Editorial
Daily Emerald
Bush's quick court
nomination curious
President Bush didn’t waste any time selecting a
nominee to replace retired Supreme Court Justice Wil
liam | Brennan. But the .Senate should take a long,
hard look at David Souter. Bush’s choice to replace
Brennan.
Brennan will be sorely missed. Appointed by Pres.
Dwight Kisenhower 34 years ago. he was a staunch
supporter of civil rights His departure means the court
is losing the most vocal member of the liberal wing of
the Court He is largely responsible lor putting together
the coalition for the recent 5-4 decision upholding free
speech in regards to flag burning.
Brennan resigned from the highest court in the
land last week citing ill health. But his resignation sets
the stage for the biggest political battle of George
Bush's presidency.
Bush's candidate for the open position. David
Souter, was appointed by the president earlier this year
to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Until then, he
was a member of the New Hampshire State Supreme
Court, appointed by then-governor John Sununu, cur
rentk Bush's chief of staff.
The president's expedient nomination of a candi
date is baffling. He said that the process for screening
candidates for a potential vacancy has been going ori
for some time, but not with Brennan in mind. Why
Bush was concerned about a non-problem is not
known. But if he has been worrying about a possible
vacancy on the high court, it helps explain his neglect
of importauf national problems such as the S & L deba
cle, homelessness, and the budget.
While Bush claims he felt it inappropriate to ask
Souter his personal views on specific issues, ail the
president had to do was ask Sununu. And while Bush
correctly feels it is a Justice's duty to interpret the Con
stitution and not legislate laws, the confrontation in
the Senate will be between conservatives who believe
that interpretation of the Constitution should bo done
in the spirit of the original writers, or liberals who be
lieve it should be applied to today's society.
The Supreme Court has shifted to the right since
Ronald Reagan's presidency. Many civil rights deri
sions of the 1960s and 70s are under close scrutiny,
most notably the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision allowing
abortions. The criteria for selecting a new Supreme
Court Justice should begin with a willingness to accept
past decisions of the high court.
Although Bush would like a swift confirmation,
the Senate, remembering the failed Reagan nomina
tions of Bork and Ginsburg, should take its time and
make sure it does not appoint a Bush ideologue. Let
civil rights, free speech and the Roe vs. Wade deci
sions stand. The new Justice should be concerned with
shaping future decisions, not changing past ones.
SJt,
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s,f^HOvGgR
1
GUESS WE'VE
GOT NO CHOICE
BUT TO RAISE
THE CEILING...
V
Housing decision precedent-setting
Attn ci 1 most a year of deliberation,
Myles Brand's dec ision on family housing is
a good one
Mow students with children, whether
single, married. ga\ . lesbian or straight will
have ai i ess to family housing These people
will also be allowed to have a partner, room
mate, Iriend. or whoever share the housing
with them
The ruling seems to have the right group
ut people in mind students w ith ( hildren
As we enter the BOs. the number ot ( ul
lege students with children continues to
grow bur these students, college is an ex
pensive prospect Tuition, fees, books, rent,
loud, clothing, transportation, child care,
medical expenses and utilities are only the
beginning t here are endless hidden costs
involved in raising i hildren.
I'nfortunatclv. the current mandates of
t Diversity Housing do not give any prefer
ence to students with children Graduate
students are given first priority and then all
others on a first come, first served basis
'This pole v is not set to ( hange
Perhaps as l'Diversity Housing expands
this fall, it should consider adopting another
new polity, out* that gives priority to stu
dents w ith children.
While it mav be diffit nit for married stu
dents to find inexpensive housing, their cost
ot living is not ns high .is student parents,
this is not to sa\ that married students
should he bloc ked from I'niversitv Housing,
just that student parents should have first
prioritx
While some are disappointed that Brand
did not choose to allow unmarried or guv
and lesbian couples w ithout ( hildren to live
in tamilv housing, his decision is not sur
prising
Brand's foe us was to provide housing tor
students w ith dependent < hildren. To open
family housing to unmarried couples with
out ( hildren would just limit the number ot
housing units available to student parents.
It is exciting to see that the l hiiversitv is
public Iv accepting gav and lesbian couples
living together raising c hildren
Brand, a strong supporter of affirmative
ac tion. has put his money where his mouth
is and (nit togethei a polic v that does not
disc riminate and w ill increase access to edu
cation tor students w ith children
ITns dec ision is precedent-setting and
hopefullv will cause other schools to recon
sider their familv housing policies. As the
student population shifts, it is good to see
the l hiiversitv and Brand at the forefront of
polic \ i flange
letters
Missed facts
In her letter [DPI April -f7|
Jackie (iorii.n missed important
fui ts ( oik eming Sen Peg |olin
To be tair. it's not all Ms
(iorclav's fault; thr* media's ad
nutted pretermit e tor a snappy
quote is parth to blame
Sen Jolin used a phrase
alrouf owls and frying pans to
illustrate an attitude held In
some upset loggers, an attitude
that is just as unhelpful as
some lawsuits bent on halting
timber harvests The nontext of
the remark was omitted in re
ports of the press confereiu e
where the statement was made
On another point, however.
Ms Corilav should have
( her ked before making as
sumptions about the senator s
legislative work
Peg jolin has worked hard on
legislation to offer displai ed
forest industry workers job re
miming, to t>.m export ot raw
logs, to encourage more (level
opmcut anil marketing ol tin
islied wood produi Is. and to
institute better silvic ulture
prai tires She lias been fighting
lor prei iseis those efforts Ms
(orday wants legislators’ ener
gies ( oih entreted on
During this interim between
sessions. Sen |olin is serving
on the Joint forest Products
Pol it \ Committee (which I co
i hair) where we are pursuing
all these avenues and others
l imber is. and will be tor many
years to come a mainstay ot
our economy We need to pro
tec t its ]obs as we strengthen
protec lion of the environment
To pretend any side in this
complex disc ussion has all the
answers merely polarizes; it
does not help us reach the bnl
am e w e must ai hieve
Kill Bradbury
Senate Majority Leader
No manners
Hill Rogers' "gaffes" .ire gel
ling worse, ( null) he he suffer
ing from Alzheimers disease or
is he jusi an uncouth Ingot who
has no public manners in a
public job? He wanted lids po
sition as c hairman of the l.ane
County Commissioners but ap
pears incapable of performing
it I can hardly wail tor lanuarv
1 ‘191 when we can get a "real
c hairman" to do the job 1 wish
be c ould be stripped of his po
sition now l_ane County de
serves better than this man
liilde Cherry
Kugene
Nonstudents
A few days ago in the mid
dle of the afternoon I observed
( )IIk er (.Uni* ot thi' r.ugene I’u
111 «• Department approach a
small group of seated people
near Kith and Kincaid and ask
them to leave campus He
i laimed to he enfort ing ti Uni
versitv polit \ barring una< i mu
paint'd non students from cam
pus
Surprised that this would he
Dniversitv policy. I contacted
Dan Williams, vice-president
for administration. He con
firmed that he had authorized
the police to, at their discre
tion. arrest non students mere
ly for being on-campus at this
"troubled” corner He wasn't
sure that trespassing charges
would hold up in court {can a
public university restrict access
more than a private airport?)
but didn't think that if would
he tested Of course this is be
( ausu tlie people being selec
tively ejected can't afford to
tight for tfieir rights
Mi \\ 111 id min was not willing
to suggest to the police that
they approai h people only for
behavioral reasons, and not just
lor being on campus and look
ing "different".
Should a university mimic a
i hie Nine York night club, with
hired bouncers to decide who
is "uglv” and should be ex
i luded? Aren’t we here to ex
c hange ideas with and learn
about other people, including
the homeless?
Of course people who disturb
classes with noise, accost stu
dents and. I suppose, con
sciously damage the lawn
should be asked to move on.
Hut do we really want to, or
have the right to. exclude peo
ple from the University just be
cause they don't look like can
didates for the business school?
Robert Schofield
Physics
i nan