Editorial
Hayward expansion
should move slowly
Few people question the merit of renovating Hayward
Field. The track is in sorry shape and needs to be widened;
the spectator stands also are in need of a face lift. But the in
troduction of House Bill 2800, sponsored by state Rep.
David Dix, D-Eugene, has raised our eyebrows.
For the past few weeks, Dix has been championing a
proposal that would go beyond merely expanding the field.
The outline of his project not only includes widening the
track, but also calls for the construction of a weight room,
trainers’ facilities, press boxes, a warm-up track, increased
seating and a new scoreboard. To fund this project, Dix has
called for the State System of Higher Education to issue
revenue bonds to the tune of $2 million.
Some University officials have questioned how the
school would go about paying back the bonds — this ques
tion has yet to be answered by Dix, but he insists that the
University would not be soley responsible for funding the
debt. University adminstrators are acting wisely to approach
this scheme with caution.
Dix’s bill is a tall order, and on the surface it sounds like
a fantastic idea. Who would be against constructing the
finest track and field stadium in the state? But again, the
problem lies in how to fund the thing, and this is where the
freshman representative may be doing a little political
grandstanding. The proposal has a lot of brawn, but it is
short on brains.
Last week, city, county and University officials met
with Dix and attempted to come up with solutions for fun
ding the bonds. Predictably, no headway was made. The
issue of raising ticket prices for athletic events was discuss
ed, and the prevailing wisdom is that it won't work. And it
won't.
For example, football and basketball ticket prices are
already high, and raising them would undoubtedly
discourage some fans from attending, thus making the price
increase negligible. Moreover, half of the proceeds from
athletic events go to the visiting team, so any gains in ticket
revenue would have to be split. Dix himself admitted in
creasing ticket prices only would raise $40,000 at the most
— nowhere close to the $3.5 million needed to complete the
project he envisions.
Dix has discussed other revenue-raising means, among
them would be a tax on major track and field events as well
as increasing the city’s hotel and motel tax. But Dix has yet
to provide any details about how a ’’track and field tax”
would be implemented, and the city has been extremely
leery of raising hotel and motel taxes in the past. Chances
are that it will be just as leery if the idea of raising taxes
comes up again.
However, Dix does not deserve all the criticism; as he
has pointed out, House Bill 2800 has received bipartisan
support in both houses of the Legislature.
We encourage efforts to expand the track facilities — if
it can be done. Problems will no doubt arise if projects that
are too big are put forth with too much haste. Dix, his bipar
tisan supporters, city, county and University officials
should work together cautiously and carefully to come up
with a feasible plan if the University is to avoid funding a
financial Tower of Babel.
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Letters
Budget cuts
Bonneville Power Ad
ministration is experiencing
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rently exists in the Northwest,
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thwest Power Planning Council
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be utilized first above all other
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Bruce Philbrick
Survival Center
Woman's right
In reading the responses of
Mary Sullivan and Barbara Tur
rill to Jeff Hoyt’s letter on Feb. 6
(corrected on Feb. 13), it was in
structive that both women
found it necessary to write,
although each claimed Hoyt’s
letter was somehow
“amusing.”
The quote by Rosemary Bott
cher is a powerful one, and 1 can
understand why these women
felt the need to respond. A
substantial portion of their let
ters. however, was essentially
an attack on Hoyt that appeared
to be based solely on his gender
and did not deal with the issues
he raised.
One often can see people who
argue that abortion is a moral
alternative to giving birth at
tempting to disguise the reality
that an innocent human life is
brutally destroyed each time an
abortion takes place. The in
sistence on the euphemism
“pro-choice" by Ms. Sullivan
reveals just such an attempt to
hide truth with words.
In an address delivered at the
University of Manitoba in
February 1978, Janet E. Smith
made the following comments:
“A woman who sets her rights,
the supposed right to privacy or
right over her own body, above
the life of another human being
is saying that a woman's rights
are superior to human rights.
She has put herself above the
human race, she has made
herself the executor over life
and death. Is that a woman’s
right?”
William Moore
Music school
Preferences
This will be my last contribu
tion to the current letters forum
on the topic of agnosticism ver
sus religious faith.
Previously I indicated that
” psychological compartmen
talization” is one undesirable
consequence of partitioning off
various sectors of human ex
perience as sacred turf — and,
therefore, not to be examined
with the same quality of rational
scrutiny which a university
brings to bear on other areas of
concern.
Now because religious doc
trines like virgin birth, resurrec
tion, immortality, and a God
operating in the universe —
when carefully examined — are
found to be of questionable
veracity, religiously inclined
people can "accept” them only
on non-rational grounds. In this
context, "faith” means believ
ing in propositions for which
there is insufficient evidence or
rational justification.
An agnostic (like myself)
argues that no one KNOWS
whether a God exists; whereas
Nelson Farrier (ODE, Feb. 12)
states that he has determined
“that there is a God” — and
William Moore (ODE, Feb. 12)
suggests that I re-examine my
motives?
Some years ago, 1 came across
an essay by Leo Rosten titled
“The Myths By Which We
Live.” In it, Rosten identified
clearly the motive to those who
are genuinely dedicated to the
life of the mind, when he ex
plained that the function of the
thinker is to challenge what
seems irrational in the “search
for the truth, no matter where it
leads; and to try to find what it
is — not what you want it to be,
or hope it to be, or prefer it to
be.”
Ron Rousseve
Counseling psychology
professor