California. In both these areas it is literally booming. For example more than 100 plants, related to the electron ics Industry, have located in the Boston area since the war. Their combined factory sales in 1959 totalled %% billion and in ten years time they are ex pected to pass the $2 billion mark. These figures are fantas tic for such a young industry, yet the growth has been just as spectacular in Southern Califor nia, especially in the San Diego area. Now, one might ask, why has such rapid technological growth taken place in these two partic ular areas of the country rather than elsewhere ? The answer lies in a special dual-combina tion of resources which these two areas have in lather am ple supply. THK FIKST of these is brain power. The most critical need of the m-w industries is for skilled scientists, technicians and business executives in short, lor university graduates. Werner von Braun has express ed it this way: “It’s not water or real es tate, or labor or power, or cheap taxes which brings in dustry it’s brainpower. What do you thing attracted the air craft industry to the Los An geles area ? The desert and smog? No, it was UCLA and other great universities there.” If then UCLA provided the brainpower which partly induc ed the new industries to South ern California, then likewise Harvard, M I T. and other great universities did the same for New Kngland. THK HEOOND inducement to these new industries in that of a mutable living environ ment. A vague term, but the fact i« that these industries have learned that no amount of salary incentives will attract the skilled intellectual worker un less the environment has much to offer physically anil cultural ly. Such an environment does not consist of billboards Neon signs and the usual 'honky tonk'’ highway architecture we are so accustomed to nowadays. This type of worker prefer* to live in clean, well planned sub urban areas with an abundance of greenery and open space for lecreation. In addition, he ex pects his environment to offer cultural and intellectual facili ties in the form of "theatres, art galleries, libraries and the academic atmosphere of large universities" for. where these fa cilities exist, he can mix with people of similar backgrounds and cultivate his own. some what refined, interests. THIS, the deal-combination of resources is really rtn abun dant supply of brainpower and an ‘'ideal” living environment. Now, if we think of these re quirements in terms of our own area, we find that Oregon, a relatively un-indust rial ired state could have a fantastic future in the technological space-age provided we exploit the po tential. Consider our resources with reference to the second require ment, namely, a site suitable for industry and a site afford ing a pleasant living environ ment. The relatively unpopulat ed areas along the upper Co lumbia River above The Dalles to the Washington State border ate ideal for industry. The land is there and it has ready access to transportation in the (Continued on page 3) OREUON DAILY LM KHALI) The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished -even times in September and lire days a week during the school year, ex cept during exanimate,n and vacation periods by the Student Publications Hoard of the Rimer.'ty of Oregon. En tcred as second cl:.s- matter at tbe post office, Kugene, (Iregoti. Subscription rates: $5 per year; SJ per term. Opinions express,-l on tbe editorial page are those of Tbe Kmcrald am! do not pretend to represent tin- opinion if the AStIO or the University. KEITH 1’Ott KI.K, Edit ir LEE TUKMiULL. business Manager
