EDITORIAL Bush doesn’t want CIA activities scmtinized List week President Bush vetoed a $2?l billion in telligonce funding bill thut would have given Congress more input into covert intelligence operations in other countries. Operations by the CIA would have been in cluded. Members of Congress passed the measure, with its provisions giving the legislators more knowledge of in telligence activities, in reaction to the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan administration. Supporters believed the CIA's involvement in the scandal proved the intelligence community has too free a rein to do its business, legislators who support ed the measure said they believe the CIA and other in telligence groups needed to be mom in line with the rest of the government and be more accountable in the checks-and-balances system. Because of this lack of accountability by intelli gence groups it was impossible to trace the lines of communication from Oliver North and the CIA back to their origins. Many people in Washington. D C. want ed to pass legislation that would make abuses of pow er. such as Iran/Contra, less likely to happen. Hut Bush, a former CIA director himself, said the provision providing mom oversight by Congress "pur ports to regulate diplomacy by the President" and would "seriously impair the conduct of our nation's foreign relations.” Ho seems to be implying that if Congress is al lowed to know what the CIA is doing, covert opera tions might be compromised, minimizing the effective ness of the president's "diplomacy." What does Bush mean by diplomacy? If he is afraid Cungress won’t approve of the CIA’s methods of "di plomacy." then maybe they shouldn't be involved in the activity in the first place. No one is saying intelli gence is unnecessary: in fact, there often appears to be a shortage of it in the capitol. However, the CIA is involved in a lot more than just gathering and passing on information. Concerned members of Congress just want to make sure the CIA does not overstep its bounds anymore. The only way more supervision of intelligence organizations by Con gress could hurt the President's foreign policy is if the organizations are doing things Congress wouldn't ap prove of. And if that is the case, the activity shouldn’t be part of the president's foreign policy. Degree in four years a rare commodity Recent studies show that more and more students are taking five or six years to attain bachelor's degrees There is no great mystery as to why most students do not receive bachelor degrees in four years. It is a simple reflection of socie ty. Twenty years ago most students went to school on their parents' money. They had but one worry: Go to class. Today many students are working their way through college. Many are parents and have dependents that take up much of their time, making fifteen credits ton much of a load to carry every term. The cost of attending college is rising much faster than students' ability to afford it. and the demographics of college students is changing nearly as fast. The rise of women and minority stu dents has led to an increase in tin; need for support services. Twenty years ago there were mostly white male students. It is obvi ously easier and cheaper to service a homo geneous population. The students of 20 years ago also had fewer choices, especially for women and mi norities. Nowadays career choices are more plentiful and it’s common for students to change majors during their college years. Students begin their college career full of ideals, but are quick to change their ways if a decent-paying job is not readily available in their chosen fields. So many students owe so much in student loans by the time they graduate that changing majors strictly for monetary purposes is worth the extra year or two in college. A 1‘tHH survey by the University Plan ning and Placement Center revealed that only 53 percent of that graduating class held a full-time, career-related position. That's much more unfortunate than graduating in five or six years. LETTERS Moral crusader In .1 ni rnl .irlu le |ODI'. Nov .J't) M.iry Ager. direi lor ol Stu (lent Campaign tor Disarma ntttnl said, "the issue of the rights of those students who want interviews is a difficult one. lint she (relieves their op position to the CIA. is for a higher ethical good ' I was glad to see the recruiter leave campus And I hope that he does not come liai k in the spring The CIA is one branch of the government that is out of control Hut Ager's reasoning trotIr ered me The sacrificing of the rights of others for a "higher ethu al good" sounds similar to the pro-life movement ideolo gy And Jessie Helms seems to raise the "higher ethical goods" reasoning quite a hit himself Croups that ac t for the higher ethical good while making de risions for others are plat ing themselves on .1 superior moral level slightly arrogant and egocentric Sadlv enough, people who really want to work for the CIA will find a way to 1 ontac.t them Keallv stopping the CIA will take lull ions- and ImIIuius of sears of. waking, politicians up to tin- f.ii t tli.it till- agem y is out of control Hopefully, tilling tin- road to i hanging tin- purr.-option of the (' 1A. people who recognize the I’lhiial dilemma of letting them recruit on campus won't start hvpiH ritual patterns of making ntlirr people's ili'i isiims for them. Mil hael W. Keller Kugene Commitment The undersigned students would like to take this lime to recognize a University stall member. Dianna Kale, for the professional assistance she has given us time and time again As older. Indian students who have encountered in our tjuest for higher education a compli cated hureaut rain system and a sometimes seemingly hostile environment, we apprei iate the unfailing support given us bv Dianna In the competitive environ menl of the University Dianna has been our mentor, our friend, and source of inspira tion to keep going, in a way that another Indian person could Ire The personal atten tion she has given to our sta\ rug in v liool. at Vlasas|w*o*** Oh yeah, there is also the t'.S Civil War. even today the bloodiest war in the history of our proud country. Then there are all those foreign wars in whir h we protected national set urity There have been just too many to name, although it should Ik* something every American should know The 20th century has been one little invasion and skirmish after another with two world wars and two major "conflicts" in Korea and Vietnam. Even the last thirty years have been fair ly at live thanks to the CIA They have never left the Far East, moved into Africa, and have really shone in Central and South America with assas sination.torture, rape, and all manner of wonderful tactics to terrify the people into submis sion to the governments we want. And then (here am friends like Noriega who we were able to put in power and then over throw What a Country. They talk about the rights of women, minorities, lesbians, gays, and even animals, but what about the rights of us white men? Phillip Nebergall Student LETTERS POLICY I he 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. letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 2:>0 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must bo verified when the letter is submitted. I he Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style.