opinion_—
RCYB illustrates democratic principles
Those who happened to be within earshot of
EMU Friday afternoon were treated to the am
plified rhetoric of the Revolutionary Communist
Youth Brigade
The RCYB are a branch of the Revolutionary
Communist Brigade headquartered in Chicago, III
At last count the Eugene group boasts eight
members Their ideology is described as "Marx
ism Leninism and Mao Tse Tung thought
This ideological posture appears to be an
extract of what was commonly referred to as
“Marxist Leninist dialectical materialism “
In whatever guise this ideology is the basis of
socialism practiced in the People's Republic of
China
The bemused crowd in front of the EMU
deserves credit for their restraint The RCYB
speaker harangued the onlookers He made
caustic comments and by all appearances at
tempted to force a political philosophy down the
onlookers throats
Throughout the harangue there existed the
possibility that RCYB s message, delivered so
abrasively, might anger someone to a violent
response At times it seemed the RCYB speaker
was deliberately trying to provoke such a reaction
Provocation and confrontation tactics have
been associated with RCYB in the past Recall the
ill-conceived bravado of the RCYB when ex-hos
tage Victor Tomseth spoke in the EMU ballroom
RCYB members are presently facing charges of
arson in connection with lighting a yellow ribbon
in the crowded ballroom And they look to be
peculiarly proud of that incident — if you've no
ticed the spray-painted “Bum yellow" on various
buildings around campus
The memory of the Tomseth incident might ve
provoked someone So might've the banner RCYB
unfurled Friday declaring “Red white and blue
we spit on you.”
yours
Bagels explained
Having just eaten one of the "quality
bagels the EMU food service now im
ports from a Portland bakery, I under
stand why so many Portland establish
ments entail the expense of having
Humble Bagels shipped up north
The new EMU bagels' do bear some
resemblance to the baked good of that
name — they re round (mostly) and have
holes m the middle (although many also
had strange protuberances — handles
for the fastidious Northwest bagel eater'?
— attached to them ) In taste and texture
however these "bagels' seem like an
attempt a very failed attempt to convert
the basic WASP white dinner roll into
something vaguely Jewish The texture
of these quality bagels indicates a
certain inability on the part of this bakery
to distinguish between bagels and
sponges
Anyway here s some data on the
heinous 20 percent price increase in
augurated by Humble Bagel which
precipitated the EMU food services
switch to these quality bagels — data
which the Emerald might have dis
covered if its reporters used more than
one source for a story — then again the
story was probably written by a quality
reporter
The data
Humble has not raised wholesale
prices in over two years, quite possibly
the only food supplier in the Northwest to
hold the line against inflation for this
period of time
Humble s price increase was done in
such a way that the percent increase was
a bit larger for its major distributors (such
as the EMU), in effect lessening the
discount these distributors receive for
their larger orders while somewhat pro
tecting smaller distributors
Humble s 20 percent price increase to
the E' e^rvices only raiseo i;._
£food services' cost per bagel from
Paae 4
But this wasn't the case
The crowd, tor the most part amused, let
RCYB have their say and responded with ques
tions and opposing views
What occurred was a vigorous debate To
RCYB's credit, they relinquished the microphone
allowing those disagreeing with their ideology to
address the crowd
Despite that "Red, white and blue, we spit on
you” banner - and whether or not they were aware
of it — RCYB Friday was illustrating one of
democracy's most important principles
“Congress shall make no law abridging the
freedom of speech or the right of the people to
peaceably assemble ”
Whether they'll admit it, RCYB are the chil
dren of the American democracy Perhaps they
are the "spoiled children of democracy
Such open dissension would not be looked
upon favorably under the ideology RCYB ad
vocates. In fact, they'd be denounced as
counter-revolutionary — then squeezed like a
lemon and thrown in the street
It's to the credit of the onlookers Friday that
they understood the democratic principle of
tolerating diverse viewpoints from those of the
mainstream to those of the lunatic fringe
There is only one question remaining con
cerning the RCYB "Rally" Friday They are a
reasonably well-known campus group RCYB
members are students at the University Would the
rights of free speech and peaceable assembly
apply equally to more radical (right or left wing)
groups?
It has to, or the democracy doesn't work
X* THAT STOCKMAN has T5E-/WMP VwETA3iS rOR THE SCHOOL LUNCH. WE D BETTER GET SOME
W IN foRTHE WlMTE^
S 11 to $ 1333 indicating that the EMU
food services finds a 225 percent mark
up (based on selling bagels at S 30 each)
insufficient
Incidentally, the University of Oregon
Food-Op at 1535 Agate on campus
which has lower operating costs and
different philosophies than the EMU food
service offers Humble Bagels, received
fresh every week day for $ 18 each
Ken Packman
Junior, history
Ignore rhetoric
For years various individuals, groups
and government agencies have attempted
to shove the idea of limiting families to two
or less children down the American peo
ple s throats But why should we sacrifice
the )oy of raising the kind of families we
desire while our government carries on
the policy of encouraging millions of for
eign immigrants to settle here9 Worse yet
these people usually maintain their ex
tremely high birthrates common in their
previous countries after they arrive here
The usual rationale promoted in the
press and our schools to coerce people
not to have children is that America only
has a limited amount of land and re
sources to accommodate its citizens
Wei! if that's the case we should im
mediately halt ad movement into our
country If not then talk aimed at per
suading Americans to stop having chil
dren should cease
The worse outcome of the population
reduction movemen* is Americans best
suited for raising kicK — those with intei
.c« linanc etc — have
generally cut their birthrates the most The
strength of America depends on its
families so its only reasonable that our
survival depends on the environment most
of our youth are being raised in
America has no population worries
even rf one looks far into the future and
peopie should ignore the rhetoric of the
population reduction movement Not only
is it wrong to pressure people whose
ancestors settled this country not t© bear
children but it's detrimental to America s
future if the people most likely to raise
good families fail to have children
S.L. Van Leuven
Springfield
PNRC complexities
Your editorial of Sept 28 defends the
Pacific Northwest Resources Clinic at
the law school and concludes that Pres
Olum would rather sacrifice a valuable
law program than dare incur the dis
pleasure of business interests
The Pacific Northwest Resources
Clinic is supported by a grant from the
National Wildlife Federation and makes
possible greater participation by
students in the law school s environ
mental clinical course As law dean at the
time the grant was accepted. I believed
the educational program it supported for
law students was appropriate in a
University setting and I still believe this
Others do not agree Some critics have
taken a hard line against the Pacific
Northwest Resources Clinic and others
have raised sincere questions about the
appearance of a lack of University neu
trality and related matters
The issues are considerably more
complex a' your editorie1 would in
dium.. es Olum s view that there a.
various ways to structure outside (man
cial support and arrangements for the
environmental law clinic and still achieve
its educational objectives is a reasonable
view The law school has defended the
present arrangement with the National
Wildlife Federation It does not follow
that because Olum may see problems
with it and prefer another arrangement,
he is necessarily capitulating to business
interests as your editorial claims
Your editorial does not serve its own
cause in defending the law school when
it attacks Pres Olum I am sensitive to
this point because I have been treated in
a similar fashion by some critics
Your editorial states that, "Olum
proposed the Pacific Northwest Re
sources Clinic (and its Environmental
Law Clinic) be disassociated from the
University " In fact, the environmental
clinic does not belong" to Pacific
Northwest Resources Clinic and Olum
has never proposed that the clinic as a
part of the law curriculum be terminated
Chapin D. Clark
Professor of Law
letters policy
The Emerald will accept and at
tempt to print all letters containing fair
comment on issues ideas and topics
of interest to the University communi
ty
The letters must be limited to 250
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of the writer must be verified when the
letter is turned in to The Emerald
offices EMU 300
The Emerald reserves the right to
edit any letter for length, style or
ntenf r' .'ion is dependent
upon the space available
Mondav. October 5. 1981