Wednesday, May 26, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Oregon daily
Volume 83
Number 160
A Shoe-in for laughter
By Brent Walth
04 ttui Emsraid
‘‘I can't discuss ethics t have none.’’
Jeff MacNelly opened with that dis
claimer Tuesday night, speaking at the
Ruhl Lecture on journalistic ethics
"I'm doing my job if I libel, misquote,
and make a shambles of the truth,’’
said the Pulitzer Prize winning car
toonist "When the smoke clears, I'm
usually closer to the truth than my
colleagues who write the news.”
MacNelly, entertaining 400 people
with his dry, calculating humor, is the
creator of the comic strip "Shoe "
The strip.featuring birds who publish
the Treetop Tattler-Tribune, creates for
MacNelly a "schizophrenic life as a
comic strip artist and cartoonist.”
He said he chose the characters for
"Shoe" because of the "close rela
tionship between domesticated birds
and the newspaper industry."
He won a Pulitzer for his editorial
cartoons in 1972 at the age of 24, and
another in 1978
In 1981 he quit the editorial side to
concentrate on "Shoe,” only to return
to cartooning for the Chicago Tribune
six months later
While he feels the characters in
Shoe" represent all his emotions,
editorial cartooning is easier for him
"Americans always elect funny peo
ple to high political office,” MacNelly
said. "That makes my job a lot easier
"When trying to draw your favorite
politican," he advised the audience,
’ and you can't think of a reptile he
reminds you of, draw him as a small
child
•'Reality is a hell of a lot funnier and
sillier than we could ever make up," he
said "I get an idea from a news story,
and then take it to the Nth degree only
to find two weeks later that the
politicians have taken it a step further
Economic issues remain his favorite
topic, simply because he knows very
little about them.
"That makes me feel pretty much on
the same level as the Council of Econ
omic Advisers," MacNelly added
With complete freedom from his
syndicate to handle any subject as he
pleases, all opinions are his own Mac
Nelly stays away from very little and
regrets even less
I get a soft spot every once in a
while,” he said of his barb's victims,
"but I work on it and it goes away ”
MacNelly noted he never feared that
any of his subjects — which are public
figures anyway — would bring legal
retaliation against him
"To be sued for libel, someone would
have to show malicious intent on my
part." he said wryly "They'd have to go
into the courtroom and hold up the
cartoon to the jury And the people in
the jury would just laugh.
"That would be the end of the suit
I think ”
MacNelly pioneered the "gag first,
message second" approach to editor
ial cartoons and has witnessed his style
copied ever since
"I was influenced a lot by (Pat) Oli
phant," MacNelly said after his speech
"I hear now that a lot of people are
influenced by me It’s a cycle, a chain
letter approach to breaking new
ground ”
U
Jeff MacNelly
University image needs polish, mayor says
By Ann Portal
Of the Emerald
The University still seems to need an “image
builder" to sell the fact that it is one of the top 100 public
universities in the country, Eugene Mayor Gus Keller
said Tuesday
Keller told an EMU forum audience that the
University is a great asset to the livability of Eugene, but
he said more must be done to convey that to city
residents "You do have a communications gap and
you have not dealt with it well," he said
Earlier in the meeting, Keller said that “the Beavers
can sell their basketball team more effectively than you
can sell your research departments."
Keller spoke at a discussion on University-com
munity relations sponsored by the American Associa
tion of University Professors About 40 people — mostly
University faculty — attended the afternoon talk
Otto t'Hooft, Lane County commissioner, said that
part of the University's image problem is that people in
the community still have a perception of the University
as a liberal, long-haired institution — a "head-in-the-sky
and unrealistic-view-of-life" kind of place
That's where the University's credibility problem
begins, t'Hooft said
Keller disagreed "It's been a long time since those
activities went on which in fact turned off the majority of
the people," he said
However, there may be a gulf between the sup
posedly "liberal” University community and “middle
America” — the majority of the state's citizens, Keller
said
Another speaker, University History Prof. Stan
Pierson, said he was concerned that the true mission of
the University not be overlooked. The new emphasis on
services offered by the University and the economic
Photo by Bob Baker
impact it has on the community are fine, but the state
needs to realize scholarly inquiry is the school's foun
dation, he said
The real challenge is for the community to under
stand activities that take place in small laboratories and
research libraries — the "very lonely type" activities,
Olum to speak
University Pres. Paul Olum meets with students
today during his spring term convocation at 3:30
p.m in 150 Geology
The meeting is an opportunity for students to
discuss University issues that concern them
before the end of the academic year Questions
from the audience will set the agenda for the
meeting.
Pierson said.
Other forum participants detailed what has been
done to extend the University into the community,
efforts that drew praise at the meeting from University
and community leaders alike
Springfield Mayor John Lively applauded the in
terns and data available to his city from the University.
Next year's Springfield budget depends to an even
greater extent on utilizing the University’s resources, he
said
In past years, Springfield became too dependent
on outside consultants, losing a local perspective and
contact with the University, Lively said.
T'Hooft said that in the future Lane County also will
rely more heavily on University interns. Yet other forms
of county/University cooperation will decline next year,
he said, pointing to the cooperative museum mission
and athletic event law enforcement as areas hurt by
county budget problems.
The challenge now is to encourage the growth of
University and community interrelations, said University
Pres Paul Olum. "What’s surprising is that a few years
ago we didn’t do it at all,” Olum said.
The new importance placed on cooperation is the
result of a period in which universities existed in
isolation in their communities, he said. Those “ivory
tower” days of financially secure universities are over,
Olum said
He admitted the University “clearly has not suc
ceeded" in its recent lobbying efforts. State legislators
agree on the importance of the University, but when
they have to Cut they cut higher education, Olum said.
“We have told them eloquently, brilliantly — many
times over — the importance of a research university to
the state,'’ he said
”We have not yet gotten them to respond when the
chips are down ”