Campus chapter forms
Nobel-winning group aids foreign prisoners
By MIKE RUST
Of the Emerald
Amnesty International — the Nobel
Peace Prize-winning human rights or
ganization — once again is working
within the University community on
behalf of prisoners of conscience
around the world.
With more than 200,000 members in
more than 125 countries, Al works for the
release of political prisoners around the
world and for the abolition of torture and
the death penalty.
It has been estimated that during the
past 20 years, Al publicity and letter
writing campaigns have contributed to
the release of more than 18,000 pri
soners of conscience and the improved
treatment of many others.
Al represents political prisoners
regardless of their nationality, political or
religious beliefs — provided they have
not used or advocated violence. Al op
poses torture, the death penalty and
imprisonment without trial in all cases.
A campus chapter recently has been
formed at the University that offers an
outlet for students, faculty and other
local residents who wish to take part in
Al-sponsored activities. This term, the
local chapter is focusing its efforts on
two countries — Guatemala and East
Germany — because the two countries
are on different sides of the political
spectrum and practice "different styles
of oppression,” says Al member Stephen
Fuller.
In Guatemala “the human rights issue
is political murder," Fuller says. Each
year, thousands of people in the Central
American nation who are suspected of
disloyalty to the military government are
seized and murdered.
A recent Al report documents the
chain of command by which these
murders are directed from the office of
the president, Gen. Lucas Garcia.
In East Germany, however, the method
of political repression is “completely
open," with the government freely ad
mitting the detention of thousands of
political prisoners. While repression in
Guatemala is conducted through anon
ymous killings, the East German legal
system is constructed to provide for the
imprisonment of dissidents after short
trials closed to the public.
"Somewhere between these two poles
lie almost all instances of oppression,"
Fuller says.
The campus group is focusing its ef
forts on letter writing and human rights
education, Fuller says. Meetings are held
every other Monday, usually in the EMU.
Letters are written on behalf of prisoners
at each meeting, and speakers and films
are often presented also.
The letter writing is usually in response
to Urgent Action Appeals sent out by Al
when the organization learns of in
dividual cases that require immediate
intervention. Members of the Urgent
Action Network are asked to send tele
grams and letters to the government in
question.
Urgent Action cases mainly concern
torture, prisoners who require immediate
health attention and imminent
executions.
4
Top prof departures
hurt math program
In what math department
head Theodore Palmer terms
the “golden age of mathema
tics,’’ the University’s math
department is “suffering.’’
The department’s only
teacher of probability theory is
leaving the University to teach
statistics at George Washington
University. Prof. Robert Smythe
will be the second of the
department’s top professors to
leave since December, Palmer
says.
Math Prof. Colin Sutherlin left
the University in December for
personal reasons.
“Our best people are feeling
they must consider other
things,” Palmer says.
Budget problems that plague
much of higher education are
the primary culprit.
Over the last two years, the
department has had a
27-percent increase in student
enrollment, but staff positions
have increased by just one.
According to Palmer, salary
was not the main reason Smythe
and Sutherland left, but it was a
consideration.
“Any decision to change un
iversities signifies many prob
lems,” Palmer says.
The department currently is
rated 20th in the nation, but that
rating is in danger of slipping,
he says.
“It takes decades to build a
top-flight university. It’s now
being whittled away.”
Palmer says the department
searched for a probability
theory teacher for five years
before finding Smythe, partly
because most universities are
offering 50-percent higher
salaries to mathematics profes
sors. Palmer says he hopes to
fill the vacancy with a visiting
professor next year.
According to Palmer, the best
professors are in demand, and
they naturally are siphoned off
first.
Eaton cuts ACLU funds
Efforts to revive a University
branch of the American Civil
Liberties Union hit a rough spot
Monday when ASUO Pres. Dave
Eaton vetoed the $375 the In
cidental Fee Committee allocat
ed to the group last Thursday.
Eaton said he vetoed the ap
propriation because the ACLU
didn’t submit a properly
itemized budget and doesn’t
have an incidental fee “track
record.” Also, the ASUO
doesn’t support funding to es
tablish new groups and the
campus ACLU may be duplicat
ing services offered by the Lane
County ACLU Chapter.
The campus ACLU already
has scheduled two symposiums
— one on racial harassment and
one on abortion — later this
month, ACLU organizer Steve
Schneider says.
Five IFC votes will be needed
to override the veto. IFC chairer
Jon Neiderbach says he doubts
the current committee will con
sider the veto before its term of
office expires on May 25.
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