Editorial
Insurance problems
persist after elections
To no one's surprise, students overwhelmingly re
jected mandatory health insurance during hist week's
general elections Most students breathed a sigh of re
lief at not having to add insurance costs to tuition
hikes and increased incidental lees; lot them the insur
ance issue is closed
For others, however, including members of the
Student Health Insurant.e Committee, the problem of
providing coverage to students on this campus is still
not solved Thev are hat k at square one fat etl w ith the
task of providing an insurance polit \ tor students next
year lh.it offers similar oi better benefits at the same or
a lower i ost than this year s policy And the committee
is expected to find an insurance < oinpany to offet such
a polit v without a guarantee of a minimum number of
parlit ipauts
In short, the committee must find a leally good,
really cheap insurant e polit \ for a really small number
ot students (loot! lut k
As SI IK chairman Scott Wyt kolf said, solutions to
the insurance problem have been approached, but stu
dents seem unwilling to accept any of them All thev
know is that thev don't want to be saddled with man
d.itnrv part it ipatiou in an insurant c program
What students don't seem to understand is that
changes must he made in the current insurance pro
gram for it to survive Students tan either make those
i h.mges themselves or wait tor someone else to impose
those t hanges on them
A fundamental question fat ing University students
is, do we want to continue to run oui own insurance
program? There are many arguments in favor of doing
so. the most notable being tli.it students now control
the interest and profit on the premiums paid They also
have more sav in the design of the plan, weighing for
themselves the costs and benefits ot different kinds of
coverage.
Hut if University students would rather got out of
the insurance business, who should take over that re
sponsibility? The University administration? The State
Hoard of Higher F.ducatiou? The state board has al
ready formed a task force to examine the possibility of
creating an insurance program encompassing all state
colleges and universities. Would participation in a
statewide program, which would likelv he mandatory,
meet the particular needs of this University’s student
body? What if any insurance program should the
t iniversity offer in the interim before a state program is
in place?
These questions need answers Students have only
answered one question by making it clear they don't
want a mandatory program What they have not made
i lear is what kind of program they do want.
THE HUNT FOR A TOB
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U.S. Forest Service should be more careful
Officials with Ihr I S I orest Service sa\
the\ .iif 'embarrassed ' about the rei cut
lodging of a wilderness area cast of Kugenc
Regardless of whether lh.it feeling is justi
fied. more < are should he taken w ith federal
ly prutei ted lands
Last week, it was revealed that a small
portion about 14 acres on the west
boundary of the Sisters W ilderness Area was
mistakenly sold for logging purposes in the
mid l'lHU s and ( lean lit It seems a survey
ing error had plai ed two logging units and
part of a third on Sisters wilderness land
The error itself is understandable Most
surveying boundaries are landmarks, sui h
as mountains and rivers The bound.iry in
question in the Sisters case is an B 1-mile
long desi ribod line (one without land
marks). using the junction of Llk Wreck and
the Mi ken/ie River as one of its mam base
reference points When the meeting of the
two rivers shifted, so did the line This shift
ing led to the surveying error that caused the
land to he zoned for logging
However, logging of wilderness lands
should never happen, regardless of the ai re
age After ( enturies of < lean lilting, there is
very little untouched land lelt anywhere
The Sisters wilderness, one of the first e re
ated h\ Congress' lHt>4 Wilderness Act. is
popular lor recreational use and. as one of
the few completely wild areas left in Amen
i a. should he left completely alone.
The Forest Service is putting forth a
commendable effort to correct their mistake
This summer the\ will invest thousands of
dollars to use a satellite global positioning
system to pinpoint where the boundary is
and avoid future wilderness logging.
This probably won't be enough Future
errors are bound to occur, and if they are to
be prevented, the old tried-and-not so-true
methods should be replaced entirely In
these days of cheapening technology , it is
hoped that someday satellite and computer
ized methods yyill map all of the country's
threatened forests
Neyy aerial photos have been taken, the
line has been redrawn (>()() feet out from
the site and the logging has been done
Hopefully . it won't happen again
-Letters
Fair and equal
Mv purpose in tins letter is
not to ,truin' tor or against ho
rnnsexualitl I luIK rot ognize
ami util I'vt'it dt'ltmtl thr rights
ol am and all prisons to organ
l/r to i ampaign lor (air and
npia! trratinrnt and to express
themselves frrelx
Mowrvri thr Oregon I Kill t
I nirr.ihl .in rndravor lundrrl
h\ ex ri \ poi krthook on i a in
plls is asking Us tills week
(C)/)/■ April J II to permit sr\u
alh rxplii it and offensive pub
lie journalism in thr name ot
thr gav rights movement.
Thr issues whit h set homo
sexuals apart from heterosexu
als must unavoidablv deal with
phvsii.al attraition and sexual
prai.tir.es: vet when the ma|or
it\ ol students oil i umpus uil
douhtrdls liini homosexual
prai.tii.es unpleasant and dis
tasteful, at the \erv mildest
then it is the heterosexual Ilia
lontv v\hi< h must defend its
right to a fait and unbiased stu
dent new spaper
I would venture that the I'm
rr.iltl staff would not dare risk a
m.ijontv uprising supporting a
Nui leui l’ride \\ eek I low
about I an ironmental Destrui
lion U eek •' ()| ( aid forbid a
musii al entitled. I he Sound
ill Viviset lion
I believe tin' homosexual
i oimimniH is liu kv In have the
support of the h'.mrr.ild Hut the
media as. well as guvs must rei
ogni/.e that thev live in a soi ie
tv which is still stronglv ion
servative. unfortunateK loi
them Applauding liehavior
that is repulsive to the verv
people from whom guvs are
seeking equal treatment hardk
seems to he in then best inter
est
Kathleen Strei ker
(i IK
Superior species
Well. I’lul Zui kerman {(>! >!
April 23). mhi obviously he
heve \ou are a member ol the
superior spei ies here on karth
Mavbe mhi haven't until ed that
it's that exai t line ot thinking
that has i mated the global t ri
sis we tare todav
I him.111 interference lias
. lUM'd diseases tOXit waste
anil o/.oni* depletion to name
only a few Huge* mimb»‘rs of
animals an* used In find i uros
tor these human a aused alllii
lions U hy is il that other forms
ot life flax i* to sulli i tor our fait
tin- to i an* for our environment
and bodies '
It a greater toi us were plat eit
on preventative medic me and
edut at ion \ our unfortunate
Devon Rex kitten would not
have to lie hooked to electric
shoe k tor It) years Itopetulh
people will take care ot them
selves so that we max not have
to < hose between ' Here lies
Spot" and "Here lies Tommy
Animal rights activists deal
with human lights and annual
rights the two i annul In* sep
arated Just bet.au.se we oppose
the use ot non-human animals
does not mean we advocate the
use ot humans in research
Rattier we support a shitl m the
si ientifii paradigm to a point .it
wtm h si ientists no longer have
to use and exploit am living
i realure in the sean It for
know ledge
H\ the w .i\ . it vuu feel that
vour kitten Is worthy of sui li
torture Id Ire l.i«i to him1 her a
luring home where her life is
not in danger
Munir a Semeria
l»sv t linings
Courage
1 would like to thank the Ore
giiil Dilih iniri.ild reporter De
nise (.lifton and especially
Maureen Hurke and Kohin
Madt II h>r the wonderful story
on the i otiple s upi liming mar
riage |( )DE. April 2MI.
In a i limate loo often marked
h\ distrust and misunderstand
mg everyone coni erned in tell
mg this story demonstrated
considerable courage This
courage is espei tally impres
sive in light of Madell s state
ment that she and Hurke must
he "very selective" ill who
they tell about their plans 1
feel honored that Madell and
Hurke have r hosen to tell the
I'mversitv community about
their upcoming marriage, and
run only hope lii.it .ill <>l on
prove worlliv of their trust
loo uiten puhlii commeul
on leshian and guv lifestyles
seems limited to puerile graffiti
and tasteless insinuations on
this ( ampus I would like to
think that the openness demon
strated h\ Madell and Ifurke in
declaring then love would ill
augurate a new spirit of under
standing on this campus en
couraging others who pursue
alternative lifestyles to openly
speak about then experient e
and encouraging those of us
whose lifestyles are more
"mainstream" to listen
The sexual orientation of un\
( otiple should not he criterion
tor adjudicating normal* v
rather, the mutual love and re
spect that comes through so
beautifullv in the article, and
w hit h is there for all to see in
the splendid front-page photo,
should he our onl\ basis for
evaluating normally. This is a
condition which all of us des
perately need to aspire to and
realize in our h\es
Mil hael Bruce McDonald
bnglish