Commentary_
Divestment task must continue
Nine years have passed since students on this
campus decided that their university would not
invest in South Africa. Why so long?
The April issue of Newsweek On (Campus
briefly describes the history: "In 1977 students at
the University of Oregon voted for the complete
divestiture of $20 million in stocks with a South
African connection. The state board of higher
education agreed, but the Oregon Investment
Council vetoed the decision — and the students
sued.”
Nino years the controversy has raged and our
position has not changed. A state circuit court
decided in December of 19B4 that divestment
violates the prudent investor .rule. The fear that
divestment would be a substantial cost does.not
seem to conform to the reality. "
; Eighty-four school# across thecountry have
at least partially removed their apaHheid
cqnnnctn.d investments. Some, among them Cob
umbia and Michigan.State, "saw the.rate of return
on their portfolios increase after divestment.. . “ •
Another "prudent investor" concern is. the
safety of the; funds in question. The need for.
diversification, in a portfolio "is Understandable,.
However, one must wcSnder when, the basis for
that diversity remains investment in-a. patently.'
unstable political and economic system.
The stucients have appealed arid the case now
awaits decision by the' Court of Appeals/ • *. ,'
WHy solong? 'We Have beemopposed pot on
ly by the.courts°and the Oregon Investment Coun
cil. biit alst;! by; some* .within bur .University'
system. Even though.the Board of !Iighor Educe-,
tion and our University President support us,0the
Chancellor's office-has. restricted our.bbility to
continue the suit. ' • . .. ".
. * ■ **•. • * ■ * * •-*.
They decided that student fees could not be
used for political purposes — we cannot pay our
lawyers! We are thus unable to either remove our
, money to oppose-them. • ' * \ •' ,v"
• V Why.so long? Perhaps .we .'should stop asking
ourselves this question and. address, the. task'at
hand. The Chancellor’s office must understand
. that if w6 want to -use -our ;rnoney to tight for.
divestment, then w'e have-a right to do so: ■
The Court of Appeals must know that we will. :
npf be “silent. Judges read the newspapers,and
they remember the. headlines when they decide”
. - cases .Fort hem to hear us requ ires, a .conceded1 ef
. fort. We’ must rally together and let them,know
• that nine’years is' tod long FULL- DIVESTMENT
% IS UDNG OVERDUE! • v . . • ’
.' , ' •
» . i. .’ v ••/. ,. Chris Green ;
‘i < .•*. ‘ Eugene Free .South Africa Movement
Name source
If Christianity is truly what
j Ronald Rousseve claims —. i.e.,°
an "irrational faith" in a myth,
then I agree with his conclusion
we would be better off without
it.
In his letter,.-however.. Prof.
Rousseve merely makes asser
tions about his own.' point of
view, labels rthem ‘'reality,"
and neatly dismisses all that
doesn’t fit his owniworld view.
I suggest that unless Prof.
Rousiwve has some irrefutable
source of verification for his
opinions, then all he has done is
say'Tm right because I think I
am.” . /. °
-' The writers of the New Testa
m o n I (I tit tt m as n t a u* n r n
Support needed
Till Monday, ‘ I had been
fostering the dim hope the
Emerald .is a comparatively,
well-informed newspaper
whose aim is to serve the in- ~
forests of the student communi- *•
ty. Monday's article about the
GTF rally on Friday, however,
was definitely not a piece of
joumalispi that enhanced the
student's knowledge of what is
really happening on campus.
It is true Chancellor Davis
told the crowd his office had
contacted other schools. It does
not correspond to the facts,
however, that those schools are
J •' • V • : r r. :»• 1
. also withholding taxes,on their
GTFs‘. tuition waiters. So far,
Ohio State is the only one that
does. ‘ •
GTFs generally, do no/ make
StiOO.a month. $500 would be a.
more adequate estimate. And
this is- before any taxes are
withhold. The current fax
policy, hits foreigners (like
*. myself) especially hard.-' ’
Chancellor Davis also saicl the
University would not be as good
as it is-now without .GTFs. d
would'state this in-a somewhat
more blunt manner: Without
GTFs. this university would not
be able to function at all. ".
eyewitnesses of the life, death
and resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth. As shown by their
writings and those who knew
them, they all possessed a
degree of moral character that
would make exaggeration or
falsification of their accounts of
Christ's life and teachings un
thinkable. The fact most died as
martyrs rather than renounce
their beliefs shows how they
viewed the reality of what they
wrote.
The British scholar Brooke
Foss Westcott said. "Taking all
the evidence together, it is not
too much to say that there is no
historic incident better or more
variously supported than the
resurrection of Christ. Nothing
but the antecedent assumption
that it must be false could have
suggested the idea of deficiency
in the proof of it."
It has long been acknowledg
ed that Christians' belief in the
resurrection of Jesus Christ
enables them to "die well." I
wonder if the same will be said
of Ronald Rousseve’s beliefs
and values.
William Moore
Music School
WOME MI'eY
SYMPOSIUM
--...
1
I CREATIVITY J
I have heard the standard of
American universities is not the
highest in the world. If you can
not make up your mind to pay
foreign GTFs a salary they can
live on, the standard of
Americans’ proficiency in
foreign languages is not going
to improve. If GTFs in general
are forced to work besides their
lob at the University, the quality
of teaching is going to
deteriorate.
fedwig Fraunhofer
GTF, Comparative Literature
, Quite creative
I found the Emerald editorial
on student activism to be quite,
er, creative:-• ‘ .
What, may ' I ask-, K ever,'
possessed .you- to include ; the....
Gommehtatqr.in an editorial
commendiiig. the -nationwide
ituderiC c a hi p a i g n> *f-o r.
divestineht?. . .. ‘ ‘
V:/ Please, don’t'” insult -pur
.' intelligence'; ’ ’ .; ’ • '
v->- '.-"V;.;' ,
: . , . • Roscoe Caron, •
•r. ' 1 >.! -Education'.'';
° Regain interest
lets hear itfbr.’thenewASUO:
administration! What?. Where'is
all the applause for the-yvin
ners?'You mean only, seven per
cent of the eligible voters voted
for Steve Nelson and Gaitlin
. Cameron? f *?? ..
. ...-TTiisfletter a .plea tothestu-.,
dent government "toraise stu- ;'
dent awareness.!, ! have* been at. .
the University for three year?'
./.And * to. my1!, know ledge, voter'.,
turnout has not been.any better
in any of those yeans. .Could, it
. be students . don’t care, what
their student government does,*
’ because as far as the students
know, the government does lit
tle fo affect their lives here at
.''the University.
• ‘ It is apparent to me that
students don’t vote because
they don’t care who gets
elected. 1 believe this is because
, the current, party in power has
spent too much time fighting
among themselves and expen
ding effort and money on things
the student body see as unim
portant or irrelevant to them.
1 think the newly elected
ASUO government must
remember why they were
elected, to serve the students
and the university, not just to
use their office as an extension
of their political and moral
views. You’re losing the
students’ interest and you have
to fight an uphill battle to get it
back.
Steve and Caitlin, I wish you
the best of luck in 1986-87/.
You'll need it considering you
have to govern a student body
in which 93 percent either don’t
agree with you or don’t care
what you do.
Michael E. Magee
Management, Finance
Sexist also
In response to Leah Juniper
-and Judy C. Finch and other.les- •
bians on.campus. I believe a few
.'attitudes need tohe discussed..'• ’
*. • I' am just what Leah and Judy
would Consider .'a v “white;'
Heterosexualablerbodied‘riqh
. kid^’I.on the other hand;.wprk
yfeiry.-harti at realizing and trying
to- change my: sexist .^attitudes
■ builtjhroiigh my upbringing. 1;
also have, absolutely nothing
against any gays or lesbians, but
have become alarmed when my
attempts-.to socially interact
with', these people (especially
lesbians) have often been cut off
because 1’m'white and rich (and
obviously staunchly sexist).:
1 * • ° *» • . 0 ‘
Although sexism and racism
have ^prevailed throughout the
white populajions of the w.orld; • •
/implying.that, l.pr any other. ;
' white*” male{are not^worth deal
'. ihg with.v without' actually get
ting* to know” Qs,".is’also sexist:
.Judging others by their physical
being •: or mental attributes is
, wrong.in any. sense!•; °. . ,
\\ ' People are people arid should
try to work together to solve the
problems of sexism, racism and
other judgmental abuses. These
problems are not a one-way
street, and alienating any group
only hinders the - path toward
the equality of everyone, v
There are \ certain groups
where this approach might be ,
useless. South Africa, for exam
ple/ But many .of these
' ‘white... rich kids’’ just might
be more reasonable than many
lesbians might think.
Thomas Jacobs
Biology
Thursday, May 1: Film Festival
8:00 p.m. 167 EMU; Shorts plus an Australian Film “On Guard”
Friday, May 2: Evening of Literature
4:00 p.m. EMU Forum; Panel of Writers
8:00 p.m. 167 EMU; June Jorden, reception following
Saturday, May 3: Explore the Art:
11:00-11:50 Women in Arts: Past and Present Slide Show; 177
Lawrence
12:00-1:15 Panel: Women in Art; 177 Lawrence
1:20-2:00 Art Therapy: Creativity; 177 Lawrence
2:00-4:00 Afternoon gig with “Righteous Mothers”, (co-sponsored
with Cultural Forum); EMU Courtyard
4:00 p.m. Women and the Recording Business - Melissa Howden;
EMU Forum
5:00 p.m. Women in Theatre Panel; EMU Forum
8:00 p.m.g of Drama and Dance Improv; EMU Forum
Sunday, May 4: Alternatives
1:00 p.m. Big Mountain Support Group Slide Show; EMU Forum
2:00 p.m. “Women in Nicaragua: After the Revolution” Film;
EMU Forum
4:00 p.m. Women’s Diverse Spirituality; EMU Forum
6:00 p.m. Closing Ceremony; EMU Forum
For more information, call ASUO at 686-3724
/