Robert Straub Should Be Governor
Our next governor will work to make Oregon
the “best place in the world to live.” He will
fight water pollution and will work to give tax
relief to Oregon property owners. He is opposed
to a sales tax.
He will fight crime and discrimination against
minority groups in education and job appren
ticeship. He will work to develop Oregon’s great
outdoors.
The man who will be doing all these things
will be Democrat Robert Straub. Or he may be
Republican Tom McCall. Both agree these are
the things the governor should stand for and
should do when he wins his post.
About the only issues on which the candi
dates seem to disagree are the proposed water
diversion plan and the methods which should
be used to give tax relief to property owners.
McCall said at the recent debate he and Straub
had on campus that he would be in favor of the
latest plan for sending water from Oregon and
Washington to the arid Southwest. (Replacing
it with water from a storage basin in Canada.)
Straub says there should be “absolutely no com
promise” and that Oregon actually has no sur
plus water, not if it is used to irrigate Eastern
Oregon.
On this point we commend Mr. Straub. We
feel he has the more realistic outlook on the
diversion plan. Straub says we need not kid
ourselves . . . “Anyone who believes Canada
would continue to ship water to us across the
border in times of shortage is just plain naive.”
British Columbians have not been too happy
with the deal they’ve gotten on sharing the
Columbia River water as it is.
On this issue and on the tax situation Straub
seems to have it over his Republican opponent
as far as having a clear-cut stand and a workable
proposal. McCall seems to want to play the tax
problem by ear, and would favor a sales tax as
a last resort to save education. We appreciate
McCall’s interest in protecting our schools, but
we would rather go along with a man who has
told us exactly what he has in mind for relieving
the tax burden on the property owners. We have
no reason to doubt we might end up with both
high property taxes and a sales tax should
McCall take office.
Straub’s plan for lowering taxes has been
written out in some detail, and would reduce
home taxes by $25 million a year. This amount
of reduced taxes, according to Straub, would be
recovered by amending the Property Relief Act
of 1965 so that surpluses from the General Fund
would apply as tax relief only for owner-occu
pied homes and farm homesteads, which at pres
ent receive only one-third of the surpluses. He
also plans to recommend that cigarette tax
revenues go directly to home and farm property
tax relief.
Except for these two issues the two men seem
to agree on the ends. It is on how to accomplish
those ends that we detect a difference.
When one compares Robert Straub’s stands
and proposals against Tom McCall’s glowing
generalities and promises that he will “look into
these issues” it is a fairly easy choice. True,
Straub may lack the contacts that his eloquent
apponent has. But any shortage of contact with
influential people is counter-balanced by a real
istic view of what the issues are and what the
consequences of his actions will be on them.
And it may be that getting the other party
into office will put some new vigor into the gov
ernorship. We think Governor Hatfield has done
a less than adequate job of preparing Oregon
for its future growth because he lacks a specific
program and the will to carry it through. We
detect that same lack of purpose in the glittering
generalities Mr. McCall has been offering.
Mr. Straub, on the other hand, seems to have
concrete proposals on how to solve the problems
Oregon faces—pollution, property tax reforms,
etc. And he strikes us as the type of man who
will fight for those programs.
We think either man will make a good gover
nor. The state will not suffer irreparable damage
with Tom McCall in the governor's chair. But
we think Straub’s plans offer great promise for
Oregon. For these reasons, we urge his election.
Students Must Try to Transcend
Embryonic Nudity of the Present '
Editor’s Note: Roberta Nudo
is a junior in social science and
a member of the staff of Next,
the University’s student liter
ary magazine.
By ROBERTA NUDO
Apathy seems to be one of
the bywords of our generation.
Student apathy, to particularize
the feeling, often serves as a
community stimulus, a rational
ization, and at times a group
thought-center. The word apathy
implies a state devoid of emo
tion yet is seldom used with
this meaning in mind.
One student seeks out others
who share a majority of his or
her societal opinions. (Long hair
is great, especially when it hides
your roving eyes during an
exam: therefore I’ll find a short
cropped neighbor who looks like
he or she has sufficient knowl
edge to pass both our exams;
but I’d rather associate with
other haired creatures who won’t
always be critical of my obnoxi
ous conformity.)
Docs this student understand
what education is supposed to
mean? Can he understand what
educatio 1 means while grinding
out about four years of lecture
room sedation? Must he be dis
pleased with the direction of his
capacities because of his re
sponsibilities? (I’ll lose Daddy’s
car if I don’t get good grades;
why da profs expects so much
of me?)
ms * ault?
Another excuses his dilemma
by appealing to the shell-struc
tures of “institutionalized learn
ing.” Should he allow himself,
or passively be allowed, this ex
cuse? Is it his fault a state
school is less expensive than the
one he preferred and wasn’t
able to attend? Should he be
blamed because he registered
for a class taught by a poor prof,
as evidenced by his own grades?
My last archetypal budding
scholar mingles with a crowd
which shows some concern for,
and discusses, the problems
. everyone faces “in school.” But
should be or she, as a member
of that crowd, recognize a re
sponsibility to initiate reform?
(It’s the faculty’s mess, let them
clean it up; after all, I’ve paid
my fees; their salaries’ll be
faithfully doled out.)
J , . Tfose, tfirse, “types” fife, just,
that—caricatures. I see some of
each in myself whenever I walk
through the fish bowl, go to a
play, listen to a concert, do my
homework (however begrudg
ingly), or scribble my wrath
for other unsuspecting eyes to
peruse.
Should Sit By Pond
Lucien Marquis made this
comment a few years ago:
“At this point in his educa
tional career, a student should
be sitting beside a pond some
where, intently enjoying a book
which arouses his curiosity.”
Whether he meant Lolita or the
Decline and Fall of Some Em
pire or Other, I’m not sure.
I think he meant both, and
others.
One distinction does cling in
the moldering crevices of my
skull: he said “educational ca
reer,” not educational develop
ment. When education becomes
a career or pro tempore pro
fession, I doubt the worth I
gain from it. This is the time
for me to stop and sit on my
imaginary hypotenuse long
enough to figure out why only
the shells of an education are
getting through to me. Also the
time to ask others about what’s
“bugging” them and why.
But above all, it’s time to de
cide what should be done, both
as a pip-squeaky, prophetic slob
on my own and what I can do
to help subordinately in some
kind of group action. If I wish
to protest, 1 should do it con
structively (not just knock over
my very own pile of alphabet
blocks and then momentarily
find euphoria).
Beginning to Try
Apathy is a dangerous mood,
often maldirected and miscom
municated to others. If we feel
a change for the better is in
order for our education, since
we’re student-body numbered
and classified in more than per
mutable ways, why not accom
plish or at least initiate the
change ourselves, however mut
ant it may seem in its embryonic
nudity?
So what am I doing? I’m not
sure, but at least I’m beginning
to try. To try to do, as well as
to begin. Others have been and
are, too. Yet all it needed, in
my opinion, was the saying . . .
BLANKET TOSS
^ A/NAopfcyKa
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.
PHIL SEMAS. Editor
ANNETTE BUCHANAN
Managing Editor
LARRY LANGE
News Editor
WILBUR BISHOP JR.
Business Manager
CLIFF SANDERLIN
Editorial Page Editor
University of Oregon, Eugene, Friday, October 21, 19C6
Emerald Editor,r
1
I
All letters to the editor must
be typewritten and double
spaced. Letters must not ex
ceed 300 words and must be
signed in ink, giving the class
and major of the writer. Those
dealing with one subject and
pertaining to the University or
Eugene community will be giv
en preference. The Emerald re
serves the right to edit letters
for style, grammar, punctuation,
and potentially libelous content.
Letters not meeting these cri
teria and those which are mim
eograph^ or otherwise obvious
duplicates will be returned.
Fears Unwarranted
Emerald Editor:
The Selective Service admin
istration is making a “mockery”
of the idea of academic freedom,
writes Mr. William Meyer in
his letter of October 17.
It “perverts the entire con
cept of intellectual inquiry” and,
even worse, it “is setting the cri
teria for continuing higher edu
cation.”
Serious charges, these. Yet
does Mr. Meyer submit any evi
dence for his judgment? First,
he writes, the Selective Service
administration requires a stu
dent to take 15 hours of credit.
So what? If he doesn’t, he won’t
graduate on time. Should he be
given a student deferment for
merely taking 3 hours?
Next, according to Mr. Meyer,
it requires a student to main
Oregon Daily Emerald
Noml Borensteln, Associate Editor
Dave. Barontl, Sports Editor
Maxine Elliott, Feature Editor
Mike Fancher, Assistant News Editor
Tom Thompson, Photo Editor
Jay Tillapaugh and Steve Dimeo,
Entertainment Editors
Editorial Board: Phil Sernas, Cliff San
derlln, Annette Buchanan, Larry
Lange, Noml Borensteln, Maxine
Elliott, Dave Barontl, Bob Holmes
.. .Rpbiri Tuttle, Gary Barnes, Chuck
Pruitt, Tom Nash, Dave McCloskey,
Roger Leo, Spencer Block, Jean
Snider, Mike Fancher.
tain a level of quality of perfor
mance. Well, so now we are to
throw out all standards?
So that varsity players arc not
to be bothered with grades? So
“pseudo - intellectuals” can es
cape all contact with reality on
their “trips”? So activity-mind
ed students can be given free
rein to ‘‘lead”? (In 1959-fiO our
student body president failed to
maintain a 2.0 and lost his of
fice; if recent proposals are en
acted, future student “leaders”
need never tear such disgrace.)
Last. Mr Meyer writes that
the Selective Service adminis
tration defines “which course
of study may be pursued and
which are not considered neces
sary to the national interest.”
Poppycock, Mr. Meyer, this
simply is not true. Art majors
are as deferrable as engineering
students or even “poly sci” ma
majors.
One can only conclude that
Mr. Meyer docs not know what
he is talking about. His fears
are unwarranted; the best proof
being that he himself is a sen
ior at this University and not
in Viet Nam.
Tom Easton
(Graduate, History
* * *
Beware Chain Letters
Emerald Editor;
The annual sport of selling
chain letters is upon us already.
Many people seem to think that
it is all right to sell them and
that they will make some easy
money. But it is not all that
simple.
The idea of a chain letter is
simple, but just exactly what
happens is not. Someone starts
the letter going with a $5 check
attached (current rate) and sells
the letter for $10 with the fol
lowing instructions: (1) make
up two more of these letters
with blank $5 checks and sell
these for $10 each, (2) before
selling the letters, add your
(Continued un t’uijc 11)