letters
New service
A very important
breakthrough and service to
students will be provided next
term with the publication of
course evaluations, thanks to
the Student University Affairs
Board (SUAB).
Publication of these evalua
tions in the course guide is an
important step toward the com
plete opening of student evalua
tions to students. This is one of
the best uses of incidental fees I
have seen this year.
I find it disturbing that while
the University faculty and com
munity advocate a free and
open society, with regards to
free speech, so many faculty
members oppose the publica
tion of scientifically gathered
and statistically correct course
evaluations.
To address fan fin's (ODE,
March 13) specific points:
1. Research at other univer
sities has shown that students
do not simply evaluate ‘‘easy”
classes highly, nor do they flock
to “easy” classes.
2. Students' opinion alone
■ may * not > be a good judge;'
however, students currently re*
ly.on-.the time schedule, advice,'
from ’ academic--advisors *and
• Hearsay froiiri'friends. None-of'
• .'. "these are'a reliable source of in
formation on-the Content of the
•. • course, ‘quality"of the professor,
. ' and"other subjective measures. -
• 3". .Taking courses in which
the. student knows what io ex-.
.. pect and'has chosen the courses.
; based"on- mQte then hearsay
would greatly-.improve any stu:
dent's education.
' . '. *.• ■•• •
•*.: 4; This 'pilo.t ;projeet is'only
costing .students abqiit $180
total, for; evaluations, of- 20
• courses. Furthertnore," all of this
money Is.from already allocated
funds within. SUAB’s budget.
Incidental fee’s, were not in
creased.to pay for this.projbci. •
■T encourage- all students to
take, "advantage., of . this' pilot .
■_. project.'. .. . .• : • .•
• ; Adam Apalategui
•. . (Concerned student
Defamation
'I fear, that' the Oregon Com
mentator's article. last month on
' campus" redbaiting" featuring
Professor VVixman o.f the'
' geography department could
have contributed to the recent
suicide of Dr. Albert Syzmanski
of the sociology department.
This article, which featured
an unsubstantiated and
unrestrained attack on the
motives and ethics of an un
named Soviet expert clearly
recognizable as Syzmanski,
surely does not deserve to be
called journalism. Syzmanski’s
response in the current Com
mentator speaks for itself.
The pattern of unsubstan
tiated public charges concern
ing an individual’s political af
filiation followed by personal
tragedy for the accused was a
common one in this country
during the McCarthy period in
the fifties. 1 hope that Dr. Syz
manski is the last individual the
Commentator chooses to
defame.
Students may wish to join me
in gathering the 1,000 petition
signatures needed to place on
the next ASUO ballot a measure
denying the Commentator any
University funding until they
win funding by popular ballot.
Oregon Daily Emerald
The petitions should be ready
by spring term registration. One
thousand signatures must be
collected by April 8. Call me at
344-9077 if you want to help.
Paul Ferguson
Industrial Relations
Tennis courts
Your article on “Students
Protest Tennis Court Changes”
(ODE, March 8) pointed out that
building this temporary parking
lot was severe depravity of
students rights. In addition to
this, it’s also depravity of the
tennis courts’ well-being.
Building this parking lot is
not only useless, it will also
ruin perfectly functional tennis
courts. In making parking tem
porary, by the time they put the
fences and nets back up, the
pools of oil that the cars and
trucks have dripped will be in
all vicinities of the courts’ play
ing surface. I've heard of sliding
forehands, but this is
ridiculous. Also, the weight of
the cars will put pressure on the
surface, creating hills and
valleys" in the concrete that not
only produce “bad bounces;”,
but also pose a real health
hazard. This is" not to mention
•the car heels blemishing.out
;the baseband service ,lines! but
"wtfy. have courts with tru.e
. boundaries.;' who- keeps’ score,
’’anyway?’,... . • ; * ‘ -
In’addition to" this, the’tennis,
courts on 15th Avenue (the only.
’ other o.nes on campus),, are con
tinually, Crowded,' with a long
% 'waiting list,-during the’spring.
Taking...away, the-Alder Street
courts-will make available court -
. time virtually non-existerit. •
Instead of spending. $3.1,900
•on. a temporary- parking lot
which is only-a short-term solu.
tion • to’ a long-term problem:
let’s, save oiir money .to give, it
back to the students or look for a
better solution, arid keep o.ui"
tennis community ali.ve and
well!
’ : Wade Judy
Tennis Player
ROTC issue
In reply .to Mr. Hansen and
•Mr. .HelBlin'g (ODE Marchr 14} of
tbe ROTC: 1 did go to the ROTC
program and "read every single
piece, of . literature’,’ you
distribute-.. I even looked at the
ROTC history in the library. The
Reserve Officer Training Corps
is training entry-level officers.
It’s in the name.
I did not say, for the sources
did not say, that the Army is not
training cadets to operate in the
upper ranks. I said, for that is
what the source said, that the
technical emphasis of the ROTC
program is causing concern that
the program may not be giving
cadets the broad background re
quired for advancement into the
upper ranks. This is a concern
of the Army's and not my own
personal opinion.
Mr. Hansen observes that the
‘‘literature does not require a
mere vocabulary,” but
presumably prepares students
for life and for advancement in
that field. Perhaps this is true of
the ROTC program; in which
case, the ROTC program is
training soldiers for the
business of the Army in combat.
My belief that ROTC has a
technical emphasis comes from
reading that fact in almost every
single source.
1 do not believe that dropping
napalm on children, or in
vading small countries, is what
defends my right to write to a
newspaper. I believe that the
freedom of speech exists as it
does in America because that is
our tradition. The exercise of
that freedom preserves that
tradition, not the exercise of
destructive powers of war.
Shasta Hatter
Eugene
Open-minded
Mr. Amos' letter (ODE, March
8) hit the nail right on the head.
Most students on this campus
are not staunch “liberals” and
by the same token they are not
staunch “conservatives” either.
A lot of the students, I think,
could be grouped as
“moderates” or just plain prac
tical, open-minded people. I
believe those people are willing
to listen to a speaker/group
regardless of whether they agree
with the speaker’s/group’s
views or not. This was very evi
dent at the Gorden Liddy lec
ture. When a certain person
yelled out thejr objection to one
of Liddy’s points, it was met
with some, favorable applause.
On the other hand, when Liddy.
.“reprimanded” that person for
speaking, out before the ques
. tion and answer session, his
. remarks .to that person Were met;
•with a . tremendous response.
The' reason for this was because
most of the' people who were
•..present at that lecture were
there with an open %nind and
were'willing to listen to Liddy
:as a person of knowledge about
our government and one who
has been a historical figure in
> recent-years’
'. .As soon as those hecklers
realize that the rest of the
students, do.not respect them for
.their blantant disregard for the
■ First "Amendment, and start
relaying their viewsthrough the
proper channels, the more
respect'.; their causes will
receive. Until these, groups
realize this, students like myself
will'continue to think that they
are just trying to. keep
something from us that might
prove their cause wrong.
", Michael Magee
.Business
Vote no
We need economic develop
ment in Eugene to- benefit all
our citizens, not just a few rich
developers! The 6th and 7th
Street widening project is a
prime example of a government
project that costs a lot of money,
creates a big mess, and doesn’t
help the people who really need
it.
By widening the streets, im
proving the airport, and
building industrial parks, the
city and a few Chamber-of
Commerce types plan to bring a
lot of outside businesses to
Eugene, especially high
technology businesses.
They say this industry is safe,
clean, and will provide jobs for
the unemployed.
They don’t tell us that in San
ta Clara County, California,
home of “Silicon Valley,’’ there
are 19 sites proposed for the En
vironmental Protection
Agency’s Superfund emergency
clean-up list (more than in any
other county in the nation).
Most of these sites were created
by the leakage of chemicals us
ed in the manufacture of
computers.
They don’t admit most of the
fancy, high-paying jobs in this
industry will go to outsiders
who will move here along with
the companies.
Voting “no” on measure 51
in the March 26 election will
send a signal to the city bigwigs
that they need to remake their
plans, with genuine community
participation. That’s why I’m
voting against Measure 51, and
I hope you’ll vote against it too.
If you are going to be out of
town on March 26, you can fill
out an absentee ballot at Lane
County Elections, 135 E. 6th
Ave.
Betsy Brown
Eugene
Nazi rise?
All the recent notoriety about
the Idaho Nazis, and related
human trash, brings eerie
shivers to my soul. If it wasn’t
for the serious harm they do,
they would be laughable
buffoons.
Although their numbers are
now relatively small, do not
underestimate the harm they
may bring. During the early
1900s in Germany, the German
people and the world regarded
the Nazis with scorn and dis
dain, even humor, for, at first,
the Nazis were a small group of
fanatics. By. the time those same
people awoke to the thunder of
a goose-stepping army mar
ching by the windows and/or
saw their doors kicked in by the
jackboots of smartly-uniformed
children of the swastika, it .was
too late. And don’t forget, Hitler
got plenty of support from U.S.
citizens previous to World War
n, as that scum began to froth
on the surface of the stagnant
cesspool of life,
Now is the time to act Work
for peace, and love for life.
Tommy Walen
Eugene
No such luck
Having attended the lecture
by Gordon Liddy, I remain stun
ned by the vacuity of the au
dience Surely Eugene could do
better than that!
For instance, there was effec
tively no audience response to
Liddy's mention of Judge John
Sirica, who presided over the
Watergate trials. 1 was expec
ting cheers for the distinguish
ed jurist who brought Liddy and
his criminal cohorts to justice
for their attempts to undermine
the American constitutional
system. No such luck.
Some of my younger fellow
students, who perhaps don’t
recall the pernicious plots
which put Liddy in prison in
the first place, tell me that this
adulation of an anti-democratic
thug is an indication of the
“new conservatism” on cam
pus. This strikes me as just the
sort of muddle-headed misuse
of language which Liddy
himself decried. After all, the
idea of supplanting legitimate
constitutional procedures and
open democratic debate with
surreptitious police-state prac
tices is the furthest thing from
true conservatism, which Funk
and Wagnall’s defines as
“upholding the existing order
and opposing premature in
novation.” Liddy represents
rather an extremely radical
political perspective which
would replace our cherished
democratic institutions with an
authoritarian, spy-infested state
not noticeably distinguishable
from a certain unnamed “evil
empire.”
Larry Taylor
Linguistics
Disinformation
Gordon Liddy said many
things with which I disagree
when he spoke recently at the
EMU. His evasion when asked
about the connection between
Operation Intercept, a mari
juana interdiction operation in
Mexico which cut deeply into
the supply of pot coming into
the United States, and Opera
tion Red Horse, in short, the
CIA conduit of heroin from
Southeast Asia’s opium
growing “Golden Triangle” at
the same time, was to be ex
pected. Not even a former
member of the government can
afford to admit that his
employer was cutting off the
supply of Mexican marijuana in
order to facilitate the sale of
heroin it was supplying from a
country — Laos — against
which it was waging an air war
that killed tens, maybe hun
dreds of thousands.
But what really got to me,
after he had finished evading
my question, was something he
said about winning. For Gordon
Liddy to tell me that “If we had
won the .Vietnam war, you
wouldn’t be so bitter” is to imp
ly that the U.S. could have
“won” the war by anything less
drastic than turning Vietnam
and its immediate neighbors in
to parking lots, and that doing
so would have been somehow
in the best interests of the
U.S.A. .
Gordon Liddy's four-fjgures
a-night campaign of disinforma
tion will not stop because of this
letter; the curious will always
vastly outnumber those with
political axes to grind. But it is
imperative that we do not har
bor any • illusions about what
manner of rogue Gordon Liddy
is.
William Homans
Journalism
Source of hope
We mourn the death of a man
whose presence among us was
always a source of strength,
hope, and commitment.
A man who dedicated the ma
jority of his life to the struggle
against oppression, inequality,
and injustice wherever he found
it; both here and abroad.
A man respected by friend
and foe, for he had that rare
ability to befriend even those
with whom he disagreed.
He was a man who spoke out
openly against the unjust prac
tices and institutions of this
country; threatening many
while inspiring others.
A man who was as gentle and
considerate inside as he was
serious and determined on the
outside.
We mourn the death of A1
Szymanski. May his memory
live as a source of strength for
those who follow in his
footsteps.
Iranian Students Association
Arab Students Club
A proposal
This is a simple proposal
directed at our University’s ad
ministration: 1 would like you
to allow the student body to
decide by plebescite whether or
not it would like to have the
Aider Street tennis courts con
verted into a parking lot. If you
reject this proposition, could
you then please tell us publicly
why you feel that democracy in
this case is not appropriate?
Mark Grant
International Studies
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