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
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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