opinion
A feeble, but noble, first try at peace
When national leaders begin thinking the
unthinkable, its time to act.
Thus, Senate Joint Memorial 5 — a state
Legislature resolution against the lunacy of nu
clear arms.
Oregon is once again in the forefront, this
time as the first state in the country to take the
noble — if feeble — step in the fight against the
idiocy of nuclear proliferation.
SJM 5 is a memorial to Congress and the
president asking for a national policy prohibiting
the United States from ever initiating the use of
nuclear weapons in international conflict.
It also requests a mutual freeze with the
Soviet Union on all further testing, production and
deployment of nuclear weapons.
Similar legislation is pending in a half dozen
states around the country. But Oregon’s memorial
— if passed — would probably be the first to make
its way to Washingtion.
SJM 5 received unanimous passage from the
Senate justice committee, the full Senate, and the
House judiciary subcommittee.
Legislature sources say passage by the full
committee is fairly certain. The House, however,
remains a question mark. Sponsors encourage
supporters to fire letters off to their representa
tives.
The bill’s passage would signal to Oregonians
worried about nuclear weapons that the issue is
on the move. And nationally, should enough states
band together, the result could be such a policy
somewhere down the road. Such a simple com
mitment to life seems pretty much common sense.
Yet it may be a pipe dream. With a hawkish
administration clamoring for a massive defense
build-up, efforts at limiting nuclear arms may be
futile.
But with stakes so high, that’s all the more
reason. It’s time to slow man’s headlong race
toward oblivion.
yours
Price too high
The decision of the University
Planning Committee to restrict bicycle
traffic on campus next fall is unwise. This
committee has wrestled with the problem
of complaints and while I appreciate their
concern I am convinced that their deci
sion was wrong.
After 44 years and at least 55,000
miles, I have come to the conclusion that
the two outstanding advantages of the
bicycle are its momentum and its ability
to carry the rider to his or her exact
destination (not even to mention the
more obvious points such as no noise,
propulsion without fuel, etc ). The
airplane drops you off at a far away
airport, trains take you only to distant
stations, cars to outlying parking lots.
The two-wheeled engineless vehicle
takes you right to the door of the building
you wish to enter.
The authorities outside the campus try
to partly destroy the momentum feature
by insisting that we, bicyclists, make
useless stops at stopsigns. I have written
about this in the Register Guard long
ago Now the authorities on campus wish
to take away the second great
advantage: ability to reach final destina
tion. Like automobilists we will have to
start walking all over campus.
It is a fact that in a democratic society
reasonable persons will, by and large,
not obey unreasonable laws. Bicyclists
still do not stop unnecessarily at stop
signs. Neither is it likely that they will
dismount on campus and walk need
lessly. But there will be friction and
unhappiness when pedestrians make
remarks uncalled for, or when an over
zealous ticketing program starts
It is sad that so many people are not
willing to tolerate minor nuisances such
as bicycles on campus, smoking in pub
lic places (I do not smoke), etc. The
consequences of intolerance are over
regulation, excessive bureaucracy, and
a steady erosion of our freedom It’s too
high a price.
Huibert Paul
Assistant professor
Library
Be discerning
There are a few comments I think need
to be made concerning the May 20 front
page article entitled, " 'Immoral Minority’
heckles Rev. Falwell.” First of all, I’d like
to mention that there were at least three
different "born-again" Christian organ
izations at the "I Love America" rally
that were there to oppose the Moral
Majority (on the grounds that both its
methods and most of its "morals" are in
opposition to the teachings of Jesus and
the rest of the New Testament) Since Mr
Falwell isn’t usually very willing (or
perhaps isn’t able) to discuss issues
reasonably, these groups mainly op
posed the Moral Majority through litera
ture that was distributed during the rally
Since it wasn’t very well publicized by
the media, I think it would be good for the
public to know (and even better for Jerry
Falwell to know) that it is not “just the
abortion-rights people and the gay-rights
groups that fear the Moral Majority,’’ as
Falwell has claimed. There are many
Christians, many born-again Christians,
who fear that through groups like the
Moral Majority, Christianity in America
will be distorted (as it has been in the
past) to accommodate the upper classes
and used to oppress the poor both at
home and abroad — something which
Jesus never meant for his message or his
people to do.
Although the points on which the
“Moral Majority" departs from the
teachings of Scripture are too numerous
to list here, I would encourage anyone
who is interested to contact “World
Peacemakers” at 5145 S.E. Lincoln
Street, Portland, OR, 97215 for literature
on this matter or drop by the “Evan
gelicals for Peace’’ table any Friday at
the EMU.
Please be discerning. The "MM" of
Christianity (if it can even be called
Christianity) has little resemblance to the
way of Jesus Christ.
Ian Belvin
Senior, linguistics
Don’t need men?
At the folk festival on Sunday, I felt
both hurt and touched by a song by the
women's vocal group Sweet Grass Enti
tled, "We Don't Need the Men,” it came
across as a virtual condemnation of the
entire male sex Being a man, I feel
prompted to speak out for those of us
who are painfully aware of the oppres
sion women fall victim to in our society. It
is true, that as men, we shall never fully
understand the personal degradation
that women (of all ages) are confronted
with. Afterall, we are not on the receiving
end of the aggressive, self-centered atti
tude our capitalist system demands. In
stead we are taught to stand at its fore
front. I would like to point out however,
that many of us (out of either fear or
human compassion) have rejected these
inhumane norms. Sometimes labelled as
“queers,” “commies” or "cowards,” we
too must struggle against the oppression
perpetrated by those “at the top” who
are profitting from the social structure as
it is.
“We Don't Need Men" did illustrate
some important and commendable
points. It seemed to remind women that
they can and should stand strong — as
independently minded beings — capable
of controlling their own lives rather than
falling prey to arrogant men who think
they can do a better job This type of
conscience-raising is of fundamental
importance but only if men and women
work and fight together will we be able to
destroy the exploitive neo-fascist system
that is responsible for our oppression in
the first place
Christian Gunther
Sophomore, undeclared
The real Olum?
As a senior preparing to graduate, I am
ashamed that the school administration,
under Pres Paul Olum, has agreed to
"reorganize” the University Envir
onmental Law Clinic to meet the desires
of regional timber interests. This is an
outrageous and inexcusable abandon
ing of integrity which cannot be justified
academically. It sets a dangerous
precedent when certain political inter
ests can effectively threaten the school
with loss of contributions unless per
fectly legal, if controversial, functions of
the University are curtailed.
So now the law clinic will be separated
from the National Wildlife Federation,
and the NWF may be asked to vacate
their campus offices as well. Is this an
example of the bold and progressive
leadership we are to expect under Pres.
Olum?
Douglas Burkhardt
Senior, politcal science
Nuts to comic strip
There has been considerable debate
this term over what comic strip the
Emerald should run. We aren’t anxious
to stir up further controversy, but Mixed
Nuts doesn’t seem to integrate into the
college atmosphere. We want a cartoon
that elicits positive response from the
readers. We think Doonesbury accomp
lishes this. Garry Trudeau is a witty,
intelligent, humorous cartoonist who
deserves recognition through college
exposure. Many people read it for the
political commentary while others for
light humor. It is enjoyable on many
levels and has educational value con
cerning today’s society. Although Doon
esbury will be more expensive we hope
the Emerald will change its current policy
and invest in this venture.
Geoffrey Nlcholls
Math, computer science
And 191 co-signers