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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1979)
opinion_ Title IX shows money makes a difference Women athletes at the University have shown that where there’s a will, there’s a way; Title IX has shown that where there’s money, the way is made easier. Title iX, a reference to the federal legislation that mandates equal oppor tunity (read: financial support) for women in school athletics, has been widely credited with the phenomenal nationwide surge in interest and suc cess of long-neglected women’s sports programs. That success provides a lesson for those responsible for similar University undertakings, such as equity in academic and administrative employ ment, where efforts have been less dynamic. In athletics, where the pressure to flesh out the legal framework with dol lars has gone farthest, Title IX’s be nefits appear legion. From a feeble program — underfunded, understaffed and under-recruited in the early 1960s — the University has established: • An undefeated basketball team that has beaten a long list of increas ingly tough opponents, including a stunning victory two weeks ago over the Korean national women’s team; • An undefeated gymnastics team; • A swim team that has three swim mers nationally ranked in the top 10 in their specialty events; • A cross-country team that com piled a nearly unblemished record and finished strongly at the national meet; • Field hockey and volleyball teams that finished their seasons with com petition at national tournaments. • Coach Elwin Heiny’s basketball team has gotten a large share of the publicity and acclaim, but the women’s program as a whole reflects the heal thiness of the institutional emphasis it received. • That health — in enthusiastic in terest of both spectators and partici pants — derives primarily from the booming financial investment made during the past three years. Coach Elwin Heiny’s basketball team has gotten a large share of the publicity and acclaim, but the women’s program as a whole reflects the heal thiness of the institutional emphasis it received. That health — in enthusiastic in terest of both spectators and partici pants — derives primarily from the booming financial investment made during the past three years. The total budget for intercollegiate women’s athletics has grown from $146,000 to $425,000 in that time, ac cording to Becky Sisley, former women’s athletics director and now as sistant athletics director in a depart ment that integrated in 1977 to serve both men and women. Athletic scholarships for women, first awarded in 1977-78 for a total of $10,000, have risen to nearly $70,000. Substantial additions of coaching, training and medical personnel and facilities and planned implementation of a letter-award system for women have accompanied this monetary sup port. Without faulting the spontaneous enthusiasm, initiative and commitment of women athletes and their coaches, it still seems clear that this broad founda tion of institutional support has forged the outlets for expanded participation. Success in competition, of course, leads to greater public support, which has grown most visiblity for the women’s basketball team. Modest but ever-growing paid admissions at Mac Court games have returned a profit for the athletic department. Another home game next Thursday, will receive the team’s first live radio coverage, by local station KUGN. If the University augmented its affir mative action program in academic and administrative hiring with the same sort of financial commitment, we might begin to see some benefits to match its recent verbose ballyhoo in this area. So far, a rather parsimonious $10,000 has been promised to pay travel expenses for members of racial minorities and women who are candi dates for employment at the University. Unfortunately, unlike women’s athle tics, most of the success for the University’s academic affirmative ac tion program rests not on the would-be participants — the candidates them selves — but on administrators and department heads whose past records are poor in recruitment and hiring of both women and minorities. Of course, the task — reversing centuries-old patterns of discrimination — looks big. But the example of women’s athle tics assures us that if the commitment is strong enough, the magnitude of a problem does not necessarily preclude its solution. voi rs ‘Gimme a Hegel, please’ Each day the glittering sun rises and crests above a beautiful University setting. The first rays of dawn filter through the trees and settle on ‘‘today’s cause. Perched insignificantly on the EMU terrace we find a group of students gathered about a table in hopes of fi nally uncovering the lost stands of activism buried deep in the hearts of all of us. The table is bustling with energy, posters arrive and get plastered on billboards, pamphlets stack themselves neatly among copies of everyone's favo rite radical literature, buttons adorn the chests of the more diligent believers and the day begins! What unfettered joy! The first customer arrives groggy with his eyes half closed, saying “Nay, I can’t read” as he passes up an opportunity to get involved. Passing up literature is not a good way to gain favor with this group, when you walk by you can feel icy stares piercing your back, you can feel minds focused on your destruction, you sense a kind of giddy uneasiness in the air as if you’d just spit on a picture of Bing Crosby in front of your father. Considering that, the next customer pauses and ac cepts a mimeographed copy of a revolution-by-numbers pamphlet, “Hey, I already have this one.” "No you don’t, we took the word Palestine’ out of the last one and put in ‘Houston,’ it’s the same idea, just a different place.” “Oh, I get it, you can take a framework and fit anything that happens into it and . .zap. .instant revolution!” After saying that he stands looking at his feet, thinking very hard, then all of a sudden it occurs to him, “Say, isn’t that being a little dogmatic ...” The people at the table stiffen, their faces turn white, their lips become taut fixtures stuck below their noses, then they melt, they become children “But, but we can't think . . .don’t you see .. .God help us ..” They break into sobs and collapse on the terrace. The customer finds this a bit strange and decides to go on wondering what he could do to help, he thinks to himself as he walks to the EMU Deli, “It’s so contradictory, but then who could deny the heavenly gift of mediocrity?" "Could I help you, sir?” The counter person shakes him out of his contemplation, “yea, gimme a Hegel, hold the cream cheese.” H. Cook senior, philosophy Chinese politics in verse Winning hearts and minds - Chinese style Vice premier Teng Hsiao-ping wants to prove That China is no paper tiger, So he orders a punitive raid Across the border into Vietnam. irieirs Fwpus i>sr vms ■' AS LON6 AS I aw TK BAS, THE BENS Af©UNt> HERE WE TfETTY HARMLESS!' China perhaps doesn't want to be known As a Nixonian “pitful giant." Chairman Hua kisses the Shah's cheek While Iranian patriots die in the streets. But all this does not seem to bother the vice premier Because while Tehran burns He shakes Carter's hand and Tries to win “hearts and minds" Of the American people by soft-sell and lots of smiles And gladdening the hearts of Brzezinski and Kissinger By warning against the "polar bear." Jas Saund graduate, journalism No respect, no burgers’ It appears that while the U.S. continues a “good neighbor" policy with Iran, the only virtues these people have to offer Americans are international harrassment and embarrassment. We speak in particular of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the attacks waged against American citizens working and living in Iran. Our displeas ure concerns the acceptance of Iranian students into U.S. universities. As taxpayers we take great offense to the persistent and dangerous threats upon American citizens in Iran, yet we, as egalitarian Americans, continue to grant the Iranians the same privileges and freedoms our forebearers sac rificed their lives for. Maybe as Americans we have gone soft. This sad dens us. We feel that in response to the life-threatening gestures of the Iranian hordes, the U.S. State Department should review its policies concerning the present and future granting of visas to the Iranian students, who are presently enjoying hamburgers and colas in the Erb Memorial Stu dent Union. No respect — No burgers! John Gilles senior, economics and finance Roy Roystacher graduate, political science
