Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, April 06, 1990, Page 2, Image 2

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    Editorial
OLCC help may be
answer to problem
College students have been drinking alcohol and
throwing loud parties since anyone can remember It
seems at this point most people have resigned them
selves to the situation
Most people however, cannot resign themselves to
the idea of partying students congregating in the hun
dreds and responding violently when police trs to
break it up.
Th is problem is worthy of < oik cr n. bet a use the a< -
tions of a few indi\ iduals < an < lumge the i ommimitv s
view of .ill students
Task fori es have been < mated to < nine up v\ ith so
lutions to the problem So far d doesn t look like what
they're doing lias been working
One of the ideas has vet to be tried file proposal
was to station two Oregon State l.irpior Control Com
mission offii eis on i ampus to run an edin ation and in
teivention program lor students I he oflii eis would be
housed in the l-.MC and would work with students,
staff and administration to help prevent underage
drinking and negative behavim related to ah ohul
Members of the Cniversils administration are sup
portive of the proposal Not sin prising r on sir lei ing the
sit u, it toil tiles am m
Hill | |n»\ a ISO iiH* ( O i H rl'lli'c I that t hr v ;l,( ( . oil irtTS
do nut run around |usl living In bust students I lie
I nivorsitv r\ pci is OI.CC In run .1 si mug preventative
mbit ational program .nul In ( uit.nl exr ess drinking
I br I 'nivorsitv li.is olfeiod In house tin- 01.1 I ulti
cers in llii! KMC tree .uni In give llirm phone seivitu
While this is ,i step in llie light direr.lion il will nul
in.ike the program happen
The only nltei of funding In date is from the slate
executive branch, which nllered In pav Hi percent ul
the costs il the Oniversitv. < ilv and countv govern
uienls would < ovei the rest ol the i usts
I.nr al governments 1 laiin thev don't have the moil
ev and we .ill know the l’uiversitv-s funding profi
lenis Main people look har k to the stale fui fuilhei
funding
Perhaps the problem could he solved bv evervune
|nli lung in II the I 'uiversitv. the \St ’() and < ilv and
county governments 1 mild each pul up a portion ol the
funding, perhaps Ol.CC could pull il oft W ith the con
filmed campus alcohol problems, the OI.CC ntlirers
would help detei future 1 unlronlutions
II the program does gel implemented, it is impor
(ant that some provisions ensuring the educational di
rectum of the program need to be installed Because il
al a future date the OI.CC officers (hanged then pi 1
uiarv focus from education and intervention lo stint
onion emenl student support of the program would di
minisli at a rapid rate
r THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN...
WITH ME IN THE COCKPIT TODAY
ARE JOHNNY WALKER, JACK DANIELS,
AND A WHOLE BUNCH OF DIALS
AND KNOBS AND STUFF...
1 I
r5KL~1
Schools should move to help gays, lesbians
L.isl week. ,i majority of Kugene School
Ho,nil memheis appeared willing to I'vpaml
the mission ol the si hool distric I s task ton i*
on i.n nil .mil gendei issues so that it would
also treat ga\ and lesbian i mu erns
I lie st hool hoard i onsidcred the sugges
tion from Jim t'.lav. projet t director ol Wd
hi met te Allis (inline ils I 'outh Program, that
the district's Community Advisory Commit
tee on Kduc atmnal I'.qllitx add gay and leshi
an issues In the committee's agenda The
boartl tlet ided at present not to go that lar.
but was willing to explore the issue in the
future
W ith the assumption and hope that
its promise does not turn out to be an empty
one, the st hool board should be commended
for its tiet ision. hesitant v and all
Yes, the si hool board eventually should
pul in place a task force1 that will work to
meet the needs of gay and lesbian high
st hool students Many lesbians and gay men
describe their high school years as the un
happiest anti loneliest times of their lives
a time spent in the i Inset bec ause of the vir
ulently homophobic environment found m
the tvpii al high st hool
Hut no, the Community Advisory Com
mittrr on Kducatinnal Kt|uit\ 's b.isii mission
should not have been i>\|i,unit'd just y«*t
There are two reasons why.
l irst. had the ( ommittee’s responsibili
ties been increased, it would probably have
little idea of where to begin The committee
was created last December alter a two-veai
study of the si bool distri< t's ra< ial and gen
der problems was completed A similar
stmlv. to determine the wants and needs of
Hugene's guv and lesbian vouth. should be
enacted before any i ommittee ( an properly
work to an end.
Also, am program seen as giving "va
lidity " to homosexuality is sure to draw llak
Irom more than a few community members
Secondly when the school district is
ready to help gnv and lesbian pupils, it
should consider not enlarging the ('.onunii
nitv Advisory (lommittee on Mducational h<|
uity, but splitting it The committee would
best serve its three smaller committees
Too many times, issues of sexism, rni
ism and homophobia are lumped together in
one catch-all category It’s encouraging to
see the school district begin to consider
homophobia as pressing a soi nil concern .is
sexism or racism but the issues are dis
tint t, and they should be treated distini tlv
Letters
Just telling
|un knight asks lines lien
i\ (addsleiii ,k tuallv helieve
thill tile poor are heller nil In
ilav then lliev were 111 oi JO
years ago ■' I ( )l >1 \pi il i|
\h letter (()/)/ April 2| did
not addless I li.it question Hilt It
ei it i hallenged Mu tiael Car
enti's assertion that the "poor
are the fastest growing six tal
group in America " It reported
figures showing that the frn<
lion ot the population helow
the official poverty line was
12 H pen enl 111 1‘IHH, as op
posed to 12 0 peri ent 111 1*18(1
II those Census Hure.in fig
Hit's are correct, tliev ilearlv
iinplv that "the poor ' have not
been ini reasing at a faster rate
ill.in the population as a whole
hem i1 that Parenti s asset
turn vv as false
Interestmglv . the t orrespoud
mg pen entages vvere to 2 per
i ent in 1*1(0. 22 2 peri ent in
1 otitl and 1 2 t peri ent in 1 *170
I he Irai lion ot \merii .ms vv ith
mi mnt's below the nlfii ial pm
eitv Imi' thus Ifli shurplv m the
I'I'.lls .mil m till' 1‘lhOs must
l\ before l.vndon |<>iiusoii s
War mi I'm i-rt\ .mil tin' i n il
rights movement gut
underw.iv S111isi'tjut• iit massive
programs In help tin- poor thus
appear tu h.n e been .1 i list I\
flop
In /.using t,round American
Social /’ii/ii i rnomno.
(:h.tries Murnn explains ivh.it
went u rung I le i uni Imles th.it
the new government s efforts to
assist the poor itestroveii main
ut the uuentives that e.irliei e\
isteil lor the poor to help them
selves hem e the illsm.il re
suits from the federal govern
meiit's ,mti pinerts efforts
\iit .ishiilg this time; just tell
mg it like it is
Henry (.oldstein
Ki oniimii s professor
What next?
\s the JOth annivers.irv ot
the |.u kson and Kent State
shootings appoint h it's good
to see the I:I*1) assuming the
proper attitude in recognizing
of these historii .il e\ cuts
\\ e tnui it i ouilortmg to
know that there is a tiglit grasp
ot i onlrnl over the meliar ing
masses of riotous sturieiits As
we all know so main people
assembled hi one phu e. having
.1 good time, surely means no
good' ihe tail that the KIM) re
sponded in riot gear to tills
spectacle ol public debauchery
illustrates their "nun-biased
attitude toward l'diversity sin
dents
Was the KIM) trnl\ reac ling to
Saturdav night's activities, or
was it Irving to set a precedent
for spring term7 Does their re
action Saturdav night mean
that am large assembly of stu
dents post's sut h a threat to the
well-being of Kugene that we
can all look forward to future
stand-offs with KIM)?
It the t adversity condones
the use of tear gas to keep stu
dents under control what
nest' Will we see the National
(■Marti keeping the peace" at
till' \\ illamelte bulkiest with
tanks and ht'lii opters ’
(•ary Kosenstein
Kelly Wyatt
Students
Acrid fumes
Mil's \o nnt' wants one It is
indisputable that a tew cups
dressed in standard uniforms
and armed with ticket books
would have been more than
siiltic ient to disperse anv group
ot under _M l'Diversity students
drinking and dancing to a
band
Instead, the polite those to
make w hat 1 can only think of
as a Show ot Power lit sneak
ing up behind tbe party and
latint bing tear gas Where were
their megaphones? Many, in
i hiding myself, were unaware
of the order to disperse until
the first at rid fumes waited our
wav. along with a virtual stam
pede of people The shoot-first
ask-questions-later attitude of
these people was completely
mu ulltui for
()l t ourse Ihr polii e .in' just l
lied in Irving fo respond In
noise complaint However. I
would lie willing lo wager lli.it
had tfns t umpluml i nine from
anywhere 1ml the I 'Diversity
area, thev would not not have
shown up in Public Spec ta
t le Tiananmen Square regalia
H\ treating a typical Saturday
night party like a riot, the HIM)
created a self-fulfilling prophe
cy.
If thev had the intention of
putting the tear of authority
into the students, they tailed
By handling the situation in
this poor manner, the police
department has effectively Inst
whatever respect it might have
gained And "overreaction'
would he a gross understate
merit.
It the Kugerie Police Depart
ment continues to make riots
out of parties, they may make a
war zone out of Kugene
l.isa Ludwig
Student