-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
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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.