Bom free
Freedom is an interesting
concept, freedom means that a
person is allowed to do what
they feel is right, so long as it
does not violate the rights of
another person.
Living in a free and open
society, each of us is entitled to
do what we feel to be right and
not to have our rights denied us
because they conflict with what
others think is right and proper.
For people like Michael Cross
to say that something should be
illegal because they don't agree
with it, strikes me as rather
ironic. I am sure that Mr. Cross
would be the first person to pro
test South Africa or U.S. in
volvement in Central America,
vet he is most insistent upon de
nying some of his fellow Amer
cians their own civil rights.
I wish that people like Mr.
Cross could or would unders
tand that what two or more con
senting adults do in private is
their own business and nobody
else’s. As Thomas Jefferson said
over 200 years ago, "That they
are endowed by their creator
with certain inalienable rights,
that among these are life, liber
ty. and the pursuit of
happiness."
As Mr. Jefferson knew 200
years ago, denying one person
his or her inalienable right to be
happy and free is something
that can only be considered in
tolerable by all freedom-loving
people.
Pieter Paulson
Eugene
Time lag
The time has come to take a
serious look at the Emerald's
letters policy and decide
whether in present application
it is truly serving the University
community as well as it might.
In recent months the editorial
page has been dominated by
• numerous letters from persons
giving far-flung, off campus ad
dresses. and whose current con
nection with the University, if
any. is far from obvious.
I refer to the letters of the self
appointed “prophet of God”
from San Diego, and more
recently the bigoted epistles of
Mr. and Ms De Paepe of
Alvadore, Ore., among others.
Surely this campus boasts
enough representatives of
various extreme and fringe
causes that it is not necessary to
cover the countryside in search
of additional ravings.
More to the point, it would
seem that letters from off
campus writers are displacing
those of students, faculty, and
staff, judging by the con
siderable time lag between the
appearance of inflamatory let
ters and your publication of
responses.
Papers such as the Register
Guard and The Oregonian open
their editorial pages to
everyone, yet maintain a priori
ty for local comments on local
issues. The Emerald needs to
remember that its first respon
sibility is the University com
munity which pays its bills.
Hiawatha
Graduate, music
Sad comment
It is a sad comment on our
times that the Women's Sym
posium was canceled due to
feelings of exclusion from the
planning process by women of
color and charges of racism.
The symposium is far too im
portant. not only to the Univer
sity. but to the community at
large to risk its loss. The sym
posium is a needed event for
both the rich environment of in
formation sharing and it* value
as a model of social/political
concerns and caring for alt
women and all people.
It is a further sad comment
when the Oregon Daily Kmerald
prints the name of a women
who apparently illustrated a
point of contention between the
two groups without soliciting a
response from her.
I have been a student of Nor
ma Cordell's and feel she is a
person of the highest integrity.
She has not. in my experiences
with her. spoken as or for
Native American people.
She holds her experiences
with Native American tradition
in the highest regard, but
teaches earth reverence simply
and with honor as a woman
from white culture
Ion Laughlin
Eugene
Letters Policy
The Kmrrakl will attempt lo print
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community
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