II letters
Question
At last a "hero” Israeli cap
tain visits Eugene "to educate
Americans” that Christians in
Lebanon, as he declared, were
actually the ones who
massacred the Palestinians
and that — antisemantically
as usual — Israel fell victim of
"the world’s media coverage
of Israeli military actions" in
its invasion of Lebanon.
Unashamed, Avishaye con
ceals all motives and conse
quences of the Israeli invasion
of Lebanon, the massacre of
thousands of human beings
and the demolition of Beirut.
And yet he dares to say it is
important for Americans to
understand why Israel invaded
Lebanon and that "Israel was
innocent!"
Finally, he justifies Israel’s
invasion of Lebanon because
Israel couldn't tolerate attacks
from the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
But now that the PLO has
left Lebanon (seven months
ago), a challenging question
persists: Why is Israel still oc
cupying Lebanon? A question,
the "hero” captain escaped.
Amer Alaghbary
Race relations
The sociology department,
sometimes labelled “liberal,”
or even “radical,” acted in a
typically reactionary fashion
on March 1. Two years ago,
spurred by student pressure to
develop a stronger race rela
tions program which would
also serve as a recruiting
device for racial minority
students and faculty, this
department voted overwhelm
ingly in favor of filling the next
faculty vacancy with a person
whose major emphasis would
be race relations.
At this time, there is only
one faculty member, albeit an
excellent one, whose em
phasis is race relations, thus
making this extremely relevant
aspect of sociology an under
committed one.
Yet, when this vacancy oc
cured, the job announcement
posted read “social
psychology and/or race
relations.”
And on the list of can
didates at Tuesdays depart
ment meeting only three out of
the eight candidates In the
final draft had a major em
phasis in race relations. The
remaining five candidates had
a major emphasis in social
psychology and no emphasis
in race relations.
A few days prior to the last
meeting of the hiring commit
tee each member received a
memo from the head of the
department, Ben Johnson. The
memo reinforced an emphasis
on social psychology. One can
only speculate on the memo
Johnson got from Richard Hill,
the vice provost for academic
affairs. Hill is also a full pro
fessor in the sociology depart
ment with an emphasis in
social psychology.
At the March 1 meeting
there were protests from
graduates, undergraduates
and faculty that the “turn of
events" had excluded ex*
cellent race relations ap
plicants, who had no em
phasis in social psychology
Furthermore, as a graduate
student stated, the depart
merit may be libel for suit
because of the hiring
procedure.
The issue of race relations
is being skirted. For two years
hiring someone in this field
had been a top priority. This
priority was nullified by a
memo (or memos), irrespon
sibility (or ignorance), and self
interest.
One person on the faculty
voted “nay” to the motion to
go on with the nomination. He
is the only person of color on
the faculty. A vivid lesson in
race relations.
Kevin Barclay
sociology, women’s studies
Threatening
The sentiments and fears of
Eric Stillwell, the political
science student whose letter
to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov
appeared in the Communist
Party paper Pravda, are
characteristically American.
Stillwell’s concern that “the
CIA will probably start spying”
on him (though not unfound
ed) struck me as being primari
ly symbolic; symbolic of an era
much like the 1950s.
Today, just like then, being
labelled a “communist sym
pathizer” is serious business.
Why? America’s present cir
cumstances provide a good
answer.
American people today are
frustrated — frustrated by
unemployment; frustrated by a
deteriorating economy and
frustrated by growing social
injustice. In essence, they are
frustrated by the fading of the
American dream.
Like all frustrations, these
too need outlets. The barrage
of gut-level simplistic na
tionalism and aggressive anti
communism emanating from
the White House has provided
one such outlet.
The United States vs. them
syndrome is something
Americans can identify with. It
helps us forget what we don’t
have and remember what we
do... “At least we’ve got our
freedom...” "We're still a lot
better off than they are...”
“It's the communist system
♦hat makes them so much
worse off than us..."
Before you know it, the
American nightmare disap
pears and the dream seems
real again. It makes me
wonder though, can there be
an American dream without a
Soviet threat? Somehow I
think not.
In essence, the publishing
of Eric Stillwell's letter
represents a threat to the
Soviet threat: and to many
Americans, that ip itself is
threatening.
Christian Gunther
senior, sociology
WARNING- THE ATTORNEY 6ENERAL HAS DETERMINED THAT SUSPECTED POSSESSION Of TICKETS TO
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your turn
Our semester system
On Feb. 3, the Emerald in
formed us that the semester
vs. the quarter system discus
sion had begun. Only six hours
later, the Senate (comprised of
Student University Affairs
Board members and select
faculty) voted to support a pro
posal from the faculty to adopt
a late semester system.
Students who may have
realized that contact with their
SUAB representatives was
crucial, were pressured for
time to act; the student body’s
only voice in the issue at the
Senate meeting was the
SUAB, and the Senate voted
on the issue the very same day
students became aware of it.
Unfortunately, many people
(ourselves included) didn’t
know that students elect one
peer from their department to
represent the student body
within that department on
issues similar to this one. We
didn’t know how or why we
should loot, for our SUAB
representative. We realize
students must take some
responsibility for keeping
themselves informed.
The SUAB works hard, but
to represent us it needs our in
put. We feel, however, that
there has to be some way for
SUAB to make itself and Its
function more widely known.
Somehow, more open com
munication must be estab
lished between us all.
On March 2, only four
weekdays later, the University
Assembly (comprised of SUAB
and the entire faculty) met and
voted In support of the late
semester system 169 124.
Students who were not
members of SUAB did not
have speaking rights at this
meeting. The faculty, which
seemed to already know what
it wanted, rushed the decision
making process by closing the
discussion after one hour, and
voted. In less than a week, we
bid "aloha” to the quarter
system.
While we favor the Univer
sity's current system, we can
see the value a semester
system offers. We believe the
faculty generally supports the
semester on the premise that
it offers the student a better,
more in-depth education.
When given the choice be
tween early or late semesters,
however, all other student con
cerns have been overlooked,
and the faculty chose a
system which benefits
themselves.
Their decision seems to
revolve around the "weather
issue" which argues that late
August/early September is the
nicest time of year and we
shouidn't have to spend it in
school.
Granted, it would be nice to
be out in the September sun,
yet, not at the expense of tak
ing finals after Christmas
break. Nobody wants that dark
cloud hanging over their head
during an otherwise festive
season. Wouldn't the faculty
also benefit from a four week
Christmas break, as is typical
of the early semester system?
Semester breaks, which
under the late semester
system would occur a little
less than a month after
Christmas, also presents
some difficulties. Any money
students would save from not
having to purchase books for a
third quarter etc. would pro
bably be spent trying to enter
Oregon daily _
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Harry Esteve
John Healy
Marian Green
Con Fernaid
Joan Nytand
Bob Baker
Mike Riplmger
Paul Danzer
Jonathan Siegte
Cort Fernaid
Sandy Johnstone
Frank Shaw
Richard Burr
Sean Meyers
Michele Matessa
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Darlene Gore
Sally Oljar
Victoria Koch
Jean Ownbey
tain themselves during this ex
traneous 10-day break. Out-of
state and foreign students
surely can’t afford to go home
again and dorm residents
might be charged for staying
over the break. This two-week
vacation would be better off
being consolidated into a four
week Christmas break, typical
of the ealy semester system.
If the fall term began two
weeks earlier than proposed,
allowing us to take finals
before Christmas, Spring
break would suffice as a vaca
tion and we would finish
earlier in the spring.
The late semester system
cuts off two weeks of summer
job income. The current
system terminates in mid
June (as will the late semester)
at which time many other
students have had first crack
at the job market. Although
they begin their summer posi
tions two to four weeks before
we do, the quarter system
allowed us to work a full
month after they got back to
school in the fall.
A student can earn
anywhere from $200 to $600 in
two weeks, which is money a
poor student and a poor
university needs. A typical ear
ly semester system begins
late August and ends mid or
late May. This would give us
an equal opportunity to seek
summer employment.
If you, as students or facul
ty, «*re in any way unhappy
with the Assembly's decison
to convert to the late semester
system, then please take
some sort of action. The deci
sion to support this system
will not be official until the
State Board of Higher Educa
tion approves it in April.
We still have time to voice
our concerns The State Board
of Higher Education has an of
fice on campus located in
Johnson Hall. We urge you to
write them a letter expressing
your own views. If you see a
petition asking the SBHE to re
ject the proposal, please take
the time to sign it.
A transition has been pro
posed which will affect the en
tire University community,.
Let’s make sure we make the
best decison for all of us.
Lani Nicholson
junior, telecommunications