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Bike thieves show
lack of awareness
The bicycle thieves were busy last week. Did you happen
to notice? There were five bicycles stolen in broad daylight
from various locations around campus. In each instance the
thieves were in plain view of students. And in each instance
the thieves “stole” a bicycle with virtual immunity.
More than a quarter of a million dollars worth of bicycles
are stolen annually from the campus-area. Bike theft is
doubtless the most frequently committed crime at this
University. And it doesn’t appear to be on the decrease.
She pushed ike bolt-cutters into her backpack and they
walked to the bikerack on 13th Avenue. Anyone behind her
could see the red handles of the boltcutters blatantly pro
truding from her backpack. The light-blue bicycle was
chained to the rack. She brought out the bolt-cutters and bite
into the chrome metal. About five feet away a man was slowly
putting on his jacket, watching her. The metal of the lock
sounded a loud crack. She nearly leaped out other skin from
fright.
one snaicnea me pieces or we Droxen iock ana quiCKiy
tucked the bott-cutters into her backpack. In an instant they
were walking "stolen" bicycle from the rack. The man
finished buttoning his jacket — unlocked his own bicycle and
rode away.
It was an obvious bicycle theft which the man buttoning
his jacket watched from beginning to end without saying a
word.
The bicycle was locked to the light pole in front of the
dorms. It was sunny and around 5 in the afternoon. People
were milling about, talking, playing frisbee, or listening to,
music in their dorm rooms. The thief approached a bicycle. It
looked familiar. He set the jaws of the two-and-a-half-foot
long bolt-cutters on the lock. Crack.
A large number of people saw the thief cut the lock and
' steal” this bicycle. But once again, no one interfered while'
the thief worked.
In all five bicycles were “stolen” by the six “bicycle
thieves.” Each reported being noticed — or watched from the
time they cut the lock, to the time they rode off — but no one
stopped their thievery
These occurrences are incredible to think of. During all
the daylight incidents of obvious theft of locked bicycles not
a single person notified Campus Security, nor so much as
asked the thieves what they were doing.
The “ring” of bicycle thieves were actually members of
Professor Galen Rarick’s Precision Journalism class stealing
their own bicycles while conducting a controlled experiment
in "participant observation” reporting It was also a test of
student awareness and social responsibility.
Needless to say, we all failed the test.
It’s supposed to be callous Easterners who would let a
woman get raped and murdered rather than “get involved”
by notifying the police. We, in Eugene, Oregon, pride
ourselves on befrvg more involved. That’s untrue, as the
“bicycle thieves” proved. Apparently, there is little concep
tion of social responsibility among students at this University.
The outright acquiescence of those watching the bicy
cles being “stolen” begs the question whether this irre
sponsible attitude extends also to crimes with victims, such
as rape or assault. To mutely witness an act that has all the
props and actions of a bicycle theft and say nothing implies
that the terrified screams of a woman being brutally assault
ed would fall on careless ears.
A citizen’s social responsibility exists before the action
of the law, before the involvement of the police. It is the
action of a citizen who, knowing the law, either disrupts a
crime in progress or notifies the police. On this campus a call
to the public safety office might effectively halt a crime —
such as bicycle theft — in progress.
In the case of the journalism “bicycle thieves" (and
many other crimes that are not violent in character) all it
would have taken to stop their “stealing” was the question:
“Is that your bike?”
No one had the courage nor concern to ask.
^0 DOUBT
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letters
Alarming
Monday's editorial about racist
remarks by a math professor
was alarming for two reasons
First, the use of racial stereo
types (if accurately reported) to
warm up the class is intolerable
and certainly embarrassing; rest
assured that heads will not roll.
The second reason is the core
of the problem: you and the rest
of the class sat idly by and
watched the incident without
comment or criticism. Apathy is
no cure for racism.
It has been rumored that col
lege is established to promote
the free exchange of ideas Un
fortunately, many students here
are content to be neither part of
the problem nor the solution,
which never works in practice
In this way, they (as you have)
rob themselves of the most im
portant facet of their education
If you want to stop racism,
sexism or any other form of
social impropriety, try doing
something when it happens
rather than hiding behind the
Emerald; you might achieve
something
Jim Rowell
GTF, math
Coupons
People should be aware that
the Oregon Photo Lab coupons
which appear frequently in the
Emerald do not necessarily
guarantee that you will get your
whole roll of film developed
Oregon Photo Lab reserves the
right to decide which negatives
are "good” enough to print and
which ones would be a waste of
their paper They will still charge
you the full "sales'' price.
I took some of my "bad"
negatives to the University
Bookstore for printing after
Oregon Photo Lab refused to
print them The prints were as
clean as the ones that Oregon
Photo Lab had printed
That “sales” price is not
much of a bargain after you add
in what you have to pay a
second developer to print the
negatives that Oregon Photo
Lab won't print.
S. Hilton
CIS
Unusual
A rather startling occurrence
happened earlier this week as I
was passing by the ROTC
building on my way home I
glanced down the driveway of
the building to see a uniformed
man pointed a gun in my direc
tion — he was obviously aiming
it at a tree two feet in front of me
I did what seemed natural
when confronted with the
bizarre and the unusual: I froze
Meanwhile I watched the soldier
lower the gun and turn, with
nervous laughter towards the
other young men he was with
The next day I spoke to the
secretary of ROTC: explaining
that I would like to complain
about this unsettling event
Somehow it didn't seem like the
type of public relations which
ROTC would need around this
campus and perhaps the super
visor could say a few words to
the soldier in question
As irony would have it, the
supervisor had been that soldier
— just showing a good example
Brenda Bettrldge
Counseling
Non-coverage
I would like to respond to Paul
Danzer’s ' Non-coverage'' of
the soccer game between Port
land and New York last week
Two things upset me First,
Danzer does give credit to Port
land for playing a good first half,
but his descriptions of the play
are incredibly in favor of New
York. Hardly mentioned was
John Bain 's first goal which was
one of the finest efforts you'll
ever see in sports Bain ran
through a maze of three
defenders and drilled it high
over the outstretched arms of
the Cosmo goalie Bain made
one of the worlds' greatest
teams look like mere children
Worse yet though are
Danzer’s comments on the
number of fans in attendance
He states there should have
been as least 20,000 instead of
15,000 who were there Does
Danzer realize it was a Wed
nesday and not a Saturday9 The
15.000 represents more than
4.000 over their average of last
year Finally, if soccer at the
professional level does die, it
will be the fault of media per
sonnel like Danzer Rather than
report the sheer beauty and
athletic skill the game has to
offer, they prefer to find
something to criticize about it. I
live in Eugene and travel to
every home game that Portland
plays including the Cosmo
game That game and soccer
itself deserve more than was
given by Danzer
Lawrence VanSUphout
Senior, telecommunications
letters policy
The Emerald will accept
and attempt to print all
letters containing fair
comment on issues, ideas
and topics of interest to
the University community
staff
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