Interview continued
in tuition, student apathy in vot
ing are issues that we can take to
Brand and develop ideas and
generate some dialogue. There is
no question that we will be work
ing with the new president.
WycofT: I hope we can work w'ith
I)r. Brand to point out the neces
sity of having a president that is
accessible to the students. Not
that they see him as not a figure
that stands up Johnson Hall and
is barred from the students he
hopes to represent; but that they
can work together. And ASUO
can be very instrumental. It
won’t just Andy and I talking to
Dr. Brand, president of the Uni
versity of Oregon, but bringing
him down to the students and
letting him understand what the
students go through. We want
him to understand the problems
that all students have not just
Andy and I speaking for them. It
is important that we don’t put
ourselves in a position of talking
for people instead we bring the
president down here to talk to the
students themselves.
What do you propose to do about
the hate crimes that occur on
campus and how effective do you
think the racism task force has
been ?
Clark: There is absolutely no way
to solve hate crimes, people are
cruel. How do you counter hate
crimes? You counter hate crimes
with education and statements
and stances against any kind of
hate crime or malicious attack on
the basis of race or sexual orien
tation.
The task force is an inter
esting thing because it identifies
those problems. But it is very
much up to the students who are
most affected by these hate
crimes to get their message out.
They should get the message out
in ways that are conducive to
their identity and their culture.
The Black student union “Cele
bration of Humanity” and the
Mecha national conference here
are some ways that the people
can be identified as a group. I also
think the ASUO should take an
active stance in hiring and in its
relations to make student gov
ernment as open as it can be. And
to keep it racist free and sexist
free the office will also have to do
as much as it can for itself. There
will be unlearning racism and
homophobia seminars (for the
ASUO staffl that also value di
versity. As soon as we are com
fortable as an office we can go out
to the university community.
When we do make a bi-monthly
state of the ASUO address we will
state our position and what we
are going to do.
There are hate crimes on
campus but I do not think that
they will be solved through retri
bution. That was an idea and
some students were very much
for it, but I do not think it is
effective at all. The statement
the Dr. Olum wrote before he left
is another example of what we
could do. I think if the statement
is from the student leaders it will
impact the student body.
You mentioned a bi monthly
address. Are you planning to do
implement that?
Clark: Yes. The Commentator is
going to allow us space to talk
about the student government.
We have not talked to Thomas
Prowell as of yet, but 1 am sure
the Emerald will be just as recep
tive to allow us space. We will use
the address to tell students what
is actually going on in student
government and what issues we
are dealing with on this campus
directly. I don’t envision it as
anything more than “this is
where Scott and I are coming
from today”. I think it will de
velop it as issues arise. I think
that Off The Record is a good
publication but it is not getting
the readership it deserves. So we
will continue to key into the other
publications while still
supporting Off The Record.
How do you propose to make the
student voice heard on national
issues like the national service
and financial aid?
Clark: Student government cer
tainly has a role in these kinds of
issues. I do not think that role is
mine, however. It is not some
thing that I campaigned on. I
think the role is going to go to our
new staff position of national af
fairs coordinator. Scott wall also
be working with the state affairs
coordinator on state issues. Na
tional issues will have my active
support from this office and our
voice will be heard on the na
tional, state and local levels. My
position will be more campus ori
ented while giving the national
responsibility to the national af
fairs coordinator.
Wycoff: More specifically we can
continue with things like letter
writing campaigns to our legisla
tors on capital hill. The national
service bill is probably going to be
very big if it doesn’t get passed
this year we will have to deal with
it next year. What we need to do
through our national affairs coor
dinator and groups like OSPIRG
is to get the message out to the
students. If they want to get
involved then it has to be their