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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1982)
emerald -platform FBI discrimination not totally resolved On March 15a representative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be on campus. That FBI representative will be at the University's law school — to recruit. Another recruiting visit by the FBI in October prompted a protest because of that agency’s probable hiring discrimination based on ap plicants sexual orientation. That issue, judging by the law school’s willingness to permit FBI recruit ing, has been resolved But has it really? The Emerald's stand in the first incident was for a comprehensive affirmative action policy instituted University-wide that includes the ‘ ex traneous considerations’’ clause At the time of the FBI incident the law school used an affirmative action policy that prohibited on-campus recruiting by employers who discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, handicap, national origin or “any other extraneous considerations not directly and substantially related to effective job per formance The extraneous considerations” clause was the crux of the law school and FBI incident This clause is explicit in its inclusion of homosexuals The Emerald continues in its condemnation of hiring discrimination based on sexual orientation Has the FBI adequately defined their position regarding hiring practices as related to applicants sexual orientation? They apparently have, to the satisfaction of Derrick Bell, dean of the law school. Although, the FBI has not resolved their position to the complete satisfaction of the Emerald The FBI wrote Bell on Dec. 11 stating admin istrative action "is taken not simply because of their sexual orientation' but homosexual conduct is a significant factor in such (hiring) decisions ” That homosexual conduct is a significant factor in hiring decisions illustrates that the question im plicit in the entire incident remains unanswered The letter went on to state that it is FBI policy "not to improperly discriminate against any ap plicant. Homosexual conduct would be con sidered along with all other available information." The letter also states it was FBI policy to consider the ‘‘sexual activities of applicants, whether heterosexual or homosexual, when such activities could affect FBI employment." The "not to improperly discriminate against any applicant” statement just doesn’t sound quite right. The FBI's legal counsel wrote Jan 11 that the FBI “can offer no specific encouragement that a homosexual applicant will be found who satis fies all of the requirements ” Bell has done a commendable job challeng ing the FBI to state their position on hiring homo sexuals He has been more than reasonably con cerned with the rights of students But Bell seems to have settled for a less than clear-cut position from the FBI, The statements from the FBI do not approach a firm resolution as to the FBI’s hiring practices The situation has reached an impasse This im passe is due, in part, to the incident that provoked the FBI discrimination question The question of FBI hiring discrimination was prompted by hear say — what will bring a specification of any dis crimination is an actual case of hiring discrimina tion Perhaps that will occur when the FBI comes to recruit. the bend in the tunnel ROTC issue At the February assembly meeting Professor Sherwood raised two questions of legit imate concerns with respect to my notice of motion regarding the ROTC He asked Pres Olum what his action would be if such a motion should pass — implying that it is futile to consider such ques tions if the administration is just going to ignore any recom mendation of the assembly Olum properly refused to be drawn into a discussion at this point since parliamentary procedure does not provide for discussion at the notice of mo tion stage However, for those who may share this concern we should point out that Sherwood over looked the fact that Olum and Provost Hill have already ex plicitly addressed the question of what is the proper forum and place for discussion and deci sion making relative to the ROTC. In an interview published Nov 5, 1981 Olum says “ROTC — whatever else you might think about it — is an academic pro gram within the University I wouldn't touch that myself — the faculty approved the program and any changes must come from the faculty " Hill agreed ROTC is con trolled by the faculty and any questions of neutrality should be directed to the faculty Assem bly ” The Emerald continued “Hill says he s concerned thai some of the ROTC curriculum is controlled by the army rather than the University But that is a matter for the faculty to discuss — not the administration." The second question con- ■ cerned the propriety of bringing up a question upon which the Assembly has voted in the past In this connection I can only point out that in 1977, when the vote went in an unexpected di rection—in spite of having, only minutes before, voted to limit discussion by each side to 10 minutes, and in spite of the fact that the Assembly had just voted upon the ROTC question — Professor Sherwood forgot the urgency of getting back to hou sekeeping items — and how bad it is to bring up questions al ready voted on — and was one of the first to jump to his feet to demand that the discussion be continued into the following month Bayard H. McConnaughey biology Dehumanizing Ann Portal's “Liberal Arts Students Are in the Dark on Technology" recently show cased the dominant view on the subject She quotes dean Robert Berdahl to the effect that more grounding in computer science and the like is needed — even though techno thought has, of course, "dehumanizing" implications He sums it all up, somehow, with typical aca demic balance and decorum (cowardice): "There are no nuts here that think technology ought to be stopped It just must be understood " I happen to be such a "nut ”; high tech must not only be stopped, but dismantled if we are to have a chance of con necting with nature, with each other, with ourselves It's not just chemical and nu clear wastes, Love Canal, PCB. DDT, oil spills carcinogenic food neutron bombs genetic engineering, ad infinitum It's the whole industrializing of life from the factory system and its stunting dtvison of labor to the specialization of everything which has made us all specta tors It's also shopping centers, freeways and video games — the entire flattened-out, de-in dividualized world, where we re all intended to learn the com puter modes that could express the final reduction of the per son We need a new vandalism equal to the challenge, equal to destroying this totality — in favor of play, creativity, anarchy Anyone who tells you different is your jailor John Zerzan Ferry Street Homophobic I am writing to complain at the homophobic review of "Making Love1’ by Matt Meyer in your Feb 17 issue Meyer is dis tressed that the film tells us that homosexuals are people too Surprise, Meyer They are The theory that homosexuali ty is a disease which, as the review puts it. ‘ might happen to me," is both unfounded and offensive We all have sexual preferences, and we make our choices, consciously and un consciously in response to a number of personal and social influences A majority, in this culture, make the socially ac cepted choice of heterosexuali ty a minority find themselves attracted to members of their own sex Who knows if homo sexuality were a more socially sanctioned choice, the propor tions might be very different In any case, there is nothing to differentiate a homosexual from a heterosexual except the sex of the person they choose as lover or mate Other than that. Meyer, they are perfectly ordinary peo ple like you and me Except that most homosexuals are not as self-righteously judgemental as some heterosexuals Jo Alexander N. Monroe, Eugene staff The Oregon Dally Emerald la pubtiahed Monday through Friday except during finals week and vacations by the Oregon DaHy Emerald Publishing Co. 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