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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1966)
OREGON DAILY EMERALD Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the ASUO or the University. Opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the writer. LOUIE ABRAMSON Business Manager MAXINE ELLIOTT News Editor CHUCK BEUUS, Editor BOB CARL Managing Editor PHIL SEMAS Associate Editor WILBUR BISHOP, JR. Advertising Manager ALLEN BAILEY Associate Editor Page 6 University of Oregon. Eugene, Tuesday, January 18, 1966 To Find a Seat Students Get tlx* Worst Seats at Basketball Games At basketball games the athletic depart ment crams students into precious few seats on either side of the floor and on the ends of McArthur Court. Students have to be there by 7:30 to claim those seats. After that general admission patrons are let in to grab up the unclaimed seats. And what’s worse, students can’t sit up in the balconies— except on the ends—because those seats are reserved and can be claimed at any time, right up until the game’s end. So students sit on the end or behind the band or stand in the doorways. The reason students suffer is because the athletic department wants to squeeze as much money out of each game as possible. They have to provide a seat for every stu dent who wants one. But it doesn’t have to be the best in the house. They already have the students' money—$19.50 per year in student fees. There’s no profit in giving stu dents good seats. So the athletic department sells the good seats and students sit where they can. Of course, faculty members pay $20 a year and get reserved seats. There are several things the athletic de partment could do to change this injustice. One is to provide more student seating That might cut into the athletic depart ment’s fat bank account but it would cer tainly be fairer to the students w ho support it. McArthur Court is seldom filled for a basketball game. There are usually plenty of upper balcony seats open. All the athletic department needs to do is move its over Greek Week The Inter-Fraternity Council’s announce ment last week that it has abandoned plans for a Greek Week this year came as a disap pointment. Last year’s program was stimulating and well-rounded. It included speakers and a panel discussion, as well as social activities. Unfortunately, the event lost money for the IFC because of last-minute expenditures to boost ticket sales to the dance at week’s end. Partially for this reason, and partly because other events prevented advance scheduling of facilities, the plans were dropped this year. Greek Week would probably be better off if it weren’t intended as a money-making program. Panhellenic, the sorority equiva lent of IFC, refused to endorse Greek Week this year. In principle, this is unimportant since Panhellenic gave the IFC only tacit support for the last Greek Week. But the two groups, working together to finance the program, could pay for the publicity of speeches, forum discussions and other aca demic. educational events without having to worry about a fund-raising dance to cli max the affair. The lack of support last year indicates that students today, including many Greeks, just don’t care about going to one more dance. Enough are offered now throughout the year to satisfy their social needs. But if such an event as Greek Week could provide, perhaps, a serious dialogue on some press ing contemporary problem, the sponsors may find the key to renewed student inter est in Greek activities. protected paid patrons back a few rows and give some of those choice, comfortable seats to the students. That’s a nice idea and the obvious solu tion. But the athletic department probably won’t do it. Those seats are already sold this year for a few games like Oregon State. Besides, there’s no profit in it. What else could they do? They could make the people that have reserved seats abide by the same rule as the students: get there by 7:30 or risk finding someone in your seat. Or better yet move the deadline up to game time (8 p.m.) for both groups. Or at least keep the present student section shut off from others for the whole game. The athletic department could also stop doing favors for the lettermen, the Drakes, the Decoys, the Frosh 200, and so on. Let them sit where they can find a place, like everybody else. Or if they must have a re served section put ’em on the end. Student seats are bad enough without giving half of them over to special interest groups. There’s another alternative, of course. Eliminate the student athletic fee. put all seats on a reserve basis, and let students compete for them with everybody else. But that’s a drastic step not yet called for by the present situation. It might be needed some day. Right now we’ll settle for a new attitude from the athletic department: one based on a service motive instead of the profit mo tive. Peace Corps Fighting War, Too Throughout this week representatives of the Peace Corps are at the University to talk with students and, primarily, to sign up volunteers. We urge everyone to stop by the tent in front of the Student Union and to avail themselves of this opportunity to get some first-hand information about work in the program. The Corps has been the target of some heavy verbal attacks recently. Returning volunteers have criticized the government for aiming the program in the wrong direc tion, for simply providing handouts without technical assistance. This may be true, in some instances. To say that no mistakes have been made would be foolish. But the statements by some of the return ing workers indicate that they joined the Corps thinking that they could become mir acle workers overnight. This is not the way 'such a project will operate. The Corps vol unteers face a long, slow battle in their ef forts to further human understanding and to better the lot of the great masses of the world’s people who are quite “underprivil eged” by American standards. Today’s Peace Corps worker is likely to be tomorrow’s leader, and if he gains noth ing more than the experience of working with peoples of other nations, America will have profited immeasurably. If this nation can afford to spend $16 million per day to fight a war in Southeast Asia, it can certain ly spend $100 million a year to fight the quiet, tedious war against poverty and ig norance being waged by the Peace Corps. M/tUO vjtefcv J Letters to the Editor All letters to the editor must bo typewritten and double spaced. Letters not over 300 words in length and those deal ing with one subject will be giv en preference for publication. All letters must be signed in ink and must give the class and major of the writer. Letters not meeting these criteria will be returned to the letter writer. The Emerald reserves the right to edit letters for style, gram mar. punctuation, and potential ly libelous content. Telegram Misconstrued Emerald Editor: It is disgusting that the atti tudes and opinions behind the Faculty Student Committee's telegram to Johnson should have been so misinterpreted by the press and people at large. Yet that is the fault only of the Committee and of the persons at the meeting who voted for the telegram. The misinterpre tation by the public is a natural one. I attended the meeting where Johnson's “peace offensive” was discussed for over two hours. Many persons spoke their opin ions. Only one or two out of these many indicated any be lief whatsoever that Johnson's “peace efforts" were sincere. Most said that they were a clev er means to obtain consensus for a further escalation in Viet Nam. The most obvious evidence for this skepticism is the administra tion's consistent refusal to rec ognize the National Liberation Front as the opposing force; the insistence that the admiration is awaiting response from Ha noi. In addition, besides the dip lomatic circus which worries many, there is the further in troduction of troops into Viet Nam, the further building of large permanent-type military bases there, and the recent re quest for an additional $13 bil lion to conduct the war. These measures hardly indi cate to the foe a sincere de sire for peace, since they are being taken and publicized at the precise moment we are ap parently seeking peace. Also, Goldberg’s vague re marks to U Thant do not indi cate that this government is willing to concede the right of Vietnamese people to choose whatever government they want, Communist, coalition, or otherwise. So far, the attitude has been that ’only a noncom munist government would be allowed by the U.S. and there is no reason to believe that this attitude has changed in the slightest. The main motive behind the telegram, especially by those chosen by the assembly to pen it, was that it “could do no harm” and that any peace over ture, sincere or not, should be encouraged. t'nfortunntely, I believe that Kreat harm tins been clone — just that harm warned of by several individuals at the meet ing Johnson is getting his con sensus. The congratulations of the peace groups for his ‘'offen sive" not only helps to silence his critics, hut confuses those who have been undecided about the war, and misleads those sup porting the war. If the public believes that the administration's critics believe that Johnson is sincere, then they will feel that is final proof that the administration has dono all it could to secure peace and will more confidently support the future escalation of the war. Natalie Fisher Staff, Molecular Biology Band Emerald Editor: Three hail and hearty cheers for the Oregon pep band' The Lemon and Green have finally gone the spirited way of the California, Creston Creek, and Oregon State pep bands: phooey on cumbersome music stands, stagnant looking band plat forms, and sophisticated look ing blazers. Root beer on the house for the vests, bowlers, garters, and new music — I like it and hope it's here to stay! Michael Dale Glover Junior, Art Education Not Poverty Emerald Editor: A journalist should have his facts straight. He: Phil Sernas’ article on the Job Corps center at Tongue Point, in Thurs day, Jan. 13 issue: Harold V. McAbee did not “run a com munity poverty program called the Lane County Youth Proj ect.” In the first place, the project isn’t a "poverty program." It is basically a government and community financed study of juvenile problems. It has four major program areas, each head ed by a chief of operations. Mc Abee was Chief of Educational Programs. Edgar Brewer is and and has been head of the Lane County Youth Project since it was first begun. Patricia Koval Senior, Journalism Oregon Daily Emerald Rande Wilmartli, Sport* Editor Nonii Borcrwtcin, Assistant Managing Editor Larry Lange, Assistant News Editor Dave Butler, Feature Editor Shota Usliio, Photo Editor Steve Dimeo, Entertainment Editor Editorial Board: Chuck Brggs, Bob Carl, Maxine Elliott, Phil Semas, Allen Bailey, Pam Hladine, Karen Winn, Cliff Kaufman, Gene Sokol ski, Norai Borenstein.
