Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1978)
-editorial A modest proposal We have an idea which could benefit hungry students and faculty members as well as the finances of the Erb Memorial Union: The EMU should develop a meal ticket program for students and faculty to use in the EMU food service areas. With the student demand for food services like the Deli, the cafeteria and the Skylight increasing, creating a meal ticket program would help boost regular student use of the facilities at the same time it would ease the bind on student and faculty budgets. The program could give students and faculty mem bers discounts on meals and at the same time improve the efficiency of the food services. With the great improvement in food services over the past few years, such a meal ticket program may be very effective. Such a discount program, of course, would have to offer students and faculty enough of a discount to make the program popular enough to work. The EMU, according to Director Adell McMillan, once tried such a program in the late 1960s, but abandoned it after few students utilized it. But things have changed and today more and more students are attracted by the greater variety of food ser vices: the discount plan is ripe for development. We think the best way to accomplish the idea is to create a single meal ticket that could be used in any of the EMU food service areas. Probably the best way to manage the program would be to sell meal tickets in one denomina tion, say $20 worth of meals and have them expire at a specific time, say at the end of the academic term or year. Printing tickets would be a simple task, since values could be arranged to allow a cashier to punch the ticket accord ing to the price of the meal. For instance, if the card con tained a row of $1 squares, 25 cent squares, 10 cent squares and five cent squares, the cashier might punch a combination of squares totaling the price of the meal. Any difference may be made up by giving change or by the buyer paying cash for part of the meal. The costs of such a program are presently difficult to determine, but it is certain that if the program is to be effective, it will have to offer students and faculty at least a 10 percent discount. So if a ticket worth $20 worth of meals were sold, students and faculty could buy it for $18. Right now, we re leaning towards that kind of discount, but we would prefer to see a larger one. However, because costs are now uncertain, we’re hesitant to suggest a concrete figure. Students and faculty would benefit from the discount, but they would also be able to buy EMU meals at times when cash becomes a rarer commodity — the end of the month for instance. That would mean a more regular — and a higher — rate of use of the EMU food services. The idea, it if is to be implemented, must be investi gated by the EMU food service committee and perhaps by the EMU Board. We hope they will take a good, open minded look at it. V, Letters Pro Israel After having read two serious attacks against Israel and Prime Minister Begin during the past week in the Emerald, I found my self scrambling for a pen to write my reply. Israel and the Jewish people, have gone through an unending struggle to lead a simple, war-free existence for thousands of years. Maybe being Jewish makes me more keenly aware of our prob lems, yet I cannot think of any group in the history of the world that has lasted so long under such horrifying conditions. Thirty years ago, the Jews re turned to their homeland, where they hoped to be free of oppres sion from others. Unfortunately, the problems have not lessened at all. Most recently, the U S. has decided to sell the Arab nations very sophisticated arms equip ment, which is a major threat against Israeli existence. With a history as filled with destruction as the Jewish people, do you wonder Page 4 why they are a bit skeptical and terribly afraid of America’s new chosen course? I would hope that everyone would recognize that the rhetoric used by Begin and the Israelis is not that of a militaristic people, but a group of humans that has a well grounded fear about the future. Hopefully, the people who seem to be so concerned about criticiz ing Begin will start spending their time constructively, by working towards a solution to the conflict which will be just for all sides. Bryan Cohen Senior, Finance Greek defense Valerie Wood, I’d be pissed too. Being pelted by eggs at mid night is probably one of my least favorite things in the world. How ever, even more than that, I hate being the object of bigotry such as yours. That’s right, bigotry! Of course the guys who threw eggs at you were being jerks. “Actually, all your symptoms indicate the Hong Kong Flu.” Anyone who did it, whether they lived in a fraternity, the University Inn or a treehouse would be just as much a jerk and the other SAE’s are probably very down on those guys right now. However, I’ve seen water bal loons lobbed out of dorm windows and noisy apartment keggers that put “frat rat” parties to shame. Somehow, I’ve avoided classing all dormies and independents as immature or as rude drunkards. To do so would be just as unfair as calling all gay men effeminate or writing a letter such as yours in the Emerald last Friday. Community service activities are almost never attributed to the Greek system as a whole, neither are the achievements of Greek scholars or the contributions of Greeks in student government. Those are flukes, according to many — so how come all of a sud den, the actions of a drunken few are “typical”? As I said, you should be mad, but lashing out at an entire system of 1,800 people, calling them “ simpering” or “ morons” is hardly a mature response on your part. Is your bigotry “typical” of people out in the open air? If so, thanks, but I’ll stay in my hole. Jerry Martens Senior, History/Journalism Member, Kappa Sigma Fraternity Registration: it’s efficient Your editorial concerning a pre-registration procedure was in teresting to many of us who work in the Office of the Registrar and have been involved with the cleri cal end of registration. Although we realize that arena registration is not the perfect solution and that the total student demand is not always known, we feel that when the number of students registered during the two days in MacCourt is considered, it is quite efficient. It may be true that the face-to face atmosphere of Mac Court need not be preserved and is probably not the reason it has not been changed. About a year ago we were informed of a decision that any change to pre registration would have to be de layed at least 18 months due to a higher priority being given to de velopment of and conversion to a Honeywell financial management system. The price put on changing to pre-registration was approxi mately $150,000 plus $40,000 per year and was not available. That decision was not made by the Re gistrar. It is not accurate to blame the current registration procedure for the reduction of the average stu dent load. The availability of de sired courses, lowered admission standards and including registra tion figures of Community Educa tion Program students affect the average credit hour load. CPE students are limited to 6 hours per term and their registration is en couraged, welcomed and money spent on advertising the program. I will miss reading the Emerald beginning March 1, when I be come a former University of Oregon employee and begin re tirement life. Working at the Uni versity has been an interesting and rewarding experience. Maxine Berg Operations Supervisor Office of the Registrar Know your food I would like to respond to a letter written by Steve Huff, 2nd year law student, concerning National Land for People s support of the 1902 law limiting the size of farms which receive water from federally subsidized irrigation projects. Huff contends that enforcement of this law "will not bring back ‘family farming’, whatever the hell that is.” There is no need to bring back the family farm or the small farm. These farms exist and can flourish if consumers seek them out and support them. National Land for People is working to remove an unjust sub sidy of corporate-conglomerate farming and to break up these large farms into smaller farms (maximum acreage for family of five 960 acres owned plus 960 acres leased equals 3 square miles). Their efforts are focused on the Westlands Water District in California, which has landowners of over 100,000 acres. Current economies of scale (the result of relatively inexpensive and abun dant fossil fuels) allow these con cerns to produce a unit of food at less cost in dollars than a small producer. The large concern can also opt to sell that unit of food at less than the cost of production and use that loss to balance cor porate profits elsewhere on the globe. The 1902 law is an effective vehicle to begin dismantling this destructive agricultural and economic force. The size of a farm doesn’t necessarily determine its profita bility as Huff suggests. More im portant than size of the farm is its location in relation to the location of the markets which it supplies. The more distant the market, the less likely the farmer wiII be able to affect, control, or monitor the sel ling price. Personal experience leads me to believe that local mar kets are more likely to pay the true costs of food than an export mar ket is. Huff is correct in stating that the corporations “will find a way around the problem’’ represented in the enforcement of the 1902 law. The consumer must think and act if the power of the corporation is to be redistributed to the people from whence it came. Know where your food comes from. Know who profits while you eat. Shift your support to your lo cality. Question the origin of ev erything you put in your mouth and the destiny of the dollar that put it there. Keith Walton University student, 1970-72 1640 Beacon Drive, Eugene Graffiti lovers Remember all those times you have read those little bits of and on the walls of public relief stations? Perhaps you grinned, laughed out loud, or frowned. Regardless of your reaction, you were reading the words of some unknown au thor who had a story to tell, but no publisher. Now, all these anonymous literary giants can be published. As a graduate student of East Texas State University, I am gathering a collection of graffiti to be edited and published. Have you read any good ones lately? Maybe you have an origi nal. Either way, I would like to have your ideas for the collection. I am looking for all types of graffiti, but I am most interested in those clever wall writings found in the college environment. Perhaps this letter or an article to this effect could be published in your student newspaper. All contributions used will be acknowledged in the pub lished work, either by individual or institution name, unless otherwise requested. Graffiti lovers, I need your help. Please mail your favo rites to me so that those great, nameless authors can at long last be published. William Stranhan 5232 E. Lancaster, Box 4 Fort Worth, Tx.
