r
-editorial
Harm done
The tactics of confrontation employed Saturday at the inau
guration of Pres. William Boyd have done more harm than good
for the causes espoused by the demonstrators. Granted these
tactics were used during the Vietnam War and were instrumental
in crystalizing positions but they were used in conjunction with
other means of influencing elected officials and public policy. The
effective use of mass demonstrations was dependent upon
mobilizing public opinion and translating the issues and argu
ments into a widely-supported aemand.
The usefulness of confrontation tactics is limited because by
its very nature it is a tactic of last resort. Once it is used, the
options left are few and far more drastic. The successful use of
the tactic is also dependent upon the group s credibility. Its use
stretches the norm of socially accepted methods of change and
thus stretches the group's chances of gaining social approval of
its demand.
The issues protested Saturday are real: the use of Teamster
lettuce: tuition hikes: budget cutbacks: and the re-organization of
the minorities program. However, by escalating to the stage of
unruly, disorderly confrontation, the demonstrators have created
in the general public’s mind an image of "a bunch of campus
radicals.'' The merits of the issues are now clouded by the aura of
sensational tactics and the credibility of the arguments support
ing the issues is diminished.
Suspicious
If you are a student, energetic and ingenious, look out. You are
a suspect. Your description has already been released to the
public by Hope Pressman. UO centennial program coordinator.
Pressman may rightly suspect that students are the culprits who
have been stealing the University's centennial banners, but unfor
tunately. the media and the public have translated this suspicion
into a foregone conclusion.
Monday's Oregonian carried a front-page headline stating
Oregon banners gone with wind and students." In the story
Pressman said. "The reason I suspect students is that they re
very energetic and ingenious. If you fit the above description, it
may be wise to stop by the student health services and check out
a pair of crutches to avoid suspicion.
S.
Letters—
If recommended
In a recent letter Mary Duhaime
called on the Emerald to stop its
“sexist policies” and to use “uni
sexual” pronouns such as him
her or s-he. The Emerald
responded that it has been its pol
icy “for several years to conscien
tiously and"consistently substitute
non-sexist pronouns and refer
ences whenever possible without
distorting the language of the sen
tence.” The whole problem with
s-he, her or his, he or she, him or
her and the like is that the lan
guage is destroyed. (Another
problem in the usage of such
terms is that most people use the
male pronoun first, which is also
unfair. I determined the order of
the four examples by drawing
them out of a box.)
About a year ago KWAX ran a
series on juvenile delinquency.
On one program the speaker had
about five straight sentences with
one or more uses of 'he or she,”
"his or her,” or “him or her” in
each sentence. At the end of
these sentences I had quite for
gotten what had been said, so
great was the entanglement! The
English language has had a non
sexist, unisexual and simple
pronoun for years, namely “it.” I
recommend it to Duhaime and to
the Emerald.
Mark Cristy
Biology
Disappointed
While I'm glad to see a report of
the faculty action to change the
writing requirement, I'm disap
pointed that we may be starting
out with misinformation spread by
your report. The change approved
is from the present lower
division-upper division require
Page 4
merit (Wr 121 and Wr 323) to two
lower-division courses.
Students will not take the two
courses during freshman year,
however; your article misquoted
me. I stressed repeatedly that the
two-course requirement is in
tended to be taken during the first
two years. Moreover, Wr 323 will
still be offered for juniors and
seniors who entered under the
present requirement.
Nathaniel Teich
Director of Composition
Xo grade
The Thursday, Jan. 15 article of
the Emerald discussing the grade
change proposal was incorrectly
headlined with Bernau asks for
D grade.
The ASUO will be conducting
intensive surveys in order that the
students are represented in any
policy statement made by the
president and executive staff. This
issue is no exception. Bernau will
not ask for the "D" grade or any
other grading system until student
opinion has been thoroughly ex
amined and weighed.
Many students view the rein
troduction of the "D' and “F” into
the grading system to be un
necessary and counter
productive to the goals of educa
tion. These grades are seen as
punitive and punitive grading sys
tems don't encourage learning. It
is very possible that the return of
the “D would increase competi
tiveness and detract from focus
ing on development. Others feel
that grade inflation has reduced
the value of their grades, thus
penalizing star performers.
Register your perspective on
this issue at the ASUO executive
office, suite 4, EMU. If you re in
terested in accurate headlines,
register your dismay at the
Emerald office, 3rd floor, EMU.
Jim Bernau
ASUO President
Stand clarified
I hope you will give me an op
portunity to clarify various state
ments, suggestions and conclu
sions contained in an article con
cerning my stand on land use
planning, as written by Jack Wil
son and printed in your paper on
Jan. 15.
Mr. Wilson conducted quite a
lengthy interview with me previ
ous to writing the article and many
subjects other than land use were
discussed, so it is understandable
to me that some things might not
have been included in the article,
resulting in some erroneous im
pressions.
The most important fact that
should be stated is that most of the
article contains my personal view
point, and not necessanly that of
any other person or group. I was
authorized only to state that the
Oregon League of Business and
Property Owners, as well as the
other county groups involved.
votea onty to taKe pan in attempt
ing to put SB 100 on the ballot, not
to repeal it. We all felt that too
many things are being done with
out a vote of the people and that
whether people are for or against
an issue, they should have the
nght to make their feelings known
by a vote. It would be presumptu
ous to say that every member of
every group is necessarily against
SB 100 and. I repeat, no authority
was given me to do so, though I
am personally in favor of its re
peal.
In regards to the general public
having use of private land when
they haven t done anything to de
serve it," I was referring to the con
fiscation of private property by
zoning and without just compen
sation to the owner; I am very
much in favor of parks and park
improvements when voted in by
the people. I, too, want open
space around me which is why I
am against zoning and planning
which would restrict people to life
in the city.
As to whether or not the preser
vation of prime farm land is impor
tant, I think it is of the greatest
importance but I also know we
have thousands of acres of poten
tial farmland in this country which
have never been in use and much
that was once in use is lying idle. I
oppose the idea of the LCDC s
grading "prime farm land on a
scale of one to four and then dec
laring it all of equal value or impor
tance. I can see no real value in
declaring land "prime farm land"
in areas where it will never be
farmed either because it is located
between areas zoned differently
and therefore not of interest to a
farmer or where just plain com
mon sense tells us that it would
not be profitable to farm it. Few
farmers set out to operate on a
non-profit basis though many far
mers, as well as other business
men, are finding themselves in
that position today.
I would also like to clarify my
statement regarding mass transit.
Since I have been unable to drive
a car for nearly twenty years, I
cannot fight for my right to drive
one, only to nde in one. I have
used mass transit off and on dur
ing much of my life and really ap
preciate having it available But I
will always totally oppose having
the government, at whatever
level, making decisions about my
personal rights, including my
choice of transportation
Thank you very much for this
opportunity to clarify these points
in the article.
Orpha Thomas
910 Lincoln St.
Eugene, Ore.
Belief refused
I fcund it hard to believe that the
Emerald neglected to print an arti
cle aoout the Ducks most suc
cessful football player, Mario
Clark. Mario was the only Oregon
player chosen to participate in any
post-season bowl game He was a
starter in both the East-West
Shrine game and the Senior Bowl
In the Senior Bowl, which was na
tionally televised on Jan. 11, he
was selected the Most Valuable
Defensive Player and awarded a
check for $2,500
Mario s accomplishment is the
first really positive thing that could
be said about the Oregon football
program. Apparently, th e Emerald
has no interest in the individual
achievements of the team. Or is it
against the policy of the paper to
print an article solely about a
black football player? I refuse to
believe that the reason that this
news was not published was be
cause of a lack of space. How
often does this kind of thing hap
pen?
I'm glad that the rest of the
country recognizes the talent con
tained within our football team
since elements within the athletic
department seem to overlook it
from year to year.
Tanya Rhone
Psychology, Jr.
Evaluations deter
Fall term I took a PS 321
course entitled "Introduction to
Political Analysis," which was
taught by W C. Mitchell To my as
tonishment, upon final exam day.
Mr Mitchell announced that he
would no longer teach this class
because of the response by 15 to
20 per cent of the students on the
class evaluations that the class
was a bummer.” (Incidentally,
only approximately 35 out of 90
students filled out an evaluation.)
I feel that this situation shows
what effect or purpose is involved
in course evaluations They are
not ndiculous pieces of paper to
be filled out hurriedly and unthink
ingly, and most important of all.
they should not be used as
weapons against instructors when
students discover a course is not
really their bag.
In my opinion, Mr Mitchell and
his class offered a valuable insight
into the political process Those
who were not prepared for the
economic aspects of the course
should have probably dropped it
and saved us all from the unfortu
nate consequence of losing Mr
Mitchell and his valuable contribu
tions to PS 321
Course evaluations are a valu
able asset to students but in this
case I feel they are a detrimental
one for they did not represent the
majority opinion of students in that
class
Vicki L. Walker
Political Science
Hearing good
This life-long Oregonian
wholeheartedly endorses Robert
Liberty s eloquent restatement of
the facts supporting an indepen
dent republic of Oregon It's good
to hear true Oregon loyalist senti
ment concerning our roads
parks borders, etc., especially
coming from a native Washing
tonian who now resides in Eng
land No matter I suppose we
Oregon lifers” can live with the
term foreign aid broadly con
strued.
Darrell Murray
Graduate-Industrial Relations
Letters policy
The Emerald will accept and try
to print all letters containing fair
comment on ideas and topics of
concern or interest to the Univer
sity community Because of
space limitations, letters must be
no more than 250 words, typed,
triple-spaced, dated and signed
with the person's major. No un
signed letters will be published.
Tuesday, January 20, 1976