Oregon
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Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald
and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the ASUO or the
University. However, the Emerald does present on this page column
ists and letter writers whose opinions reflect those of our diverse
readership and not those of the Emerald itself.
RON EACHUS, Editor
RICH JERNSTEDT
Business Manager
Associate Editors
Cindy Boydstun
Rick Fitch
Stan Horton
DOUG CRICHTON
Advertising Manager
Chris Houglum
Gil Johnson
Doug Onyon
Sally Schippers
Jaqi Thompson
ELLEN EMRY
National Advertising Manager
University of Oregon. Eugene, Tuesday, January 21, 1969
Words of wisdom
from the new President:
Case of deception
The Senate handled the situation quietly. Perhaps too
quietly.
ASUO vice-president Dan Allison announced that Randy
Gragg had been dropped from the rolls of the Senate be
cause he was not a student last term when he was re
elected. The Senate accepted that and let the matter pass
without discussion.
That Gragg was elected Senator while acting as elec
tions board chairman and that the fact that he was not a
student was not discovered until he had voted in a full
term of meetings should have been enough for the Senate
to make a little noise.
Several facts stand out. First, that Gragg was not a
student. Second, he was allowed to be a senator, to file
for re-election, and to serve after re-election. Third. Gragg,
even though he was a candidate, was allowed to be chair
man of the board which coordinates the elections.
It was clear malicious deception on the part of Gragg.
That Gragg was given every chance to pull it off is disturb
ing. So is the fact that the Senate as a body has not even
discussed taking steps to see that such flagrant violations
do not occur again is also disturbing.
We hope that in future meetings the Senate takes steps
to see that the elegibilitv of every candidate is validated
and that candidates do not serve on the elections board.
Another good reason
Another reason for the abolition of the University’s
rule requiring freshmen to live in dormitories was added
to the list last week. The Inter-Institutional Committee on
Dormitories recommended a $50 increase in dormitory
rates.
One of the main arguments against the policy has been
based upon financial grounds, based upon the predication
that many freshmen, could, with parental consent, live
off-campus and live cheaper. In fact, the current question
ing of the policy got its impetus from a case involving
a freshman girl who was living off-campus with parental
consent because of financial troubles.
The $50 increase isn’t official yet, but it’s likely the
State Board of Higher Education will approve it. When it
does it will put the University in a difficult position. The
University will have to explain why it requires, in a ty
ranny-like fashion, students to live in dorms while raising
the “rent” at the same time.
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Other editors say
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S. I. Hayakawa’s holy war
Editor’s note: The following editorial first
appeared in the Stanford Daily, student news
paper at Stanford University.
Political and economic wars are bad enough,
but the bitterest and most destructive conflict is
the holy war. Holy war is what we have at San
Francisco State.
“Colleges today are very much what the medie
val Church was—all of that to which the hopes
of human salvation are entrusted,” says Acting
President S. I. (Don) Hayakawa. “I am seen
as a man set out to protect this sacred institu
tion.”
Hayakawa's vision coincides with that of diplo
mat and establishment scholar George Kennan.
In a kind of Gregorian chant transcribed by Jan
uary’s Readers Digest, Kennan describes the ideal
environment for “learning.” It is based on “a
certain remoteness from the contemporary scene
—a certain detachment and seclusion, a volun
tary withdrawal and renunciation of participation
in contemporary life in the interests of the
achievement of a better perspective when the
period of withdrawal is over.”
Ilayakawa and Kennan both assume that the
role of institutions within a society should re
main more or less the same over the years. Thus
if universities and monestaries served to preserve
our “intellectual treasure” (to quote a local
administrator) during Europe’s dark ages, there
is no reason why they should not do the same
thing today.
In fact there have been several advances in
the science of information storage and retrieval
during the past 1.500 years.
It would seem that the role of educational in
stitutions might change in response to new tech
nology alone. But, surprisingly enough, society
itself has also changed in the past 15 centuries.
Not many people had time for scholarship dur
ing the middle ages. They were involved with
things like finding food, making clothes, get
ting sick and going on crusades. Today in this
country more than half of all young people pur
sue their education after completing the basic 12
year course. In California, which is noted for
...
its large public college and university systems,
the percentage is probably higher.
In an age when many important things were
preserved in the heads of a few individuals, per
haps there was more reason for a “voluntary with
drawal and renunciation of participation in con
temporary life. . . .” Today the academic ideal
seems to be an excuse of disenfranchising, not
to mention castrating, large numbers of energetic,
socially concerned people.
Finally there is the fact that, in the eyes of
many students, the society of which they are a part
is engaging in criminal acts. It is killing people in
the name of some ideological and economic sys
tem. In order to eliminate dissenters from the
American dream, our nation is diverting resources
from the needs of those who want to share
that dream.
In response to this kind of observation, Ken
nan deplores the certainty of student leftists
that they are "correct”.
“Such convictions seem particularly out of
place at just this time,” he says. It is a complex
business. Study it, he tells us.
But it is because we in the universities must
study the world to understand it and to change
it that the university has got to be involved in
the communities around it and aware of their
problems. To be sure a balance may have to be
struck between involvement and detachment.
But in the past, universities have too strenuously
clung to detachment and the people and prob
lems they ignored are forcing their way through
the gates of the ivory tower.
Kennan calls it arrogance. For Hayakawa it is
“anti-intellectualism.” "Why is it that students
and people in the liberal arts are so quick—
quote—to lay their bodies on the line—unquote—
rather than engage in strenuous intellectual dis
cussion? Why is it that at Berkeley and San
Francisco Stale College, for example, a person
who supports the draft or sees a reason to sup
port the war in Vietnam gets shouted down?”
he asks.
Can anyone tell him?
Probably not. How many holy wars have been
settled by negotiation?
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Emerald Editor:
All letters to the editor must be
typewritten and triple spaced. Letters
must not exceed 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 given preference. The Emer
ald reserves the right to edit letters
for style, grammar, punctuation and
potentially libelous content. Letters
not meeting these criteria and those
which are mimeographed or other
wise obvious duplicates will be re
turned.
Major guilt
Emerald Editor:
In man’s long history of in
humanity to his fellow-man,
three major atrocities stand out:
1. The extermination of 6,
000,000 Jews by Nazi Germany.
2. The selling into world
slavery of 15,000,000 Africans
by the warring kings of that
continent.
3. The torturing, burning and
life imprisonment of untold
thousands of “heretics” by the
medieval church.
Now a fourth such atrocity
looms on the horizon: the rape
of lovely, primitive Vietnam.
Left to work out their own
destiny, these people would long
ago have achieved unity and a
stable government. The inter
ference in their internal affairs
by Russia, China and the U.S.
with weapons and advisors, per
petuates the agony. The U.S., by
sending troops, must assume the
major guilt. We have already
napalmed, bombed and shot to
death 1.000.000 of these pathetic
little men, women and children.
These are primitive farm folk
who don’t know a Communist
from a capitalist and care less.
These are patriots fighting for
their independence. They will
never quit. Are we so far re
moved from 1776 that we can
not understand this?
Breathes there a man with
soul so dead, Who never to
himself hath said. "This is
my own, my native land"?
O America, this evil, like
slavery, shall forever dim thy
lustre!
Kenneth D. Tomkinson
* * *
Ambassador from beans?
Emerald Editor:
An article in today’s Emerald
seems to make this the ideal
time to educate your writers,
proofreaders, and the general
reading public about the differ
ence between “Chile” and
“chili”. “Chile” is a country on
the west coast of South America.
“Chili” is a seasoning made
from the pod of a plant of the
same name and also the name of
an American dish made with
beans and meat.
I bring this to your attention
in reference to the article in to
day’s Emerald about Miss Lo
reto Hermain, student govern
ment ambassador from “Chili”.
Your ignorance therefore does
not welcome Miss Hermain so
may this letter correct that mis
take and welcome this exchange
student from Chile.
Anne Peterson,
A Graduate Student's wife
* * *
Registration suggestions
Emerald Editor:
In response to Paul Brainerd's
excellent article in the January
ninth issue of the U of O Emer
ald, may I recommend the fol
lowing concrete steps to allevi
ate some of the present head
aches relative to the registration
process:
cate to the administrators stu
dents’ desires and probable
course loads during the fol
lowing quarter.
One of many additional bene
fits from pre-registration is
the informational advisory to
the University Co-Op, permit
ting this organization to bal
ance its textual inventory and
on-order position against an
ticipated demand. (No more
late books!)
Another benefit is the possi
bility to rejuggle the rooms
assigned to various courses be
cause of student load. Pre
registration would enable the
1. Mailing registration packets
for the following quarter to
students with their grade
cards.
Direct labor savings alone—
without considering students
anguish — would more than
justify this procedure.
2. Making the (or any) proposed
“computer registration pro
gram’’ more meaningful by
using a voluntary pre-registra
tion system that would indi
administration to alter room
(Continued on page 7)
The Dark Side of the Dome