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Editorial Climate is right for weapons ban Last month President Ronald Reagan lifted an 18-year moratorium on U.S. production of binary chemical weapons. This is an unnecessary and dangerous move that only condones the act of chemical warfare. Instead of pro ducing more chemicals, Reagan should negotiate a mutual ban on chemical weapons with the Soviet Union. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is eager to reach such an agreement. He proposed a ban on the weapons, and to show good faith, he presented statistics on stockpiled chemical weapons in the Soviet Union. The prevailing argument for continued U.S. production is that the weapons are needed to prevent an attack on NATO. The U.S. believes the Soviet Union has more chemical weapons than the United States. In the notification of the moratorium lift, Reagan said the weapon "is necessitated by national security interests of the United States and the interests of other NATO member nations." The statistics shown by the Soviet Union contradict this belief. According to the Soviet Union, the two countries have equal amounts of weapons. But if the U.S. produces more weapons, the Soviet Union will be forced to follow suit. A ban would maintain the equality and the mutually assured destruction theory behind it. Binary chemical weapons are shells filled with two fair ly harmless chemicals that become deadly when released from bombs. The bombs produce a gas that attacks the cen tral nervous system. One can kill hundreds of people in minutes. fn the age of nuclear weapons, these weapons are not necessary. Neither the United States or the Soviet Union should perpetuate this warfare. Education adviser position has potential for benefits Gov. Neil Goldschmidt appointed Reed College Presi dent Paul Bragdon as his education adviser yesterday. Bragdon, who is planning to retire as president in June, will assume the post in July. The new advising post can be beneficial, but it should not come at the expense of state autonomy. The State Board of Higher Education and the Chancellor of Education already are responsible for regulating and overseeing Oregon’s universities and colleges. The adviser should not interfere with these positions. Instead, he should maintain an outside role, updating the governor on issues. According to Floyd McKay. Gov. Goldschmidt s press secretary, the post will retain an advisory stance on “all levels of education." Bragdon will review education in Oregon and prepare a master plan for Oregon education. He also will direct the Office of Education Policy and Planning. McKay said the advisor will not focus on a “specific, single issue.” Bragdon’s qualifications in higher education will benefit the universities and colleges. The state board perhaps should consider him a candidate to fill the chancellor position. The adviser position will prove to be an important post. But it should not be abused. With the proper understanding of Oregon’s education system. Bragdon and Goldschmidt can fulfill many of their goals. Oregon Daily Emerald P.O. Bos 315*. Eugene, Oregon *7403 The Oregon Dally 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. 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 properly The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. General Staff Advertising Director Production Manager Classified Manager Assistant to the Publisher Susan Thelen Michele Ross Kelli Mason Jean Ownbey Advertising Seles: Rick Martz/Sales Manager James Betzer, Terl Boring, David Cheonls, Mike Clark, Tom Leech, Catherine Ulla, Laura McKinney. Joann Nelson, Julie Paul, Vicki Reed. Barbara Rogers. Scott Thorklldson. 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John Glustina, Bobble Lo, Gregor Okorn, Andre Ranleri, Ted Shepler, Michael Templeton, Dan Wheeler Production: Sandra Daller / Ad Coordinator Kelly Alexandre, Ronwln Nicole Ashton, Virginia Baniaga, Laura Carhart. Eva Cohen, Stephanie Drynan, Dolores Fer rero, Lisa Haggerty, Delrdre Kelly, Eliot Knight, Juno Lee, Bobble Lo, James Mason, Ross Martin, Angela Muniz, Ted Shepler, Linda Sperling, Ingrid White, Kelly Williams, Serena Williams, X. Kang Xie CM YOU BEAR TO WATCH THE SENSELESS SLAUGHTER OF All ENTIRE SPECIES ? Letters M.U6E warn to KTEKOE 'MMS WW' i Time of crisis Once again, GTFs are facing taxation of tuition waivers. Once again, we also are faced with a decision-making process proceeding behind closed doors. Despite the fact that legisla tion to end the sunset clause of the tuition waiver tax exemp tion is on the agenda in both houses of Congress, and despite the fact that this legislation almost certainly will pass, the state board is preparing to stay in bureaucratic lock-step and begin withholding taxes on tui tion waivers from january's paycheck. This preparation has been pursued in a fashion similar to the Oregon State Board of Higher Education's firing of Paul Olum: The voices of those most effected have been ignored. The taxing of tuition waivers is a matter of dire significance for most GTFs. Not only will all of us have our already poverty level incomes substantially reduced, but those of us on low income housing and food pro grams will lose these means of survival as tuition waivers become taxable. Furthermore, international GTFs will be especially hard-hit by having to swallow further tax liabilities on strictly imaginary income. The taxing of tuition waivers only can mean three things to this institution: the ruination of GTF personal lives, the destruc tion of the reputation of the University's graduate programs and its overall educational ex cellence and the continuation of the trend toward bureaucracy, short-sightedness, and anti democratic decision-making by those in control of higher education in Oregon. The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation calls upon members of the community to support GTFs in the coming period of crisis. Michael Dawson GTFF President Write me My name is Thomas J. Karnes, and I’m 20 years old. I am writing this letter in hopes of corresponding with some of the students at the University. I am doing time in a Kentucky state prison, and by writing this letter I will help people to understand what it's really like to go to prison. Maybe even pre vent it from happening to so meone else. My address is Thomas J. Karnes, number 99000, K.S.R. 3004, W. Hwy 146, Lagrange. KY, 40032. Thomas |. Karnes Kentucky Another view The letter by James Fletcher Baxter represents the kind of xenophobic, myopic tradition in the thinking of right-wing bigots that never fails to in furiate me ("Cause and Effect," ODE. Jan.8). Baxter's thesis revolves around that archetypal New World anthem of the God blessed uniqueness of American freedom, as opposed to bot tomless wickedness of any other system, particularity that of the abhorred Red Menace — collectivism. With a complete lack of cultural relativity, Baxter unabashedly maintains that un til every other political system came to define human nature in “Jeffersonian terms,” which are “the only natural, Biblical terms,” any reforms made in these systems remain nothing but deceptive, worthless ploys, and the people under them con tinue to live in the dark nightmare of a freedomless, Orwellian state. Conveniently. Baxter ignores the fact that Western ideas can hardly be called the only natural ones; very different views on the proper balance bet ween individual and collective rights have been — and still continue to be — a central part of the Oriental ideological heritage. Similarly, the Biblical message concerning individual freedoms is certainly open to a variety of different interpreta tions; one only needs to think of John Calvin and the doctrine of predestination, a tenet hardly compatible with the Jefferso nian belief in the supremely free individual. With all due respect to Bax ter’s right to express his opi nions, I would nevertheless like to suggest that it would serve all of us well to realize that our own values are not the only possible ones; a variety of dif ferent possibilities exists, and all value judgments about qualitative differences among these possibilities are subjective opinions, not some natural in fallible truths. The British empire came to realize in time that God, after all, probably wasn’t British, and it’s high time for the lunatic fr inge on the extreme right of the American political stage to realize that God certainly is not an American either. Pertti Ahonen History Wednesday, January 13. 1988
