EDITORIAL
Time to take a stand
before a war starts
Tho latest word from President Bush about the Per
sian Gulf indicates that he is toning down his rhetoric
about U.S. offensive capability.
The public furor that arose when Bush decided not
to rotate troops in the gulf and instead doubled the size
of the gulf force showed he does not have the support
at home that ho thought he had
Bush has met with key members of Congress to as
sure them he is willing to wait for sanctions to work
and to re-establish support for his policies.
Bush has realized that the public’s support for
sending ll.S. troops to the Middle Kasl will drop pre
cipitously once it appears those troops may actually be
engaged in combat. As soon as he begins to move clos
er to war. the public will want to know exactly what
the goals ami justifications of such a move are.
Before this week, campuses across America have
remained fairly silent, and there have been few anti
gulf-war demonstrations. But the controversy and dis
sent over the troop rotation decision shows just how
potentially volatile the situation is.
Bush has not given Americans enough reasons to
justify a war. His administration has said Iraq’s occu
pation of the region is costing jobs and hurting the
American economy. He has also talked about fighting
against “naked aggression." Neither of these reasons is
enough to warrant risking the lives of tens of thou
sands of young Americans.
If our country is so dependent on another region's
resources that we must send young people to die de
fending it. then perhaps it is time to look for alterna
tives to that resource, or learn to lower our standards.
No life is worth a strong economy. Politicians have
never figured that out.
If you believe that war for the economy's sake is
wrong, gel involved now. Don't wail until relatives or
friends are fighting and dying. Stop the bloodshed be
fore it starts. Make sure there is never a need for a
“Gulf War memorial."
Get involved locally by joining or organizing pro
tests or letter writing campaigns to the President at:
President George Hush. The White House, Washing
ton. DC. 20500. Register your opposition to war by
phoning tho White House at (202) 456-1414.
so*
fcEEEKl nl. t
MOUSETRAP1. J®
Build student housing on DMV site
The University needs a student housing
site close to campus, and the Department of
Motor Vehicles wants $500,000 for its prop
erty at the corner of East 15th Avenue and
Franklin Boulevard.
The University wants to buy the land.
But for what purpose?
Original talks between the two sides
centered around the University buying the
property for student housing. About 125
new units could be built on the land, ac
cording to a University Housing study.
But now the* University is considering
alternative uses for the land. One option is
to move the Physical Plant from its current
location along the Willamette River, where
the proposed Riverfront Research Park land
is.
Other options include relocating the
University's printing department or using
the? site as parking for students who live in
tin? residence halls.
We say build student housing. The Uni
versity has procrastinated long enough on
this problem.
Two Springfield legislators helped se
cure Sll million in bonding authority from
the Legislature last year to enable the Uni
versity to borrow money for construction of
new student housing.
The University wants to be certain that
enough students will rent the housing to
cover the repayment of the bonds, but we
see enough students scrambling for any kind
of housing each year to know new units
would he rented as long as they are afford
able.
The University must build housing to
keep private investors from cornering the
market and building rental units too expen
sive for students. Too many students are
trapped in unwanted living situations be
cause of the lack of housing The DMV site
would be perfect, and the University has the
bonding authority — now it’s time to get
busy building.
LETTERS
Safer now
Congratulations to those who
campaigned against Measures H
and 10. Your hard work has
made it safer for many who
were not even allowed to vote.
Darren |. Walsh
law
Butt out
In response to Fred Koellig's
letter | ODE. Nov. H) concern
ing Amy Hope:
If they had intended the stu
dent seating section to be "re
served" seats, they would have
printed the seat number and
the section on the ticket. Notice
that information is not printed
on the student ticket?
About Roellig's warning that
we should all "take heed of."
relax, we won't Have you no
•iced that this is 1990 and we
.re no longer in the Dark Ages?
Come out and join civilization
People have the right to sit
anywhere they want to (••spe
cially in the non-reserved sec
tions) and violence only moti
vates people to fight harder
against your kind of ignorance
VYe are glad that Hope had
the courage to fight and not
"avoid the experience" no
thanks to the so-called security
guards
Fred. oh Fred. you call your
self n man' We certainly don't
consider you one Did you not
learn anything about standing
up for your rights '
Perhaps you did. hut are just
too afraid to take action and de
fend yourself. Is that why you
suggested for Hope to "leave"
and "avoid" the barbaric l>e
havior of the fraternities in
volved?
Wo are behind Hope's efforts;
perhaps that will teach people
such as Koellig a lesson that
enough is enough, and that no
one should tolerate such ani
malistic behavior.
|enni Gomel
Cindy l.y
Diane DeBemardo
|ohn Trinh
loanne Mitchell
Students
Real care
In response to Tracie Pork's
letter concerning Students for
the Ethical Treatment of Ani
mals:
I agree SETA members are
not the only people concerned
alMiut the welfare of animals on
campus I think most compas
sionate people are concerned
about animal welfare But I
would not count the Coalition
For Animals and Animal Re
scarc.il as being among the con
cerned .
Uork says CFAAK is a moder
ate group supporting the hu
mane and responsible use of
animats in research Yet
CFAAK supports all the re
search projects on campus, in
cluding those of Itarbara Cor
don-Lickey, who admitted in
court that her almost 20 years
of research involving cats in
virtually the same experiment
has yielded no real results Is
this responsible?
CFAAK also supports the use
of animals in research to find
treatments and cures for dis
eases that people, through their
lifestyles. give themselves,
such as heart disease and many
forms of cancer
How responsible is it for peo
ple to make themselves sick
and then turn to animals for
treatment and cures?
if CFAAK is so concerned
with animal welfare, why is it
that every time 1 see one of
their informational tables, there
is a barrage of pro-research
readings, and only one or two
readings concerned with ani
mal welfare?
Finally. CFAAK says it op
poses household-products test
ing on animals, Hut do tin* ma
jority of CFAAK members use
cruelty-free products in their
homes' I situ erely doubt it
I think a more honest name
for CFAAR would bo Coalition
for Animal Research, since 1
st*e very little CFAAR concern
for animals.
Kathy Yonker
Political Science
CIA fairness
It's ironic that the majority of
people who protest against CIA
recruiting on campus also
claim to l>e pro-choice regard
ing the abortion issue. Both
causes attract people with liber
al ideals.
Those who are adamantly op
posed to allowing someone else
make personal or moral choices
for them on abortion are more
than willing to apply their own
value system on others, with
regard to the CIA recruitment
on campus.
These people are quite obvi
ously hypocrites. It is plain to
see that these protesters apply
their ideals of free choice only
when it suits their own politi
cal or social beliefs.
No matter what the CIA rep
resentatives may say about
their hiring practices or their
alleged illegal activities, it will
automatically be disregarded
by these protesters. Fairness in
hiring is not the issue with
these people, it is just a tactic.
They simply hate the CIA, for
whatever reason, and want to
do everything they can to dis
credit it.
Fine. They can hate the CIA
as much as they want. But just
as no group has the right to
make moral choices for another
person on abortion, nobody has
the right to apply their values
on another regarding career
choices.
Michael Sears
journalism
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 and refrain from personal attacks on the char
acter of others.