EDITORIAL
m
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con fusing questions
Tim Idea of co-president*, as Kirk Bailey and Shei
la Sticks! of the ASUO consider themselves, is not a
new one, nor is it necessarily a bad one.
But it raises certain questions.
Students voted for Bailey and Stickel as president
and vice president. The ASUO executive officers said
they considered working as co-presidents before they
ran. If they were considering this as an option, they
should have mentioned it in their campaign.
Bailey and Stickel work well together, maybe bet
ter than most presidents and vice presidents. Bailey
and Stickel were equally prominent during their cam
paign and have equally snared the duties of their of
fices; this is not a case of one leader and a silent side
kick.
However, the AS*UU constitution states l he presi
dent is the chief executive officer of the ASUO, is re
sponsible for the administration of ASUO programs,
and acts as the official spokesperson for students as a
whole, within and without the University,"
Although the constitution gives only the the presi
dent the power to veto budget allocations, sign con
tracts, and to appoint students to ASUO positions; Bai
ley and Stickel have said they will share these respon
sibilities. although Bailey technically retains ultimate
authority.
That's fine. All too often, vice presidents are mere
ly lackeys selected for their ability to attract more
votes. And ideally, presidents should confer with their
vantages, but they have some disadvantages, too.
What happens if Bailey and Stickel disagree on an
issue? Bailey, as president, has the power to do what
he thinks is right. If the two cannot agree, who will
make the final decision? As president. Bailey ultimate
ly must do what he was elected to do; be president.
What happens when students come in to talk to the
president ami they are asked. "Which one?"
While Bailey and Stickel appear to be perfect com
plements to each other, the precedent they set is trou
blesome. Co-presidents may be good for Bailey and
Stickel. but co-chairs on the Incidental Fee Committee
or on the Student Senate would be confusing. Ambigu
ous language in the constitution could make these pos
sibilities real.
Ultimately, students should be allowed to vote on
the viability of co-presidents.
At the very least, Bailey and Stickel should submit
a request to the Constitution Court asking to verify the
legality of their co-presidency, instead of fust assuming
they have that option.
NEVER MIND
AAA,OPERATOR,
GET METRE
JUNKYARD...
Rust, Rogers conflict personality stmggle
The battle between left and right contin
ues to rage on the Lane County Board of
Commissioners.
Commissioner Jerry Rust has accused
fellow commissioner Bill Rogers of violating
the Oregon open meeting laws. Apparently
Rogers sent a letter to county administrator
)irn Johnson instructing him to spend more
time working with the county’s finance de
partment. Rust further accused Rogers of us
ing informal, one-on-one meetings to gain a
majority of support on the five-person board
While variety is something to be strived
for in any political body, over the past few
years the two commissioners have slid into a
battle of personalities, each trying to make
the other look bad.
Rust said he will lake the issue to the
other commissioners and ask them to amend
county policy to forbid "orders or direc
tives” from individual members. If he is not
satisfied with the board's actions, he said he
will take the matter to the I,ane County Dis
trict Attorney's office or the state ethics
commission.
The two commissioners have a habit of
being on different sides of issues. They bat
tled each other when Rogers favored remov
ing the environmental magazine Forest
Voice from the reception areas of the county
offices. They also disagreed on which chari
table groups county employees could donate
to through automatic pay-roll deductions.
Rogers did not want county employees to be
able to contribute automatically to environ
mental organizations or any other group ex
cept the United Way. Rust was in favor of an
employee choice policy.
In addition, Rogers criticized Rust for
using official county stationery to write a
letter asking for leniency for a local halluci
nogenic-mushroom grower who had been ar
rested.
Most recently Rogers and Rust have been
involved in a bitter battle for the board
chairmanship.
While variety is something to be strived
for in any political body, over the past few
years the two commissioners have slid into a
battle of personalities.
It is time for the commissioners to put
the personal battles behind them and refocus
their energies on the issues that are facing
Lane County. The commissioners should re
member they were elected to serve the peo
ple’s interests, not their own.
LETTERS
No joke
What has been the hardest
thing to do in the late eighties
and early nineties? You may
think it is getting a job. finding
protection for intercourse or
registering for school. Even
thuugh these may be great an
swers. there is one answer that
rises above all the rest — filling
out the financial aid forms.
Yes. to you financially stable
people this may be a joke but to
us students low on the leg of
the economic statue it is not. It
is no joke to students who fill
out the 7B-question form only
to find out that they missed a
question and therefore their fi
nancial aid will be delayed sev
eral weeks.
In the meantime how does
this economically deprived stu
dent pay for school? I know the
University business office is
trying to be helpful by giving
out “quick loans" of $200 and
deferred tuition The “quick
loans" aren't as helpful as they
may seem since they are only
offered to registered students
This is a catch-22 If you can't
afford to register how can you
receive the application for the
loan? I mentioned that the Uni
versity has deferred tuition.
This iets you pay your tuition
for the term in three install
ments. If you have no money it
doesn't matter if you have to
pay a third, fifth or eighth —
you just can't.
The reason I am castigating
the Financial Aid Form is that
many of my partners have been
exiled from school because of
the complex form.
Brett lohnaon
Psychology
Measure 10
This fall, voters will be facing
Hallot Measure 10. On surface
inspection this measure seems
to promote healthy family com
■minication I would like to
point out that healthy commu
nication only happens in
healthy families.
In Minnesota during the time
there has been a parental con
sent law in effect, teen births
have increased dramatically
and so have deaths for those
seeking illegal abortions.
Minnesota has a judicial by
pass whereby teen women may
appear before a judge and dis
cuss why they can't notify their
parents Fifty percent of all
teens choose to publicize and
humiliate themselves in court
because they cannot talk about
it at home.
Measure 10 does not provide
a judicial bypass. I ask you,
what will happen to Oregon's
50 percent?
Gary D. Braun
Eugene
Foreign flicks
The staff of Flicks and Pics
takes exception to comments
made by Neil Wahlert concern
ing our foreign film section.
Although we appreciated be
ing called "top notch" we were
upset to read that dubbed for
eign films “are often the only
option" at Flicks. This implies
that we do not attempt to pro
vide films in their original lan
guages. This idea is false.
Unfortunately, many classic
foreign films are available in
the video format only dubbed
in English. We have been un
able to purchase copies of
"Mephisto," "Play For Night."
"Das Boot.” "1.8 Dolce Vita"
and others subtitled in English
because they are simply not
available. If these films ever be
come available subtitled, we
will make every effort to pro
vide them for our customers.
Until the time these films are
available subtitled, it seems
more prudent to carry them
dubbed than to not carry them
at all.
Carolyn Lamberson
Journalism
Brett C. Morse
TCF
Patty Meyers
Manager. Flicks and Pics
Sean Awnaker
Graduate,TCF'
Diverse
The article on the Eugene
Celebration really hit the nail
on the head. This city is di
verse. I mean diverse. I would
say, in fact, that the three best
things about Eugene are its di
versity. its diversity and its di
versity.
Yet. the Emerald seems so of
ten to overlook this. Could we
please see more mention of
diversity made in your paper?
And while you're at it. could
you also mention how much
we like to celebrate it?
John Shenon
student