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Oregon daily
emerald
Monday, May 21, 1984
I-—
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85 Number 159
Blackmun expresses hope for graduates' future
By Melissa Martin
Of the Emerald
Sitting on the Supreme Court bench doesn't make
a person rich or popular, Supreme Court Justice Harry
Blackmun told 156 University law school graduates at
the Hult Center Saturday.
“If I wanted to make money I certainly wouldn't
have left Minnesota or the Mayo Clinic and I certainly
wouldn't have gone on the bench," said Blackmun,
who's been on the Supreme Court since his 1973 ap
pointment by Pres. Richard Nixon.
“It's no place to make money and it's no place, as
we can see today, to become popular," he said.
Outside, about 50 Right-to-Life protesters carried
signs critical of Blackmun's role in the 1973 Roe vs.
Wade decision which upheld the right of women to
have an abortion. Blackmun wrote the court's majority
opinion.
"I hope you're not all concerned about making a
lot of money," Blackmun told the graduates.
He continued with his list of hopes for the
graduates.
"I hope you will like people — find them
fascinating and not be afraid of them — have compas
sion for them," he said.
"I hope you will always be yourself; be human and
sentimental with a sense of humor and pride of ac
complishment," Blackmun said. "This keeps us from
being untouchable.
"I hope you'll have a lot of fun as you go along,"
he said. "Judicial humor is pretty bad. There is so little,
we have to reach out for it."
And of students in general, Blackmun suggested
graduates find time to teach, if not in the classroom, at
least by example.
He encouraged the audience to eliminate bigotry
in society and he asked them, "Are we totally aware of
the deep inequalities that surround us in this noble
land of ours?"
Graduates should begin to deal with inequalities
by remembering family support for their education,
Blackmun said, and doing the same for someone else
in the future.
And he reminded the University graduates not to
forget lawyers of the past such as Plato, Moses and
Blackstone and to protect the justice system.
Blackmun warned the future lawyers against
yielding to the lure of easy practice, and to remember
Supreme Court Justine Harry Blackmun, shown with law school dean Derrick Bell and University Pres. Paul
Olum, told University law school graduates they must be fair-minded and love scholarship to serve on the
bench.
...
Photos by Michael Clapp
Outside the Hult Center Right-to-life picketers pro
tested the presence of Justice Harry Blackmun
because of his role in Roe v. Wade, a landmark
abortion case.
ethical standards of right and wrong. He warned them
against betraying clients' trust — and said a reputation
is hard to gain back once it's been lost.
Graduates should consider serving on the bench,
where justices must be fair-minded, have a love of
scholarship, a contentment for less money and a more
difficult role than that of an advocate, Blackmun said.
“The world goes on when one is in law school,"
Blackmun said to the audience. He recounted a few
world events that have occurred since the class
entered law school three years ago.
And he thanked law school dean Derrick Bell for
the opportunity to speak and applauded Bell's strug
gle to make the law school “even greater and more
progressive."
“It's an honor for Mrs. Blackmun and me — I call
her Dottie — to be here in this great state on this 100th
anniversary at the University School of Law,"
Blackmun said.
IFC ignores voters' wishes, funds publication
By Doug Nash
Of the Emerald
The Incidental Fees Committee allocated $5,000 for
the Oregon Commentator Friday, despite the publica
tion's funding defeat in recent ASUO elections.
By a narrow, 4-3 vote in favor of the Commentator's
request, the IFC decided to overlook its general rule of
not funding a student group unless it has been in ex
istence for at least one year. The Commentator is seven
months old.
"I won't vote for funds for this paper only when it's
been around seven months," IFC member Lois Day
said. "I haven't seen enough in its first seven months to
give them $5,000."
The majority of members, however, disagreed with
Day, citing the need for an "alternative" publication on
campus.
"This is truly a student-run and originated
newspaper," IFC member Mary Shrauger said of the bi
weekly publication. "I think we can make an exception
here. The paper has come out without our funding.
They've taken the initiative thus far."
This year, the Commentator received a $6,000 grant
from a conservative foundation. However, Commen
tator Publisher Dane Claussen said there was no
guarantee the publication would receive similar grants
next year.
"The Commentator staff members would prefer not
to get money from outside sources," Claussen said.
"We believe very strongly that a student publication is a
student publication."
"I think this is the minimum level of support for
something on an experimental basis that I think this
campus needs and wants," IFC member Sheila Schain
said, agreeing with Claussen.
Last month, students overwhelmingly defeated a
funding measure for the Commentator, 1,715 to 790. It
was the only ballot measure that lost in the ASUO
elections.
"I think we should look to the student vote," IFC
member Marc Spence said in arguing against the Com
mentator's request. "I don't think it's a newspaper. It's
a platform for some students to present a narrow point
of view on campus.''
But Claussen said the election results were actually
favorable for the new publication.
"In any other election, 31.5 percent is usually
regarded as a pretty serious defeat," he said. "I don't
think we regard it as such considering the fact that it
(the Commentator) is brand new."
Earlier, Claussen had delivered a 10-page memo to
the IFC, explaining his funding request. Those voting
for the request were Shrauger, Schain, Laurie Abraham
and Leslie Dewson, while IFC Chair Julie Davis joined
Spence and Day in dissenting.
In other business, the IFC allocated $3,000 to
establish performance audits next year. Under the new
plan, the committee will pay three individuals to con
duct performance audits on various groups requesting
student funding.
The committee also earmarked $45,193 for Club
Sports and $23,390 for the Oregon Student Lobby.