Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1963)
Opportunity Missed AWS Elections Could Have Brought Differences Into Open Less than 450 women students voted out of a possible 3,585 in the Associated Wom en Students primary election last week. This does not mean there will be a similar ly poor turnout in the final election today. But the original turnout is indicative of a distrubing situation. Should we turn to the much-overused scapegoat, apathy, for an answer? We don’t think so. The fact that women's rules, especially the apartment rule, have been the subject of much heated and controver sial discussion overrides the idea of apa thy. Is the poor turnout a result of the fact that only one candidate, Joan Yasui, is running for AWS president? Did the wom en feel, “What’s the use of voting; she has to get it.”? Did they stay home from the voting because there was really no election controversy or competition to stir their interest? This may be the case. The Emerald feels that Miss Yasui is extremely qualified to serve as the AWS president and that her progressive views will serve women students well. Offhand, we cannot think of a better candidate. But it is difficult to believe that 100 per cent of the women on campus support her views. The very fact that women’s rules have been controversial is evidence that there are many diverse viewpoints, that there is more than one side to the several issues. Why, then, after they had talked and argued their views all year and complain ed about AWS, didn’t these women come forth as candidates where they could do something about their views? One write-in candidate received enough votes in the primary to indicate that 100 per cent of the women did not agree that Miss Yasui was the only one to represent them. But this write-in candidate also refused to run. This presents a much more provocative question. Why aren’t women students with strong interest in women’s rules and activ ities seeking to further these views through AWS. Is it because they feel, “What’s the use?” Do they think that AWS is ineffective, that if they did run they couldn’t get anywhere anyway? But if AWS is ineffective it may simply be because these women with divergent ideas aren’t participating in the organiza tion. In every previous year AWS has had no primary election. Candidates were se lected through a screening committee. Under this setup, it was very likely that those elected could have simply represent ed the viewpoints of the screening commit tee. AWS voted to alleviate this situation by eliminating the screening committee and instituting a primary. Thus, for the very first time women might have had a chance to bring out their varied viewpoints, to see just where the controversy was, and to see just how effective AWS might have been. Now that the channels for bringing dif ferences of opinion into the open have been established, why haven’t the Univer sity’s women taken advantage of this op portunity? Dear Dad—Bring Money At the present time students are being asked to write their Dads and ask them to visit the campus Feb. 22 and 23 for the annual Dad’s Weekend. Dad’s Weekend makes a very conven ient excuse for inviting your father to the campus, assuming of course that you want him to come. If you don’t want him to come, we certainly don’t want you to invite him. The event offers a chance for the men who largely support the University to find out how their and/or their children’s mon ey is being spent. If the University has the parents’ confidence, it increases the possibility that this confidence will influ ence other segments of the state’s popula tion. Students, themselves, also profit from Dad’s Weekend since it is the principal way that the Dad’s Club gets revenue to finance scholarships and other programs to help the University. In the past, we have noticed that the fathers who come down for their weekend seem to enjoy themselves. Come to think of it, this is probably the best reason for having the weekend at all. 3ranUin W. Sight UO Biologist Discusses Effects of Fallout The following column, writ ten by Franklin W. Stahl, as sociate professor of biology, was presented as testimony to the ways and means sub-com mittee on civil-defense of the Oregon Legislature on Febru ary 4. Stahl is a Research Associ ate in the Institute of Molecu lar Biology, and will speak in the Student Union at 7:30 Thursday on fallout shelters. * # £ No program of Civil Defense, in the sense that the expression is used today, can be expected to provide meaningful protec tion for civilians in the event of nuclear war. This contention is supported by a consideration of the consequences of a medium sized nuclear war as it might oc cur in 1963. In the discussion which follows, it is assumed that the United States is attacked by a foreign power, rather than be ing herself the aggressor nation. At present, the United States has on her own soil approxi mately 250 launching sites for Intercontinental Ballistic Mis siles (ICBM’s). A strike against this missile force would deliver on to U. S. soil 7,500 megatons of nuclear explosives.’ Since a foreign power mak ing a nuclear attack could ex pect retaliation, not against her empty missile-launching sites, but against her cities, it is like ly that her first strike against our soil would involve a “bonus” attack against our cities. 2,500 megatons delivered to cities dur ing the strike would bring the total size of the attack to 10,000 megatons. According to the U.S. Office of Civil and Defense .Mobiliza tion, 40-45% of the U. S. popu lation would die as an immedi ate consequence of such an at tack. This estimate assumes the “successful” completion of a 13 billion dollar Civil Defense pro gram. The fallout from a 10,000 megaton attack would be equi valent to the radioactive debris from the fission of 22 kilotons of Uranium per square mile. The average dose to unsheltered or ganisms would be 7,000 roent gens in the first two weeks fol lowing the attack. All mammals and birds and many kinds of plants and trees would be killed by such doses. The “balance of nature” would be profoundly upset. Vast amounts of additional damage to crop lands and for ests would result from fires set by the exploding bombs. Loss of top soil by erosion woukl pro duce vast areas of desert. Ero sion and insect plagues might well make agriculture impossi ble. Many of the “survivors” would die of starvation. Other survivors would die of the long-term effects of radia tion exnosure. An “average per son” perfectly sheltered for the first two weeks and unsheltered thereafter would receive a dose of 90C roentgens. A shortening of life-span of about 20 years may result from that exposure. Furthermore, consumption of Strontium - 90 in agricultural products from an “average acre” would induce leukemia in 30% of the children (calculated to (Continued on pni/e 3) fyp *r ( . ■* v . LOW *w*.. <.v, -LEVEL RECONN/MSS/\M<E '* ; .1 /VWjtiSlM Our Contemporaries Salaries, Rules, Studies The South can afford better higher education hut, “so long as the Wallaces and the Bar netts contribute to divisive prejudice, to callous injustice, and to encouragement of those willing to destroy public edu cation,” the South will remain at its present low-level. This was the sentiment of Ralph McGill, editor of the At lanta Constitution in a column which appeared in the Daily Iowan last week. A recent report by the Amer ican Association of University professors concluded. "On the aggregate. Southern institutions pay far less than do those in the rest of the country.” THE SURVEY graded the pay scales of institutions of higher education on scales grad uated “A”, "B” and "C”, etc Duke was the only Southern University listed on the “A" scale. Only ten Southern insti tutions appeared on the “B" and “C” scales and none of these were state schools. The report states. “There re main many faculty members whose salaries are scandalously low. In the least aflluent insti tutions salaries for the lowest ranks are not enough to pro vide for a reasonable degree of subsistence.” McGill commented that uni versity presidents everywhere are hampered by a lack of money and by political pressure involved in getting more funds. McGill concluded that higher education “must go, hat in hand, to the legislature seek ing more money.” * * * SIGNOUT FOR women stu dents at UCLA has already been abolished. There is now some discussion considering the possibility of removing lockout too. One of the administrative assistants to the dean of wom en at that school has stated that even if the present closing hour rules were changed in the dor mitories, they would remain the same in sororities on the campus. An editorial in the Daily Bruin commented: “We feel each sorority should decide for- itself what should be; done. At least a few of them might wish to join the majority in the social structure which comprises our present age. “The archaic rules of lock out and signout (the latter al ready abolished) are hangovers from the 19th century social patterns which demanded strict chaperones and pre-arranged marriages. “Now is the time for all young ladies to exhibit the en ergy displayed by their colleg iate predecessors who demand eel greater women's rights more than 50 years ago « • • A STAFF writer on the Utah Chronicle has concluded that it is possible that studies are stealing all of the University students' time. Ruth Ann Lewis reached this conclusion after asking 16 students three ques tions; two concerning local University news and one/on the national level. Seven of the students knew about President Kennedy's $11 billion tax cut. One coed excus ed her unawareness by saying. "I’ve just been out of it this quarter." More of the students polled knew about campus af fairs but knowledge was still below 100 per cent. Whether the conclusion that the University is requiring too much study time is a valid one remains tq be seen, but the fact that college students often are not aware of much outside of their chemistry book or the house dance is often evident. CHRISTOPHER Ishr-rwood, author of Prater Violet and The World in the Evening, was in terviewed by the UCLA Bruin staff last week, l.sherwood ex plained how he nad been able to exist as a writer in Los An geles, a city with a reputation among writers as "a modern Tar Pit, a luxurious and decep tive watering-ground from which no writer ever returned.” “You see, I never made the mistake of identifying Los An geles .with Hollywood.’’ Isher wood lives near Santa Monica canyon overlooking the Pacific. “I guess this is the best place to live in the world. Unfortun ately the rest of Los Angeles is uninhabitable.” When asked about modern F rench writers, Isherwood grim aced slightly. "The French bore me to extinction—the last fun person in France was Rimbaud. I reread The Stranger recently, and I honestly can’t see what all the fuss was about.” OREGON DAILY EMERALD The Oregiin Daily Kmeralri is published seven times in September and five flays a week during the school year, except dur ing examination and vacation periods by the Student Publications Board of the University of Oregon. Entered as second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rates: $5 per year; $2 per term. Opinions expressed on the editorial page ase those of The Emerald and do not pre tend to represent the opinions of the ASUO or the University. RON BUEL, Editor MARTY KETELS, Business .Manager TED MAHAR, Managing Editor EVERETTE DENNIS, Nev.s Editor
