opinion
Refill new policy
on alcohol sales
Oregon Duck football boosters won't have much to boost
their spirits in Autzen Stadium this year if the Ducks make a
poor showing — an athletic department policy to permit the sale
of alcoholic beverages (specifically beer and wine) was quashed
bv Pres. Paul Olum.
Sot that CMum has done anything unjust. In fact Olum, by
reversing the temporary alcohol policy allowing sales in Autzen
and "other athletic facilities including Mac Court and Hayward
Field," has acted responsibly. But the athletic department also
acted responsibly. Herein lies the dilemma.
In August, the athletic department shrugged off its longstan
ding opposition to selling alcoholic beverages in its facilities and
rewrote the policy that has been in effect since 1977. At this time
the University asked for statements regarding the proposed
rules from any interested parties in the community.
A protest against the policy change was lodged with Olum
by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. They successfully persuaded
Olum to reverse the alcohol policy. They made a valid protest —
drunk driving accidents might perhaps increase if alcohol was
sold at University athletic events. Does Olum's bowing to the
protest of MADD mean the University and athletic department
are accepting responsiblity for the actions of individuals?
Dan Williams, University vice president for administration,
said the reason the alcohol decision was made because "it's next
to impossible to keep Autzen Stadium dry.” There is no denying
the truth of that statement. Anyone who has sat next to a group
of fans passing a thermos of what looked to be just orange juice,
or fans who smuggled in a six-pack or two, know that prohibi
tion works as well in Autzen as it did as a constitutional amend
ment in the twenties.
While true, Williams' reason doesn't hold water as the sole
justifiable reason to insititute the alcohol policy. It's logic is
skewed. Saying it's impossible to keep Autzen dry and rewriting
the policy because of this impossibility is analogous to making a
law permitting breaking and entering because of the prevalence
of burglars.
The athletic department should really be honest and say the
new alcohol policy would be quite lucrative and increased their
revenues — much needed revenues. This reason for selling beer
and wine in athletic facilities is wholly justifiable.
The Emerald is in favor of the athletic department selling
beer and wine at Autzen Stadium and other facilities. This does
not mean we sanction the abuse of alcohol, nor the driving of a
car while intoxicated. We see the alcohol policy as a means to
augment the flagging revenues of the athletic department. The
department has had its funding cut time and again and the sell
ing of a one-day-only alcohol license to a concessioner would
smooth out the deep dips in the budget graph. The sale of beer
and wine at athletic events may generate as much as $10,000 to
$40,000, according to University officials.
There are already numerous instances of the University and
its departments setting beer and wme at dinners and con
ferences. The beer gardens, while they are not run by the
University or any department, are permitted by the University
administration.
The sale of beer and wine is permitted at other Pac-10
schools, and quite commonplace at university and college
stadiums across the nation. Rick Bay, athletic director, noted the
alcohol policies at these schools also improved the crowd con
trol. The schools where beer is sold in the stadium report they
now have better crowd control than when tans brought
alcoholic beverages into the stadium," he said.
This would likely be the case as the type of liquor smuggled
in and consumed by fans is hard liquor by and large. If beer and
wme were sold at the stadium the athletic department could
control the type of alcohol consumed and, theoretically, control
the amount consumed The same right a tavern has to refuse ser
vice to anyone obviously intoxicated would apply
What may ease the conscience of MADD members would be
extra police at the scene to detect and arrest drunk drivers
before they hit the highways.
The new alcohol policy makes good sense — taking into ac
count generating revenue and the fact that wholesale smuggling
of alcohol already occurs at athletic events. But, the MADD pro
test also makes good sense. Still, if wise precautions are taken,
the athletic department's alcohol policy will prove an asset and
not a liability
Oregon dotty
emerald
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debbie howlett
editor's note
This is your basic, Hi-Kiddies-Welcome-Back-to
the-Untvei sity editorial column, in which the editor
is supposed to open her arms wide and say, "Cosh,
we re awfully glad to see you, really."
Well, I hate to disappoint anyone, but I'm not
awfully glad" you're back, really. As a matter of fact.
I'm not even a tad bit excited, really.
I was having a fine summer. I didn’t have to
work, I didn't have many responsibilities, and we
weren’t publishing a paper everyday. Then about
10,000 of you people come back and we at the
Emerald feel obligated to start putting out a daily
paper. Wham! Responsibility, work, classes,
everything starts piling up.
And I'll bet you registration packets to suntan lo
tion that a great deal of you feel the same way about
us. Good, it proves you're normal
Enpugh of the niceties. As long as you're here,
there are few things you should know about us. You
could say we'd make a nice metaphor for laundry
detergent. Here are some "things" about our "new,
improved" Emerald we'd like you to memorize.
There will be a test in our first regular issue.
•Thing one: The Emerald has chosen to use a
new "type face" called Omega Like each person's
handwriting, the physical appearance of letters vary
according to who is producing the words. One of the
reasons we chose to use a new style is that we felt
our previous type face wasn't really representative of
the Emerald's personality and style.
Omega is a style that we feel lends a more col
legiate, less bland personality. The letters, a sort of
updated old serif style, mesh well with the Emerald's
updated news style. The forward slant of the italiciz
ed letters reflects what we feel will be a more ag
gressive, more in depth approach to the news that af
fects you.
•Thing two: We have reduced the actual size of
the letters in the body copy. Those letters, measured
in "points'’ were moved down from nine points to
8Y1 points. There are 72 points to an inch for those of
you who need a more concrete sense of the size.
The only way to bring the Emerald audience
more news was to increase the number of pages,
which is not possible because the amount of adver
tising we sell determines the number of pages we
print. The best solution was to slide more news in the
same space. Viola! You get more news, we don't lose
money and an eight page paper seems a little larger.
•Thing three: We have decided since the Emerald
is your paper, we are merely the caretakers of Univer
sity community's voice, you should have more input
We will hold monthly staff meetings on the first Sun
day of each month that are open to the public.
Emerald editors and writers will be on hand to meet
as a group, as we do each week, answer questions
and, we hope, demystify the journalistic process.
Ultimately we feel that we will be a better
representation of our audience, even if I'm a little
grouchy about your homecoming
letters
Negative racism
I nr writing this in prospective
to negative racism. I met a black
girl one time; she told me that she
didn't respect me because I was
black I wonder how much she
knew that was human ol me
because ol my skin color and
always trying to compare me to
white American accomplish
ments.
Somehow I believe there ts a lot
oi homosexuality that comes Irom
racism, and I believe this is the
work ol the devil I ask the
heavenly lather — Cod almighty
to help us learn to deal with this
type ol ugliness
I think tlAhe black woman can
not compete wrth the white
woman she has no right to try and
put down and disrespect the Mack
man. If the black woman respects
the white man's achievements so
much this is good, but she has no
right to try to destroy the little
black boy's manhood.
Maybe God gave white people
something good so we shouldn't
be teatous. He must have earned it
by God.
I want to reiorce for white
Americans. I thank white
Americans for all they did for me
For instance, they taught me how
to be an electrician and an elec
tronic assemblyman.
I would like to warn the
beautiful little black boy who
wants to be a doctor, lawyer and
scientist. Learn ways to protect
yorsell from this type of ugliness.
You also have to protect
yourselves from ugly little black
boys who also will try to get in
your wav There is a possibility of
homosexuality involving any race
because of this sickness.
There have been some black
r
people who try to deal with this.
Some of them had no way to deal
with this but through violence.
There have been a number of
cases in the last 20 years that the
attle black boy has been killing
them including black women. The
welfare department has been
dealing with girls who prostitute
and have babies and go on
welfare such as birth control and
trying to get them to work and pay
for their own babies.
I would like for anyone to pray
for me because I have been under
the influence of this sickness also
as a small child I came under the
influence of this ugliness.
How can we prevent another
generation from going through
this? I'm a scientist and am study
ing this. I would like to ask anyone
who would like to help me with
this immorality. It would be
appreciated.
Stanford Brown
Eugene
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