opinion
House Committee
treads on meeting law
The plot thickens in the tale of the strange antics of the EMU
Board House Committee.
When five members of the EMU Board met Sunday night at
an apartment on Alder and 18th Avenue, they at least violated
the intent and spirit of Oregon's open meetings law.
But more than that, those people deprived students of the
chance to be involved in, and informed about, the decison
making process. That is reprehensible.
The open meetings laws were set up to prevent politicians
and other public figures from operating behind closed doors.
The Board members called an "informal meeting...to
discuss OSPIRG and Footnotes." The memo calling for the
meeting was addressed to five of the board members and
"anyone else who's interested." The memo announcing the
meeting was posted in a conveniently inconspicuous spot in
Suite 4 only a few days prior.
What occurred at this meeting is important in the legal sense
of the open meetings law, but only if someone cares to pursue it
legally.
We feel the most important aspect is not the legality, but
rather the intention of some Board members to conduct public
business while hindering public involvement.
Now here's the bizarre plot twist.
Two University students, directly involved in the
OSPIRG/Footnotes issue, wanted to attend the meeting but were
detained by a strange charade.
The students' tale unfolds when one student arrived at the
prescribed meeting place, EMU Board Chair Dan Cohen's apart
ment, at 7 p.m. Cohen was not home. Cohen's roommate, while
toying with flour on a mirror, assured them he would be back
soon. After it appeared Cohen was not going to return the first
student left.
He met the second student outside. Cohen's roommate
then went outside and told them Cohen had called and would
be back in 10 minutes. They returned to the apartment and
waited and waited. Cohen never showed — and one of the two
students says the roommate finally admitted the meeting place
had been changed and the charade planned.
Cohen, according to one of the students, later said he asked
his roommate to keep the two from the meeting.
One of the students, who was sidetracked at Cohen's apart
ment, is a member of the University's OSPIRG branch. The other
is a member of the ASUO.
"I simply did not see why I had to have them there,'' Cohen
says.
We simply do not see why Cohen and the rest of the Board
members at the meeting wanted to keep them away.
We also wonder about the invitations to this "informal
meeting." According to Frank Geltner, assistant program direc
tor, the names of those invited to the meeting resembled the
information-gathering subcommittee that the House Committee
would be likely to appoint.
We're also curious as to why the Board members had to take
up this discussion in relative privacy? Several Board members
said they discussed nothing they cared to debate with outside
parties and arrived at no policy decisions. If that's the case, why
the meeting, why the charade to keep the two students away?.
One thing is clear from all this — the House Committee
members are really in the dark on how to conduct a committee
under proper procedures. They may have wanted the meeting
closed because of their lack of knowledge of the situation and
embarrassment. None even seemed familiar with a standard
EMU lease prior to the meeting. They weren't familiar with state
statutes regarding leasing procedures. Nor were they adequate
ly prepared to prioritize group requests for space.
This makes us question their competency.
It's also possible that they wanted to direct themselves to ex
ploring policy options regarding the allocation of EMU space
without stumbling upon other issues in the process.
But none of these are legitimate reasons. None of these
should preclude student involvement. And none of the board
members present at that meeting Sunday should feel justified in
meeting together under such circumstances.
Stay tuned, the denouement of this curious potboiler isn't
even close.
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letters
Stalemate
Let me add another question to
Guido Palandris' list: Have the
U.S. Marines Corps, by invading
Grenada, finally attacked a suffi
ciently docile and defenseless
population?
In the absence of any truthful
news we can hope, despite the
odds, that Grenadians will
stalemate the invasion. And we
can be sure, in the long run, that
Grenada will win against U.S.
"diplomacy."
Doug Baker
graduate
O Wilderness
With so many powerful
headlines competing for our at
tention these days, otherwise im
portant issues are losing our
sights. But for those who support
wilderness, the moment of truth is
now.
Some of Oregon's most scenic
lands are now on the line. The ac
tions of Sen. Mark Hatfield in
watering down wilderness legisla
tion will serve as a double-edged
sword — protecting many impor
tant areas, but opening many
other to irreversible damage. The
compromise is barely worth it.
The Oregon Forest Wilderness
Bill passed the U.S. House of
Representatives with overwhelm
ing support. The bill adds 1.2
million acres to Oregon's
designated wilderness lands,
bringing the total to just over 4
million acres, or about 7 percent
of our total forested lands.
But Hatfield's Senate version
protects only some of the most
endangered areas. Important
areas which may be lost include
the proposed Hardesty Mountain,
Middle Santiam and North
Kalmiopsis wilderness areas. If
Hatifeld's watered-down version
passes, these areas could im
mediately be released for logging,
removing forever the qualities
which typify them as wilderness.
Oregon doily
emerald
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lean Ownbey
As a politician dedicated to serv
ing his constituency, Hatfield —
like his colleague Sen. Bob
Packwood — bases his voting on
the desires of his public. But first
we have to let them know what we
want. Those who feel the impor
tance of protecting these last re
maining wild areas need to write a
letter to Hatfield and Packwood.
Demand that all the lands includ
ed in the House version of the
Oregon Forest Wilderness Act be
included in the Senate version at
the bare minimum. Any lesser ver
sion should be rejected for the
dangerous loss to logging that will
occur.
When issues seem to get farther
from our control, we need to take
out some of our most basic tools
of democracy. Use the tools
before us. Write a couple of let
ters supporting more wilderness.
The future will thank you.
Marc Smiley
Eugene
Blinded by...
The rhetoric about Communist
subversion exporting revolution
and evil all over the world; about
how sneaky, despicable and
cowardly terrorists are; and how
brave and righteous we always
are, is designed to blind us to the
most basic elemental facts about
the human situation today. If we
allow ourselves to be hypnotized
by it we'll never understand what
is going on, and can only con
tribute to further confusion,
disorder and repression.
It completely sets aside and ig
nores the real causes of revolution
and terrorism — the years of grin
ding poverty, hunger, sickness,
hopelessness, injustice and
bleakness that is the lot of at least
half of humanity — the lack of any
opportunity for education or self
fulfillment; the spectacle of the
best lands held by wealthy lan
downers and huge agribusiness
firms and devoted to cash crops
for export — completely irrelevant
to the needs of the local popula
tion — the denial of opportunity
to become self-sufficient; the
spectacle of great and increasing
wealth for a few in a sea of
worsening poverty for the many.
Now that the United States has
evolved from an exploited British
colony to the most wealthy and
powerful nation on earth — chief
beneficiary of the extraction of
resources at rip-off prices from all
over the world — cheap oil, cheap
minerals, cheap cotton, cheap cof
fee and tea, cheap sugar, cheap
labor — revolution or any change
that might upset this applecart,
has changed from the most
glorious thing in history, when we
did it, to the machination of the
devil — the expansion of the evil
empire. Revolutionists are no
longer heroes but cowardly sneak
ing pariahs skulking in the dark
corners of the world seeking to
extinguish the light of civilization.
You can't export revolution to
peoples who feel they have a
chance and are being treated with
respect and fairness. Revolu
tionists and terrorists are people
who have been driven up the wall
to the point that they are willing to
do anything — sane or insane — to
be heard and to change their
situation. Containing terrorism
with force is not enough — and by
itself is self-defeating.
Understanding the causes of the
desperation which drove these
people up the wall, and working
for changes that will allow them
the opportunity to become self
sufficient self-respecting
members of the world community
is the only path to any real
solution.
Bayard McConnaughey
biology
'Queer/Christian'
I do not see why there needs to
be an issue over closing the doors
of a Christian church to homosex
ual worship as the matter is
relatively straightforward.
The Bible states,
(Lev.19:2)". . .ye shall be holy: for I
the lord your God am holy." Jesus
Christ was a man who kept that
commandment, so therefore to be
his follower one would need
likewise to be holy.
The homosexuals believe they
should be perverted when they
discover this perversion in their
bodies. This is the opposite view
point of a Christian, who believes
he must be holy since he finds no
perversion in God.
The homosexual may counter
that it was God who gave him his
body. Yet, the Christian replies by
stating his belief in original in
nocence followed by the fall of
man, on account of which, we
have inherited a sinful nature,
which is what Christ came to
redeem us from.
Therefore a "queer Christian" is
a self-contradiction.
Please accept my use of multiple
terms here to designate the same
thing where the more common
term has mulitple uses which
could cause confusion. Christians
are not supposed to be perverted
gay — faggots, but happy and gay
— joyeous, on account of what
God has done for us.
If a homosexual lets Christ
deliver him from it, he may wor
ship with joy among us Christians.
In fact, he might be happier than
the rest of us.
Earl Gosnell
Eugene