editorial
t---—
Reagan decision a
vote for lawlessness
Shame on the United States of America. On the eve of
the 50th U.S. presidential inauguration, President Ronald
Reagan defied international law and order by declaring that
the United States will not abide by any rulings of the Inter
national Court of Justice (World Court) that deal with U.S.
military policy towards Nicaragua.
In April, Nicaragua went to the World Court stating that
the United States had violated international law by mining
Nicaraguan waters and participating in paramilitray efforts
to overthrow the Sandinista government. In November, the
World Court voted 15 to 1 that it had legal jurisdiction to
hear Nicaragua’s case. Among those who voted in favor of
Nicaragua in the jurisdiction ruling were some of America’s
closest allies, including Japan, Britain, France, Italy and
West Germany. The United States offered the only dissen
ting vote.
On Friday, Reagan said that the U.S. government would
defy the World Court’s ruling on the Nicaragua case. This is
the first time that the United States has walked out of the
World Court in defiance of the Court’s rules, which this
country promised to uphold when it became a member in
1946.
Reagan’s decision sends a clear message that the United
States will ignore international opinion when it is in
America’s interests to do so. Furthermore, it reveals that
under the Reagan administration, the United States has
become a lawless nation governed by a philosophy of
“might makes right,” rather than “peace through interna
tional cooperation.”
When Iran refused to abide by the rulings of the World
Court five years ago, few Americans were surprised by such
lawlessness on the part of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Today, at the start of his second term in office, it seems that
Reagan and Khomeini share something in common.
Bookstore’s priority must
be educational materials
During the summer, the University bookstore began
remodeling itself. When fall term started, the word went
out: “We’ve got a new look, we are changing with the times
to better serve the students, faculty and staff of the Universi
ty of Oregon.” Five months later, the question of whether
the bookstore is better serving students and faculty is an im
portant one.
What concerns us the most is the trend the bookstore
seems to be taking in the direction of stocking more calen
dars, cookbooks, gift items, electronic appliances, etc....at
the expense of educational materials. Is this what the
bookstore considers better serving students and faculty? We
hope not.
To make room for more popular selling items, the
bookstore has cut down on space previously reserved for
academic materials. According to some University pro
fessors, the amount of space allocated to sociology is now
less than one fourth of what existed before. Reductions in
the areas of political science and anthropology have also
been cited. Most disturbing of all was the complete removal
of the ethnic studies section of the bookstore during fall
term. This section was removed on grounds that the books
were not selling well, and that the space could be used more
profitably for other purposes. Ethnic studies books are now
scattered throughout the bookstore in different sections.
While we realize that the bookstore must make enough
money to cover its overhead costs, we feel that the bookstore
must never lose sight of its primary purpose: serving the
educational needs of the University community.
SA
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letters
Pro-protests
In response to Ron Munion’s
letter (ODE, Jan.ll), I must ask
when protest became an
expletive?
I agree with Ron that America
is a great country in many ways.
It has the potential to be even
better. However, many r«f the
rights, freedoms, and privileges
Americans enjoy originated
from people who protested.
Would women have the right
to vote if women from the suf
frage movement had sat back
and said, "Hey, this is a great
country”?
Would minorities have the
civil rights they have today, if
some courageous people hadn’t
protested?
As well as the right to become
millionaires, citizens have an
obligation to promote a fair and
just society. No person, system,
or government is perfect. We
need to look at ourselves, our
systems, and our government
and think about how they might
change, grow, or improve. Pro
test is one vehicle for change.
As long as protest is non
violent, it is simply a way of
voicing our opinions.
Maybe Ron can look through
rose-colored, Reagan eyeglasses
at the country and see only the
gloiy, but I think many people
in our country and in other
countries would disagree with
him. See if the homeless
unemployed and poor would
agree with his glowing report.
See if a person in Central or
South America whose family
has been murdered by U.S. sup
ported dictators would agree.
I do agree that we need to
Oregon daily . _
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look at the positive aspects of
our country, but we cannot ig
nore the things that are wrong.
Bob Carbon
Eugene
Ludicrous!
Jomes Phillips claims that the
Marines protest last term was
•’an net of non-violent civil
disobedience,” assumedly pat
terned after Thoreau and Gan
dhi. He implies that the protest
should be applauded, which is
ludicrous. Even worse, Phillips
blames the Marines for the
disruption, because the Marines
didn’t have them arrested!
What the protestors did was
wrong. They could have the
best intent and very good
reasons for doing what they did,
but they committed the same
crime they accused the Marines
of committing: suppression of
freedom. Mom always told me
that two wrongs don’t make a
right, and I see no reason to
disagree with her.
Freedom of speech gave Mar
tin Luther King the right to
speak, and it gives the KKK the
right as well. If we start taking
away rights of people we don’t
agree with, they are no longer
rights but privileges. Who is to
determine who gets what
privileges? Freedom of speech
belongs to all; it even applies to
those we disagree with.
One final question: how come
so many non-students read the
Emerald for free, when the
students have to pay for it?
Brian Moore
English
Feeling safe
It seems from reading the let
ters that our three biggest prob
lems are women are op
pressed, homosexuals are
persecuted, and Christians are
suffering from what some call
“homophobia.” The oppres
sion of women can be alleviated
when we stop using words with
“man” in them to denote peo
ple in general.
For example, take the word
“homosapiens.” •'Homo”
means man, and “sapiens”
means thinking. Therefore this
is not a good word to be used for
the populace in general because
it does not include women.
Likewise homosexuality
should be replaced by a word
that shows that sexuality
belongs to both genders, not
just men alone. We should
replace homosexuality with
heterosexuality, and kill two
birds with one stone (no double
meaning intended.)
That leaves us with the
hypocritical Christians to take
care of, who not having
homosexuals to berate, can turn
to their own problems. "Homo”
means man, and "phobia”
means fear, so homophobia is
simply the fear of man. But the
Bible itself addresses this when
it says, (Prov. 29:25) “the fear of
man bringeth a snare: but
whoso puteth his trust in the
Lord shall be safe.”
Once Christians feel safe,
they can start coming out of
their closets. I mean, we already
know there are a few Christians
who do not think homosexuali
ty is such a good idea. It would
be interesting to find out how
the rest of the Christians feel.
Earl Gosnell
Eugene
New group
Most groups on campus seem
to take more than they give. But
this is not the case with all
groups.
Finally there is a group that is
trying to do something about
problems in the world. Their
answers are not political. They
understand that words and pro
tests don’t feed empty
stomachs.
This new dynamic group is
A1ESEC (pronounced "eye —
sek"). AIESEC is made up most
ly of international exchange
students.
AIESEC understands that all
nations must have strong
leaders. One of the main objec
tives of AIESEC is training these
new leaders. Through
understanding communications
and a unique international
perspective, members of
AIESEC can solve economic and
social problems in their respec
tive countries.
Members of AIESEC have
great potential, because their
academic preparation allows
them the opportunity to work
abroad. Their training includes
a series of job-related seminars
which focus on management
training.
AIESEC is a group that the
whole University community
can be very proud of. AIESEC is
located in Room 16-A of the
EMU.
Ron Munion
Political Science