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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1969)
Airs views on conscientious objectors Panel debates draft resistance By DAVID PAHLKA Of the Emerald “To kill or not to kill?” “Who has the right to force an individual to kill another hu man being?” These questions were discuss ed at a panel on conscientious ob jectors Sunday night in the Grace Lutheran Church of Christ. The panel included Lake Bellin ger, deputy state director of the Selective Service System; Luther an Pastor Don Jerke and Herb Titus, University law professor, and Russell Sander, a senior in sociology at the University. Each speaker talked for 10 minutes followed by a question and-answer period for the approx imately 60 persons in attend ance. Pastor Jerke, who led off the panel, said the idea of passive non-commitment in a war, ac - cording to Christian beliefs, is not morally wrong. He pointed out that the early Christian lead ers took an anti-military stance during the church’s first 300 years. Russel Sandor, currently seek ing a conscientious objector sta tus, told the audience he believed the Christian ethic concerning the moral wrong of killing an other human being. He described the present view of modern war Athletics move . . . (Continued from page 1) said Thursday they have considered such a complex for about six years, but only recently have they recognized the bad aspects that result from building additions to exisiting buildings. Bissett said the individual departmental needs were reevaluated and planning officials “came to the recommendation that it would be better not to make additions but to bring together the various departments and release space.” Adequate facilities for the depart ments would require tremendous space not available in the present core area. He emphasized the decision concerning the use of the athletic facilities would implicitly relate to other decisions the committee and planners must make. DECISION MUST BE QUICK The use of the athletic department land could be changed in phases, but a basic decision must be made soon, according to Bissett. If the fields are not going to be turned over to academic buildings eventual ly, the University must plan now to expand in some other direction. Although fine arts department officials have said the fields are ideal sites for a creative and performing arts complex, they would not object to such a project on another site, such as east of Agate St., where former married student housing is located. They just want the urgent needs of the music and drama departments for space satisfied Three other large land areas were explored for possible Univer sity use by OPIR. Northwest Christian College is considering a move to larger facilities, but no official negotiations have been started for purchase of the college site by the University. West of the 240 acre campus is a high land value area with many new apartment buildings. Bissett said Monday in order to purchase a useful land area west of the University it would be necessary to condemn block-size sections. The estimated cost of purchasing 900,000 square feet, the size of the current athletic fields, wouild be $4.5 to 5 million. Such a move “might represent a real difficulty for the Uni versity in assembling such a large piece of land,” Bissett said. A third sizeable land area adjacent to the University, the Pioneer Cemetery, has dropped from competition for now because a bill to purchase the cemetery died in the 1969 legislature. Other considerations of OPIR during the formulation of the plan were full-time equivalent (FTE) student projections and the accom panying space requirements, a non-limited enrollment policy, and departmental growth and facility requirements projections prepared last spring. ‘UNFORTUNATE’ PLAN University planners have had two basic alternatives to consider when trying to expand the academic core. The spaces between exist ing buildings could be filled with other buildings, which Bissett says would be “unfortunate.” Filling in the present campus with high buildings could provide enough floor space for larger enrollments, but many projects, such as the proposed creative and performing arts center, require large ground-level areas. „ . . To meet floor space requirements for our present enrollment ot over 15 000 students requires another million more square feet of floor space than we presently have. An additional million square feet of floor space will be required for an enrollment of 20,000 students. Moving of the athletic facilities could answer two basic problems. As presented, the plan is the most economical way the University can acquire land. That land is also close to the present academic core A quick decision will have to be made in the light of close dead lines for building projects to be considered by the next legislature for funding. The decision also must related to basic planning policies to be used to plan future expansion of the University, according to Bissett In order to keep the same land-use intensity and allow for unlimited growth the University must get more land or reorganize the land already in use. Housing Office ready to hear complaints Students will be able to air their gripe about landlords and apartments at a table on the EMU Terrace today, the ASUO Housing Office announced Mon day. The table, which will be manned from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., is the first activity of the housing office since it was formed by the ASUO Senate last week, accord ing to Jim Teasdale, director. The complaints received at the table will be followed up, Teas dale said, and individual housing Tuesday, October J1, 1969 problems will be solved wherever possible. In addition, he said, the com plaints will give the Housing Of fice personnel a better idea of where the problems are. “If we get a lot of complaints from one apartment house, for example, we might consider or ganizing the tenants in that building. Right now, he said, the office is focusing on getting at the “nit ty-gritty problems” while still doing research on the broader problem. fare as a conflict of ideologies not as a conflict between indivi duals. The neatly bearded man added, “It is non-sensical for a Chris tian man to allow himself to be handed over to an organization which will function to teach him how to hate and effectively kill an other individual whom he does not even know.” Bellinger, a draft board offi cial, explained the reasons why the current laws were enacted. He said the original laws, enact ed during World War II ex pired in 1947, but were extend ed because President Harry Tru man felt he couldn’t effectively defend the country with only a standing army. Bellinger add ed the Selective Service System is an effective way to pressure young men into the military serv ice. The panel members agreed that the average American’s knowl edge about the draft is notice ably deficient, but conflict arose between Titus and Bellinger on whether the draft board gives idequate information concerning the laws governing conscientious objectors. Titus stated that in Eugene, until two or three years ago, there wasn’t any organization where draft information could be ob tained. The only way to avoid the draft then was to have a medical deferment or to work in the defense industry. Bellinger contended every po tential draftee is given adequate formation to decide his classifi cation when he turns 18. If a person wants to change his draft status, he must write to his draft board requesting a per sonal appearance. He is then giv en an informal hearing in which his case is decided by the mem bers of the board. If still not sat isfied with his status he can ap peal to a civil court. Titus discussed the problems in trying to obtain a conscientious objector status. He argued the prohibition of lawyers in a hear Minorities to be involved in ASUO government In order to involve the Uni versity’s minority students in the student-governing process, the ASUO executive branch has re cently formed the Minority Coali tion. The coalition, composed of an elected representative from the Black Student Union, the Chicano Student Union and the Indian Student Union, was formed be cause of a breakdown in commu nication, according to an ASUO memorandum outlining the coali tion. “The mood of the present ASUO executives is consistent with the aims of these groups and rather than second guessing each other we have set up a real sys tem of communication and ex change of advice between the ASUO, the poverty programs and the minority student unions,” said the memorandum. The memorandum explained the rationale behind the coalition as being both to prevent the communication breakdown and to enable minority students, who be cause of discrimination and lack of campaign expenses have here tofore been locked out of ASUO positions, to enter into the de cision making processes. The group will function as an advisory council to both the SAB to study policy on group membership Introduction of new board members and a decision on mem bership requirements for Univer sity recognized organizations will head the agenda for the Student Administration Board (SAB) meeting at 4:30 p.m. today in 101 EMU. SAB will discuss whether or not policy should be changed to open organization membership to students of all local academic communities. Presently policy states that only University stu dents, faculty and staff and their families may vote or hold office in recognized groups. At the first meeting, the board temporarily granted a request by the Arab students that their or ganization be allowed to include students from Lane Community College as full members. The Oregon DaUy Emerald is pub lished Monday thru Friday, September to May, except during exam and vaca tion periods. Semi-weekly June thru the first week of August, once a week the last three weeks of August, by the Publications Board of the University of Oregon. Second-class postage paid at Eugene, Oregon 97403. Subscription rates J10 per year, $3.SO per term. Paul Brainerd _Editor . . Robb Miller...i.i Business manager ASUO government and the Stu dent Services. The coalition will also provide a two-way link between the pov erty projects—Upward Bound, Project 75 and the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) — and minority student unions and the ASUO. The members of the group, which has been recognized by the ASUO Senate and given the task of recruiting ethnic repre sentatives for the proposed Eth nic Studies Center, are respon sible to their unions first and secondarily to the ASUO execu tive branch, according to the ASUO outline. The group will be able to initi ate policy through the ASUO. ing hampers arguments for the objector. The ban on tape re corders in the hearing room hin ders the man from appealing the case on the grounds the hearing was misconducted. Titus also noted that the use of personal witnesses by the ob jector has been slight. During a year’s time only one witness was allowed to testify. All other witnesses were denied the right to testify, he claimed. Titus stated the ones who real ly judge the draft status of the applicants are the board clerks He cited February figures of the Eugene draft board. With 749 applicants, it took the board only eight hours to decide tnese cases. Subtracting time taken for lunch and for draft board hear ings held that day, the approxi mate average time for each re maining reclassification was 3.5 seconds. “This puts a heavy load of re sponsibility on the local clerks since the board members couldn’t possibly determine that many in dividual cases during that time,’’ said Titus. Bellinger replied by saying only XO per cent of the registrants needed consideration and the rest of the cases were routine. Bellinger told the group the only requirement for board mem bers is that they be 30 years of age and clerks have only to show typing ability and average intel ligence. TELL US ABOUT IT HOUSING COMPLAINTS TAKEN SU Terrace Today ASUO HOUSING OFFICE WEEKDAY LAUNDRY and IRONING SERVICE 8:30 - 5:30 13TH AVE. LAUNDROMAT 365 E. 13th Coin and Bill Changers, Vending Machines, Hair Dryers, Complete Service Open 24 Hours BARBER SHOP We recommend and use PRODUCTS App. 344-9444 or drop in Modern Hair Styles of the 70's Trimmed to your Satisfaction Across from the Co-op Pag* 3
