I
Arming education
Perhaps there’s a silver lining to the National Com
mission on Excellence in Education’s report calling the
years of cuts in education, “unthinking, unilateral educa
tion disarmament.”
The report validates the cries for help that Oregon
higher education lobbyists have made and will continue
to make to the Legislature’s Ways and Means committee
this week.
This week, state system officials will be telling the
committee that higher education cannot be cut further
without reducing the number of students and decreasing
the quality of education.
Most likely, they will reiterate the well-documented
point that tuition must be frozen, faculty salaries must be
increased, and the state must pledge its support, if higher
education would continue to be a viable force in Oregon’s
recovery
At the least, the national commission’s report, based
on a 20-month study by a bi-partisan federal commission,
should add fuel to the fire.
The report called for stronger high school graduation
requirements, better teacher’s salaries, longer school
days and more homework.
The report embellishes and reinforces Chancellor
Bud Davis’ call for more college preparatory courses in
high school. It notes the “rising tide of mediocrity” that
demonstrates, in our opinion, the current support, and
what could soon be the quality of higher education in the
state.
The Legislature now has a federal report backing up
what they will be hearing from higher education represen
tatives: Oregonians — along with most other Americans,
— have been shortsighted in recent years when it comes
to education.
opinion
letters
Reflected
Richard Burr is generally a
fair and responsible reporter,
yet his story in Monday's
Emerald concerning the SUAB
re-election reflected
something other than
responsibility.
He stated that I said that I
would probably win the re
election. Though I uttered
those words, I subsequently
informed him, quite clearly,
that I believe the opposite, and
that I could easily lose the
election.
It is obvious, when the votes
were 358 to 384, that the
general election was close
and that the outcome could
have gone either way. The tur
nout was a clear indication of
the power that both an SPA en
dorsement and a Greek en
dorsement possesses. It is my
belief that the re-election out
come will be equally as close.
It seems that a reporter's
job is to convey the intent of
the source, to include the
whole message, if it is rele
vant, and to write the truth, to
the best of his or her ability.
r
Burr had the opportunity to in
dicate that I took back my
former mistaken statement
and also to report what I ac
tually believed yet, he chose
not to. I question the ethics of
this.
Karin Keutzer
funior, rhetoric
and communications
Nit picking
While I agree with the opi
nion expressed in the April 22
Emerald editorial regarding
the fee bills before the
legislature, I have two n?t
picks: The ASUO Executive
never set the 7 percent limita
tion on fee Increases, indeed,
it hasn’t the power. The limita
tion has been mandated by the
ASUO Constitution for many
years Additionally, since 1980
the 7 percent limitations has
only applied to a portion of the
budget A 1980 Constitutional
amendment exempted the
athletic department and much
of the EMU budget from the
limitation
Alan Contreras
law
Oregon doily m
emerald
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your turn
Involving rights
One year ago Sunday, I said goodbye to
a friend at the Warsaw Central Train Station
and climbed aboard the mid-afternoon “Ex
press" southbound to the city of Krakow. I
was on a mission of sorts from West Berlin
— to vist friends, to transport food, minimal
supplies and medication to them — in
essence, to observe the deteriorating state
of our world.
One year ago today the martial law of
Poland — at present supposedly “lifted”
from the shoulders of my friends — deter
mined when and where one would be be
tween the 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. curfew. It
brought the young soldiers, clutching their
automatic weapons, out into the streets to
monitor their own families and friends; it kill
ed a few demonstrators; it outlawed trade
union activity; it rolled the underground
presses into full, though risky, action; it emp
tied the shelves of groceries, clothing, and
daily supplies; it made people hungry; it
created anger, frustration, hopelessness,
and helplessness for a majority.
That was one year ago in Poland. Which
is only one nation of nearly 150 others on this
planet.
Today are they much better off? How
about the other 145 or so recognized and
"unacknowledged” countries in the world?
The Poles are not alone.
In every corner of the world — even here
in protected, idyllic Oregon — people are at
tempting to remove appalling injustices from
their lives, needing to live in cooperation
with their natural environments and
resources, pleading for an equal chance to
guide their own short lives.
How might it feel to live as a black per
son In South Africa or under the threat of be
ing murdered in Central America or
Southeast Asia?
And how about Lakeview, Oregon? Not
250 miles from Eugene people have died or
are dying of lung cancer traced directly to the
Uranium Tailings mined there. Our
Willamette River is being transformed into
who-knows-what by toxic seepage near
Albany — waste products of a company’s
plant which produces much of the zirconium
used in the manufacturing of nuclear
weapons.
We are all involved whether or not we en
joy believing it. Our tax dollars supply
military hardware and “advice’’ into develop
ing and third world nations, our backyards
and biological systems are contaminated by
wastes and abuses, our utility bills may even
tually require payment on the seven billion
dollar default on WPPSS.
Pessimistic? Fatalistic? Realistic.
If nuclear technology suddenly
escalates into the release of missiles, it will
not be selective in its choice of annihilation.
We share a vulnerability unlike any other, and
even those who plead ignorance or apathy
will not get off the hook. Unfortunately, there
are no innocent bystanders.
Unless immediate care is given, in any
capacity.
Eugene and the University communities
provide well-informed, organized and effec
tive student-operated groups. We have our
own newspape s and media sources who
care: SNuFF, the Survival Center, OSPIRG,
the Food OP, the ASUO, the Emerald, KWAX,
SORD, the Council for Human Rights, People
for a South African Freedom. The list goes
on, again. (My apologies to those unmention
ed. Please write in).
Look beyond text books and blue books.
Ask. Care.
When I think of Piotr, my friend in War
saw, I see him wanting to say so much, to do
so much, to care so much. But he lives in a
perpetual fear of the consequences for
speaking his mind. He can’t influence and
participate in decision making. And neither
can most people in the world.
We can, and we must exercise our rights
before we lose them, for ourselves as well as
for those who can’t.
Corey Tong
Tong is a sanior in architecture.
letters policy
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