-Editorial
Put voting booths
in residence halls
It seems to bo such a frivolous issue for people to
got uptight about. Putting voting booths in or near resi
dence halls. Why debate it?
Voter turnout for student elections at the Universi
ty is usually pretty dismal, hovering somewhere
around 20 percent every year That's pathetic, and
should send warning signals to all members of student
government: something must be done to improve the
number of voters
One way to ini reuse voter turnout is easy access to
polling places You can't force people to vote, but you
(.an make it easier for them. Putting voting booths in
residence halls would expose a large segment of the
University population to student government. That
cannot possibly hurt
But .in education program for nil University stu
dents must he coupled with increasing the amount of
voting booths It does no good to have a large turnout
of voters who may hardy know the candidates, let
alone the issues
In defense of ASUO president Andy Clark, an at
tempt to improvevoter education has been made ('.lark
has spoken several times around campus and in the
residence halls He has truly tried to help "get out the
vote.” as he promised in last year s campaign. So far.
so good, but don't stop there. Continue tin? program,
and when this year’s elections are held, hopefully
there will he a significant change in the amount of bal
lots cast.
In addition to the education program, there need to
he more voting booths, not just in the residence halls,
hut all around campus, d ry and give all students open
access to polling places A suggestion would he one at
the corner of lfitli and Alder, and another at 10th and
University. Maybe the Panhellenic Committee and In
terfraternity Council would pitch in to help defray the
cost of tin! booths
Of course, some people are going to be upset with
tliis proposal Obviously, not every student will have
the same access to booths, especially those who live
miles from campus. But that doesn't mean an attempt
to increase voter turnout shouldn't he made.
One last thing: Who will staff the booths? Members
of tht! Residence Hall Governance Committee have of
fered to do it. No objections from this side, as long as
ASUO and Election Board representatives are present
at every residence hall booth as well as any additional
booths off campus.
mim
5EE I'M BU5y? ,
Elections deadline sooner than you think
11 yun re thinking about running lor a
student goyomriirnt oilier 111 isprint’, lie it
ASI (> Student Son.ill' or Incidental In'
( oinmitli'r. you'll better think hard Thu
deadline loi filing applii .ilmns is Man h 30.
three vvi'i'ks I mm toda\
So tar. thorn lias hi'i'ii the usual lac k in
announiod candidacies I'wu trains have
lortnalK dm lured themselves in tho bidding
loi tho ASI () prosidom \ and vi< o prrsiden
i\ Steyr Maples. Ill mi'inbur. and Diane
I iishman. ol the greek svstein. announced
Iasi week kirk Hailiw and Sheila Stu kel ol
the AM () l \ei utive announced Ihuisd.n
\eithei team has oltii lalh tiled to run
In lai t nobrnh lias ollicialK tiled with
the ASI () l.lei lions Hoard to run loi any
thing. .11 I Hiding to ken I lodge ASI ( ) elei
tinns i oordinatoi Dodge says this is not sin
prising,, bei ause people like to hang bat k
strategii all\ i hei king out the competition.
W hile that ma\ appear to he a wise poll
tii.il move, such hrsit.iiK \ to declare is .1
disservice to tin' student voters and can a<
tuallv damage .1 campaign. I lie primarv
elet tions are set to happen April 111 and _!d
II students wait until the end ot Man h to de
i hue it gives c undulates only three weeks to
promote then t ampuigns and the voters onh
three weeks to become informed on the is
sues
There are important dei isions to he
made every spring. This year, with compli
cated issues such as student health insm
am e, dorm voting and campus racism ev
peited to make the headlines, campaigns
i an t afford to take on knee-jerk stum es or
make snap dei isions
I he election deadline is coming sooner
than you think If you're going to run for
student government office, do yourself and
everybodv else a favor. Decide now . and lie
1 lare now
-Letters.
Mac-bashing
Vs .1 l 'niversits undergradu
.ill- .mil mtoriuatinn svstems
professional omploved In .1 $ in
milium organization ss Ini li has
i liosen Apple Mai intoshes mvi
HIM ( nmp.it ibles lor ils mum
((imputing pl.itfurm I ted i mn
pelled to respond to
lohnniK hael Vloilteith's M.k
tuslung letter(()l)l' Mar -I
It Monteith were a real indus
trs analvst instead of an arm
( hair observer, lie would real
i/e that Macintoshes have
gained populuriH ill the busi
ness world in recent sears
while IBM-compatible maun
fa< hirers base struggled to re
tain matkct share
I lis assertion t ha I I niversitv
graduates will 'almost tortdin
K hr using MS I M )S bused mu
i limes m the business world
is weak more likely is that to
morrow s IniversiU grads will
use I ins workstations and \
windows w hh h resembles a
Mai s gr iplm al interim e not
the t \ pii al Ms ! K )s m.u hine
In addition to tile goal ot lie
(arming "< omputer literate in
preparation for the business
world I tmrrsity students also
spoil itwv tire bottor served In
Miit intoshes
I i .m U'.ic h s irtually ans slu
iIimiI regardless ot .11 ademii
m.ijiii lum In network Mats
using I in al l ,ilk in abinil 1 '>
mimiti's. I i an ti'.u h ,i Ims
bright I IS majors Inns In srl up
a Novell ur token img environ
inent hu MS IK is mat.bines m
about I i hours
Knough sail)7
Kudv A sen ion
(dS/math
Freethought
(larelul study ol daily new s
papers reveals the imu ept
"(a>d ' is a In lion used hv i ler
gy to exploit the gullihilitx ol
hellev els III order lo advaiH e
the povvei and wealth ol eslah
1 ished leaders
Ket enl slutting ol lurid theixl
religious I rat ts desi idling the
Rapture is paid advertising
into suhst i liters set ulrif htnne
delivered tiailv newspapeis dis
trihutetl in Springfield and I n
gene in S/tringlie/d / i/e and
I hr Register f.'u.in/ illustrates
the eolliiltorative exploitation ol
.Hums groups Ihe\ publish
( opv (propaganda) favorable lu
religious organizations with 111
lie it an\ presentation of
abundant evident e of individu
<d and sot ial harm ('anomie')
resulting Imm irrational tlmisl
religious t lainis
I he dimmi rath prot ess is
thoroughk tompfoinised when
lax exempt religious organiza
tions promolt' their polite
i al mu ial agenda In monopo
lizing media
Tlit* only publu ation rey[ular
l\ presenting information about
tin* mam serious i rimes of reli
gums le.lifers ini hiding eases
of sexual abuse and murder of
ten effectively bushed by pow
eilul loi al administrators of ie
ligious organizations who in
sist sin h lases are unusual all
emit ions of individuals not
t\ pica! of their t bun lies, is the
monthly / ree//ioui>/if /'oi/.n
publislieilbv I reeilom f rom Ke
Union foundation Madison
\\ is ( dltm ll autboi dies are of
ten aware of earlier crimes 01
illipropi ielies b\ these religious
i rinunals but tail to take appro
priate pro!i*i tive measures
I rrnthinixht TuiLiv helps
(juisiliun as a research asset fin
IMTinanciil collection b\ mu
mi ip.il public: college ,ind po
In e department libraries
Bert Tryba
Kugene
Preregistration
Well fellow students, it's
dead week again, that time of
the term when everyone puts
their brains into overdrive be
cause next week is f inals week
And not onlv is it dead week,
licit it's also the dread Romance
Language and Knglish Depart
ment's Preregistration From
1 tell' week
Din's anyone understand the
logit ot holding Romance l.an
gunge and Lnglish preregistrn
lion on dead week during i lass
time■' And why the Humane e
Language anil Knglish depart
ments have two or three people
stalling the preregistration tn
hies tor the inevitable crush of
hundreds of students ever\
term' As d we i an afford to
miss i lasses during dead week!
Couldn't preregistration be
held m tliu evening. or on .1
weekend in M,k (lourt or in tilt*
Hallrootn, when wo wouldn't
have to skip a i lass in order to
stand >11 the dreaded lines in
Friendly Hall and l’l,('.V And
couldn't we lure ,1 few more
stall niemhers during preregis
tration. or was all the money
spent on the new science build
ings?
I ry standing in line every
term tor two hours, waiting to
preregister for one Spanish or
Knglish class because you need
the classes to graduate, and
you'll know exactly what 1
mean Or go to Mac Court dur
ing registration and look at the
Closed hoard
Can't the great minds .it our
beloved Cniversitv. after 1-0
years in the student business,
figure out a new system that
runs a little smoother:' Or max
be I should just shut up and
pay mv tuition ipnetlx as usu
al
Steve !Su< k
Student
-Letters Policy.
Hit- i.mnrjhl will attempt to print all letters contain
la-.; comments on topics of interest to the University
community. Comments must be factually accurate
-uni refrain from personal attacks on the character of
others.