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harry esteve
Swansong with a smile
I
Shortly after my year-long term as editor of
the Emerald began last summer, I found myself
on the phone to the dean of the journalism
school. I was asking for his advice on how to
handle a particularly sticky controversy that
arose after the very first issue.
He recommended humor. It was sound ad
vice, advice that showed the wisdom of years of
journalistic expertise and a tenure as former
Emerald editor. I wish I could have followed it.
It was hard coming up with one-liners
though, when a member of the Springfield
Chamber of Commerce said to me in a soft,
confident voice: “You’re in a hell of a lot of trou
ble, young man.”
But the dean’s counsel stayed with me as
the months staggered by. I began to consider it
a challenge: how to be amused by animosity,
how to lampoon a law suit.
Fortunately, I got some help.
There was the woman on the phone, irate
because we hadn't yet printed the names of
some students who had won academic awards.
We hadn’t received any information about the
awards, I explained to her. “That’s not how
Woodward and Bernstein went about it!" she
retorted triumphantly.
Or the group of Middle Eastern students
who crammed into my office, wanting to sue
because we had printed an interview with an
Israeli fighter pilot on the front page and hadn't
given similar treatment to their press
conference.
Following a half-hour discussion on
freedom of the press and why they didn't have a
“constitutional right” to a front page article,
the group was unconvinced. “Let’s fuck this!"
one of them announced. And they all trooped
out.
And what would the year have been like
without our indomitable student government?
Angered by our audacity to operate .n
dependently of them, ASUO representatives
kept up a continuous barrage of threats and
official-sounding complaints.
Among them was a precious little gem —
officially titled a “legal essay" — that showed,
if nothing else, our student leaders are prepar
J
ing themselves quite well for careers in the big
world of bureaucracy. Quoting from the essay:
"In view of the fact that the corporate of
ficers of the ODE and the editor-in-chief of the
ODE are chosen by the board of directors, the
curtailment of the representational function by
the arbitrary and capricious, not to say
democratically insensitive, action of the ODE
Board... diminishes, curtails, tempers and im
pairs the ability of the individual voting
students to affect the entire policy of the
ODE.”
If I had known what it meant, I might have
gotten upset.
The dean's advice was beginning to make
some sense by this time. Humor can be a
soothing balm against the sting of criticism.
Not the kind of “when in doubt, giggle,"
humor, a la Erma Bombeck, but the ability to
laugh in the face of double-strength migraine
headaches — headaches that are somehow
transmitted through telephone receivers.
But even after becoming somewhat adept
at the art of the gratutltous guffaw, there were
times when laughter was impossible.
One of them was the day we found out the
Oregon State University newspaper won an
award for the best newspaper in the region. Or
the day we received a particularly nasty — and
anonymous — note to the editor. Putting it
nicely, the mysterious author was calling the
Emerald staff a group of incompetent i
literates. He or she ended the note with the cut
ting question, "Don't you people ever proffread
(sic) your material?"
So ends my year at the helm of the
Emerald. Although I feel a little like a negligent
father walking out on his child, I know I’m leav
ing it In competent hands.
Debbie Howlett, who has been eagerly
awaiting the chance to (re?)decorate my office
the moment I remove the last dried-out and dy
ing plant, has the strength and the patience it
will take to survive the year as the editor.
And now that I can officially call myself a
former editor, I feel qualified to proffer the
most sagely advice I can think of.
Keep smiling. Debbie.
Oregon daily
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letters
No impediment
As president of the local
AAUP chapter, let me respond
to Prof. Brady’s May 25
Emerald letter.
1. There is, and has been,
very little interest in collective
bargaining among this faculty.
AAUP knows this because we
have had public meetings and
information sessions on the
topic at which practically
nobody showed up. Prof.
Brady knows this because his
pro-bargaining AFT group has,
apparently, dried up for lack of
faculty support. At least, we
have heard nothing from him
for some time.
2. If and when there is such
interest, the AAUP will ad
dress itself to it. The idea that
the campus AAUP chapter,
with its 150 members, has
such Draconian power over
900 Oregon faculty members
as to be successful in keeping
collective bargaining out of
their eager grasp — even if the
AAUP wanted to do it, which it
doesn't — is ridiculous.
3. In the meantime, AAUP
strategy has been to fight for
higher salaries and better fun
ding with the best weapons at
hand: the facts. There is a
shocking imbalance in fun
ding for higher education in
Oregon versus that for the
public schools and communi
ty colleges. You don’t need a
union card to recognize that
injustice, or to correct it.
4. If you think faculty gover
nance is a “tattered myth"
here, Tom, then try teaching
were it doesn’t exist. And if
you still find yourself pro
tected by academic freedom,
tenure and due process rules,
remember that it was the
AAUP that established them,
that keeps them alive, and that
will go to bat for you —
member or not — if you are
denied them. For that reason,
if no ether, AAUP deserves
your support, and that of every
faculty member
Rather than throwing rocks
at the other players still on the
field, why don't you and your
organization get back into the
game? If your arguments are
as convincing as your think,
then win over that great
apathetic lump out there.
AAUP isn’t standing in your
way.
Glen Love
professor, English
Purporting
A couple of days ago, a let
ter purporting to be from my
good friend Prof. Thomas
Brady of the history dept, ap
peared in the Emerald. The let
ter attacked an organization to
which I belong, the University
chapter of the American
Association of University
Professors.
While I was at first, myself,
taken in by the seeming
authenticity of the letter (writ
ten in very good and precise
English prose; dealt with
faculty collective bargaining,
an issue in which Prof. Brady
is interested), I soon realized
that it was evidently a forgery,
and that someone had manag
ed somehow to breach the
Emerald’s elaborate epistolary
security measures and to pre
sent us with a document that
could only result in damage to
Prof. Brady’s admirable
academic standing. I write to
clear his name.
What tipped me off the
forgery was the way in which
the letter ignored certain
significant facts and
misconstrued others, whereas
the real Prof. Brady is far too
good an historian to treat even
recent history so one-sidedly.
Specifically, the letter claimed
that the AAUP had defeated its
own collective bargaining
election in 1977, but I know
that Prof. Brady knows that
the faculty as a whole voted
down the proposal by a con
siderable majority; and the let
ter did not mention that
another faculty organization,
the American Federation of
Teachers, attempted to call a
collective bargaining election
two years ago and could not
get enough signatures from
the faculty at large for the
election to proceed. Since my
friend Prof. Brady is an active
member of the AFT, he would
certainly have known that; the
letter writer did not.
The Emerald staff will not, I
hope, be too distressed about
the appearance of a forgery in
its "Letters” column. Obvious
ly the forgery was well done.
There may even be someone
going about in a Prof. Brady
disguise, and, should I see
such a person, I shall report
him to the Emerald immediate
ly. I am grateful to the Emerald
for allowing me this opportuni
ty to defend the reputation of
so respected a colleague and
friend.
J.T. Sanders
professor, religious studies
(EDITOR S NOTE: The Emerald
would have been distressed if
a letter to the editor was a
forgery. However, the letter
referred to in Sander's letter
was the authentic work of
history professor Thomas
Brady)
letters policy
The Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing fair
comment on topics of interest to the University community
Letters to the editor must be limited to 250 words, signed
and the identification of the writer must be verified when the
letter is turned in to the Emerald office The Emerald reserves
the right to edit any letter for length, style or content
"Your turn" is an Emerald opinion feature submitted by
members of the University community. "Your turns" must be
limited to 500 words and typed This editorial column will not
be edited by the staff, but selection will be based on appro
priateness
Letters to the editor and "Your turns" should be turned into
the Emerald office, Suite 300 EMU
Unsigned editorials appearing in the Emerald are based
upon the majority opinion of the editorial board.