Editorial
Even with changes,
conduct bill flawed
After a small chorus of voices expressed concern
over a proposed student conduct code amendment reg
ulating cases of academic dishonesty and mental insta
bility earlier this week (ODE. "Mental evaluation must
be independent." May 24). the reaction was swift.
The proposal’s language has now been changed to
explicitly deal with (hose concerns. This is good, but
are we entirely happy with the bill now? Well, no.
Under the proposal (in both its original form and
the amended version), students charged with any con
duct code violation would be required to submit a writ
ten document from a University Student Health Center
psychiatrist if they are to claim mental instability dur
ing the hearings process.
We had two problems with this proposal. First,
students and their rights wouldn’t be adequately
served if limited to one team of counselors. Under the
new bill, students are expressly allowed to submit
statements from outside psychiatrists. The new lan
guage does fix our original concern, but we still have a
problem that students are required to visit the Univer
sity’s health center.
The reasoning behind the requirement is that, with
the large number of psychiatrists out there, it would be
too easy for students to find a “quack" to sign whatev
er the student desired Supposedly, the ethics of health
center counselors would prevent this from happening
to students. We think it is naive to automatically as
sume there is a higher standard at the health center.
This is not an indictment of the health center. The
psychiatric community, both here and as a whole, is
well-regulated enough so that respectable counselors
can In; separated from shady ones. But to ease stu
dents' consciences, if nothing else, the evaluation
should be entirely separate from the University
Our other concern was that such a code process re
quired the student to make the decision that he or she?
was mentally ill literally a case of "Physician, heal
thyself!" This concern has been addressed, hut again,
less than satisfactorily.
Students facing cotie charges meet with the con
dut t code coordinator, who informs the students of his
or her rights, including the requirement to seek a state
ment if lie or she wants to claim mental instability. So
the student's decision to seek a statement is not one
that comes out of left field; he or she is guided in the
process. Hut it is still the student that must make the
decision, and again, we point out that it the student
truly is ill, then he or she shouldn't he the one making
that decision.
ALL CLEAN
If you must vacation, be careful at least
It's time once again for the Emerald’s
holiday admonition to be careful while driv
ing out there this Memorial Day weekend.
Wanting the juicy, hard-hitting facts that
would shake people into exercising proper
caution on the highways and to see if any
one actually heeds these announcements,
we called the Lane County Public Safety De
partment for last year's driving fatality sta
tistics, but there was nobody there for us to
talk to when we called at 4:30 p.m. Thurs
day. They had all gone home. Clearly, they
are more excited about Memorial Day than
we are.
We re having a hard time getting enthu
siastic. about the three-day weekend, what
with term papers due next week and finals
just around the corner Remember, next
week is Dead Week, even if it is shorter by a
day.
All in all. we decided you'd probably be
better off staying home this weekend.
The weather isn't going to be that great.
The rain is going to stay until Monday, and
the temperature may eventually rise to the
oh-so-balmy 70s by then.
You won't run into highway construe
tion crews this weekend, because the state s
construction contracts prohibit work that in
terferes with holiday traffic. But you are
likely to run into long lines of campers in
the mountains and boaters on the coast,
overbooked hotels and motels, and the ubiq
uitous stupid drunk driver. Does this sound
like fun?
Also, the price of gasoline has risen as
tronomically since that darn Valdez oil spill,
so why bother driving anywhere? After a
year of stable gas prices, the latest figures
from the American Automobile Association
have identified a price increase at the pumps
of 17 cents a gallon over the last nine weeks.
Ouch! That's the steepest price increase
in nine years. Around here, the average
price of a gallon of gas was about $1.06; this
year you can expect to pork out $1.27 a gal
lon. That’s a 20 percent increase. Wouldn't
you rather stay home and play Fictionary?
Or maybe actually try studying?
We realize that this whining isn’t likely
to deter too many people from getting out of
town, so here, at last, is our warning;
tf you do decide to go out, please be
careful. And also be smart — don’t drink
and drive yourself. Have fun.
_Letters
Justice
Now Ihul the Palestinians
have culled for exact rotrilnition
against those who have system
uticallv killed and tortured
them for ve.irs (the current up
rising being only the latest epi
sode). "sound advice" for
"cooler heads to prevail" is
suddenly echoing in the U S
media (ODK. May 22)
Kveryone is entitled to self
defense but the Palestinians
can only die for the world to of
fer sympathy Mow heavy a
price do the Palestinians have
to pay before it is deemed nec
essary th.it Zionist brutality
should stop?
It is a fact that without direct
U S money ($-1 billion a year)
the Israelis would not be able to
continue their latest inhumane
and ruthless practices The is
sue is clear 1'he Palestinians
have been wronged and
wronged again So instead ol
simply passing advice, maybe
the editor should encourage his
fellow students to even ise their
democratic right by writing
their senators to check the
money flow (their taxes) that is
financing the latest Zionist
atrocities <)nl\ In redressing
u rongs i an violent e be halted
The Palestinians am not ask •
mu tor sympathy; what they
want is instil c And as long as
tin* world only remains inter
ested in aiding the arm that is
oppressing thorn they then re
serve the right to defend them
selves hv whichever means
nei essary
Ali Atoui
TCK
Safe channels
1 read with disgust a letter
supporting the defamation ol
our campus from Teresa Reeves
and baurdl Sharp and (ODM.
Mai 23) In response to the nar
row-minded views presented in
the letter. I ask these writers to
consider whether others' opin
ions (ini hiding anti ga\ beliefs)
are equally deserving of a space
on University buildings, or
would they feel that anti-gay
sentiments expressed with
spray paint were eyesores and
acts of vandalism?
A serious i ontradii tion is ex
posed among those in the gay
and lesbian community who
feel the need to commit illegal
arts in order to let the rest of us
"know you exist." It is possi
ble and healthy for people with
different sexual preferences to
exist without heating each oth
er over the head. If acceptance
and equality are truly your
goals, I suggest you begin by
considering yourselves equals
who are not above the laws re
spected and upheld by the rest
of society. These acts of vandal
ism are promoting the message
that you don't want equal
rights; what you really want are
special rights which permit you
to act as you please, regardless
of rules others must abide by.
Thus, far from fostering a
positive image, far from gain
ing acceptance, support and re
spec I through positive and ben
eficial activities, the vandals
only succeeded in belittling
their cause and alienating peo
ple in the mainstream commu
nity whose acceptance they say
they most want. Any cause
which cannot find or create
more productive "safe chan
nels" for expression than van
dalism doesn't appear to be a
cause very deserving of sup
port .
Melissa I.undstedt
Eugene
Gonzo image
1 heartily agree with the arti
cle you printed stating the need
for increased awareness of trail
etiquette among mountain bike
riders (ODE, May 1). The possi
bilities of trail damage ow'ing to
poor technique are tremendous.
Most of us try to be conscien
tious in our riding, realizing
that there are other people who
wish to enjoy the trails. We're
working on improving our im
age as our trail consciousness
increases. Ninety percent of us
are interested in a compromise
between ourselves and hikers.
Knowing these things, it
bothers me that you would ac
company your article with a
picture of a mountain biker
who is apparently of the 10 per
cent who don't really care
about the future of mountain
biking. Screaming, bone-head.
kick-out-the-back-wheel-at-lTv
miles-an-hour-while-off-of-the
marked-trail tactics are the
realm of a small group of
shortsighted riders, and they
are making trouble for all of us
1 don’t do this. My friends
don't do this. If 1 see anyone
doing this 1 attempt to educate
them in as friendly a means as
possible.
Used properly, a mountain
bike creates little trail damage
Used improperly, it can gouge
six inch furrows into a fragile
trail. We don’t want the "gon
zo" image to spread any further
than it has. Please don't judge
us all by the actions of a minor
ity.
Steve Close
English literature
-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.