Changing of
the guard
See page 5
Oregon daily
emerald
Tuesday, May 22, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 160
Hotchkiss vetoes Commentator
funding
By Paul Ertelt
Of the Emerald
ASUO Pres. Mary Hotchkiss
has vetoed the Incidental Fee
Committee’s decision to
allocate $5,000 for the Oregon
Commentator.
In a memo to the IFC Monday,
Hotchkiss said the allocation
was "extraordinary" for a group
that has only been in existence
for seven months, and claimed
the IFC disregarded "the fact
that students voted by an over
whelming margin not to fund
this program."
"Many would like the Com
mentator to become an alter
native to the Emerald,” Hot
chkiss said, "but the purpose of
the Commentator is to expound
a conservative viewpoint on a
liberal campus."
The IFC will meet Wednesday
at 6:30 p.m. to hear further
testimony on the issue and
decide whether to override the
veto. The veto was announced
at an IFC meeting Monday even
ing, but not enough IFC
members were present to vote
on the issue.
Last month, students defeated
a funding measure for the Com
mentator, 1,715 to 790. It was the
only ballot measure that was
defeated in ASUO elections.
But Commentator publisher
Dane Claussen said that the
vote was "pretty good" for a
new organization, and that the
IFC funding was only half of the
ballot measure proposal.
"The vote was not against the
Commentator, it was against the
$10,000," he said. "There are a
lot of other ASUO programs
that would not get 32 percent if
put on the ballot."
Claussen said Hotchkiss'com
ments are irrelevant to the fun
ding issue and show why a con
servative publication is needed
on campus.
Hotchkiss said she would
"welcome the voice of conser
vatives" on campus, but said the
IFC should not allocate funds to
support a publication with a
particular political viewpoint.
She rejected the argument that
the Emerald is a liberal publica
tion per se, since it reflects the
viewpoint of editors who
change every year.
"In the past, I believe a
member of Young Americans
for Freedom has served as
Emerald editor," she said.
The Commentator "con
sistently bordered on violating
ethical practices," Hotchkiss
said. "When a student
newspaper calls one of our pro
fessors a 'sourpuss,' it does not
help the image of students.
"Even one of their staff
members admits that at least
one of their issues 'exceeded
the bounds of good taste,' " she
said.
But Claussen said the staff
member's comment was made
off the record and charged that
it was unethical for Hotchkiss to
use it in her memo. Also, good
As the Incidental Fee Committee met with Assistant Athletic Director Chris
Pres. Mary Hotchkiss vetoed an Oregon Commentator funding request.
Photo by Michael Clapp
Voelz Monday, ASUO
taste is a matter of opinion and
irrelevant to the question, he
said.
Hotchkiss said she does not
necessarily oppose future fun
ding for the Commentator.
"I would recommend that this
program, like 4II others, be
given a chance to grow and
mature before it receives any in
cidental fee funding," Hot
chkiss said. "If students were
really dissatisfied with the
Emerald they would have pass
ed the Commentator's
referendum."
In other business, the IFC
discussed its tentative contract
with the athletic department.
Assistant Athletic Director Chris
Voelz said her department was
willing to accept the IFC's pro
posed funding of $602,439, but
said some details had to be iron
ed out.
IFC chair Julie Davis said the
matter will be discussed at their
Wednesday meeting, but a
definite agreement must be
reached by Thursday morning.
Physicist 'never stopped thinking about war'
Freeman Dyson
By Costas Christ
Of the Emerald
In what was the biggest turnout this year for a guest
speaker sponsored by the Faculty Arms Control Croup,
Freeman Dyson, a world-renowned physicist and
author of the book "Weapons and Hope," presented
his views on nuclear weapons, the arms race and the
Soviet Union Monday.
Dyson, who worked as a civilian scientist for the
British air force during World War II, said that the ex
perience "burned the nature of war deep into my soul."
Ever since he was involved in strategic bombing cam
paigns, Dyson said he has "never stopped thinking
about war.
"There is something very grotesque about the dou
ble life which we lead both personally and in society.
On the one hand we are nice and polite to each other
and on the other hand we blow each other to pieces,"
Dyson said.
Unlike many people, Dyson said he does not
believe that the arms race is such a big deal.
"It's not the arms race that is the problem, it's the
weapons which we already have that are the biggest
threat to peace. Adding a little more each year doesn't
mean much, considering the nuclear weapons
stockpiles that currently exist. We must get rid of what
we already have," he said.
The first step in this process is a change in the way
people think about nuclear weapons, he said.
"Why are Americans so proud and happy in having
developed and used nuclear weapons?" Dyson asked.
"This pride is very strong and is bound up in the
events of World War II," he added.
If Hitler — instead of the United States — had
developed the atomic bomb, it would have made a big
difference in the way Americans view nuclear weapons,
he said.
"They would be viewed as evil weapons, developed
by an evil man doing an evil job," Dyson said.
"If Hitler got the bomb instead of the United States
I don't think it would have made much of a difference
in the outcome of the war. Moscow would have shared
the same fate as Hamburg and Dresden, but I don't
think it would have delayed the arrival of Russian troops
in Berlin or American troops in japan," he added.
The important thing, according to Dyson, is that it
would have resulted in Americans viewing the bomb
with disgust instead of pride.
"This is the way the Soviets see nuclear weapons,"
he said. "They see them as evil, developed by a people
who are their enemies and who seek to use them on
Russia."
For this reason, and because of their much closer
experience in World War II, Dyson said he believes the
Soviets will have an easier time "kicking the habit of
nuclear weapons" than the United States.
Despite these beliefs, however, Dyson said the
Soviet Union should be seen for what it really is — "a
more than amateurishly brutal government with a
rather bad record of over-running neighboring
countries."
Vet, when asked who he thought might be the first
to use nuclear weapons if a military conflict arose bet
ween the United States and Russia, Dyson said he was
more afraid of the United States pushing the button
first.
"We have a first-use policy which the Soviets don't
have," he said.
According to Dyson, the struggle to get rid of nuclear
weapons is not that much different from the struggle to
abolish slavery.
"First we started by perceiving that slavery had to
be abolished," he said. "It began with the Quakers as a
small movement and slowly grew as more and more
groups came out against slavery. Despite the fact that
support for slavery had been deeply rooted in society,
in the end it was the abolitionists who prevailed. We too
shall prevail when we realize that nuclear weapons are a
moral and not a political issue."