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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1963)
Another Greek Exemption Is There a Parallel Concerning Hazing and Drinking? The University administration has been widely criticized for the fact that hazing has been allowed to exist on this campus for so long. This criticism calls to mind another dou ble standard which exists concerning the treatment given Greeks compared to that given independents. This double standard is best illustrated by posing a hypothetical situation. Suppose that a fraternity is holding a normal house dance. Before this house dance, the normal cocktail party is to take place in the normal apartment, chaperoned by normal University-sanctioned “adults". There will undoubtedly be a great many in dividuals under 21 drinking at this party. The Emerald is not necessarily opposed to this widely-accepted practice. It is the dou ble standard we dislike. Suppose that Jane Jones, who is a sen ior, age 20. living in Tingle dormitory, with a 4.00 GPA, attends the party. Suppose also that Molly Mudd. who is a sophomore, age 18. with a 2.001. living in Rho Rho Rho sorority, also attends. Then suppose that Molly Mudd becomes very drunk and commits all sorts of un desirable acts. As she crawls in the front door at Rho Rho Rho, the lock-up girl is likely to help put her to bed. and no one will ever be the wiser. Then suppose that Jane Jones takes one small drink, the first of her young life, and is completely in control of her facilities as she walks in the door at Tingle Hall. But oops, she breathes in the direction of the housemother or counselor, and there it is— that undeniable scent of scotch-on-the rocks. It is quite likely that Jane Jones will be highly reprimanded, put on pro bation. and a black mark will indelibly etch itself onto her personal file. Perhaps we have slightly over-exagger ated the situation. But you will find very few people, if any, on this campus who will claim that a double-standard does not exist in reference to drinking by upper-class women in dormitories and those in sorori ties. t We are curious as to exactly what justi fies this double standard. A Rebuttal Judging from the comments that have been leveled at the Emerald in the last four days, some people feel that we have damaged the University in the Legislature through our coverage of the fraternity haz ing story. Perhaps we have. If so, we make no apology. We are sorry if the fraternity hazing situation has negatively affected the legislators. But we would do it again. Many students have set forth a line of reasoning which would put the Emerald in the status of a public relations organ for the University. Accordingly, we should print no news that would have a damaging effect on the University in the eyes of the world at large, and the Legislature in spe cific. As an official University organ, these students have said, we have no right to damage the University which supports us. And they have said, finally, that responsible editors would have given greater emphasis to the constructive side of the fraternity system rather than presenting the view that the system is all bad. We feel that these opinions are based on a warped conception of what journalism is. Our job is to report the news. We are financially dependent upon the University, and the freedom of the press we have is, we realize, guaranteed not by the first amendment to the Constitution but by President Flemming through the Student Publications Board. This does not, how ever, make it our responsibility to suppress news that will harm the University. We are frankly mystified by those who feel that the Emerald has damaged the University in this case. We did not haze anyone. We merely reported that many fraternities did. Our sources were officials of the IFC and of specific houses, and ad ministrators in the Office of Student Af fairs, to say nothing of President Flem ming. Or would these people criticize Pres ident Flemming for notifying the Emerald of his decision in the first place? We would have gladly reported some thing constructive about fraternities. The best thing that can be said is that some houses did not haze. Anything constructive that did happen would have had to have been of unusual magnitude to overbalance the hazing story. Any free newspaper—and the Emerald is as free as a college newspaper can pos sibly be—operates on the tenent that the public has a right to know what is happen ing and how it can affect them. And in this case, a good many people have a right to know. The students and administration certainly have a right to know what is happening in such a large segment of Uni versity students. The citizens in the state have a right to know what is happening in a state institution. And finally, the Legis lature, as much as anyone else, has a right to know what is happening in a place to which it will allocate funds. If we suppress news on the basis that it will unfavorably impress people outside the University we would be partners in whatever offense we did not report. Our audience is primarily the University. If a situation at the University is bad, the Uni versity must know about it if it ever hopes to correct it. We would be guilty of the worst kind of cynicism if we printed only good news. Not telling the truth is only slightly dif ferent from telling a lie. Telling half the truth—only good news—is no different at all. Letters to the Editor Auditorium Needed Emerald Editor: Thursday night one of the fiercest battles of the term was fought. The competitors: The San Antonio Symphony Orches tra versus McArthur Court. The orchestra fought valiantly and well, but was unable to cope with “the barn’s” natural advan tage over any and all perform ers, its abysmal acoustics. Such a performance as was Thursday night drastically em phasizes Eugene’s and the Uni versity’s need for an auditorium or cultural center of some kind. Until we can offer a large thea ter with good acoustics, having a well-lighted stage, we should not be disappointed if well known performers seem reluc tant to make appearances in Eugene. James C. Gillis Frosh in Bus Ad. A Clarification Monday the Oregon Daily Emerald, in reference to hazing, said, “Some of the hazing techniques involved personal violence, personal degradation, and in an appalling number of instances, outright perversion. ’ While the basis for the above statement is informa tion from sources we have no reason to believe are any thing but reliable, the Emerald has no documentation of the statement. We have no proof, no witnesses or confessions. It would have been better had the statement read, “Some of the ALLEGED hazing techniques Involved personal violence, personal degradation, and in an appalling number of instances, outright perversion. Our Contemporaries A proposal to defer rush until spring term was turned down last week by fraternities and clubs on the Stanford Univcr sits campus. The campus has no sororities. Th<- proposal would ha' • pre vented individuals from indie;.’ in*.; their house preferences un til the seventh week of spring term The proposal would have restricted contact between fra ternity me mb rs and freshmen during fall and winter also Contact between fr»*shnv*n and upperclassmen would have been restricted to open con tact on campus only, and no commitments made by freshmen during winter cpiart; r During spring term, off campus contact would Ire allowed at specified times. Several fraternity r.’presen tatives to the IFC said that they disapproved ol the proposal be cause of financial detriment to the fraternities. j At the University o' Colorado, the student Senate -refused to take a stand on deferred rush The Senate approved „ report on dele: red rush after disc s sion. Several senators 11 !*.i< i/.ed the report fo>- not presenting an adequate picture of the ritua tion. Larry Miller, IKC pr»>-,idcnt and IFC senate representative, commented, “this is a p/ohl'-m for the fraternities and sorori ties, not the independents lake the reDort or d:>n’t take it I don’t care on way or the other.” The Oregon State Barometer ran a front page story telling of the T2 hand picked individu als” who removed the "O” from atop Skinner’s Butte during Christmas vacation Eight weeks before the event took place the “O” was investi gated and tools and vehicles were lined up On Dec 22, the shortest day of the year, the 12 assembled in Albany at 4:30 a m. It took 50 minutes on the fog shrouded butte to slice the ”0” into eleven pieces The 2,600 pounds of scrap iron were cart ed down the back side of the butte while a decoy diverted the police who were coming up the front. The article concluded with, "It took no single leader, but 12 individuals working and striving together to destroy this popular belief held by many that the ”0” was indestructible.” * * * The University of Washing ton’s University Political Union, and organization devoted to the political education of the stu dents, is in trouble. Five caucuses have formed within the organization and, ac cording to Union president Dale Higer, are threatening its struc ture Higer feels that the parti san elements are a threat be cause they are destroying the Union’s objective quaiity, neces sary for the Union to carry out its educational role. Defenders of the caucuses feel that they allow differences of opinion to exist within the organization without forcing stu dents to become members of de finitely partisan groups. * * An article in the Stanford Daily warns against the use of slay awake pills It eited an in stance of a Stanford co ed who war found in a coma, completely to respond after having taken the pills for several days. Dr. M. M Osborne, director of the campus Health Service,, warned that students who have been using the pills an- still suflcring from fatigue, although they may not be aware of it "A student can write an essay that is just a bunch of nonsense and not be aware of it. h<- be lieves that he has written a f.ne test," said Hr Osborne.* Incidents of this were cited. One boy, having token tin pills for several days, went int i a final and wrote his name for two hours Another student wrote a 10 page exam but for got to turn the page of the blue book Excessive use of the pills ren ders the brain almost insensitive to various danger signs Ths mind loses the ability to judge physical dangers anti forget1 to exercise citation Whether the University of Minnesota Daily will be allowed to run cigarette advertising is now bung discussed by the stu dent Senate qn that camuus The Senate's executive committee met last week to discuss the- is sue 3nd decided at that time that if it took anv action it would be towards student educa tion on smoking. The question was brought up by the Soeial Service Council, a student group The grouo re quested the ban on cigarette ad vertising after studying litera ture on the relationship between cancer and smoking Norm LphofT, MSA student body president, told the Senate "Students are going to get cig arette advertising no matter what we do.” I'nhofl felt that it was the Senate's place to deter mine the extent of the danger of cigarette smoking to students and the duty of the Daily to "protect” the students from these dangers. OREGON DAILY EMERALD I hr Oregon Daily Emerald in published •even time* in September awl five tla; - a week (luring the school year, except dur ing examination and vacation period- hy the Student Publication* fir -a r<l of the 1‘niversity of Oregon. Entered a- -c on,I (day* matter at the pnxt office, Kugrne, Oregon. Stiln criptmn late- )« r yea ; $2 per term. OpiniotiM expressed on the editorial page ase those of The Emerald amt do not pre tend to represent the opinions of the ASl'O or tile (.University. HON HUKI-. Kditor MAR i y K K l KJ.S, Husineas Manager TUI) MAH AR, Managing Kditor EVEUKTTK HEX X IS. News Kditor PII I. fOCSWKU, Kdiiorial Page Kditor LARKY WILLIAMS, Atlt ertising Manager KARR V GRAVES, Sports Editor Dl. I.CV MORAN, Assistant Managing Kd'lor DAVE SAXOS, JIM l-RAKK, J V.XKT (iOKT/.r , Asst! rant Xews Editors GEORGE TIQHAM, Photo Kditor IJXDA llltf W.X, Kntertaiim eut Editor RON COWAN, CATHY XK dl.I.K, tiioka wii.kiam: , Associate News Ed toi , EDITOR IA1. BOARD : Ron ilucl, Phil Cogswell, Ted Mahar Kverette Dennis, Duvt Sands Dulcy Moran, K.nda IrosCii Hal Carpenter, fob I- irsyth Grant Kedgerwood Dm [ Ragen Janet (i( et/e, and 1 ill li itchison
