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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1989)
Editorial Education budget a portent of the future Late last week, the Oregon Senate pulled the ulti mate in cheap shots while bad-mouthing its own unan imous vote. Not only did it approve a piddly higher education package for 1989-91. it sent the worthless budget to the House for approval, disapproval, amendments and the like. So the state representatives will emerge the bad guys when the final package is passed, ana the sena tors will come out relatively unscathed. Regardless of blame, anyone who has anything to do with higher education — from students to faculty members to graduate leaching fellows — is going to suffer. The $800.8 million budget is a 8.8 fwrcont increase in higher education funding for the biennium begin ning July 1. Although it is a small amount of money, we've all been told it is the largest chunk of the legisla ture's general fund money that will go to the state sys tem this session. We're supposed to be content with this, but we re fuse to be placated. The budget does not contain the $:t:t million being sought outside the state s spending lid for faculty pay raises, capital construction, endowments and college athletics. An additional $20 million for higher educa tion pay raises is contained in a separate bill now pending before the legislature's budget panel. The spending limit may still be in offeet. but this method of supplemental add-ons is fraught with risk and prom ises nothing. Additionally, the budget grants the State Board of Higher Education the power to set tuition increases up to ait overburdening average of 8.25 percent annually. One would think that if students were forced to cough up such an unbelievable amount of money, faculty members could easily get pay raises, and the GTF pro gram wouldn't be in danger of dissolving. But as it stands, enrollments will need to be cut by 10.000 over the next two years, and faculty layoffs will ensue to provide the proper pay Increases for those who remain. The message being sent by the Legislature is not a pleasant one. And it certainly doesn't bode well for the already demoralized state of education in Oregon. The education budget should be of top priority in every state — it is a portent of the future. What we hear is that the Legislature doesn’t con sider educational funding a top priority if It's not will ing or able to break the spending limit. We disagree. tSSSc*U* 6P0MCWS... wriL / ee *406.53 ' ^ ik ~A, a u, kVPHIUUSe Jj> Wright should step down from House post A familiar story in Washington, D.C.: An embattled politician, facing charges of obvious misconduct and malfeasance, clings far too long to his post in a vain hope to be exonerated. This is former Attorney General Edwin Meese’s story. A similar version played last winter with would-be Defense Secretary John Tower. And now. proving Democrats are not immune to the sleaze disease. Mouse Speaker Jim Wright seems ready to assume the role of political suicide. Despite the release of an ethics report blasting him, Wright has vowed to fight, scrape and claw to defend his besmirched honor. Mis lonely, pitiful defense was weak ened Monday when the House ethics com mittee unanimously acted to charge the speaker of 69 violations of House rules. Most of the accusations center on royal ties received from the inflated sales of his bi ography and gifts from his oil company friends. Wright has a well-documented his tory on the Hill of being prestige hungry and money obsessed, so it is hard to accept his claims of innocence. Clearly. Wright is guilty of wrong-do ings. We make the same appeal to him that we have made to other office holders, ac cused of ethics violations, regardless of poli tical affiliation — step down from office. Beyond the hypocrisy of Wright’s vigil, there also is the prospect that his stand will only serve to jam up a busy House and pre vent it from accomplishing far more vital tasks. While party trench lines are still drawn after the acrimonious Tower confirmation hearings. Wright is ready to make his battle a partisan war. He has met behind closed doors with Democratic leaders and directed efforts to whip outspoken rebel representa tives Chester Atkins (D-Mass.) and Bernard Dwyer (D-N.J.) back into the party line. Such has always been Wright's style, a style that has created resentment in his own party. Wright runs the House with a very tight grip, one that has won him grudging supporters but not loyal friends. The unani mous vote of the bipartisan ethics committee and the mentions of Tom Foley (D-Wash.) as a likely successor show that support for Wright is eroding. The Republican party, led by House whip Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), is hungry to do battle and avenge perceived wrongs. More partisan fighting is likely only to further an tagonize hard feelings and paralyze the abil ity of House members to work together. _Letters Disgusted I am thoroughly disgusted. It looks as though some of George Hush's filthy political practices have oozed into the Hughes/Kirk camp. I was un able to believe my eyes today when I feasted them on the ad vertisement in the Emerald (April 14). where the SPA re marked : “Hughes/Kirk and the SPA candidates for I EC and EMU Hoard include the only women candidates. Our opponents ap parently fail to see the impor tance of representing women in student government." What are they saying here? Clearly, the SPA cannot consid er women to be some sort of po litical commodity; the only way I can interpret this is as a (very) cheap shot at the opposi tion. This "opposition" con sists of independent individu als who have chose to run for office, not a Mafioso conspiracy determined to exclude females from student government. Their advertisements ami track record notwithstanding. I sincerely hope the SPA is not endorsing candidates because of their sox and/or minority status rather than individual merit; clearly, at tho very least, they are now exploiting their numerative advantage in mi nority candidates in order to confer the appearances of bigot ry upon their opponents. As college students, I think we’re intelligent enough to vole for competence rather than appear ances. Let's not bring the filthy mudslinging politics of the rest of the world into our campus. Please — campaign on your own virtues, not your oppo nents' alleged vices. Particular ly when those vices are of your own manufacture. |ohn Finn Political Science/English Uneducated Attention University housing residents; Did you know that you're not educated enough to vote? Did you know that efforts to increase voting among hous ing residents has been turned down for fear that it would lead to “fraudulent voting?" Did you further know that ef forts to increase voting by dor mitory residents by putting vot ing booths near cafeterias was turned down by the Elections Hoard, a group whose very job is to get students to vote? The idea was turned down even af ter R.H.G.C. offered to fully fund the booths. Did you know that leading the opposition to voting booths in the dorms were members of the political party SPA and the candidates they endorse, in cluding ASUO presidential and vice-presidential candidates Tim Hughes and Maureen Kirk? Please note, these are the very people who have sworn to protect your rights and claim to represent your concerns. The only ticket that fought repeatedly for voting booths in the dorms was that of Andy (’lark and .Scott VVyckoff. I ask that University housing residents consider these facts. Whether the other tickets truly believe you are not educated enough to vote or are uiraid of how you will vote is unimport ant What is important is that it is up to you now. Vote on April l!i and 20 and vote for the tick et that has already proven they will represent your concerns: Clark/Wyckoff. Residence hall students un educated? SPA hopes you'll prove them right — it's up to you to prove them wrong. Traci Manning Resident assistant Inexperience 1 was informed Sunday night that Andy Clark, candidate for ASUO President, stated at a weekend campaign meeting with potential voters that in the event of a strike by one of the unions which represent work ers on this campus, his admin istration would be primarily concerned with the difficulties such a strike would present to those who choose to cross the picket line. This is a strong hint that a potential Clark/Wyckoff ASUO executive would be indifferent to the situation of workers on this campus and elsewhere. This kind of thinking — where the interests of students and workers, consumers and pro ducers are seen as opposed to one another — reflects a lack of understanding of the insepara bility of a progressive educa tional environment and the struggle for human dignity by workers. This lack of solidarity can only be attributed to the in experience of the Clark /Wyck off ticket. I urge all those who are con cerned with building a progres sive campus environment to cast their ASUO Executive bal lots for the political solidarity, commitment and experience represented by Tim Hughes and Maureen Kirk. Michael Dawson President Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation -Letters Policy_ Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified. WeilniKilMv Anril ID IDHD
