opinion_
Oregon’s rape shield
law is essential
The Emerald applauds the Oregon Court of
Appeals for resisting a recent attack on the
Oregon rape shield law based on its
constitutionality.
The appellate court upheld a state law that
directs courts to determine in secret whether a
rape victim's sexual history is relevant to the
assailant's trial.
“The constitutional right to a public trial,”
Judge Edward Warren stated, "does not include
the right to smear the victim with irrelevancies."
At present, Oregon is among only a number of
states that have rape victim shield laws. Without
such a law the rape victim is often times on trial as
a criminal, more so than the rapist.
The rape shield law still doesn't protect the
victim from the ruthless tactics of a defense
attorney Defense attorneys are notorious for
twisting a rape victim s innocent remarks (or
ours
Olum's reply
I don’t usually write to disagree with editorials, but
your editorial about tbe Pacific Northwest Resources
Center and my relationship to it is so badly skewed that I
feel I must respond
Without dealing with all of your misstatements (such
as what my “reasoning" is, or the reference to “Aaron
Jones' dangling a $250,000 pledge" toward us), I do
take strong issue with your repeated indications that I
am knuckling under to business pressure, e g "Olum is
willing to sacrifice this program rather than antagonize
private business interests;" “Olum's actual purpose is
to cater to the whims of private business and close
PNRC;" “the evidence indicts him as being too sensi
tive to business pressure to take a firm stand in favor of
PNRC;" "He would rather sacrifice a valuable law
program than dare incure the displeasure of business
interests "
That’s an extraordinary amount of nonsense and I
resent it Furthermore, the most intense pressure and
most of the threats now are coming from the other side
But. apart from that, I am by my own background,
nature and commitments far more sensitive to the views
of faculty and others in the University community than
to outside pressures My own ability to function in this
position and to try to build this into a stronger and better
academic institution depends far more than anything
else on faculty support A lack of confidence by the
outside world would be troublesome, of course, but a
lack of confidence by the faculty would be decisive So,
from my point of view it would be far easier for me to
make a decision unpalatable to outside interests than
one unpalatable to our own people
But none of that matters, because so far as I am
concerned, there is only one way to make decisions in a
university, and that is on principle There are real
principles at stake here — principles having to do with
the integrity of the institution and with what are the
possible real threats to academic freedom There are
arguments on both sides and they are discussable, but
this is not the time or the place for that since I earlier
requested a meeting with the faculty and students of the
School of Law in order to have a thorough discussion of
the positions involved
One more thing we must make decisions that are
proper and principled for the University If, after we
have done so, someone or some group wished to give
Correction
Due to a typographical error in Tuesday s
Emerald a paragraph in the letter "Fair share"
was garbled That paragraph should have read
Those that protest the requirement call it
"taxation without representation," I call it paying
their fair share The fact of the matter is that they
have been freeloading off the rest of us, and
would be doing so once again if decertification
succeeds A better description of the situation
would be called "representation without taxa
tion ”...
We regret any misunderstanding this may have
caused
genuine cries of fear) into words that encouraged
the rape The present law provides that any sexual
conduct by the victim will first have to be reviewed
in private session Thus, a victim's entire sexual
past isn’t recklessly interpreted by a defense
attorney in open court
The appellate court opinion stated the rape
shield law presumes that prior sexual conduct is
irrevelant to the specific case of rape If a defen
dant wants to introduce such evidence, they must
show its relevancy in a closed hearing
We believe the Oregon Legislature, by enacting
the rape shield law, was trying to strike a balance
between the fair trial rights of the accused and the
privacy rights of the defendant
"We find that the protection of the privacy of a
sex crime is a justifiable concern of the Legisla
ture," the court said
Without the rape shield law victims would be
reluctant to press a charge of rape What rape
victim would want to face a second rape while
testifying in open court?
We contend that a rape shield law is essential
and commend the Oregon Court of Appeals for
recognizing its necessity For without such a law
the rapist stalks with immunity
theirs
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us. or not to give us, money, that is their choice and they
are surely free to make it But we cannot let what we do
be influenced by the threat of that choice — whether it
comes from a corporate executive or from the National
Wildlife Federation
Finally, I did not earlier make and have not since
made any final decision about what is to be done I had
hoped that we could consider the issues thoroughly at
the meeting I have asked for But if you and others have
decided that polemic and misrepresentation are to
replace any effort to sort out the arguments in a
reasoned debate, then you will have set up confronta
tion where I had wanted to have a serious discussion
I would have hoped that we had a better way to solve
our problems in the University
Paul Olum
President
Cheerleaders
We have lousy cheerleaders' Cheerleaders should
jump up and down, do flips in the air, wave their arms in
excitement and perform other perilous acrobatic feats
The girls should use colored pompoms and bounce
around endlessly The guys should yell through colored
megaphones to lead the crowd in cheers Further,
cheerleaders need spectators
The cheerleaders here at the University rarely jump
up and down or do anything else to stimulate the
crowd Instead, they throw out their arms in short, sharp
movements, appearing nothing short of muscle
spasms Their movements are too choppy and their
bodies too rigid (this may be okay for modern jazz
dancing, or a Bob Fosse film, but not cheerleading)
The cheerleaders are not smooth — they stink1
Oregon’s cheerleaders also hold up signs that spell
out GO DUCKS in attempt to razzle the crowd Unfor
tunately, no one watches They are dull They do not
move the crowd and seem bored themselves We need
more exciting cheerleaders — cheerleaders like
University of Washington has
Doug Wolens
Senior, political science, English
Non-union
i am a member of the Oregon Public Employees
Union (OPEU) and have signed the petition to reject the
portion of the new contract which requires union fees to
be paid by non-union members
Believe it or not, there are workers out there who
perceive organized labor to have a strong political bias,
and who don't want to be a part of it I am concerned for
those people who don’t support OPEU don't want its
representation and yet are forced to fund something
they don't believe in
The state law requiring OPEU to represent all em
ployees in the bargaining unit is the real problem It is in
OPEU's interest to lobby to change this law
Even if this proves difficult or imposssible, the union
has no right to take money from people who never
aksed for its services
"Fair share’’ is a subtle example of the coersive
tactics that too too many people give organized labor a
bad name
Dave Puckett
Admissions
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