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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1978)
yg r s Syria destroys peace In recent weeks, Lebanon has once again been racked by the horrors of war. East Beirut, the bastion of the Christian community in Lebanon, has been subject to relentless bombardment by the Syrian "peace-keeping" forces now in inai coun try. The current cease-fire, now in its third week, is not expected to hold; rather it is viewed as a period of rearming for the Christians and rethinking strategy for the Syrians. Regardless of the confusion in under standing the conflict, no one will deny that the Christians’ alliance with Israel has something to do with the renewal of hos tilities between Syria and Christian Leba non. Despite the Christian alliance with Is rael, however, Syria must be forced out of Lebanon if the death and destruction its “peace-keeping” forces have caused, is to cease. A brief analysis of the reasoning behind Syrian aggression in Lebanon will provide adequate justification for their replacement by an unbiased non-participant. The single most important reason why Syria has renewed its attacks on Christian Lebanon is apparently the Christian al iiance with Israel. Israel has been providing some military, but mostly medical and psychological, support for the Christian cause since Syria shifted allegiance to the Muslim factions in Lebanon. Syria found its first great imperialist ven ture in the Middle East stifled when Syrian troops met resistance from Christian militiamen in Lebanon. Syria sought to gain one more front from whicn it could initiate attacks against Israel. By keeping Lebanon in a state of chaos, and by striking an alliance with the Pales tine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the South of Lebanon, Syria felt that it could gain another launching point for attack, from southern Lebanon into Northern Is rael. Unfortunately, the Christians in the north proved a sticky adversary on which Syria did not want to waste time. Their need for a quick solution resulted in shelling the Christ ian section of Beirut. The death ton reached over 1500 in a matter of two weeks. Defenseless men, women and children were slaughtered by indiscriminate Syrian bombing. Another reason why Syria stepped up attacks on Christian Lebanon, pertains to Camp David. Syria fought to draw Israel into another war during the most critical stages of negotiation for peace with Egypt. If Syria had succeeded in drawing Israel into a war, Egypt would have been forced by phenomenal Arab pressure to cease negotiation, thus foiling efforts for peace in the Middle East. In spite of Syria’s attempt to undermine the talks, Israel refrained from large scale intervention into Lebanon even though Is rael is committed to the survival of Lebanon’s Christians. Syria, with the help of the PLO will no doubt attempt sabotaging further negotiation in the same manner. Obviously, Israel cannot be disregarded in a discussion of the Lebanese conflict, for Israel sees her fate partially bound to that of the Christians. This fact also makes the annihilation of the Christian community a tasty prospect for the Syrians. Israel has both strategic and more importantly, moral levels of commitment to Lebanon’s Christ ians. As stated above, if the Lebanese Christian community, which has forged an alliance with Israel, were destroyed, Syria would have free and easy access to south ern Lebanon, a new gate to Israel. That is the strategic level of Israel’s commitment to Lebanon's Christians. On a moral level, Israel is highly commit ted to seeing that the practice of genocide is eradicated from this earth. The Lebanese Christians are being systematically de stroyed by Syria’s hunger for expansion and power. Many of the Jews who established Israel were themselves refugees from Hitler’s Germany where genocide was the order of the day. Israel then can easily sympathize with the plight of Lebanon's Christians, a group who Syria’s President Haffaz Assad has publicly stated will be crushed so that no alliance with Israel will exist in Lebanon. The world must recognize Syria’s true intent in decimating Lebanon’s Christian community: To gain new advantage in the Arab-lsraeli conflict, and to destroy all resis tance to complete Syrian rule of what is already a puppet state. The Syrian “peace-keeping” force must be replaced by an unbiased non-participant who will realize the Christian communities' right to exit. Only when this is done, and Christian safety has been ensured, will peace again reign in Lebanon. David Berne junior, journalism I l 1 Attacks union non-voters How do I know my dog has the potential to become a special member of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federa tion (GTFF)? He glady accepts the dog food he gets fed, he doesn’t care about health care, he doesn't know how to pick up a pen, and he’d rather watch Lassie on T.V. from the comfort of Ns rectiner than put down his beer and go out and vote on a Thursday night. Besides, when the big dog down the street barks at him and he cowers with his tail between his legs, he has plenty of company. There is a special breed of union member — inert, apparently impotent, as mindless as my dog — who actu ally holds the reins of power over the 87 percent of GTFF membership who care enough to at least pick up a pen and vote. If one-third of membership had to vote “no” in order to prevent a strike, then how would those who voted "no” on Thursday night feel if they were overruled in the same fasNon? Wouldn’t they feel victimized? I am suggesting that for voting in future contracts and strikes the voting clauses be changed to read, “if 85 per cent of membership votes, then the two-thirds majority will be drawn from those who voted, and not from total mem bership.” Then my dog could become a union member without any qualms of conscience — but I forget, dogs don’t feel guilty, do they? Alex Gonzalez graduate, engHsh Supports President Boyd The article in Monday’s Emerald (Oct. 23) on the con troversies President Boyd has stirred since he took office in July 1975 prompts these observations. Overall, I found the article by Keli Osborn informative and a generally accurate background ptece geared toward the current evaluation of Pres. Boyd’s administrative per formance. However, I did catch some “subtle nuances” here and there in the article implying that Boyd’s leadership style may involve decision making by fiat. As a faculty member who was actually involved in quite candid discussions with Pres. Boyd at the time he was formulating his recommendations on minority education, on the School of Community Service and Public Affairs, and on the School of Librarianship. I believe the record should be clarified. Boyd’s leadership style (and that of Provost Paul Olum) involves shaping a proposal on any given issue of immediate concern after systematically reviewing pertinent background data bearing upon the matter. The recommendation is then presented for full critical scrutiny before a broad panel of consultants who can pro vide further perspective. At this point in the sequence, the recommended action is just that: a RECOMMENDATION which can still be modified — or withdrawn — depending upon the nature of the consultative feedback received. In the end, Boyd moves forward only after observing that the contemplated action has been "VALIDATED" by the Faculty Advisory Council and others, who it is pre sumed, have offered critical reactions from a stance of long-range, holistic analysis. I believe this kind of open and responsibly forthright Oregon Daily Emerald netrs administrative style represents “consultative leadership" at its best! Over the long haul, I am confident that President Boyd’s performance will be judged both operationally effec tive and in the best interests of the University community. Ronald J. Rousseve professor, education Map library offers aid I wish to draw the attention of your readers to the library collections of cartographic materials, that is maps, atlases, aerial photographs, within the Map Library of Room 165 Condon Hall. These collections are almost en tirely library materials and are presided over by two full-time librarians. Although its total weekly hours of availability to the community are fewer than the main library, the Map Library is an integral part of the University of Oregon Libraries. Its total hours are 57 weekly, including 7-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The Map Library can neither sell cartographic materi als nor give them away, but it may loan maps and aerial photographs to community members with student, faculty and town patron cards. It is also ready with advice on where cartographic materials may be purchased. Before you plan your exact itinerary for your next vaca tion or business trip stop in to consult a map librarian and our collections that your planning may be more pleasant and organized. The Map Library also encourages gifts to it. If you have returned from trips with maps you no longer wish to retain, the Map Library is very glad to accept dona tions no matter the age or physical condition of the materi als. Because humans with fire, with cutting tools and build ing skills have changed the environment, maps never be come obsolete. They remain as excellent sources for un derstanding the culture of an area at a stated time in history. Edward P. Thatcher Map librarian Birth controversy irrelevant I truly fail to see the point of the comments made by Les Frye upon the validity or invalidity of the "immaculate" conception of Christ (Opinion, ODE, Oct. 27). From my subjective interpretation of Ns letter, it sounds like Mr. Frye accepts the belief in Christ, but nonetheless believes that his appearance and disappearance was based upon the immutable laws of the “mechanical" universe that science has led us to believe in. If Mr. Frye does indeed believe in God, it should matter little to him whether the conception of Christ was "immacu late" or "scientifically validated" by the sexual relations of Joseph and Mary. What he fails to acknowledge, assuming the validity of the premise that he believes in God and also believes in a God who is omnipotent and omnipresent, is that God is supreme even in our orderly and "mechanistic” universe, i.e., God could most certainly have arranged for the "im maculate" conception of Christ. And so, too, could he have arranged to have "Jesus coming from the clouds." Since God is supreme. I would urge a word of caution to Mr. Frye from continuing to condemn what he calls "... delusional creed-bound dogma .. Just because we are not witnesses to such miracles in our current times does not in any way prove that they did not happen before and during the time of Christ. Unfortunately only with our deaths will these controversies be resolved once and for ail time. Eric Malin sophomore, pre-CSPA
