Letters
Varied defenses
After reviewing Heather
McClenaghan’s article “Women
take steps to defend against
rape,” I felt confined to aggressive
defense methods. Ms. Mc
Clenaghan only offers two
"steps” of defense; martial arts
and weapons.
Martial art can be an effective
defense if the woman practices
the movements continuously.
Physical defense can be difficult if
the attacker carries a weapon. In
Lane County 40 per cent of rapes
occur with the attacker using a
weapon as a means of threat.
Ms. McClenaghan writes about
“Billie" who packs a sweet little
loaded .38 automatic. Billie feels
that mace and hat pins can be
turned against a lady. She be
lieves that a gun is difficult to take
from a woman and is effective
from a considerable distance.
Well, Billie, not too many rapes
happen at a distance. Statistics
show that this method of defense
can cause more harm to the victim
in that the gun can be used
against the victim. It is also illegal
to carry a concealed weapon.
I want to dispel the notion that
the article carries of the Lane
County Rape Team advocating
the use of guns. The best defense,
for men and women, is to avoid
dangerous situations. Deny the
rapist the opportunity for attack.
There are many preventative
measures one can use. It is true
-opinion
Equal rights for gays
The Oregon Legislature is again considering legislation which
would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation — Se
nate Bill 603. Fair treatment is the fundamental concern of this civil
rights proposal — fair treatment in employment, housing and public
accommodations.
Few would doubt the wisdom of prior equal rights legislation pro
hibiting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color and sex.
Looking back on that action now, it hardly seems like it was controver
sial. But, it was. It took the exceptional foresight and good sense of our
legislators to adopt such progressive legislation. The same exceptional
foresight and good sense demands the adoption of the proposed sexual
orientation amendments. Immediate controversy there may be, but
doing justice is not always a quiet task.
The days when one had to be secretive about his or her religion for
fear of discriminatory action — catacombing one’s religious beliefs —
are, thankfully, long gone. But the need for closeting one’s homosexual
ity is ever present in our time. Sexual orientation discrimination is
particularly invidious. The prejudicial attitude is so prevalent that the
victims are unwilling to reveal themselves because of the discriminatory
consequences that can result from disclosure. Gay people are present
in all walks of life, doing good, competent productive work but hiding
their sexual orientation.
What is so terrible about concealing one’s sexual oreintation? It is
demeaning to human dignity! Imagine having to keep secret that you
are a Catholic or a Jew. Or, that you are of a certain ethnic origin. But
more than the secretiveness, imagine that you must pretend to be what
you are not, for example, a Catholic when you are a Protestant. Or, that
you must pretend to be a nationality that you are not. You must be
secretive and live a lie about an aspect of your life that reaches to your
very core. It is a denial of self. Such societal oppression is intolerable.
The choice for the homosexual has been either to reject and
repress his or her sexual orientation or to accept and hide it. Neither
course is without grief; neither is acceptable. For a few, a new course of
openness has emerged but with that openness comes the inevitable
discrimination.
If you are a fair minded person who respects the rights of minority
groups, your help is critical. A short letter of support will be of tremend
ous assistance; our legislators need to know that they will not have to
stand alone for a controversial but just cause.
If you are gay, you owe it to yourself, your own future and to all other
gay people to write in support of SB 603 — a matter so critically
important to ourselves. Oregon would be the first state in the union to
declare that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is contrary
to public policy. And once that lead is established, others would soon
follow.
Letters should be addressed to: Senator Keith Burbidge, Chairer,
Committee on Aging and Minority Affairs, State Capitol, Room S215,
Salem, Oregon 97310. The Governor’s Task Force on Sexual Prefer
ence has issued a Preliminary Report which documents the existence
of discrimination and dispels the stereotypes and myths about
homosexuals. A copy is on reserve at the Law Library reference desk.
Dominick Vetri
Professor of Law
that women should have the right
to go anywhere they want. A
woman should know the dangers
of hitchhiking.
Besides aggressive defense
methods, which can be useful,
non-aggressive defense methods
can be used. Many times if a
woman remains calm, she can
wait for the right moment to use
surprise (verbally or physically) or
shock the attacker, and then es
cape.
There are many steps a person
can take to defend themselves
against rape without confining
themselves to the martial arts and
the sweet little .38 snubnose.
Debra Irwin
Senior-CSPA
Rape Team-Volunteer
At no point in the article was the
Rape Team linked to the advo
cacy of violence. Earlier articles in
the rape series examined conven
tional means of protection; the
final article looked at women who
have found these methods
unsatisfactory, -ed.
Exact opposite
Dear President Boyd:
As an alumna of CSPA and a
graduate of the University of
Oregon, I wish to express my con
cern on your budgetary cut of the
Wallace School of CSPA.
I believe that the department of
CSPA does more in preparing un
dergraudate students for the pro
fessional job role than any other
school. It seems to me that ac
ross this country more and more
higher education institutions are
instituting similar schools in their
colleges and universities, while
our own institution is doing the
exact opposite.
I cannot understand your
reasoning when CSPA is ever
growing while other departments
are decreasing.
I submit to you to please re
think your position in regards to
the future of the University of
Oregon.
Cherry (Doughty) Warden
CSPA 1974
265 Colonnade Dr. #10
Charlottesville. Va.
22901
Grim laughter
Some of us in the Theatre had a
grim laugh at the Emerald’s head
line Wednesday: “Boyd urges
students to take heavier loads.”
Our Elements of Acting class has
40 people (enough for two more
sections) on a waiting list. The
University has refused to fund av
ailable instructors to teach these
people. The old double-bind at
work once again. I am sure the
situation is the same in many de
partments.
Students will increase their
course loads when they can get
into the courses they want
Betty Bernhard
Ph.D. candidate, Theatre
Letters policy
The Emerald will accept and try
to print all letters containing fair
comment on ideas and topics of
interest and concern to the Uni
versity community. Letters must
be typed, double-spaced and no
longer than 300 words. All letters
must be signed and include com
plete identification of the writer:
major, class standing, phone
number and address.
opinion
Support striking workers
This week the Emerald published an advertisement for a Chef
Francisco Thrift Sale sponsored by the Southwest Oregon Museum of
Science and Industry with proceeds going to the Museum. The workers
of Chef Francisco are on strike. There are two major issues the workers
hope can be resolved: wages and overtime.
Currently, the wage scales at Chef Francisco are about 23 per cent
behind the national average for food production workers. The company
is offering wage increases less than half the difference between current
wages and the national average. We are not greedy people. We are not
even asking for an average wage, but we are demanding a wage much
closer to the national average than now offered.
The second issue concerns voluntary overtime. Currently, the
company has the right to demand the services of a worker at any time,
on any day. Failure to report for work could be grounds for dismissal.
The workers are demanding a strictly voluntary system for overtime. In
its simplest form, this issue is a question of who controls the worker's
lives: the company, or each individual worker? It is the position of the
workers that this issue must be resolved confirming the freedom of each
worker to control his or her own life.
Perhaps these are not dramatic issues, but they are sufficiently
important to the workers that the two thirds majority vote necessary for a
strike was obtained. What I ask is that all people concerned with
worker’s rights and struggles refrain from purchasing any Chef Fran
cisco products until the strike is resolved. Since the proceeds of the
Thrift Sale are to support SWOMSI, instead donate your money directly
to the Museum. The reason for this is goods which Chef Francisco sells
through Thrift Sales are overstocked products, products rejected by the
quality control department, and other products which for a variety of
reasons are no longer commercially profitable. These Thrift Sale goods
take up valuable freezer space which the management would like for
its own commercially profitable goods. Therefore, you can support the
striking workers struggle for a just wage and control of their lives by not
purchasing Thrift Sale goods and keeping the freezer full, with no room
for the profitable goods the company is now attempting to produce with
scab labor.
As with many other strikes and human rights struggles there has
been harassment by the police. Several workers have been assaulted
and arrested. The union legal department is studying the possibility of
filing complaints against the police. Also, striking workers have been hit
by cars driving through our legal picket lines.
Thus, I ask all people of social conscience and belief in worker's
rights to support the striking workers at Chef Francisco, to refrain from
purchasing any Chef Francisco goods until the strike is resolved. If you
have the time, come to the plant to show your support for the workers
and their struggle. If possible, when you come bring a camera. In the
event of future violence the testimony and photographic records of
non-participating, non-striking citizens would be invaluable in pressing
the workers claims of assault and harassment.
Steve Hiaasen
Graduating student-Biology
Striking Chef Francisco employe