_Editorial
Gaffney/Hoyt ran
as invisible leaders
ASUO President Karen Gaffney and Vice President
Steve Hoyt leave office today to make room for Andy
Clark and Scott Wyckoff — the Executive leaders for
the next academic year.
We expect Gaffney and Hoyt's leaving will be as
uneventful as the year they spent in office.
About this time last year. Gaffney promised stu
dents "an active student government that would work
of their behalf.” And. indeed. Gaffney and Hoyt did
manage to follow through on some of the more press
ing issues
Increased campus lighting was an Issue Gaffney
and Hoyt "felt strongly" about from the beginning.
Unfortunately, it took the ASUO several months to get
around to sponsoring that promised night tour for Uni
versity administrators — so they, too. could see the
campus was lacking in the area of lighting and safety.
And now. S3 Gaffney and Hoyt leave office, word
is that the administration is just now taking steps to in
crease campus lighting. It's hard to believe the Univer
sity administrators haven’t taken the campus lighting
issue seriously; it’s just possible that Gaffney and Hoyt
didn’t push the issue hard enough to begin with.
Another project — for Gaffney in particular — was
to get students the best insurance program possible.
Gaffney strove, very diligently we might add. to obtain
spousal equivalency as part of the package.
But while the Prudential Insurance Company re
fused to cooperate with the ASUO in the area of spous
al equivalency. Gaffney fought the issue to the end.
This was. no doubt, the most visible and active
portion of the Gaffney Hoyt administration.
Hoyt. too. had a personal project of his own to
set up a campus radio station. This was something
Hoyt was "really committed to not only as a person
in student government but also as a student."
However, it wasn't until spring registration that an
organizational group attempting to start a campus ra
dio station surveyed University students about the
idea. We haven't heard the results to the survey, and
we don't have a campus radio station. Need we say
more?
Einally. Gaffney tame out against student use of
LTD. because she was wary of negotiating a deal be
tween I.TD and students. Well, tint LTD deal has
worked beautifully and serviced many, despite Gaff
ney's Icon attitude
Going over it. it just doesn’t look as though Gaff
ney and Hoyt lived up to the potential Hoyt promised
last year; "to be one of the best student governments."
What we had instead was an invisible administra
tion Nobody ever heard much, or saw much of Gaff
ney and Hoyt throughout the year They may have re
sponded quit klv to issues of urgency, but where were
they the lest ol the time?
THIS HAS BEEN NICE.
WELL HMETDGET
TOGETHER LJKE THIS
MORE OFTEN
KpsarsT
Sports face extinction without funding
The school year is finally winding
down, and with it comes the end of a very
successful spring for the University's inter
collegiate athletics.
The softball team, led by the strong
pitching arm of freshman Katie Wiese, made
its first-ever appearance in the Softball
World Series Wednesday in Sunnyvale, Cal
if. The Ducks, who ended the season ranked
fourth in the nation, earned their berth by
heating Connecticut to win the Northeast Re
gional tournament.
The men's and women's track teams also
had excellent years, both remaining unde
feated on the Hayward Field oval until fall
ing to the number one team in the country,
UCLA, at last weekend’s Pac-10 track cham
pionships.
To sum it up. this year's spring sports
teams have been outstanding.
Now it's time for the rest of our teams to
join the fun.
There were some shining moments earli
er in the year tor Oregon athletics. The
women's basketball team traveled to Texas
to capture the National Invitational Tourna
ment. and the wrestling team finished sec
ond to Arizona State in the Pac-10.
Unfortunately, the other teams didn't
fare quite as well.
The football team raised hopes and ex
pectations last fall by racing out to a (>-l re
cord and a Top 20 national ranking. Visions
of bowl bids and Pac-10 championships
danced in fans' heads, but quarterback Bill
Musgrave's broken collarbone against Arizo
na State started a five-game losing streak,
capped off with a loss to rival Oregon State
for the first time in fifteen years.
Fans of men’s basketball also suffered,
sitting through a dismal 8-21 season. With
four starters graduating, and coach Don
Monson losing top state high school pros
pect Antoine Stoudamire to Georgetown for
want of a scholarship, the future doesn't
look exceptionally bright.
The problem: no money. Oregon and Or
egon State rank at the bottom of state fund
ing among Pac-10 schools. Dire threats of
both schools dropping athletics programs
have gone unheeded. Voters last fall
scrapped a beer and wine tax for athletics,
and the legislature has been, to this point,
unresponsive.
liven without funding, the spring sports
teams have been impressive. But if the teams
don’t get money — and soon — intercolle
giate athletics at the University could soon
follow the dodo bird and passenger pigeon
into extinction.
Letters
Frustrating
Here art* a few things to lit*
aware of if you're thinking of
writing a letter for the Emerald
I'm told the |>oln v of the paper
is to print all letters they re
ceive. and that they are
swamped with letters
This means your letter could
take 10 days to appear in print,
so whatever you're responding
to is likely to he old news. The
length limit is 2 50 words,
though you won't find that
number listed in the "letters
policy" box. and many longer
letters make it in
1 recently wrote a letter in de
fense of graffiti on campus. I
was told my letter was too
long 1 rewrote it so as to con
tain a mere shadow of its for
mer hulk (and message) — still
too long On May 19, I picked
up the ODE to find a letter vir
tually the same length as my re
jected rewrite — frustrating.
If the Emerald is truly inter
ested in providing the Univer
sity community with an open
forum, and it demand tor that
forum is so great, how about
mon* room for letters? (It's the
only part of the ODE I read any
way.)
It's no wonder there's so
much graffiti on campus. May
be the frustrated "artists" tried
first to write letters to the Emer
ald's column.
This letter is 2Tit) words, but
by the time it's printed, school
will be out anyway.
1 have 24 words to use up.
and 1 nearly forgot to mention,
that "long" letter in May Ht's
ODE was written by a prof
Steve Hanson
Landscape architecture
Inexcusable
A disturbing matter was re
cently brought to my attention
Oprah Winfrey, a talk show
host, aired a program May 1 in
which a guest identified as
mentally disturbed and under
psychiatric care said she wit
nessed the ritual slaughter of a
Jewish child, and that such
practices lake place in other
Jewish families. Sadly, these
comments were not challenged
by Winfrey.
As a Jewish-American. 1 am
deeply troubled that an age-old
myth used to massacre Jews in
pre-World War 11 Europe could
resurface so matter-of-factIv on
American television
The absurdity of these ca
nards must be challenged 1
urge you to write to Winfrey's
syndication company, llarpn
Productions, and Channel 9,
KEZ1. demanding that the com
pany take more responsibility
for such inexcusable conduct.
Jonah Bookstein
Director. Jewish Student Union
Parting shot
Well, here it is, springtime
once again at the University It
looks as if I am actually going
to graduate, so 1 though it’d
only be just to leave a parting
shot.
What makes this campus
great? Screaming liberals, big
ger-than-life-near-riot parties,
the Commentator, frisbee golf,
the graveyard, probably 1’arr
Tower, mystic instructors, Zeus
and a course on fly-fishing.
To name a few drawbacks:
I’LC (it would be much more
aesthetically pleasing with a 40
foot by 40 foot hole in the mid
dle). lectures with more than
75 students, cheaters, tests,
grades, toilet paper that feels
like sandpaper (with all the
money we pay, we could at
least have the pleasure of
Charmin in the stalls), graffi
tiless stalls (tasteful graffiti
does the campus make), and
shirts with Creek letters.
(I have a hard time thinking
any of these people have a com
mand over the Greek language
or Greek thought, hence y'all
ain't Greek, just a money club
Your choice — 1 hope you're
still happy 20 years down the
road to live this ethic.)
Enough of that. Give me
right, give me left, the good,
the bad, the ugly; overall, it
doesn't matter what clothes the
emperor wears. Be it title of
doctor, bachelor, student, jani
tor and yes. even a member of a
fraternity or sorority, people
are who they are, so don’t
judge a book by its cover; ev
eryone is prone to change.
Be cool fools, see you down
the highway of life.
Sean Daniels
Romance languages
-Letters Policy_
Letters to the editor must be limited to no more
than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification
of the writer must lie verified.