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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.