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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1981)
opinion_ I bill manny even editors get the blues In the beginning was the word, sayeth the gospel, and the word was with God, and the word was God. But after a whileth, He saw his regular word was not enough. And so God looked upon all he had created and spaketh, ‘Leteth there be acron yms.’ The language hasn’t been the same since. We all have pet peeves, and mine are twisted and perverted acronyms and those who twist and pervert them. I’m acrophobic. I cower any time I see a word written in all capital letters. But it’s become a hobby for a lot of bored folks who like creating words from the initial letters of a name. I see no party more guilty in the proliferation of tacky acronyms than the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Now, mind you, there's nothing wrong with NASA, a name that captured a generation with stars in its eyes. It’s a name that characterized a period when Americans were convinced America was great. A name that launched thousands of tacky imitators. And so they came. NATO, SALT, LEM, WAC, IHAP, NOW and MUSE. Right here in Eugene are CALC, SWAPO, SNuFF, SWAPO, ACT, BALSA, OSPIRG, MEChA and SWIG. Muhammad Ali’s WORLD and Rev. Jesse Jackson's PUSH can be forgiven. These philanth ropists got carried away with their lofty plans. But then there’s campus's ESCAPE: Every Student Caring About Personalized Education (not really Easy Student Credit Available for Phy sical Education majors, as some contend.) And don’t forget SEARCH, a most odious offender: Students’ Exploratory Action Regarding Cur ricular Heterodoxy. Hard to beat that one. There are some that make you cringe. Like SOS — Save Our ecoSystems (not the shit on shingles of miltary chow fame). It’s a worthy cause, all right. But SOS treats the language much like the herbicide sprayers treat the forests. ALERT, a campus group that helps han dicapped students, changed its name this year. Now it’s — you got it — the Physically Limited Union of Students (PLUS). Remember Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet? He's found Jesus now and devotes himself full-time to world hunger. Again, a noble commitment. The name? Project LORD (LOng Range Development for the world). Go ahead, figure that one out. There’s also a community group called MAR HABA. The word is Arabic for hello, an innocuous enough name. But the best the group could do to fit its chosen name was Middle-eastern American Relations Helping Americans Become Aware. Nice try, though. What if today's acronym-crazed attitude had prevailed in the first half of the century? J. Edgar Hoover might have headed the Federal Investiga tory Bureau (appropriately known as FIB), and the Bay of Pigs may have been the work of the AIC (pronounced ace, of course), not the CIA. The EPA might have gone APE, the FDA FAD and HEW WHEN (Welfare, Health and EducatioN). Perhaps no better example exists of acronym mania than the Lane County group PEACE. Evidently wanting to conjure up images of the bygone '60s "awareness,” the group chose the word that best reflects that decade. But People Effectively Appealing for Cannibis Equality (whuh?) is a tacky and senseless name for what is morally and economically a legitimate cause. How about naming the group People Ap pealing for Legalized Marijuana (PALM)? That way, the group could hold regular "PALM Sun day” smoke-ins. Or even better, the group could update its look. Leave behind the '60s and embrace the new wave, punk image of the '80s. I can see it now, a whole gang of "Spaced-out Potheads Appealing for Marijuana.” And we could call it — yes! — "SPAM” Unresponsive IFC Total student control of incidental fees. This is an idea we’ve heard a lot of lately To students this principle sounds good But what exactly does student control mean? For example, recently Jon Niederbach, chairer of the IFC, proposed a plan by which IFC daycare subsidies would go directly to student parents Student par ents who use the three University af filiated daycare centers had concerns over how this plan would affect the University daycare programs. Meetings were held, and it was agreed that, though Jon had raised some legitimate issues, his plan to address these issues would have severe repercussions for the University daycare programs. In the meantime, the EMU Board Budget Com mittee rejected the proposal by a 7-3 vote. Jon then brought his proposal to the IFC hearing on the EMU budget. For over two hours, the IFC listened to student parents arguing against the proposal. Again it was agreed that Jon had raised some legitimate issues, but not one sin gle parent spoke in favor of his plan to deal with these issues. The IFC passed Jon’s proposal unan imously. STUDENTS from the University-af filiated daycare facilities TOOK CON TROL of a situation that concerned them They organized to oppose Jon Niederbach’s proposal. The only students who appeared to have been in favor of this proposal were the students on the IFC. The IFC was not responsive to the concerns of the students who expressed opposition to Jon's plan Is this what student control of incidental fees means? Are some students more equal than others? Until students have some real assurance that the IFC will respond to their concerns, students will not have control of incidental fees, ad ministrative veto or not. Jon Kauffman Member, EMU childcare center Parent advisory group Employees, unite! Do you fully appreciate those who sweep your classrooms, pick up after you, feed you, clothe you, balance the budget in your department while making you feel at home in it? These people are not the department heads nor the University Administration. They are the classified employees, without whom the University could not run smoothly, if it could run at all. Collective bargaining negotiations are now taking place between the man agement team for higher education in Oregon and Oregon Public Employees Union (OPEU) representatives. Not sur prisingly, management is exhibiting strong unwillingness to uphold the ben efits of the current contract, much less address new proposals presented by the workers. About 1,200 classified workers on this campus are represented by OPEU. Our membership in the union is roughly 50 f percent. It needs to be much higher in order to exercise power in collective bargaining. So, classified employees: if you are not members, JOIN! To students and faculty: keep in mind that faculty salary increases are in part determined by the salary increases attained by other state workers, and support the OPEU negotiations by encouraging classified employees in your areas to take firm strides in the endeavor to earn the mon etary gains and respect that they de serve. Diane Higgins Clerical worker Russian program Story neglected We have worked on campus since 1967 as classified personnel. Up until earlier this month, neither of us had been union members. As a result of hearing about the unbelievable contract nego tiations going on, we have joined Oregon Public Employees Union. We think it is unfortunate that the Emerald which obviously has many clas sified readers has not dealt with inform ing the campus of a potential problem regarding the negotiations. The results of the negotiations (or the lack of results) will not only affect the classified person nel but have major ramifications anyone affiliated with the University. We would hope that you consider the possibility of running a story soon about the contract negotiations and the prob lems therein. Suzie Prichard Counseling & educational psychology Toby Deemer Graduate School 0 C IFWD not WLl UmD^»SIAnD. 'GOT TH£ IDEA? OK, MOW LETS SEE'iOU DO IT"
