EDITORIAL
" 1 .M.
‘Independent* paper
needs students’ help
After 14 yews of service to the Oregon Daily Emerald
Publishing Company, lean Ownbey, assistant to the publish
er. was dismissed by the corporation's board of directors.
Ownbey was the Emenld’a most impressive advocate of In
dependence In student publications.
Ownbey was not a "model" employee. Ownbey's lack of
perfection as an employee was due to her strength of charac
ter and conviction. ShR is a woman who speaks her mind and
fights for what she believes. She was never a puppet who
played safe by agreeing with everything her employers said.
Ownbey worked at the paper twice as long as any other
employee. She was instrumental in the paper's growth from
typewriters to a state-of-the-art computer system.
She was the closest thing the newsroom had to a depart
ment head. Newsroom staffers could seek advice from
Ownbey without being told what to do, nor what — In
Ownbey's opinion — was the right thing io do. She would
help students sort out their options and make their own deci
sions. She always left the final decision to the students.
Her 14 years of service to the corporation apparently did
not entitle her (o any amount of loyalty from the board of di
rectors The decision to fire her was made Monday evening,
and Ownbey was escorted from her office Tuesday.
Her firing contradicts what the newsroom's board repre
sentative was told about her job security.
tast spring when the board of directors decided to hire a
general manager, the newsroom's representative was told the
hiring of a manager and the addition of a new salary would
not effect Ownbey's job in any way.
Now. board members say there are different interpreta
tions of that conversation.
It appears the board wants the news staff to "join the
corporate teem,” grow up a little and learn about the real
world, as they suggested last spring after the news staff pre
sented a letter to the board voicing concerns about the new
general manager position.
However, being grown up should not mean "joining the
teem" and blindly following those in positions of authority.
Being grown up means having enough self-confidence In
your values and beliefs to judge for yourself when something
is wrong.
The loss of Ownbey has led some students to question
the fundamental structure of the board of directors that fired
her.
The Emenid is touted as being an independent, student
run publication, but this is not entirely the truth. Students do
not have a majority of seats on the board of directors. Of the
10 total seats, five are held by students and five by non-stu
dents.
Decision-making at a student-run paper should involve e
majority of students.
The bylaws of the corporation require only four people
to make a quorum and vote on any issue; this is not even e
majority of the board. During summer term, when important
decisions are made, the quorum is made up of non-students.
A quorum should be 50 percent of the board plus one. And
there should always be at least one student included.
University students pay a subscription fee to the Emerald
through the ASUO for whet they are told is "their" student
paper. Those students deserve a student-run paper. The only
department of the newspaper that is run completely by stu
dents is the newsroom. There should be student leadership
in all departments.
The Emenid is not meeting one of the goals it names in
its bylaws: "The primary purpose of this corporation ... is to
publish a newspaper that will provide education and training
for students in all aspects of newspaper operations."
Students should have the opportunity to be on the man
agement teams of the ad. business and production depart
ments as well.
This year is the 20th anniversary of independence for the
Emenid. The paper should he moving further along in its in
dependence. as Ownbey had always assured. Now is not the
time to take steps that could lead to an erosion of the paper’s
independence.
The news staff at the paper found out last spring what
little influence it has with the board of directors. Without
support of the campus community, the control of the Emer
ald will remain in the hands of outside influences.
If you care about having an independent, student-run.
daily newspaper that wont become a corporate machine, we _
urge you to get involved and voice your concern by writing*
letters to the Emerald's editor.
LETTERS POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all
letters containing comments on topics of interest to the
University community. Comments must be factually
accurate ami refrain from personal attacks on the char
acter of others.
r
MR.PQESIDB4T
SADDAM HUSSEIN
WAS DECLARED TWAT
THE PERSIAN GULF
IS ANOTHER VIETNAM
FOR US.
>1
l GUESS
THAT RULES OUT
ANY VISITS BY
DAM QUAYLE
LETTERS
Drug war
The war on drugs is nothing
short of a dismal failure
Spending close to $1 billion a
year, our government inter
cepts only 30 percent of the
current traffic.
These laws have had no posi
tive effect upon this country
whatsoever. Rather. the result
has been an environment where
the criminal element has
thrived because they have con
trol over the supply and can set
prices as high as they wish.
This is the same result that
was found when alcohol was
made illegal. The current laws
should be changed just as those
were. Making things illegal has
never been a deterrent to the
criminal: it only makes it hard
er for society to deal with the
problem.
Crack cocaine, black tar hero
in and many other drugs popu
lar today did not exist 20 years
ago. and would not exist today
were it not for the laws that
make the search for highly ad
dictive. highly profitable drugs
good business for the drug
lords.
Making drugs available in a
regulated form similar to alco
hol will instantly remove this
crime element. How long do
you suppose it's been since
someone was robbed for money
to buy a beer?
It will also create thousands
of jobs and raise millions of
dollars in taxes every year —
two things that this failing
economy cannot do without.
leffery Gent
Student
Two plus two
Newspaper stories about poor
achievement in mathematics
and science in our American
educational systems suggest
the appropriateness of the theo
logical thoughts of Robert
Green Ingersoli and the impor
tance of uncompromised secu
lar education:
"Christ, according to the
faith, is the second person of
the Trinity, the Father being
the first, and the Holy Ghost
the third Each of these three
persons is Clod. Christ is his
own father and his own son.
The Holy Ghost is neither fa
ther nor son. but both. The son
was begotten by the father, but
existed before he was begotten
— just the same before as after.
"Christ is just as old as his
father, and the father is just as
young as his son. The Holy
Ghost proceeded, from the Fa
ther and the Son, but was equal
to the Father and the Son be
fore he proceeded, that is to
say, Indore he existed, but he is
of the same age as the othur
two.
"So it is declared that the Fa
ther is God and the Son is God,
and the Holy Ghost is God. and
that these three Gods make one
God.
"According to the celestial
multiplication table, once one
is three, and three times one is
one. And according to heaven
ly subtraction if we take two
from three, three are left. The
addition is equally peculiar, if
we add two to one we have but
one. Each one is equal to him
self and the other two. Nothing
ever was, nor even can be.
more perfectly idiotic and ab
surd than the dogma of the
Trinity."
l-et's stop martyring the in
tellects of people on the altars
of faith!
Bert Tryba
Eugene
Laid up
1 sat there listening to the
steady breaths of air coming
out of Grandma's lungs, thank
ing God high up that she was
still with us. Her face bruised
and beaten and her stamina
near exhaustion, she still man
aged a positive attitude on life
and an "I love you." The man
who hit her could probably be
forgiven by this lady if he
wanted to be
Grandma will be home again,
and her 82-year-old body will
for the most part heal, probably
through the stubbornness of not
wanting to be laid up if not just
with time. But as 1 turn her and
the sheet slips off of her I won
der ... you see. two days ago
she had both her legs. Do you
think the physical pain will
hurt as much as the realization
of what happened to her when
she goes to walk out of here?
Please, for their sake, don't
drink and drive.
Kevin Bineham
Architecture
Celibacy
Many devout, unsuspecting
church members who watched
Ceraldo Sept. 11-12 on church
sex scandals, must have been
stunned. The study and find
ings by Investigate News clear
ly indicate that the priesthood
in the United States is morally,
intellectually and religiously
bankrupt.
Heated controversy through
out the two-series broadcast
pointed out the widespread
sexual abuse of children and
teenagers by priests who are
supposed to stay up on the ped
estal of morality, but jump off
Poor spiritual life is the prob
lem — personal loneliness.
An article on religion in
Time Magazine points out. "Je
sus himself was not married,
but most of his disciples were.
Judaism of that time frowned
upon bachelorhood. The major
ity of priests and bishops dur
ing the first four centuries of
Christianity were married, so
were many popes: the last in
the !lth century.
"Celibacy eventually became
the rule for clerics under the
dominant voice of St. Augus
tine. whose view of sex was
that it turned the masculine
mind from the heights of those
who would give their lives to
God.”
When young men enter the
priesthood, celibacy is to be ac
cepted as the "crowning jew
el" of the Roman Catholic
Church. As one young priest
pointed out. "It becomes more
like a crown of thorns.”
To stop the hundreds of cases
of child molestation by priests
from rising higher, various
church teachings such as birth
control, celibacy, divorce and
obedience must change. They
are becoming the basic issues
of unrest among priests: betray
al of trust.
Catherine Desmond
Springfield