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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 24, 1985)
editorial Reagan is effective in dealing with crisis The presidential election of 1980 took place while Presi dent Jimmy Carter was frantically trying to gain the release of the America hostages held in Iran and Republican candidate Ronald Reagan was standing in the sidelines condemning Carter's handling of the situation. Carter's impotence in relieving the situation and Reagan's appearance of strength was a strong force in sway ing the election in Reagan's favor. The election results were reinforced when the hostages were re'eased the day Reagan was inaugurated and when a few days later Reagan stated “Let terrorists be aware that when the rules of international behavior are violated, our policy will be one of swift and ef fective retribution.” Now. in the face of a hostage crisis that bears resemblance to the situation that took place in Iran and has left one man dead and forty still in captivity. Reagan appears to be as helpless as Carter was in relieving the situation. However, to leave it at that would be to do an injustice to Reagan. Following other terrorist attacks, such as the 1983 bom bing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the Reagan Ad ministration delivered some strong statements promising retribution to those responsible. But. in none of the cases was retribution delivered. However, though Reagan told the hijackers to release the hostages for "their own safety” and threatened to hold Shiite Moslem leader Nabih Bern responsible for the hostages’ safety, he has not delivered the same broad threats of retribution that have followed other attacks. It appears that he has learned the danger of promising something that he is unable to or has no intention of delivering. There are also some important differences between the Iranian hostage crisis and that of Lebanon. When Americans, were taken captive from the American embassy in Iran,, we knew that those responsible were Iranians who supported the Ayatollah Khomeini. In this case, though we know that the hijackers are part of the Shiite Moslem group, we cannot determine the country behind the attack. This, as Reagan pointed out during a June 18 press conference, makes retribution difficult. Further, it is ineffective to threaten people who have identified themselves as Shiite Moslems, people who have historically been willing to sacrifice their own lives for their causes. Reagan has also avoided the pitfall Carter allowed himself to fall into during the Iranian crisis. Reagan, by con tinuing with schedueled appointments and by focussing on ■= other issues such as his tax plan, has refrained from allow ing the crisis to engulf his job as president. Reagan has done a good job of trying to achieve the delicate balance of protecting the lives of the Americans now being held hostage and preventing future attacks. Reagan’s refusal to make concessions to the terrorists will devalue the use of terrorism as an effective tool for obtaining demands. At the same time, his placement of priority on the lives of the hostages and proceeding with negotiations are sincere efforts to bring the hostages home alive. And in order to protect other Americans from terrorist action, Reagan has urged the Department of Transportation to extend the “armed air marshal program” which involves the random placement of plain clothed armed air marshals on airplanes to act as deterrents to hijackers. A spokesman for the Department of Transportation said that the depart ment is considering this request and has also proposed a bill to Congress that would give the secretary of transportation the authority to immediately stop airline transportation to any airport found to have deficient security. In addition, Reagan has also asked U.S. airlines to con sider discontinuing flights into Athens as well as request that Americans refrain from using the Athens airport in order to pressure Greece into revamping the airport’s securi ty. He also asked Americans not to enter Middle Eastern na tions that do not "publicly condemn and disassociate itself from this atrocity and call for the immediate release of our citizens.” These measures are in addition to the bolstering of security that has taken place throughout Reagan’s term of office. Reagan’s shift of priority onto the safety of American lives rather than retribution signals a new, more realistic ap proach to terrorism for the president. Pne<> 2 ( DOZEN SHIITE GUYS) JO. - Opinion may hurt student groups ' The opinion handed down by Attorney. General Dave Fruhn mayor may hiavd some serious implications for campus student groups funded through incidental fees if the Oregon State Hoard of Higher Education chooses to abide by tt. The opinion forbids the use of incidental fees -to fund support of an Oregon ballot measure and. if this isn’t enough control for the QSBHE. the opinion would also limit funds for other political activities to. programs "under the supervision or control of the board" that the board finds "advan tageous to the cultural or physical development of students." Further, it would be necessary for the board to determine that the activity would "directly benefit the collective interests of the students who must pay the fee." This opinion appears to be a direct effort on the part of the attorney general at the request of the Oregon House Republican Leader l.any .Campbell and Bill Umman, the'vice-chancellor for Higher Education to tighten the reins on the activities of certain student groups. It is difficult to overlook the fact that Campbell is employed by Pacific Northwest Bell which.was a'major oppo nent of the ballot measure that established the Citizens Utility Board. CUB was heavily lobbied for by the Oregon Student . Public: Interest Rcaseart.h Group. Also, Lem man makes' it no secret that he apposes the use of incidental fees to support the South African divestiture suit. There is also evidence that some College Republicans pushed for the opinion as well . Lem man claims that he asked for the opinion at the re quest of students, and David Ridenour and Doug Crown. who are both College Republicans, have. - l>oen associated with the request for the opinion The opinion diwtly threatens the ASIJOY support of the-'divestiture suit'and the very-ev-; isle me of groups sue h as the Oregon StudentCrb ^ by. the Survival Center and Student Campaignfor.' Disarmament The other alarming feature U the ’ vague language that specifies the qualifications* student groups would need in order to usedejnds ;.*• toadvocate other political issues The opinion . !fives the OSBHK the broad power to-determine' or the students what is and w-hal is not "advan tageous" for them it leaves the temptation to the OSBHK to support funding issues they agree'with and to forbid funding issues that they don't’agree with all too vulnerable. *.••>.• If the OSBHK takes the opinion to heart, the only recourse for groups who want to advocate political issues that have been denied IFC funds , for the purpose, is to use revenues other than I PC money. But for the 72 of the 75 IFC funded groups ■ that receive nearly all of their funding.fipm IKC this could be a rliffii lut task. ° • Ideally, perhaps it should be that student foes are only spent to represent the collective interests of the students as a whole. However; the OSBHK with the support of the College Republicans, whose views do not coincide with the majorityjof the views of the students on this campus? are-poor •. candidates to determine this Fortunately, the OSBHK, which already has the power to veto ter tain uses of IFC funds and up until now has rarely ' intervened in IFC decisions, can ignoref/the opinion We suggest that it does. ; t " Good increases need consistency 1 The allocation of funds totalling about $24.4 million to the University during the 19H5 Oregon legislative session marks a significant increase over the last biennium's allocation. The increase was largely a result of the lobbying efforts of Eugene Mayor Brian Ohio. Charlene Curry, governmental relations director, and faculty members that chose to lobby for salary increases rather than seek better pay at other institutions. They deserve many thanks. University salaries received a 16-17 percent increase, and $14.4 million was contributed to the establishment and support of a science building and various science programs However, while the endowment did repre sent a substantial increase, legislators should realize that this type of funding is needed on a regular basis. The salary Increase just brings wages up to par with that of other institutions and will need to lie kept a top legislative priority if the University hopes to retain the level and quality of faculty it enjoys now. Oregon doily emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is published on Tuesdays and Thursday during the summer session except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon Dally Emerald Publishing Co., at the University of Oregon, Eugene Oregon, 9/403 The Emerald operates Independently ol the Universi ty with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press The Emerald is private property The unlawful removal or use of papers Is prosecutable by law General Staff Advertising Director Production Manager Classified Advertising Assistant to the Publisher Susan Thelen Russell Steele Vince Adams Jean Ownbey Advertising Sales Tim Clevenger, Michael Gray, Nancy Nielsen, David Wood ^ 1 Production Vince Adams, Kelly Cornyn, Storm! Dykes Kathy Gallagher, Kelly Neff, Michele Ross, Peg Wnlkai Karen Stallwood, Colleen Tremaine, Hank Trotter Editor Managing Editor, Haws Editor Editorial Page Editor Entertainment Editor Photo Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Administration Higher Education, Community Student Activities Features Julie Ship pen Diana Elliott Michelle Brence Sheila Landry Karen StaJlwood Julie Shipper Kirsten Bolm Scott McFetrldge Julie Freeman Marty Schwawbauer Reporters Sean Axmaker. Robert Colllas. Allan La/o, Linda Hahn Photographers: Steven Qlbbons. Jim Marks, Ross Marlin, Hank Trotter News amt Editorial Display Advertising and Business Classified Advertising Production Circulation 686-5511 6863712 666 4343 666 4361 666 5511 16
