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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1969)
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. However, the Emerald does present on this page columnists and letter writers whose opinions reflect those of our diverse readership and not those of the Emerald itself. Cindy Boydstun Rick Fitch Stan Horton RON EACIIUS, Editor RICH JERNSTEDT Business Manager Associate Editors Chris Houglum Gil Johnson Doug Onyon Steven Smith Jaqi Thompson DOUG CRICHTON Advertising Manager ELLEN EMRY National Advertising Manager University of Oregon, Eugene, Monday, April 7, 1969 Friday’s ‘debate freedom placed last The appearance of Robert Sheer and S. I. Hayakawa Friday in McArthur Court made a travesty of the freedom of inquiry and expression which was so often alluded to in the fear of violence before the session. There was no debate, Hayakawa did not want one, and there was no question and answer session of any sub stance. In fact almost every effort was made to keep the two speakers from addressing each other. The president of the Oregon High School International Relations League which co-sponsored the event with the University seemed intent on getting the IRL students to lunch rather than continue the questioning. She pointed out it was the high school students confer ence and lunch was next on the schedule. Yet when a high school student from South Eugene attempted to move that the questioning be allowed to continue she ruled him out of order and would not let the IRL students vote on continuing the session. When she closed the session Ilayakawa immediately left the stage despite the fact that the rest of the over 4000 persons there might have stayed for more question ing. When she adjourned the session there were two lines of students, both high school and college, waiting to ad dress the speakers. The very format of the session diminished the value of having the two speakers appear together—Sheer speaking first, then Ilayakawa and no chance for one to reply to the other. Merely having two speakers with opposing views on the same stage, and merely scheduling a question and answer period, do not constitute the freedoms which we claim to be in the University’s tradition. If conducted as the meeting was Friday, it constitutes freedom of expres sion and inquiry only in a limited sense. Certainly, the speakers were allowed to speak, and some were allowed to ask questions. But that’s as far as the session went. It was controlled freedom of the type which makes people believe freedom of this sort exists when in actuality it doesn’t. There was no freedom Friday. Suiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiii imiiiiiiiiii!iiii!tiiiiiii<iiimii!iiiiuiiiiiHnuimiiiiiitiiitiiiiiiiiiiiniiuiiiii!iiiniiiiiiiiiiiainuni!imunii!i!inui!imiiiiiiHiiiiiiuiiii!!i!iiiiiiiimmiiiinHiHfniHnfiiifimnim!iitiiminni!i ..... Emerald Editor: UlllllUllllllllllllillllltllll Attack the giant Emerald Editor: My answer to Potterf regard ing the ‘ too high” school budg ets. We are now spending 80 billion dollars a year slaughter ing people on the other side of the world who were never any threat to the United States. Now Nixon and Laird say that we can’t tolerate more resist ance on their part, and threat en further escalation of the war. We have just sentenced some young boys to 14 years of slav ery in military prisons — the whole of their young manhood, plus stigma for the rest of their lives—for only peacefully pro testing the wanton murder of one of their number by a brutal guard. We are about to deploy a multi - billion dollar anti - ballistic missile system which all responsible scientists say won’t do the job but will only increase our danger. Your sons, my sons — all for General Ky and a handful of rich landlords? This is military thinking. This is military planning. This is military justice. This is the Christian understanding, com passion and. strength of char acter for which our great coun try is noted. res, reus increase uie iimiiaiy budget while we cut back on our children's chance to get an education and to live. Mean while we can wave our b i g cross in everyone’s face to prove what wonderful Christians we really are, and require all spec tators at athletic events to come clean shaven so our teams won’t be ashamed of them. Of course taxes are far, far too high. Let’s get on the stick then and protest the taxes that really hurt us. Let's cut the military budget, not waste time and energy trying to find ways to cut back on our pitiful edu cational and city rehabilitation efforts and other domestic pro grams which should be getting much more, not less, money. When a giant is stepping on you and crushing you to death, does it do any good to use your energy trying to remove a grain of sand which makes you un comfortable as you are pressed into the ground? Lets at least die trying to kill the giant in stead of our own children. Bayard H. McConnaughey Dept, of Biology * * * Help 18 vote Emerald Editor: I would like to ask that all people who feel that 18 year olds should have an opportunity to vote write to the members of the Oregon Senate Elections Committee urging approval of SJR 2. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ed Fadeley of Eugene at the request of Gov. McCall, Treas urer Straub, and Secretary My ers, calls for lowering the vot ing age in Oregon to 18. It gives the electorate the opportunity to express its will on this issue at the next statewide election. Those wrho wish to help with this effort may do so by w’riting to the members of the Senate Elections Committee. Also, any one who has questions which need answering may contact me at 343-6380. Jon Bates President, UO Young Democrats Emerald nutcracker Emerald Editor: Re: My letter on March 7, about the protests at OSU and the “Communists” on the OSU campus. The letter was meant to poke fun at OSU’s revolt. I was trans ferring to OSU many of the charges made for years against the UO. So most people would realize the letter was not to be taken seriously, it was made quite ridiculous and absurd. Ex ample, “under every beard and mustache a potential Commun ist lurks.” Imagine my surprise when let ters start pouring in compli menting me for what 1 had stated, “your letter will help to drive the Pinkies in our good state into the open.” Well, I’m not sure if I ex posed any Communists, but I uncovered ten nuts! Gary Burlingame Senior, Gen. Soc Sci . * * >s ‘Legal shortcomings’ Emerald Editor: Professor Rubin’s letter to the editor prompts me to write this reply. Professor Rubin, who has as sumed the role of the military’s advocate, has overlooked cer tain shortcomings in both mili tary justice per se, and the re sults in the recent San Fran cisco mutiny trials. In the military, the military is prosecutor, defense counsel, judge, jury and plaintiff. Grant ed, the system oftentimes ren ders what one may consider “just” results. However, the po tential exists all too readily for the kind of railroaded “justice” that has just occurred in the San Francisco fiasco. Professor Rubin goes on to say in his letter that mutiny is no more vaguely defined than many civilian crimes. This, how ever, is no justification for the crime being so vaguely defined. This is especially so in the authoritarian context of the mil itary. When a crime such as mutiny is very vaguely defined, it lends itself to some rather absurd ap plications when invoked by those who seek to carry out a vendetta. The military, being an authoritarian structure, staff ed by authoritarian people, and dedicated to its own ends, rath er than the ends of justice, will tend to use catch-all crimes such as mutiny to deal very harshly with those by whom it feels threatened, regardless of how reasonable this feeling is. The results that are obtained are exemplified by the convic tions and sentences involved in the San Francisco mutiny “crimes.” As a result of the military legal system, one gets denials of such Constitutional safe guards as the due-process and equal protection safeguards, and the protection of having the crime match the punish ment. Professor Rubin, do you real ly believe that sitting down and singing “We Shall Overcome” deserves the harsh punishments rendered? The whole point with either abolishing or reforming the military legal system is that then justice will much more tend to prevail, especially at the trial level. Gary M. Schultens 1st Year, Law * * * PIGGS before Swine Emerald Editor: I would like to offer, for a price, to any U of O Professor, the use of PIGGS, (Pressure-in Groups-of-Graduate - Students). Members of this group may not be awfully smart, but they are dedicated, articulate, loud and unafraid of making public nui sances of themselves. If professors want to know what groups like this can do once they sink their teeth into a project, just let them see what is being accomplished by the “Pearl's Before Swine” cru sade. This campaign has both convinced and warned the cam pus community that: a. ) Dr. Pearl alone is “deal ing relevantly with the issues of racism and poverty in this country.” b. ) Dr. Pearl can contribute “an education which is rele vant.” c. ) Dr. Pearl will pack-up, that’s right, just packup and leave this U of O for Wisconsin unless the University adminis tration grants a “commitment to assure — three demands,” which involve more p o w e r, more money, and more gradu ate assistantships for his pro grams. Our pressure group, PIGGS, will hold rallies, circulate peti tions during classes, stuff news letters in mail boxes, and gen erally blow things out of all proportion, so that when we're finished, your cause, Mr. Pro fessor, will make the Way of the Cross look like a gambol through the tulips. R. E. Hurley, Grad. 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