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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1987)
Editorial Quotas emphasize affirmative action The Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of temporary use of strict racial quotas is a victory for affirmative action. It pro motes civil rights and eliminates a history of discrimination in Alabama. The decision rejects the Reagan administration’s stance that racial quotas are not the best way to fight for discrimina tion, and establishes a precedent for the use of quotas to remedy severe cases of past discrimination. The 5-4 decision upheld two lower court rulings requir ing Alabama to promote one black state trooper for every white state trooper. The court placed conditions on the pro motions saying qualified blacks must be available and the order will be dropped when the state develops an acceptable promotion procedure. The decision also calmed fears that tin; court would sup port the adminstration's position on affirmative action because of Reagan's appointment of Antonin Scalia as a new associate justice. The conditions stated in the ruling are very important because they prevent future abuse of the court order and reduce the propensity for reverse discrimination. In the fight for equal employment practices, reverse discrimination has become a major obstacle. The search for a happy medium — one that promotes affirmative action without harming white workers — has not ended. Unfortunately, in many cases the effort to give minorities more opportunities has backlashed into the white community. Ironically, some quotas force employers to overlook more qualified whites and a similar form of discrimination occurs. Unlike affirmative action plans to lay off white workers over blacks, this recent quota deals with promotions. Accor ding to Justice Lewis Powell, it does not "disrupt the lives of innocent workers." The wording and restrictions in this court- ordered quota does not lend itself to any form of discrimination. The Alabama case was a unique form of repeated discrimination. The state ignored repeated orders to hire black state troopers. And it never carried out promises to hire black troopers. The issued court orders also were not enforced. In 1984, 12 years after the first court order, the state wras forced to promote eight black troopers and eight white troopers. This is the only instance in which the order was followed. Alabama’s resistance to these quotas emphasizes the discrimination practiced by the state. Justice Powell stated in his concurring opinion that it was this "persistent viola tion of constitutional rights" that gave the court the power to impose the quota. The Supreme Court’s decision is integral to the wider concept of affirmative action and civil rights. It delivers a message to employers that discrimination will not be ac cepted. In bis concurring opinion Justice William Brennan said the court's ability to ". . .employ racial classification essential to remedy unlawful treatment of racial or ethnic groups subject to discrimination" had been well established. The flexibility of this quota is its strongest advantage. It allows states to develop their own promotion procedures as well as light the discrimination problem. Nobody should be upset at the ruling because it promotes the idea of civil rights. It is a fair and elficient method for curing a persistent problem. I HOPE HE DOESNT MAKE ME LOOK BAD.. Letters Preached views Well, here we go again. ’Round and 'round with the abortion issue. My first draft of this letter in cluded a list of questions ad dressed to men about whether or not they would carry a baby to term (if they could) under certain conditions. (You can im agine my examples: after rape, at age 12. if you had AIDS and would be passing it on to your child, if childbirth endangered your life, etc. . .) Typical. I decided that that had been done just as often as all of the arguments 1 am getting so tired of, and are constantly printed in the ODE and discussed in classes. 1 notice that a lot of the argu ing comes from people (men and women alike) who have never been in the situation themselves and feel that they can preach their views (no mat ter how uneducated about the issue they may be) and force their opinions on women and men experiencing the intense frustration, anxiety and pain that comes from making a deci sion weighing the lives of their Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon 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 Production Manager Wayne Michael Lottinville Classified Advertising Alyson Simmons Assistant to the Publisher Jean Ownbey Advertising Sales: Peter LaFleur / Sales Manager Teresa Acosta, Brent Collins, Beryl Israel, Janelle Heit mann, Laura Goldstein, Catherine Lilia. Rick Mart?, Joseph Menzel, Peter Miller, Joan Wildermuth News and Editorial 686 5511 Display Advertising and Business 686 3712 Classified Advertising 686 4343 Letter Perfect Graphics 686 5511 Production 686-4381 Circulation 686 5511 2 Editor Managing Editor News Editor Spectrum Editor Spectrum Assistant Editor Editorial Page Editors Sports Editor Photo Editor Spectrum Photo Editor Graphics Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Community Politics Higher Education / Administration University Affairs Student Government Student Activities General Assignment General Assignment General Assignment Michelle Brence Lucinda Dillon Michael Rivers Stephen Maher Stanley Nelson Michael Drummond Angie Muniz Capi Lynn Michael Wilhelm John Giustina Lorraine Rath Michelle Brence Jolayne Houtz Nick Reed Chris Norred B J Thomsen Carolyn Lamberson Sarah Kitchen Karen Creighton Dennis Fernandes Scott Maben Reporters: Sean Axmaker. Mary Courtis. Gary Henley, Janet Paulson Photographers: Sherlyn Bjorkgren, ShuShing Chen, Maria Corvallis, Derrel Hewitt, Bobbie Lo, Dan Wheeler Production: Michele Ross / Ad Coordinator Kelly Alexandre, Elizabeth Asher, Ronwin Nicole Ashton, Virginia Bamaga, Sandra Bevans, Sara Briscoe, Shu Shing Chen, Janet Emery. Judith Gatz, Lisa Haggerty, Donna Leslie, Curtis Lott, Kelli Mason, Mike McGraw. Rob Miles, Angelina Muniz, Julie Paul. Ingrid White, Serena Williams, X Kang Xie children, their own lives, and the lives of their families. You cannot know what that means until you have been through it youself— being preg nant with, or the father of. the child. It is true, abortion is either RIGHT or WRONG, but it is so only in terms of the specific situation. Melanie Moseley Theater arts Coerced fees Recently, I found in my mailbox a disturbing message from the Accounting Depart ment. It was a two part message: The first part was a bill for $172.55. This, in itself, is disturbing enough for someone whose bank account rarely totals half that figure. The ma jority of the hill was made up by the infamous "dollar a day" fine levied against you if you move out of University housing. It accounted for $152 of the $172.55. The second part was a letter which informed me. in no uncertain terms, that the above charges were due, and 1 should make haste in paying them. If 1 happened to be negligent, 1 was informed that, "...assessment of late fines, interest, assigning to the State Department of Revenue or other collection agencies... requiring of past due amounts in order to enroll for the current term, or other ap propriate legal action" would be taken. Righting words to say the least. 1 realize now that this univer sity is primarily concerned with money. A dollar a day does not equal a dollar a day. but a lump sum of cash although the con tract 1 signed states. “ . . . pay $1 per day for every day of service remaining in the academic year. ...” 1 have no history of had credit; in fact. I’ve paid tuition the first day possible. Apparent ly that’s of no concern. All that matters is that the bills at Oregon Hall are filled to the brink with coerced payment. James Anderson Anthropology Thing to avoid Mary Sullivan raises an im portant point in her rebuttal to Jeff Hoyt (ODE. Feb. 11) concer ning the pro-choice/pro abortion distinction. While agreeing with most of what she says, l do take excep tion to her statements concern ing “all of the other men who... clutter the Emerald. . .with their views on this issue.” Numerous “pro-life” letters in the Emerald have been writ ten by women: e.g. Lori Parkman, to name a perennial contributor. 1 seldom comment on abortion issues because as a man 1 will never be directly fac ed with such a decision; however, 1 am, and always have been pro-choice (NOT “pro abortion”). Beware of stereotypes, Ms. Sullivan, they can divide you from your allies. Hiawatha Graduate, music Letters Policy The Emerald will attemt to print all letters con taining fair comment on topics of interest to the University community. Letters to the editor must be limited to 250 words, typed, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is turned in. The Kmerald reserves tin? right to edit the letter for length or style. Letters to the editor should be turned into the Emerald office. Suite :t()(), EMU.
