opinion
Gay pride
Last week a radio show on KLCC
celebrating Gay Pride Week was the
victim of harassment. Throughout the
show the two women facilitating it were
interrupted by phone calls which were
degrading and threatening. It is upset
ting that a program focusing on lesbian
and gay culture was so rudely interrupt
ed.
The community should be aware of
this incident which is only an example of
the harassment directed at the lesbian
and gay community in Eugene.
I am looking forward to a time in this
society when everyone can be free to live
the lives they choose and celebate those
choices without being threatened and
forced to defend themselves
Elizabeth DuBois
1670 Patterson
Deceptive politics
On Friday, April 10, the ASUO held a
rally for Higher Education to inform
students about the current funding cri
sis. Donovan Guy, a candidate for ASUO
president, handed out irresponsible lea
flets pertaining to the intent of the rally.
He suggested that the rally was not held
to benefit the students, but to benefit
Richard Wilkens, Vice President of state
and university affairs who is also can
didate for ASUO president. The fact is
that the rally was scheduled months
before Wilkens decided to run for pre
sident. Apparently, Guy saw it unneces
sary to look up this fact.
When I ran for the Incidental Fee
Committee, Guy also attacked me for
being dishonest. In other words, I have
seen this pattern before and I do not
admire it. For some reason, Guy and
Bruce Mills (another candidate) see fit to
blast all those around them, and infer
that no one is honest. No one in the
current ASUO is honest. No one is a
good person — except themselves of
course. I am tired of this kind of politics. It
is not that I deplore Guy and Mills on a
personal basis; I deplore their antics. I
have certainly heard what is wrong with
everyone else (even though the accusa
tions are not fact), but I have yet to see
either of them suggest to the voter what
their attributes are I have yet to see what
experience they have. I, for one, would
like to see constructive politics take
place so the voter can choose between
candidates according to their virtues.
Richard Wilkens is not a dishonest
politician who deceives others in order to
meet his personal needs. He is working
hard for the student, and has been all
year. In fact, he has been working so
hard in his current position that he hasn't
time to campaign. He is a good person
who is truly concerned about students as
people. I have worked with him and
found him to be intensely concerned
about those he represents. I felt it was
not only deceiving, but also unfair to
make these accusations about Wilkens.
He doesn't deserve it. He deserves ap
plause. My point in writing this is not only
to inform students about these lies, but to
also stimulate candidates such as Guy
and Mills to inform students of their
strengths — not to continue making false
accusations about other candidates in
hopes of gaining votes. I know where the
truth lies, and I hope others will think
about it.
Kathy Stebner
Junior, political science
IFC member
Political purposes
I would like to take time to give Don
ovan Guy a response that he doesn’t
deserve. At the rally for Higher Education
held outside the EMU on Friday, April 10,
a flyer signed by Donovan Guy was
passed out which said among other
things: “Today's EMU rally has been
scheduled for political reasons and
bears little correlation to the ASUO lob
bying effort," and that "There is not one
legislative reason for Monday’s 'U of O’
rally day the Capitol to occur at this
time.” I suggest that these statements
show that Guy has no conception of
legislative issues, legislative timing, lob
bying techniques and, most importantly,
of the crucial importance of what the rally
was trying to get across. What amazes
me was that Guy thought that other
students have as little understanding as
he does. Not only does he not
understand the Higher Education issue,
but by flinging — at the rally he was
working to decrease the effectiveness of
the rally.
In his flyer, which was addressed
“Dear Students,” the charge was made
that the whole rally was put on to further
Rich Wilkin's campaign for ASUO Pre
sident. This is absurd. The rally was only
a small part of a statewide effort to get
AT LAST A
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college students up to Salem on April 13.
Rich Wilkins is in charge of the lobbying
efforts for the ASUO so he’s the one who
organized the rally. Wilkins is also the
Legislative Coordinator for the Survival
Center. There is a danger that in running
his campaign Rich could let some of his
lobbying duties slide. I have been one of
the ones to personally make this clear to
him and to caution him against ignoring
his job. He hasn’t. In fact, I recently had
to tell him that if he wanted to be ASUO
president, he’d better get someone to
help him on his campaign because he
wasn't spending enough time on it.
Unfortunately, it was two other can
didates who used the ASUO Rally for
politcal purposes. Guy to pass out his
own brand of constructive criticism and
Bruce Mills to pass out a flyer saying that
he too thinks that higher Education is
important.
The issue of funding for Higher
Education is too important to let petty
student government politics get in the
way, and the responsibility of the ASUO
president is too great to give it to rookies
David Dalkh
Senior, biochemistry
Director, Survival Center
Commie sissies?
I’d like to know how James D. Miller,
the “psych-vet" (does that mean psy
chopathic veteran or veterinary
psychologist?) who recently responded
to a letter by David Isenberg, defines
"helping” the U S. government. If by
"helping” the government he means
heedlessly supporting its policy of im
peralistic intervention in ‘ under
developed” countries, then he can in
clude me in the category of "commie
sissies” who are trying to avoid "service
to their country.”
David Isenberg and I and all the other
"commie sissies" out there who
remember all too vividly the atrocities of
Vietnam, are painfully aware of how
we’ve come to enjoy such a high
standard of living in this country today —
by a policy of exploitation and imper
alism, by fulfilling our so-called "man
ifest destiny" at the expense of countless
lives.
If Mr. Miller could see beyond his par
anoia, he might begin to understand that
those "gutsy" American men and
women who have kept our country
"great" have done so, not by helping the
repressed as he claims, but rather by
helping the government of the United
States to keep them repressed As for
Miller’s claim that the "cowards return
ing from Canada are the same peo
ple who stand and watch someone bea
ten-to-death and (are) too afraid to help
stop it,” I can only respond that he and
other macho warmongers like him are
the same ones who throughout history
have stood by and watched with self
righteous satisfaction as human beings
were burned to death as heretics.
I think Mr. Miller would benefit from
living the way the repressed people in El
Salvador live. A few days there might
open his eyes to the reality of govern
ments who terrorize, torture and kill
innocent people for demanding their
right to a decent living, with the support
of the U S. government. The time has
come for the American people to relin
quish the cherished notion of a
“manifest destiny" and to recognize that
it’s no longer a simple question of
"them" and "us," and that something far
more important than our precious stan
dard of living is at stake. The only hope
for humanity lies in strengthening our
respect for all human life, not just that of
Americans
Paula Barker
GTF, romance languages