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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1978)
Letters Sound logic At last someone was disturbed enough about the fallacy of logic in Israeli Premier Begin s argument to speak up! Or it might have been the extent of fallacy that made it intolerable! In any case I applaud Mr. An derson for his sound logic and conscience and I wish he had suggested one more way in analyzing the Palestinan question and reaching a just answer: logic! Fordous Tawfiq Senior, Mathematics Elitist lawyer Michael Leeds (letters, Emerald, Feb. 17) typifies the elitist philosophy expounded by an unnerving number of second year law students today. Why he complains about the extra $300 yearly fee is beyond me. After squeezing his first cor porate client in his first month of professional lawyerism, Mr. Leeds will earn back his $300 and a great deal more. Even after paying office ex penses, car payments on the Mercedes and rent on the pent house, Lead’s bank account will be much more padded than the un dergraduates he points to other study areas. Leed’s suggestions also ring somewhat hollow. While the ASUO workers may not be busy all the time, the journalists in the Emerald office must — unlike lawyers — work for a living. Sue Onym Junior, Pre-Journalism Editorial erred Your editorial “Law School turns away undergrads” created a false impression in the University community which needs to be cor rected. Contrary to your state ment, the Law Library is available to undergraduates who are en gaged in law-related research and study. During this school year the law building has been used increas ingly by non-law students as a study hall. Despite the fact that the building is not intended to serve as a general study hall for the under graduate population, it became common to find several hundred such students in the building, especially during evening hours. We lived with the situation for many months, despite numerous problems and complaints. Finally we came to the reluctant conclu sion that it was necessary to ask undergraduates not to use the building (and especially the law library) asr a study or recreation hall. Notices were posted around the building explaining in detail why this request was necessary. The law library is a reference library and intended for use by those engaged in law study and legal research. It cannot ac comodate large numbers of peo ple who are not using the facilities for this purpose. Law students pay an extra fee which is used primar ily for Law Library support. This fee is not paid by other students. Contrary to your editorial, the Page 4 law buiding was not paid entirely from state funds. The building was specifically designed and fi nanced to accommodate the law program and was, in fact, paid for in one-third part by a federal grant which specified the facilities were to be used for graduate level edu cation. Your editorial writer should be aware that law students were faced with a variety of problems when the building became a study hall used by hundreds of people. These problems included exces sive noise, interference with evening classes, stolen coffee money, difficulty in finding a room for group study projects, exces sive trash, smoking violations in the classrooms and pre-emption of the phones paid for by the Stu dent Bar Association. I am sorry that you painted our decision to ask non-law students not to use the law building as a study hall as arbitrary and un reasonable. A notice was posted in advance explaining our request and the Student Bar Association President and I went from room to room during evening hours to ex plain it personally. Substantial reasons support this request and I do not believe it is arbitrary. Chapin Clark Law School Dean Gilmore biased I am very concerned about re cent action taken by Mary Gilmore of the Incidental Fee Committee in regards to the proposed 1978-79 budget for the Gay People’s Al liance. According to an Emerald article (2/15/78), Gilmore rejected all four of the GPA-proposed goals not because of any personal ob jection, but because “the people who elected her did not find the GPA a valid program.” The only constituency an IFC member has is the entire student body. IFC members do not rep resent specific voting coalitions! I voted for Gilmore last fall; I also happen to support the GPA. Doesn’t my vote count? Because I was not at the IFC hearing, I am assuming that the Emerald was correct in its cover age of Gilmore’s comments. If Gilmore’s objections were on moral grounds, I can respect that; but I would ask that she abstain from voting on such matters in light of that kind of bias. Keli Osborn Junior, Journalism Special month Take note America. Wake up Eugene. Come out of hibernation University of Oregon. Do you know that February is a special month? It is the month to em phasize and honor the achieve ment made by blacks in America — National Black History Month. Awaken your minds, familiarize yourself with some of the black people who have made contribu tions toward the advancement of this nation: Frederick Douglass (1817 1895) — militant leader who in Letters Letters spired the defense against exploi tation, discrimination, segrega tion, oppression and slavery. W E B. DuBois (1868-1963) — Spokesman and scholar; the father of black protest in the 20th century. Nat Turner (1800-1831) — Slave revolt leader in one of the most successful revolts in history. Benjamin Banneker (1731 1806) — Scientist, surveyor who helped lay out our nation’s capital. Edward Brooke (1919- ) — U.S. Senator. Martin Luther King, Jr. — Apos tle of non-violence, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Leader of civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. A. Philip Randolph — Labor leader, founder of first black labor union. Rosa Parks — Civil rights worker who refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus which facilitated the movement to de segregate public facilities. Ida B. Wells — Anti-lynching crusader. Malcolm X — He taught blacks to be fearless in the fight against racism and oppression. Estab lished the Organization of Afro American Unity. Elijah Muhammad — Leader of the nation of Islam, which is an Organization that put emphasis on the black man’s worth. Mary MacLoyd Bethune — Famous educator. Sojourner Truth — A dynamic lecturer, a prophet who forsaw the freedom of the slaves. No matter what color, we can all benefit from knowing about blacks who have made important con tributions to our country, for it gives us a sense of balance when we consider the development of the United States. Dale Warren Financial Manager, Black Student Union Senior, Business Finance Support UMW The UMWA miners’ strike began when their contract ran out in December. Medical benefits had been cut off and under the old contract miners couldn’t ensure their own safety because they were forbidden to walk out of an unsafe mine. Pensions for 83,000 retired miners were in danger and have since been cut off. In short, the 160,000 miners began their longest strike in history to fight the capitalists’ attacks on all the gains they'd won through struggle over the years. The miners are demanding re storation of full medical coverage and pensions and the right to strike over local grievances. But along with their faithful union lac key, UMWA Miller, the companies recently proposed a contract re storing only limited medical be nefits and pensions and fining miners for local strikes. The min ers' response was to angrily de nounce this sell-out. The companies, who at the beginning of the strike tried to de moralize the miners with claims of stockpiled coal that wouldn’t run out, have now been forced to change their tune as coal short ages threaten production in other sectors of the economy. The companies use the media and their class representative, Jimmy Carter, to drum up anti-miner sen timent, blaming the miners for creating a "national energy crisis." The real criminals are the com panies whose drive for profit is the only barrier to coal production. In the face of these threats the min ers are even more determined not to go back to the mines until they’ve won back their right to strike and full medical coverage. Students should support the min ers’ fight for a decent life. Pat Zurcher 2255 Patterson, Eugene Emerald inaccurate I can appreciate ASUO’s and the undergraduate community’s concern regarding the recent en forcement of the law school’s pol icy restricting the use of the law center as a general purpose study hall. However, the Emerald’s editorial of Feb. 14, 1978 con tained several blatantly inaccu rate statements. It is obviously poorly researched and contri butes nothing to an understanding of the situation. The editorial states non-law students would no longer be able to use the law library for legal re search. This is totally incorrect. Any person engaged in legally re lated research is welcome. This policy is clearly stated on the sign prominently displayed in the entrance to the law library and is included in Dean Clark's state ment of Feb. 6, 1978. Braulio Escobar Student Bar Association President Power projects I really enjoyed Walworth’s car toon about the guy who discov ered that EWEB owns part of the “Trojan nuclear menace.” The Trojan plant certainly is a menace and will become even more of a menace if Portland General Elec tric Co. is permitted to store one million curies of deadly radioactiv ity in the form of spent fuel rods 250 yards from the Lower Colum bia River. The Power Research Group (PRG) is carrying out an investiga tion of the geology (earthquake potential) of the Trojan site and has already prompted the Oregon Dept, of Energy to request the new Oregon state geologist to fol low up on what PRG has discov ered. PRG is also looking into the history of the siting of the Trojan plant in 1970-1971 and is turning up some startling information in that area also. The cartoon was misleading in the last panel where everything was dark, however, because EWEB doesn’t get any electricity from Trojan. EWEB’s share is sold by the Bonneville Power Adminis tration to EWEB’s other custom ers. EWEB makes money off the “nuclear menace” but receives no power from it, so the utility could divest itself of the 30 percent of Trojan it owns and the lights would not go out. PRG is also investigating the way power is sold both in the Northwest and also the large ex port sales to California utilities. Students interested in working on these and other energy related projects including public vs private power, should contact the Survi val Center in the EMU. John Bartels Power Research Group Letters policy The Emerald will accept and try to print all letters and opinion columns containing fair comment on ideas and topics of concern or interest to the University community. Letters and opinions must be typewritten, using 65-char acter margins, and should be triple-spaced. Letters and opinions must be signed, with the author's year and field of study (or faculty status) noted. Letters and opinions will be run on a first-come first-served basis. Tuesday, February 21, 1978
