opinion
Quibble impedes ERA as deadline nears
An equal rights amendment television commer
cial being test-aired in Portland has drawn criticism
from the Eagle Forum, a group opposed to the
amendment The Eagle Forum charges the commer
cial is full of inaccuracies
The commercial is part of an 11 th hour push to
secure passage of the ERA before June 30 The ERA
lacks three states to ensure its ratification as a
constitutional amendment June 30 is literally the
deadline for the amendment — it has already
received an extension — another is unlikely It is
unfortunate this extremely important amendment has
to be mired in the petty, time-consuming squabbles
of special interest groups
The commercial, sponsored by the National
Organization of Women, opens on a grave site and
tombstone with narration that addresses the inequi
ties suffered by a widow The commercial closes with
a shot of two tombstones, implying the man and
woman are “equal at last
An Eagle Forum representative says this is
misleading because the ERA wouldn’t increase the
protection a woman — specifically a "homemaker”
— presently possesses under inheritance, Social
Security, equal pay and pension laws
There’s a shade of truth to Eagle Forum’s claim
These adequate protections do currently exist for
“homemakers ” However, lighting the darker side
reveals that “homemakers" cannot count on these
protections to maintain the quality of life and
livelihood they deserve in these years Social Security
is teetering on the brink of financial failure Social
etters
Editorial refuted
This is in response to your editorial of Nov 17 accusing
Pres Paul Olum of deliberate indecision about the location
of the Pacific Northwest Resource Center You charge
Olum's delay was actually an attempt to avoid the neces
sity of assuming responsibility for a decision The facts are
as follows
1 After meeting separately with the faculty of the
School of Law and appearing in a public session attended
by both faculty and students. Olum reported that he would
honor a request for a delay in the announcement of his
decision The request came from the Dean of the School of
Law, some law faculty and a number of law students
Emerald reporters were at this meeting, and it is impossible
for me to believe that they failed to understand Olum s plain
talk
2 Dean Bel! specifically requested the delay in order
to permit the School of Law and the National Wildlife
Federation time to explore a range of possible
arrangements Olum's delay was based on his concern
and respect for Dean Bell and the faculty and students
involved
3 All of the above was described by Olum on a
number of occasions The most recent of these was at the
President’s press conference on Nov 5 Again, Emerald
reporters were present, and again the language used was
plain and explicit
Given the above, the distortions appearing in your
Nov 17 editorial are impossible to understand The
Emerald has the right, indeed the responsiblity, to criticize
the administration In turn, the University community has
the right to expect honest reporting and comment In this
instance, the Emerald has engaged in such a gross
distortion that I must seriously question your commitment
to ethical responsibility You have done all of the parties
involved most serious disservice
Richard J. Hill
Provost
Free association
The usual mild hissing and squawking about the Greek
system has begun again, with both sides overdoing the
outrage, as is customary The Greek system is like any
other system, and it does not turn angels to cretins, or
vice-versa Although certain houses may do a better job
than others of helping teenagers to maturity, what goes in
is, for the most part, what comes out I have worked with a
number of Greeks, and have found some very pleasantly
competent, and some quite foul and the great majority
somewhere in between Is that ratio so different from the
rest of the student body7 Of course not
Some detractors of the Greek system simply don’t like
the implied elitism' that surrounds any private orgamza
tion Value judgments are easy to come by at a university,
though, and those who believe that Greek member s
Paae 4
Security payments are at or below subsistence levels
Inheritance laws can protect the financial safety of
the widow — providing there is a substantial inheri
tance Equal pay and pension laws are not as
“equal" as anti-ERA forces maintain The pay ratio
for women is still a deplorable 59 cents to each dollar
a man earns
The commercial quibble over degrees of accur
acy is secondary to the essentiality of securing
passage of the ERA It has been bogged down short
of its goal — a constitutional amendment That goal
must be attained before the logistics of equality can
be worked out
This is not to sanction any inaccuracies by either
pro- or anti-ERA factions Misrepresentations tend to
spread confusion across either camp One has only
to recall the unisex bathroom debacle to understand
confusion is detrimental to both opponents and
proponents
The commercial is not completely inaccurate in
its depressing portrayal of a “homemaker" left with
small resources A recent news story estimated the
worth in wages for a “homemaker" at better than
$400 a month That's a conservative estimate for the
services of a cook, maid, mate and babysitter
NOW s depiction of a destitute widow is a tame
reminder of the meanness of a woman's future
without equal rights as a constitutional guarantee
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WNt> Or
personal attitudes toward such rights of privacy would
change if they simply stopped being Greeks are likely
mistaken After all, Greek houses do not snatch students
off the street and compel them to participate in activities
Students join Greek houses on purpose and wouldn't stay
in unless they liked what they were doing The right of free
association, I believe the U S Constitution calls it
If we disallow private Greek activities on the grounds
that they foster elitism, why shouldn't we discourage co-op
houses because they tend to promote egalitarianism7 A
nice, juicy personal value judgment is all that is involved in
most such arguments, and the "Greek Question' is no
exception Mandating lifestyles by government edict is an
ill-advised policy, no matter who it is directed at
Alan Contreras
Senior, political science
Keep Study Abroad
I see that Pres Paul Olum is planning to drop the Study
Abroad program in order to cut costs That's too bad
I spent one year with the Oregon Study Abroad
program at the Umversitaet Stuttgart in Germany, and
stayed for another year of independent study at the
Umversitaet Tuegingen I consider my time there very well
spent In contrast to many other programs, which are little
more than self-contained and isolated camps for American
college students, the University's program threw its
students in with the German students in most respects
same classes, same housing, same food and so forth It
was a thoroughgoing exposure to German life
Such a program helps provide a better understanding
of the rest of the world, which the U S desperately needs
Its diplomats can t speak the languages of the countries to
which they are posted, and must have to rely on the gossip
of the native clerical help to find out what’s going on
American businessmen are abysmally ignorant of even the
most rudimentary aspects of the countries in which they 're
attempting to bring off business deals The present political
leadership hasn't the slightest inkling of the differing
veiwpoints in other countries — a case in point is Reagan's
unilateral decision to deploy the neutron bomb, which
shocked Europeans and prompted Germany 's Der Spiegel
(24 Aug 81) to worry about "the laboriously maintained
solidarity of NATO "
(And in this vein, there is much caviling at "congres
sional junkets' abroad as a waste of taxpayers' money
But if those people who are shaping our foreign policy
remain ignorant of the world outside our borders, what kind
of foreign policy could we have but misguided7)
The University apparently can't find funds for this
program, yet it continues to use its financial resources for
activites which are essentially frivolities, like football What
effort is made to find a benefactor who might put up the
money to Keep the Study Abroad program alive and
provide us with a better chance for international
understanding9 Is there such a benefactor9 It seems we
value athletics over understanding, sweat over study So it
will be appropriate when nuclear annihilation comes, for
us to be watching the Ducks get annihilated at Autzen
Stadium
Robert Ackerman
Reduction harmful
Americans have been barraged with gloom and doom
propaganda from population reduction advocates Rarely
is the public exposed to opposing ideas since the liberal
establishment types in the media and in education gener
ally endorse measures to persuade Americans not to raise
children
Actually, many respected scientists and scholars
contend that current population reduction trends are. in
reality, harmful for America After extensive research,
Jullian Simon (Professor of Economics. University of
Illinois) feels our economy will stagnate unless current birth
trends are replaced with a rise in the number of children
being born
Herman Kahn director of the Hudson Institute, a think
tank based in New York, discounts the dismal forcasts of
population pessimists At an international conference held
in Bonn, West Germany, he predicted by the year 2175
Earth will easily support 10 billion people He is confident
we have enough resources to insure a prosperous future
for centuries to come He has stated, "I defy you to name
one product of which we are now running out for which
there is no substitute." (Parade. Sept 13, 1981). Many
predict with our present technology, Earth could easily
feed from 35-50 billion people, and this doesn't include
aqua farming or even any massive programs to reclaim our
great deserts (Population, Resources, and the Future
Non-Malthusian Perspectives, by Bahr, Chadwick, &
Thomas)
I feel population reduction advocates should devote
their energies towards building a better future rather than
trying to lay guilt trips on Americans who love kids and
desire to raise more than one or two children
Lori Parkman
26th Street
Greek praise
In response to Mr Seder s erudite epistle in praise of
Greeks no one has ever warned me to beware of Germans
bearing gifts
Jim Marshall