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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1981)
opinion Justice prevails thanks to students Justice — in the form of a $248,735 bill due the taxpayers of Maryland — has prevailed in the case of Spiro Agnew. Agnew got some of what he had coming when a Maryland judge ruled the former vice-president had indeed received the kickbacks he denied taking as governor of Maryland, and must repay the state's taxpayers — with interest — what he took. The suit decided Monday was conceived in a 1976 Georgetown University law class. And that is what makes it remarkable. The case was pursued by law students, working on a class project. It wouldn’t have suc ceeded without them. Students laid the ground work, and Ma ryland's attorney general clambered aboard the anti-Agnew bandwagon. So did the rest of the establishment, and they all went merrily on to stick Agnew with his. Even the most conservative mouthpieces have washed their hands of their shamed veep, adding their voices to the condemnation of Ag new’s high jinks. So it would be easy to lose sight of the fact that it was students who were interested in seeing Maryland’s taxpayers protected. Everyone can be happy to see Agnew getting his. But students can take special pride in the fact that it was members of their ranks — albeit distant relatives — that started the ball rolling. That’s rare these days. With students collec tively ignoring both campus and national elec tions, apathy has become the bane of modern studentdom. Students don’t get no respect these days — be it condescending treatment from wealthy timber brokers or rejections of student government decisions by veto-wielding University administrators. And by and large, students deserve what they get. We are an apathetic, ignorant lot, and we reap what we sow. But occasionally something happens to make everyone think that perhaps students aren’t the worthless beer-guzzling, sex-crazed hedonists older adults think students are. It happened in Maryland. It can happen again. yg rs May Day 1981 Today we see the future of the entire world coming up for grabs as the strug gle between two opposing forces inten sifies. On one side are all the imperialists — of both the U S. and Soviet blocs — who must attempt to defend and expand their shaky control over the peoples and resources of the world. On the other side is a growing class-conscious army of workers who fight both against a com mon enemy — the imperialists — and for a common vision, the end of all oppression and the elimination of class society. This array of workers marches behind the Red Flag of Internationalism and refuses to be used by “lenders” who would have them follow national flags into war to redivide the world among the imperialists. This international army of Proletarians recruits wherever people struggle against imperialism and begin to see that theirs is a common cause — from the Brixton rebellion, the Polish Strikes and protests against U S. invol vement in El Salvador. Events such as these help to alert those awakening to political life that what is wrong is not one particular abuse or another — rather it is the whole system that is rotten. Those who see the domin ance of imperialism and the need to reverse this trend through revolution must take up the call of May Day — International Workers Day — a manifest of our future and how to achieve it. Attend the rally at 12:30 Friday. May 1, at the EMU — act openly and boldly to declare your sentiments. Pres. Reagan has declared May Day to be Loyalty Day in direct opposition to International Workers Day — take up the challenge May Day 1981! Claire Cheng Junior, English Political reality Since I am uniquely qualified to re spond to Dave Gressett's letter headed “Elections Needed?” of April 24, I will try to clarify and expand on some of the points he brought up. First, there is nothing inherently evil about forming “tickets" of candidates. Parties, after all, are a traditional elec toral vehicle, and formal parties were, for many years, a part of the ASUO electoral process. The current tendency to form informal parties based on a perceived common interest, such as the law school and Greek system have done, is good, sound political strategy and should not be condemned out of hand This year’s behind-the-scenes, share-the-seats plan developed by representatives of the law students and the Greek system is, of course, somewhat different The “com munity of interest" is artificial, and the plan really benefited only two people, Gus Palmitessa and Katcha Phinney, but <***XJAt Hess OHOi*Arc. llWA^iuCftN STJJL Vfiim... M Kites' Commdn (MRKfT V ' we humans, of course , have nowimo but(Mmft rk ^our Ameren passion rdr Violence—however... ' it was still a legitimate and traditional political technique, that of coalition building. My advice to students disgruntled over this lopsided IFC is to form your own coalitions next year and get to work organizing. I have won six elections, lost five and worked on both winning and losing campaigns for others, and I have little patience with those whose only commitment to participating in their own governance consists of remembering to vote on election day. That so-called "unbeatable Greek coalition," plus a major portion of the law school vote, won the recent IFC election with a sickly average 8 percent of the eligible student vote, in a total turnout of about 14 per cent If you don't like it, organize. Gressett’s letter makes one very im portant point, which I hope the law student and Greek leadership notes. Ticket-writing, without some kind of in house quality-control system, tends to let some lemons and duds slip into positions of considerable importance. If we are going to have "parties," then we need those parties to do a better job of can didate selection, a "primary," if you will A Greek or law student who goes to vote with the party ‘ ticket" in her hand should be concerned that the people on the list are not only going to protect her pro gram’s budget and perks, but that they are adequately qualified and committed to getting the job done. Sadly, that has not always been true. I would like, finally, to thank the many people who helped on my unsuccessful re-election campaign, and the 984 students who voted for me. I would also like to congratulate my opponents on a crisp, clean, professional campaign I only regret that I will be unable to serve on the IFC with you. Alan Contreras Junior, political science Squirrel response As recently appointed spokesperson for the squirrel community, I feel I must respond to this recent uprising against us. Squirrels are animals too! We were there first, this campus belongs to us. We have a natural right to be arrogant. You are the intruders, the interlopers, the two-legged scum of the earth. I realize that as college students you feel you have it rough. I hear you moan ing about your papers, tests, reviews, briefings and failed experiments. Sure, sure, I realize you are broke and you only got four hours of sleep last night. Well, folks, a squirrel's life is not all fun and games either. With all the Birkenstocker’s eating health food, nuts are hard to come by. And lodgings — hah! Have you noticed the price of trees nowadays? It makes me ill. For the prices we pay, you would assume we would get some privacy. But NO we live in a fishbowl Quit gawk ing at us. Avert your bloodshot eyes and save wear and tear on your rubber necks. Presently, we are busy organizing our lobbying efforts in Salem We should fit right in up there with all those nuts. We are preparing for battle. To put it in a nutshell, it ain’t so great being a minority. Our so-called ar rogance is our only defense. We will not falter, we will not crack! Squirrels of the University, UNITE! Stacey Neble Junior, English For Squirrels After reading many issues of the Emerald and being exposed to masses of anti-squirrel sentiment, I feel the need to speak out. I think these "squirrel-haters" are disguising their own deficiencies by agitating the public interest against the hapless squirrel. This squirrel propaganda is the work of many of the misfits of higher-educational society. They are the morons on wheels who never heard of traffic laws pertaining to bicycles; the inconsiderate slobs who advertise the number of watts per chan nel on their stereos when others wish to participate in even less constructive acts of stupidity to further annoy those who choose to study; the jerks who save seats for friends at sporting events at the ex pense of others who choose not to alienate themselves from reality (no specific fraternity mentioned); the "punks" who would write the word "Spam" on their firstborn child’s for ehead in order to conform to their perception of the status quo; the girl who is simply playing stupid in order to please this week’s boyfriend (no specific soror ity mentioned); the persons afflicted with Joan Baez-itis who think that they can change the world with a song or a stupid saying on the bathroom wall or in the newspaper; and everyone else that someone has a complaint about. Face it folks, we are all screwed up in our own distinctive ways. Why single out the squirrel as a scapegoat? Complain, gripe and write a letter to the editor. A whole lot of good it will do. Think about it. Mark Coriose Public relations officer Society for Equal Infuriation Senior, CSPA
