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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1990)
EDITORIAL tout and Am State Board of Hi than can the bidding procaasfor The problem is that University Housing dose not even have a plan at this point. Tim slow moving wheels of the process have barely begun to move. Ra mey attributes this to the unpredictable nature of die housing market. The concern is that if the University does build new housing, students would not be able to afford to live in it. The money to build new housing would come from the sale of $10 million worth of Oregon Ft-11 bonds. These bonds would have to be payed back to the state by the University. The money to pay back the bonds would come from the rent paid by students living in the structures, therefore increasing the amount of rent charged. Ramey estimated that a conservatively built two bedroom apartment would cost from $350 to $500 per month. Therefore, the University is worried that there would be no market for the housing, and units would remain empty, which would cause the rent charged on the occupied apartments to go up even further. Anyone who has had to look for an apartment in the area knows that the University would have no problem renting these apartments. Quads in the area are currently renting for $225 to $250. This is about what two roommates would each pay to share one of the new apartments — even if the rent came in on the high and of Ramey's estimates. University Housing should get off the fence and get the ball rolling. The housing pxobhmt Is not gt * to solve itself. The Loglslature anproved the $10 lion bonds so that hmSOgMuld be built. Why not t it? Worries that the housing would not ha used and. therefore, not pay for itself mn liMfriiiiiiS ®OHt TOLME. THE^OWIGNS Auewsroet? L nr Juniors also deserve firsts at registration Kvery year at registration it's the same old story. If you don't have the right social security number, Mac Court seems like pur gatory. It's bad enough that students are herded like cows through the waiting process. But those filled classes hurt worse than a cattle prod. It's frustrating for juniors, who have suf fered through the registration process for years, when they realize that some freshmen get all their classes, and they don’t. What happened to the seniority system? If it's good enough for civil service, it's good enough for the University. Juniors and freshmen should not be tak ing the same classes. So let's reward perse verance and give credit where credits are due. Give upperclassmen a break. There must be a better way to handle registration. At Lane Community College students can register by phone. If the University used the money spent on conversion to a semester system, it could have telephone registration in place right know. At least students could get frustrated in their homes. The ones that have homes, anyway. Why is registration only two days before classes start? Some students spend the first week of classes standing in line at the Book store. at Kinko's. at Smith Family, and at the Copy Shop. The University does a good job with what it has, but the system is vastly outdat ed. Put some of that research money into de veloping a simple, easy, inexpensive and cheerful way of registering. If registration were to start a week earli er, it would give students who don't get their classes a chance to land a job for a term. Those students should then get first choice of classes the following term. There's got to be a way. FORUM Life dichotomy demands cultural 'branching7 By Stefan C. Past! The issues that affect the vot ers in America are too compli cated for the majority of voters to be democratically involved. Commentary How can we sell weapons, bury radioactive waste, spray herbicides, mechanize farms, spew hazardous waste into riv ers. clean almost everything with water, attempt to isolate the causes of cancer, vote for people we have never met. lx1 taxed for projects we don't un derstand. be analyzed by peo ple who have never lived where we are living, lx* alienat ed by 25 religions for every one religion we are associated with, lx? expected to believe we now know how nature is supposed to work and. finally, have any idea how all of this is going to turn out? Which experts know how all of this is going to turn out? There are limits to how much anyone can say they know for sure If the "experts” do not really know that all these com plicated projects, with both their benefits and potentially hazardous by-products, can blend together without caus ing"unacceptable risks." we all ought to bo making our de cisions based on such an un derstanding. Our decisions would then be based on a responsible under standing of our situation. Can we say this now? No. We must admit that issues are in many ways decided undemocratically by the "experts," and these de cisions are often lost amid a chaotic mass of information provided by television, news papers. radios and just about everything else. One consequence of all this that we can be sure of is that it represents an abuse of human rights all around — ironically, even the “experts’ " own rights — as economic, ecologi cal and social systems become unstable and create under standable anxiety. Is anyone re sponsible for what is going on anymore? More education is not the an swer We already unknowingly acquiesce to many significant decisions that effect us because we are overwhelmed by the chaotic mass of information we are now expected to swallow. We need simpler economic and ecological systems. We need to be closer to when* our basic necessities of food, cloth ing and shelter are produced. We cannot hope to re-establish a healthy environment of hon esty integrity — and therefore, stability — without simplifying our economic and ecological systems enough so that we are all, once again, democratically involved. However, it must be that the possibility of voters in America reaching such an agreement to gether. without a split, seems extremely unlikely. Even as in dividuals we seem to be torn, yearning for a simpler life and a secret wish that the many ad vertised wonders of science can be had fur a price which is not too high to pay. In other words, it dues seem that these desires are mutually exclusive; that is. they are im possible for people to resolve in their own lives, in the world as we know it. Based on this observation. I have to wonder why we do not suggest a “branching” of American culture. Why do we not plan as if that part of us that yearns for a simpler life has as "legitimate” a desire as that part of us which is curious to discover all there is to dis cover? The way I see it. both wishes represent real desires — no matter what is legitimate or verifiable — and both wishes have proven benefits behind them and unknown risks ahead. This is the best that can be said about any prospects on Earth. If we plan for a "branching” of American culture, then both instincts can be satisfied — and recognized from the beginning as mutually supportive — and both environments will be available in case people want to switch affiliation from time to time. When the time comes to de cide between “I know" or "1 don't know for sure,” honesty is the best policy. As Mark Twain said: "When in doubt, tell the truth." Stefan C. Pasti is a resident of Durham. N.H. COMMENTARY POLICY The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes commentaries from the public concerning topics of interest to the University community. Commentaries should be between 750 and 1,000 words, legible and signed, and the identification of the writer must be verified upon submission. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for grammar, style and length if necessary.