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emer
Friday, November 16, 1984
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 86, Number 56
‘Sexist’ sign in EMU to go
By Dave Bems
Of the K me raid
The EMU Board cleared up one controversy
while potentially opening another at its meeting
Thursday afternoon.
In resolving an 11-month debate, the board
decided unanimously to remove the controversial
EMU sign that critics charge contains sexist
language. The sign, adjacent to the Fishbowl, has
been the subject of discussion since January when
former ASUO President Mary Hotchkiss re
quested its removal.
Opponents of the sign say its references to
"man’s” and "men’’ are discriminatory toward
women and objectionable to all members of the
campus community.
Board members heard testimony from several
students, who were all opposed to the sign.
The resolution passed by the board calls for
the removal of the sign as soon as physically
possible. EMIJ Director Adell McMillan assured
board members that the sign will be removed no
later than the start of winter term.
The board also agreed to create a special com
mittee to investigate replacements for the sign as
well as alternatives for its commemoration in the
F.Ml I.
in related business, board member Margie
Boyd introduced a resolution calling for the
modification of the ASUO Constitution.
Under her proposal, the EMU Board would
adopt a non-discrimination policy in line with
University affirmative action guidelines. Any
group not adhering to these guidelines would be
denied the opportunity to use EMU facilities.
“If affirmative action policies don't have any
teeth, what's the sense of having them? If people
are going to discriminate against others, we don’t
have to go out of our way to offer them services,”
Boyd said.
Board member Kevin Lewis raised concerns
that such a policy may prevent the Muslim
Students Association, Panhellenic and the Inter
fraternity Council from using EMU facilities.
McMillan assured Lewis, however, that Title IX
exempted fraternities and sororities from such
requirements.
One board member, who wished to remain
anonymous, claimed the proposal is motivated by
Boyd’s attempt to keep military recruiters off
campus. Boyd, however, denied such a “hidden
agenda.”
In response to fears that Boyd's proposal may
supersede University policies, the committee
agreed to refer the resolution to the University’s
attorney. Peter Swann, for a legal opinion.
rilipinos sunennss recounted
By Thomas Henderson
Of the Kmctald
The Philippines is in torment,
and the United States is an ac
complice to its misery, Filipino
educator, journalist and com
munity organizer Irene Santiago
said Thursday.
Santiago told the audience in
Gerlinger Hall's Alumni
Lounge that the situation in the
Philippines is almost as bad as
it was during the Japanese oc
cupation of World War II.
At the heart of the country's
problems, she said, is the
presidency of Ferdinand Mar
cos and the political and
economic support he receives
Irene Santiago
from the United States.
Capital investments in the
Philippines by American firms
and transnational corporations
give the United States a vested
interest in preserving the Mar
cos regime, Santiago said, a
regime she accused of a long list
of abuses.
Marcos was elected president
of the Philippines in 1965 and
re-elected in 1969. Though Mar
cos was constitutionally limited
to two terms, Santiago said he
declared martial law in VJ72 as
a means of extending his
presidency indefinitely.
He not only extended it
through time, she added, he ex
tended it through law. Once
martial law was declared, Mar
cos increased the size of the ar
my from 60.000 to 200.000
troops and allowed freedom of
the press only for those papers
owned by his family and
friends, she said.
Marcos also intiated a policy
of “preventive detention,” im
prisoning people on the suspi
cion that they might be plann
ing insurrection, said Santiago.
Such detention, she said, could
only be repealed by Marcos
himself.
In addition, she charged that
the Marcos regime used money
from a World Bank loan to
rew'rite school textbooks to
serve as official propaganda.
Santiago accused the United
States of giving nearly a blank
check of support to the Marcos
government. Even the Carter ad
ministration, with its emphasis
on human rights, did little to
curb Marcos’ excesses, she said.
In fact, military assistance to the
Philippines actually increased
during Carter's presidency, she
added.
Political oppression adds to
the Philippines’ many other
problems, Santiago said, in
cluding staggering economic
deprivations.
With 25 percent unemploy
ment and inflation running at
more than 60 percent, Santiago
said people are taking whatever
work they can find. For women
and children such work is often
prostitution. If they don’t
become prostitutes, many
women attempt to become
“mail order brides” for
American men, she said.
Santiago said food shortages
have resulted in reliance on
what street vendors are calling
“devaluation food.” food the
people have endowed with col
orful euphemisms. Chicken feet
are called “Adidas,” pigs’ ears
are called “walkmans” and
chicken intestines are called
“I.U.D.s” (the abbreviation for
inter-uterine devices).
The Philippines’ economic
problems, according to San
tiago, are the result of its heavy
dependence on foreign aid, par
ticularly loans from the World
Bank and the International
Monetary Fund.
“I always categorize the
World Bank and IMF as drug
pushers,” said Santiago, ex
plaining that the country's
dependence on international
loans has imprisoned it in a cy
cle of debt that is dragging
down the Philippine economy.
Currently, she said, the country
is saddled with a $26 billion
debt.
Although elections were
recently held in the Philip
pines, Santiago claimed it was
merely a pageant staged by the
Marcos government for a
western audience. The officials
overseeing the election, she
said, were almost all Marcos
subordinates.
“How can you have clean and
honest elections with no
freedom of the press, no
freedom of assembly?” she ask
ed. Theoretically, she said,
there is freedom of expression
in the Philippines, but there is
no freedom after expression.
Reagan’s warnings that the
Marcos government must be
supported lest the Philippines
be taken over by communists is
greatly exaggerated, she said.
Although there is a communist
movement in the country, San
tiago said the vast majority of
those opposed to Marcos want
to establish a coalition
government.
Photo by Kirk Hi rota
The Eugene City Council planned Thursday to allow the
public to vote on whether or not these 90-year-old maple
trees should be removed in a street-widening project.
Voters may decide
historic trees’ fate
By Cynthia Whitfield
Of the Emerald
The Eugene City Council voted Thursday night to ten
tatively schedule a March 26 public vote on the proposed
widening of Sixth and Seventh avenues for, highway con
struction which would require the controversial removal of
six 90-year-old maple trees.
The council was previously opposed to putting the issue
to a vote, claiming that contracts for the project had already
been signed. The six trees are not protected under a new city
charter amendment that calls for voter approval of any street
widening project requiring the removal of historic trees
within the city’s 1915 boundaries.
But the state requested a public vote on the issue because
they feared litigation would arise from opponents of the
widening project. If citizens challenged the legality of the
project and the state went to court, the state could lose funds
and construction could be delayed, said city attorney Tim
Sercombe.
Citizens' Alliance for Trees member Tom Bowerman said
the group “may or may not” take a position on the Sixth and
Seventh avenue widening. The group first organized Ballot
Measure 52 calling for implementation of the new charter
amendment.
“The citizens of Eugene have made their position known
by the passage of the Historic Street Tree Charter Amend
ment. We find that the city’s position that eight lanes of
highway through the downtown area are necessary to be un
supported . . . we continue in our determination that Unit 1
(on Sixth and Seventh avenues) widening is destruction of
the downtown environment, physically and aesthetically,”
he said.
The highway plan is divided into three units extending
west from Sixth and Seventh avenue to the Willow Creek
area, targeted for future industry development. Councilor
members Debra Ehrman, Richard Hansen and Freeman
Holmer expressed interest in putting the entire project to a
vote at the March election, instead of holding three separate
Votes on each section of the highway plan.
But Chris Anderson, public works director, said a design
for the entire project could not be completed before the
election.