Editorial
Frat house closings
indicative of crunch
I II.. Aiiinuil House I lives on in lugene
I'lir rowdy 1*17(5 fr.it .omedy starring |olin Belushi was
lilincil here, and that's long been .1 dubious sour, e of pride
to both llie general student population and the t'niverslty s
(.reek system
Now it appears th.it some of the campus fraternity
houses have I.. living up 01 down to the image los
lered In the fictional Delta Tau Chi fraternity During
month, the 1 ilv's fire marshal's nffic e ordered the i Insure of
five houses (Beta l lieta hi. l.amhda Chi Alpha, Sigma Alpha
l.psilon Sigma Chi and I’lli (.amnia Delta) for numerous
v iolations of fire saletv ( odes
['he violations in. hided faultv fire alarm systems,
him ke.l exits and gas leaks In some . ases. residents Were
sleeping in rooms and attic spai es that were not designed to
he slept in
l liese 1111 idents. however, are more than just examples
of the Creeks mi shell.iv mg. Alter all. coop living organ i/.a
turn l’arr I owei also l.n es 1 Insure hast spring, the I niversi
tv itself . ondemned some of its student houses that had fall
eii into a state bev on.l repair
In a i rowded housing market such as Kugene's, suhstan
.laid housing is taxed well beyond its proper limits A
group of rowdv guvs probably puts a lot of strain on a
house When that groups size doubles be. a use members
(an t find housing elsewhere the strain will become loo
much
I'he efler ts ol sm h overtaxing are being felt now ironi
(.ally in a wav that worsens the crunch Apparently some of
the fraternities, vvliit h house up to it) men e.11 h may not be
ready to open their doors in the fall H1.1t isn’t the tire mar
shal's concern, of course (and that office is not doing any
one a disservice by doing its job), hut it should he of great
i oik ern to the I 'Diversity
It should also be noted that the Iratermtv members are
not. in some of the . ases entirely responsible for the < los
mgs of then houses Mam of the fraternities rent then
buildings, and it is as much the responsibility of the land
lord as tlie tenant to make sum the buildings are sale and
habitable
Where the fraternities have been negligent is within
then own organizations Soule fraternitv members have
complained about the closings oi curing in the summer
while most ol then numbers are avvav But the initial in
spections of the I'niversitv's Creek houses occurred last
April, whi. h should have given pleutv ol tune for members
and their alumni to bring their buildings up ... Also
those recalcitrant members should ask themselves il tliev
really preferred then houses had been situ! down during the
s< hoid year.
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FRE&WAY ENVIRONMENTALIST
T
_Forum_
Abortion deprives children of life
By W illiam Moore
Willi the Supreme Court‘.s
t onluming le evalualion of the
Kite vs Wade decision, people
,ue bei inning ini musingly vo
t .11 .ihoiit then views concern
mg abortion The opposing
stiles .lie so f.u .ip.lit that it is
sometimes huni to believe lhe\
_Commentary_
ale ile.illlig with the same is
sue
Agent ics and organizations
such as the National Organizu
tion (or Women. Planned Par
enthoud and the National Mini
lion Rights l eague are leading
ilie wav in seeking aggressively
lo i onvini e us that ahortion is a
sate and necessary medu al pro
i edure and involves a fimda
au nt,.! light of women to eon
trol then mt n lives
(llhers. mi hiding mvsell nr
gue the position that an abut
tion unjustly, deprives an al
reads living, innocent human
being ol lus or her lilt* How
i an we sort through all the
rhetoric to arrive at what is true
anti right m this issue/
Depending on who is asking
and whit h ipiestions are asked
polls t an he used to show that a
majority ol Amerii .ins is either
"pro i hon e” or "pro life
I rankly however, this seems to
me he inconsequential exi ept
as a means ol i onv in* ing pul it i
t urns that they had belter slip
port one side or the other
Right and wrong, and l.ut and
falsehood, are not determined
by majority vote
All ol us /iee/ right, and rse
t an easily take that feeling ol
personal t ertaintv as some sort
of irrefutable proof that rye are
right t’nless y\e recognize the
built-in trap of believing that
"Iret ause I leel right, i must he
right" (or. a corollary, "people
I think are right agree with me
therefore yye must he right"),
we are likely to hold yvliat is.
quite frankly a foolishly high
regard for our own assumptions
and opinions
It is not how confident I am
in mv being rigid Unit deter
mines the merit <>l my position
K.ither. it is the validity of my
.issumptions. the soundness
and relevant \ of tin fat Is and
the quality of the reasoning
whit h I hav e based on those as
sumptions and farts
I fere are some of rnv t.ii Is
• iii \ VV Li ley is a professor
of fetal phvsinlngv at the Na
tional Women's Hospital in
\ui kland. New Zealand, and is
known as the "father of
fetology In his hook . \ ( use
tya/nsf Mnirlion. he points
out. "Biologically at no stage
tan we subscribe to the view
that the fetus is a mere appen
dage of the mother (emetic al
Iv mother and babv are sepa
rale individuals from cuncop
turn
• In t h 1 ohei of 1 ‘III " the Inst
International Conference on
Abortion brought together re
spei led authorities from
.(round the world iii the fields
of medic me law ethic s and
the so< i.iI sciences. Hie first
major question this seculai
group of experts i onstdered
was "When does human life
begin?"
I heir c one lusion "(We)
( ould find no point in time be
tween the union of the sperm
and egg and the birth of the
infant at which point vvt- could
say that this was not a human
life The c hanges occ tiring be
tween implant, a six weeks em
bryo a six month fetus, a one
week old c h iId ui a mature
adult are merely stages of de
velopment and maturation
• Ie i Everett Loop outgc ting
I S Surgeon (amend, has slat
ed. biologists uniformly take
the position that life begins at
conception There is no logical
reason win the- pro-abortinnist
should trv to arrive at a differ
ent definition when lie* is talk
ing about people
• Planned Parenthood itself
published literature in August.
1‘ltcl whit It stated. "An abor
tion kills the life of a baby after
it has begun.”
What is different today? Have
the Imsic facts of biology
i hanged somehow in a 20-year
period? 1 contend that our mod
ern < ullnr.il .11 < eptance u! ubor
linn does not come from more
mi ent .mil better knowledge,
but rathei from .1 delibenite
turning away from know ledge
How <.ui otherwise nornwil.
well-educated and intelligent
adults cMiitinue to deny su< li
unambiguous wed I-document
ed (ai ts ol life? Given the uni
versal human cupm its lor dent
a! and self del option. I believe
that mam are immovably < 0111
milted to i ertain kinds ol be
havior or to a particular social
or political agenda and are un
willing to face into the moral
implications inherent in such
t.u ts I suspei t that others push
awas the truth about when life
begins simply because they
must or else far e enormous
guilt, despair and sell hatred
I suggest that the pro-c hoicc
community is engaging in
something that communist his
torians would understand and
recognize instantly a kind of
biological "revisionism
Sim e the fundamental ta< ts of
biology do not lead them where
they wish to go. main in the
pro i lion e movement have
chosen simply to ignore or
deny these tai ls and are at
tempting to base their pre-de
termined conclusion on some
thing besides truth
Our refusal to accept reality,
however does not alter that re
ality although it may well
blind us morally by plat ing <1
higher value on doing as I
please (regardless ol the moral
< onsequem es). or on seeing my
panic ular set of social or politi
cal issues pushed forward, than
I place on being guided by oh
jective truth and what is right. I
merely place myself in opposi
tion to yy hut is true and right. I
do not change it
There is no question that tre
mendous hardship can accom
pany crisis pregnant les The
question is whether there are
not moral limitations on how
we yvdl seek solutions, 1 e . are
there some things that we are
physically and legally capable
of doing that we should not do?
There are other, less fatal
Turn to Abortion, Page 3