Editorial Married couple rule should not continue The Amazon Policy Board will meet Tuesday to con sider recommending elimination of the married couple priority in access to certain University housing. The married couple priority has no rational relationship to the University’s educational mission, and should be eliminated. This will not adversely affect anyone with children, because parents with children are automatically eligible for priority. The University is in the housing business only because housing is deemed a necessary part of its educational mis sion. The present policy expresses a value judgment that marriage is better than other human relationships func tionally identical to marriage. The policy does nothing else. In determining access to University housing, the University should consider factors related to access to education. Consider parenthood. Consider financial need. Consider course load or student loan obligations. Consider any factor with demonstrable bearing on student need for housing. Marriage is not such a factor. Is there a rational distinc tion related to the University’s educational mission that can be made between married couples and unmarried and gay couples? Assuming all other variables are the same. e.g. years together, no children, income, there is no difference. Marriage is a legal status, no more, no less. By itself it bears no relationship to need for access to University manag ed housing. An unmarried couple together five years has no educa tionally related needs that differ from a couple married five years. Educationally related needs are the only ones the University should consider. Societal institutions change over time. Marriage is a popular and satisfying option through which many people organize their lives. It is not the only way. It is not, in 1986, even the only socially acceptable way. . Gay men and lesbians cannot marry, and many heterosexual couples choose not to. These couples nonetheless have the same loving, caring, happy, angry, changing, growing partnerships as married couples. The University should recognize this fact. The University now has a policy that rewards marriage and discounts non-marriage. This policy is irrational, senselessly discriminatory and unrelated to the University’s educational mission. Change it to truly serve student needs. A new policy that treats couples alike raises the possibility of occasional access by people not committed to each other, but just wanting to get into University housing. The same is true under the current policy. The University is faced with a choice between imperfect options. The present policy is imperfect and irrationally discriminatory against non-married couples. A policy treating couples alike might also be imperfect, but it would not be inherently discriminatory. We realize the complexity of revamping the housing policy. The University’s housing staff should begin at square one and consider the modern role of student housing. A new policy should be drafted to reflect this role. We urge the Amazon Policy Board to recommend the elimination of the married student priority. We further sug gest that the housing staff begin drafting a new policy that considers and ranks criteria genuinely related to the housing needs of all student couples and parents. r Letters For women only In response to Darrel Rothauge's letter "no protec tion," we would like to make it - clear that rape is indeed a violent act. However, this is no reason to limit protection from it. Why should anyone expose themselves to an opportunity where they could be abused? The idea that some women driving or riding this van could somehow initiate an act of sex ual conduct is an absurd and uneducated statement. This van is driven by women for women, because we as a whole are fin ding ways in which to minimize the acts of rape, as well as sex ual harassment and abuse. /’ Neither one of us is a lesbian, however, this does not detract from the fact that we found your comments about them distasteful and preposterous. No lesbian is a man trapped in a woman's body. Perhaps you' should give some real thought to that statement. You are in ef fect-saying it is actually men who are the danger to all the "innocent Women.” There are very few women who would rape another woman in the manner such as men do. ’ . In creating project safe-ride. Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is pubLshed Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oreoon Daily Emerald Publishing Co., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403 The Emerald operates independently of the University 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 Susan Thelen Advertising Sales David Wood Sales Manager, John Boiler, Jessica Cederberg, Michael Gray, Laura Goldstein, Robin Joannides. Carlos Lamadrid. Marcia Leonard. Shawn Leuthold, Catherine Lil)a, Shawna Reed, Kathy Stein, Joan Wildermuth, Laura Willoughby Production Vince Adams, Kelly Alexandre, Lynne Casey, Shu-Shing Chen, Ellen Cross. Stormi Dykes, Manuel Flores, Shannon Gaither, Ross Martin, Mary May, Mary McGonigal, Rob Miles, Angie Muniz. 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News and Editorial 6M-S511 Display Advertising and Business QM- 3712 Classified Advertising 6M-4343 Production 686-43ai Circulation S86-S511 the objective for alt women is to provide protection and create an atmosphere of trust for one another. This crucial element of trust is not easily placed in the hands uf menby most women in " today's society. If you so feel a need to be pro tected. why not create a shuttle van service of your own instead of attempting to destroy an ob viousjy good and worthy project? • - • Stacey B. Atwell . Bonnie A. Bates Marriage best The last thing the University (or society in general) should do is encourage homosexuality. Benefits reserved for married couples should never be granted to homosexuals living together, nor should laws be changed to allow same-sex marriages. Even from a purely biological perspective homosexuality is a maladaptive behavior-which is counterproductive to any socie ty. Besides medical problems, the practice;, certainly does nothing . to perpetrate the spec ies, and any society which encourages such behaviors will eventually perish,-That's why successful societies, such as western civilization, have tradi tionally encouraged heterosex ual marriages sp as fo have stable and .responsible . en vironments for /.families to he raised. This enables .the people and culture to survive genera tion after generation. Two or more guys living together, and having homosex ual relations have never been regarded as families. Their behavior makes no real con tribution to the survival of a people and if a large percentage of a particular people engaged in such lifestyles the people would soon die out. last’s not give homosexual relations any more legitimiza tion than already exists. The heterosexual family unit is the backbone of all successful sociali«s on earth. Our country has a stake both in preserving and encouraging the traditional family unit as well as discourag ing maladaptive and counter evolutionary forms of behavior. Michael (xoss , Political Science/Hi story No Philistine The comments of Professor • Robert Hurwitz (Emerald, April 4) about KVVAX announcer Mike l.ee are of interest. The professor takes Mr. l