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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 1985)
Turning books into bits See Page 3 Oregon daily _ _ emerald Thursday, March 7, 1985 Eugene, Oregon Volume 86, Number 114 Americans live in illusion, Liddy says By Paul Ertelt Of the Kmerild G. Gordon Liddy’s address in the EMU Ballroom Wednesday night was interrupted at one point by a bomb threat, but that did not dampen interest in the outspoken Watergate figure. About a 1,000 people packed the ballroom to hear Liddy speak on ‘‘Government: Percep tion Vs. Reality.” Liddy said that the majority of Americans “lead lives of illu sion.” One symptom of American illusions is the use of euphemisms, such as calling prisons "correctional institu tions.” he said. “I was in (prison) longer than the U.S. was in the Second World War,” he said. ‘‘I didn’t see anybody corrected.” Liddy spent more than four years in prison for his role in the Watergate break-in. Americans are fortunate . because of the richness of our natural resources and our relative isolation from world conflicts, but this has caused us . to develop “a near terminal naivete” about the world, he said. -—.— "The world is not Eugene: it is not Palm Springs: it is not Westchester County,” he said. “The world is a very bad neighborhood. It’s the South Bronx, that’s what it is. At 2 a^m,” Liddy defended the need for the espionage and clandestine operations in such a world. Although many Americans are squeamish about espionage, Liddy said it was a common practice throughout the world that dates back to biblical days. Other nations share informa tion gathered through es pionage operations, he said, but the United States has been cut off from intelligence sharing with 15 friendly nations. Liddy blames this on the Freedom of Information Act. No nation is willing to share infor mation if there is a possibility of their sources being exposed by the FOLA, he said. Without adequate in telligence data, Liddy said, a nation is forced into pursuing two extreme courses: doing nothing or going to war. Other illusions Americans believe are that the Social Security system will survive, that the United States will not need a military draft, and that there is military parity between the United States and the Soviet Union, he said. Social Security is a pyramid scheme, and those under 30 will never receive a penny of Social Security benefits, he said. Because the number of 18-year-old males is declining rapidly, by 1990 the military will need to recruit 55 percent of males not in college in order to meet its quotas, he said. Liddy also said the United States is behind the Soviet Americans are living in “a near terminal naivete” about the world, G. Gordon Liddy told a sold-out crowd in the EMU Ballroom Wednesday night. Union in both conventional and nuclear capabilities. The ballroom was cleared for a half-hour because of a bomb threat. No bomb was found and Liddy finished his speech, which was followed by more than two hours of questions from the audience. Before taking questions, Lid dy said he realized that many in the audience were too young to remember Watergate and his role in it. Liddy then gave his version of the events. Liddy distinquished between the break-in of the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist and the break-in of the Continued on Page 8 Pesticides use panned, backed in noon debate By Dave Bern* Of the Emerald A local environmentalist squared off against a federal En vironmental Protection Agency representative Wednesday over the values and dangers of pesticide use in the food chain. The lunchtime debate, part of a day-long campus food safety forum, pitted Mary O'Brien of the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides against lake Mackenzie, the EPA’s Western regional compliance director for pesticide use. “At least we've gone through the times where it looked like the EPA would go out of existence," Mackenzie said. "Despite the reports of gloom and doom, things are not that bad." However, O’Brien charged that the 14-year-old EPA is not adequately educating Americans on the dangers of pesticides. "If a pesticide causes 90 cents worth of damage but pro vides $1 worth of benefits, it’s used." she said. "But most pesticides haven’t been tested, and if they were tested, they were most probably tested inaccurately." O’Brien pointed to the alleged scandal at the Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories, in Northbrook. 111., to support her claim that the EPA was using false information in the analysis of pesticides. The Bio-Test Laboratories conducted thousands of research tests for major American chemical and drug manufacturers during the early 1970s, she said. "EPA used this information to determine the safety of pesticides. But 90 percent of their long-term tests were in valid, and 99 percent of their cancer tests were invalid.” she said. While the use of pesticides may be objectionable to some Continued on Page 8 Assembly prepares mail vote on proposed semester system By Jolayne Houtz Of the Emerald University faculty and Stu dent University Affairs Board members will vote by mail on whether to adopt a semester system or keep the current quarter system under a motion passed at Wednesday’s Univer sity Assembly meeting. Each voter will make three choices, initially choosing either the quarter and semester system, then selecting between an early or late semester system, and finally choosing either the “true” or current quarter system. In an early semester system, classes would start in early September and end before vaca tion in December. The late semester system would involve students taking finals after the vacation. In the “true” quarter system, students would take three or four classes of four to five credits each. The faculty has traditionally been split in thirds over the issue — one-third favoring the current quarter system, another in favor of the early semester system and the last third favor ing the late semester system. The motion states that a change in the current system would be made only if adequate funding should become available. The motion was presented by Mavis Mate, chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee. The results of the vote will be compiled and sent to State Board of Higher Education Chancellor Bud Davis, who has asked for the opinions of all state institutions on the matter. Davis also will receive the results of a separate motion ob jecting to conversion from the present quarter system. The motion, presented by ar chitecture Professor John Reynolds, states that no change should be considered in either the academic calendar or the current quarter system until the financial health of the higher education system is fully restored. The motion passed 42-32 in the Assembly meeting. Although there was some debate over how to determine when the health of the state system is restored, Reynolds said faculty members are still lacking money for basic depart mental services, and changing to a semester system could in volve money that isn’t currently available. The faculty should be given back basic funding levels before they are expected to spend the time and money involved in changing to another system, he said. “If the system isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” Reynolds said. “It’s time to stop the drain on our morale.” Three notices of motion also were presented at the Assembly meeting for discussion at the April meeting. The Assembly will discuss a motion that would allow stu dent access to teacher and course evaluations in the main library, the Office of Academic Advising and the department in which the course is offered, said Roscoe Caron, SUAB member. The Assembly will also con sider a motion by SUAB member Matthew Fick about eliminating tests given on Saturdays and Sundays during finals week. Finally, the Assembly will discuss proposed changes in the post-tenure review procedure.