ASUO election brews a teapot tempest
There was trouble already in the ASUO pres
idential election — and, as tradition dictates,
both sides were guilty of over-acting. But, an 11th
hour action seems to have sorted the debacle out.
At center of the election maelstrom were the
Interfraternity Council (designated in your
program as IFC), and ASUO presidential
candidate Jeffrey Houston (hereafter referred to
as Houston). The matter in contention was a
scheduled IFC sponsored debate between the
candidates. Each year the IFC allows the ASUO
presidential candidates a forum in which to ex
press their views and then chooses one among
them to offer their support. The support of the
Greek organizations is usually a boon for a
presidential candidate. Only this year, for
candidate Houston, it almost proved to be a bust.
The IFC debate this year was originally
scheduled for tonight which, inadvertently, corre
sponds to the first night of the Jewish holiday
Passover It happens that Houston has long
standing plans to celebrate Passover dinner ton
ight with Hillel (the campus Jewish organization).
Realizing the conflict, Houston requested
Doug Bauer, president of the IFC, to reschedule
the event.
Bauer previously said he tried to effect the
change but found all the rooms booked.
This is where the two factions — IFC and
Houston — became the immovable object and
irresistible force.
Bauer did not change the day of the debate —
which was still set for the first day of Passover
Houston claimed he was being discriminated
against because of his religion. And Bauer,
believing Houston was restricted from debating
because of the religious holiday, said an orthodox
Jew he knows said Houston could participate if he
wished.
Houston came out with some strong
statements, claiming IFC was forcing him into a
"WASP-greek mold” — and that the scheduling
difficulty amounted to a ‘ smokescreen,” an
attempt to deny him access.
Bauer countered with the charge that Hous
ton was really out to cripple the Greek participa
tion in the ASUO presidential election. By re
scheduling the debate to next week, as Houston
requested, it would effectively cut down the time
Greek organizations would have — a day and a
half — to actively campaign for the /FC-endorsed
candidate.
Both sides were acting in a manner that left no
room for compromise. That it really was a crippling
action for the debate to be held next week is a
debatable prospect itself? It seems rescheduling
the debate to next week simply out of respect for
the Jewish holiday was in order. It was not so
much anti-semitism as it was the IFC’s initial
stubborness toward Houston’s request.
At the height of this tempest, three other
ASUO presidential candidates: Kevin Kouns, Tom
Brannon, and Ed Colligan, opted to support
Houston and boycott the debate. That left two of
the six candidates, Debbie Mellow and C.J. Balfe,
still willing to debate. An IFC endorsement for
either of the two would have rankled the voters, as
both Mellow and Balfe are members of a sorority
and fraternity respectively.
But, all is apparently made well again by the
/EC's last minute decision to reschedule the
debate for 4 p.m. today. Houston appears
assuaged by the rescheduling as it will not inter
fere with his observation of Passover — and the
other candidates will be debating There is peace
once again in the Emerald Valley as the IFC and
Houston have reached a concord. The difficulty
factor was obviously surmountable, so let the
elections commmence and may the best,
um. . politician win.
Skulldugery
Jack Sanders wrote a
thoughtful response (30 March)
to your short-sighted and irre
sponsible editorial (5 March). In
your reply, you (1) did not deal
with issue of substance that he
raised, and (2) resorted to a bit
of semantic skullduggery.
The substantial issue —
clearly stated by Sanders — is
that faculty salaries have fallen
some 16-17 percent behind
those of other state employees
during the past decade, and
that, adjusting for inflation, the
average faculty salary has fallen
some 33 percent since 1973-74.
In contrast, tuition increases
have about kept pace with infla
tion These increases have not
been popular with the faculty,
many of whom pay tuition for
dependents; they come from the
same source as declining facul
ty salaries.
The semantic trick is your
distinction between "taking a
pay cut" and "postponing a
scheduled salary increase."
Given inflation, no raise is in fact
a cut; come to that, even the
scheduled raise is a cut, but not
quite so bad a cut as no raise, or
a delayed raise But the really
misleading thing is the word
"postpone,” which means to
put off to a later time The in
come lost in the months during
which the increase is denied will
never be regained; the proper
word is "forgo," meaning to do
without or give up It is time to
speak honestly: the faculty will
be forced (not asked) to forgo
(not postpone) an "increase"
that itself amounts to a
moderate cut in real salary.
If you still don't understand
this, you might consider how
much money could be saved by
"postponing" publishing the
Emerald for several months next
year.
Stephen Reynolds
Religious studies
Danzig show
The University Museum of Art
is to be congratulated on the
recently presented Danzig Ex
hibit An exhibit of such high
quality and significance can be
a magnetizing and cohesive
force in our community and
state Numerous school classes
used the exhibit to develop sen
sitivity to culture, art, and his
tory Groups from Portland and
Corvallis came especially to
Eugene to view the exhibit
Quality events based on the
Danzig exhibition attracted
diverse dimensions of the
Eugene community There was
a special feeling about it all. My
personal thanks to the orga
nizers of the Eugene exhibit and
to the patient and helpful mu
seum staff
Alice Lachman
Psychology
Registration
After unsuccessfully register
ing for the umpteenth time I've
come to believe that our
registration process is for the
birds For one thing, why
should non-majors be allowed
to take classes that are needed
by majors in order to meet
graduation requirements on
time, when our departments are
being diminished due to budget
cuts. Specifically, if a telecom
munication major needs to take
a Radio Workshop class and
can't do so because of a poor
registration time, he or she is left
out in the cold, while some peo
ple who are actually enrolled in
the class are just taking it be
cause it happens to fit into their
schedule. A possible solution
could be to temporarily restrict
certain classes to majors only,
and if there are still some open
spots after registration is over,
they may then be opened up to
the public.
Richard Bards
Junior, telecommunication
Public opinion
It seems that Pres. Ronald
Reagan and Alexander Haig Jr.
have found a new game to play.
The pieces are two impover
ished, struggling Central Amer
ican nations The strategy is
fabrication and distortion of
fact The objective is the
manipulation of U S. public
opinion.
At a recent news conference,
Haig presented a photograph
depicting burned, mutilated
bodies as proof of the "atroci
ties” committed by the new,
popular Nicaraguan
government against the Miskito
Indians. The bodies in this pho
to were later discovered to be
those of peasants killed under
the U S. supported Samosa
regime.
On Thursday of last week,
while speaking before a House
subcommittee. Haig said that a
Nicaraguan director of guerilla
operations in El Salvador had
been captured. This man, who
was evidence of the massive
Nicaraguan military presence
among Salavadorean guerillas,
miraculously escaped to the
sanctuary of a Mexican
Embassy.
A steady stream of un
substantiated, twisted informa
tion, which the U S. government
prefers to label "classified," has
been issued from the White
House. The ultimate goal of this
misinforming of the American
public is to precipitate a swing
in American anti-intervention
sentiment.
The production and con
sumption of such propaganda
speaks poorly for our high
government officials, our com
pliant news media, and the
many Americans who blindly
accept such fabrications as
fact
Lora Dlerker
Sophomore, psychology
Mack incident
The reporters from the
Emerald (as well as the Regis
ter-Guard), caught more than I
did at the Washington State/
Oregon track meet in Eugene,
Saturday, but they missed an
important part of what cul
minated in David Mack's shov
ing of Sotirios Moutsanas. I
cannot address the elbowing of
David by Moutsanas (I did not
see it), nor can I address the
alleged taunting of Moutsanas
by David (I did not hear it). I
think it is important to note that
David said he was calling to
teammate Chris Hudson (see
Register-Guard; Suday, April 4,
p 5c) I can, though, address
what happened on the south
end of the track approximately
twenty five feet away from me.
After the finish of the 800
meters, David was walking
toward the field-house; he had
one arm in the shirt he was put
ting on. Moutsanas came up
behind David, grabbed him by
his shoulder and turned him
around David was pulled to
within four inches of
Moutsanas' face. Moutsanas
was talking the entire time, and
gesturing vehemently with one
and two fingers under David's
chin. David listened for a
moment, then shoved
Moutsanas saying, "Get away
from me!” David then walked
quickly away. Moutsanas fol
lowed for a moment, gesturing,
then turned to talk to his
teammates.
I thought, as did the person I
was with, that David was going
to get hit when Moutsanas came
up behind him. I think it unfor
tunate that David has been
portrayed in a negative light
when he showed the restraint
he did in this situation. The
shove was the secondary, not
the primary, action which took
place.
Kathryn Young
Creative writing