opinion
Eugene Council
has a lousy attitude
Last week’s Eugene City Council meeting on the naming
of the Hult Center for the Performing Arts was less a "public
hearing” than it was a public embarassment
The City Council made no secret of the fact that its mind
was made up before the hearing A resolution, passed out
days before the hearing, read “Having considered the
testimony presented at that hearing,” the Council finds that
the naming of the Hult Center was valid
I he City Council could have put off forming the resolu
tion until after the testimony by the Citizens for Open
Government — the group calling for an open meeting to
consider a name — was presented
The wording of the resolution was simple enough that
one of the members could have put it in the form of a formal
motion during the meeting At least that would have given the
meeting some sense of credulity
Thfll pre-testimony resolution wasn’t the worst of it,
however It was the "How dare you?” attitude of the majority
of the councilors and of the "community leaders” who
attended that made the meeting stink
Consider some comments made by former Mayor Les
Anderson, a strong supporter of the decision to name the
center after millionaires Nils and Jewel Hult.
The actions taken by CFOG were a "vicious slap” on the
face of Eugene. Their protest against the way in which the
city decided on the name change was “ill-mannered petti
ness," Anderson said during the meeting.
Perhaps this statement made by Anderson sums up
Eugene’s attitude problem. "Can you blame the city coun
cilors for thinking that no one would have the gall to debate
the name?”
Members of CFOG "had the gall” to protest what they
considered poor government and this is what they got for it.
Councilor Brian Obie: "With public participation should
come some responsibility I do not see it here tonight."
Councilor Bill Hamel: The ones who are protesting the
name are “short-termers" while the ones who like the name
are “long-term citizens."
Whether the name “Hult” is the best one or not, isn’t
necessarily the main issue here. The problem was the City
Council made their decision during a meeting that violated
Oregon open meetings statutes, and thus left out a very
important segment of the decision-making process — the
people of Eugene That needed to be pointed out and
corrected
So the City Council corrected itself to prevent a law suit
Now all it needs to do is to work on its attitude
Campus motels?
Residence halls offer low-cost housing to visitors on
Oregon's colleges and Universities They compete with
motel-owners, in that sense, for "guests."
During the last State Board meeting a small group of
Ashland motel owners complained that the Southern Oregon
State College was taking away their business by providing
low-cost residence hall accommodations.
The University also rents residence hall space to groups
coming to Eugene. This is a large factor in having summer
programs here on campus Currently the University is con
sidering renting two empty Bean Hall wings year-round. This
could become a problem for University/motel relations —
though we don’t think it will.
SOSC, like the University, should require a university
based "sponsor" for every group that uses the colleges for
accommoaauons
All the state system institutions should have a policy of
what groups they will acccommodate and why. Good
relations between the local motel owners and convention
bureaus need to be maintained
In the vast majority of cases, the groups staying at the
University are here because the University offers a program
or facility that cannot be found except here or at some other
institute of higher education — the Labor Education Re
search Center or high school women’s track camps for
instance.
The cities and towns that house these institutions, like
Ashland, are more than grateful that they have such an asset
in their community
The State Board need not waste too much time on this
question of Ashland's dorm /motel dispute — they should just
see that there is a policy spelled out
that spe-oial plaoa, Eu-g*ene Dbwn-toivn.
- ■ —— -. .
Serious or not
I would have thought that
threatening the lives of nearly
200 people would have been a
serious offense, but apparently
not The two students who
claimed they had set a bomb to
go off in Room 150 Geology
during a crowded midterm
committed more than what I
consider a “stunt” (Emerald
11-22-82)
Their action caused the mid
term to be cancelled; students
became angry, and probably a
few dropped the class But far
worse, they threatened our
lives
As I recall, people who on
another occasion burned a flag
during a forum in the EMU Ball
room are now serving time in
jail Our terrorist classmates,
however, are only asked to do
each 50 hours of community
service and are being placed on
academic probation If they
really had been members of the
RCYB, would they have been
treated any differently?
The two students are lucky
They remain anonymous. They
will not be expelled, fined or put
in jail Hopefully, they will learn a
little compassion for others as
they perform their community
service and reflect on their own
good fortune
Greg Hutchings
senior, psychology
Motherhood
I'm responding to the letter
entitled "Human Life" in an Oc
tober Emerald Ms Barn
hurst seems to have disregard
ed the psychological effects on
the children she would like to
see born She also seems to
have disregarded an objective
look at the development of a
human fetus, but to argue about
something not completely un
derstood would not help any
cause
Consider this question: What
advantage is there to bringing
an unwanted child into this
world? The Swedish govern
ment did an interesting study
quite 2 few years ago The
government, which was anti
choice at the time, denied abor
tions to 100 women seeking
them The children that were
bom were then followed for 21
years As a control group, the
government followed a group of
children born to mothers
desiring their pregnancies The
children of the unwanted preg
nancies performed poorly in life
relative to their wanted coun
terparts Most of the unwanted
males failed tests to enter mili
tary service, the school scores
of the unwanted children paled
in comparison to the scores of
the wanted children, and many
of the unwanted children grew
up to be supported by the
government dole Needless to
say, the Swedish government
changed its stand on abortion
I am not saying that abortion
should be forced on anyone I
am saying that motherhood
should not be forced on ever
yone
Eduard Eichnar
biology
Beer, boxing
I'm not sure what is so
disturbing about the large Miller
Lite beer ad that appeared on
page six of the Nov. 19 Emerald
Perhaps it is the timing of its
appearance: right after the
recent destruction of the young
Korean boxer's life Perhaps it is
the blatant, smug celebration of
violence and competition in the
ad
The picture is of a boxer lying
unconscious at the feet of an
other boxer (Carlos Palomino)
who has this idiot grin on his
face and a "quote" from the
victor: "Boxers are a lot like
beer Some go down easier than
others."
The implied connection is that
just like a boxer gets pleasure
from knocking out an opponent,
you can get pleasure from
drinking Miller beer The ad is
disgusting and an outrage It is a
forceful, simple message: “Isn't
is wonderful how we in America
can have vain machismo, com
petition and violence in this cul
ture." I suppose the ad is so
disturbing because it actually
celebrates (with beer and bold
fanfare) the worst in our society
I resent this callous attitude on
the part of Miller Brewing
Is the Emerald so despeiate
for money that it takes all offers
of advertising? Perhaps I am
naive in thinking the Emerald
staff normally screeens out the
ads that are in very poor taste
I recommend they cultivate a
little chutzpah and say “no" to
ads that celebrate violence —
even when the company in
volved in the rejection is a
frequent advertiser
John Jordan
Eugene
Oregon daily _ .
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