EDITORIAL
Findings must lead
to concrete actions
The official report regarding Instructor Greg John
son and the law school was released over the holiday
break, and the findings were predictably ambiguous.
Johnson disclosed his homosexuality to his classes
during National Coming Out Day in October. He also
apparently took about 15 minutes to read a poem that
did not relate to hia class subject.
While the report clears the law school of any offi
cial wrongdoing, it cites law school Dean Maurice Hol
land, Associate Dean Chapin Clark and Johnson's su
pervisor, Professor Mary Lawrence as being insensitive
to gay and lesbian issues.
A number of students complained to the law
school that Johnson's statements were inappropriate
during class time. Perhaps they were, but the incident
does raise a relevant and pertinent question regarding
gays and lesbians.
While traditionally discriminated-against groups
such as ethnic minorities, physically disabled people,
and women are all normally distinguishable by physi
cal appearance, gay and lesbians are not. Therefore,
the only way for a gay person to let others know is to
tell them.
The ambiguity in the report is that it says both «
sides acted inappropriately. But the good news is im
portant questions such as gay and lesbian rights, and
academic freedom, have been brought to the forefront
of the University.
President Myles Brand appears dedicated to im
proving the campus environment for gays and lesbi
ans. He plans to work closely with the Office of Affirm
ative Action and Equal Opportunity to achieve these
goals.
But there needs to be an avenue for gay instructors
to inform their students if they so choose. It’s impor
tant for instructors to relate to students on a personal
level whenever possible, and if revealing their homo
sexuality will enable the instructor to feel more com
fortable with the class, so be it.
The University administration has said from the
beginning that it is important for professors to cite per
sonal experiences in teaching a class. Problems begin
to arise only when a professor, and this is true for any
issue and not just that of sexual orientation, carries the
issue too far.
More than 25 years ago. a lot of white people
didn't want blacks to assert pride or teach in class
rooms. but rather have them be invisible. There are no
current guidelines regarding instructors' rights to re
veal their homosexuality on the campus. We encourage
President Brand to establish a policy in this area so
that instructors and students can feel comfortable with
each other, and get on with the business of learning.
Oregon
EAIIY EMERALD
r.O Rm« Jiff, lupur. V?4SU
The Oregon Daily Emerald ts published Monday through Friday e*cept during
©■am week and vacations by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co a! the
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layoe lakefish
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derson. Kathy Smith Knsti Strother
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DO YOU
HAVE any idea
HOW FAST
'yOU WERE GOING?
n
OESERr
SHIELD
POLICY
DCPT.
New contraceptive a welcome improvement
It sounds too good to be true. But the
Norplant birth control method that was ap
proved by the Food and Drug Administra
tion in December will be available soon.
The Norplant method works by using
the same principle as the birth control pill.
Hormones are released into the body, pre
venting the woman from becoming preg
nant. The main difference between Norplant
and the pill is the way in which the hor
mones are released into the body.
Women using the pill have to take a tab
let every day. With the Norplant method, six
tiny inatchstick-size capsules are implanted
in the arm. The capsules release the hor
mones into the body.
The most positive part of the Norplant
method is that the capsules last five years.
This removes any possible mistakes, such as
forgetting to take the daily pill. The meth
od's manufacturers claim it is 99.8 percent
foolproof.
The Norplant method also does not con
tain the hormone that causes some of the
side affects that the pill does such as weight
gain. The only side affect that has been
found in 20 years of research on the method
is irregular bleeding for the first six months.
Of course, as with anything that sounds
too good to be true, we’ll have to wait to
find out the long-term effects of Norplant
use.
While the Norplant method of birth con
trol must be paid for at the time the capsules
are placed in the body, the long-term cost
over the five years is actually cheaper than
the daily pill.
The Norplant method will be especially
useful for teen-aged girls, the group that
most often suffers unwanted pregnancies be
cause of birth control failures. The federal
government has also approved the use of
Norplant by welfare recipients. This will be
good for low-income women who are look
ing for a reliable, safe and comparatively in
expensive form of birth control.
The FDA made the right decision when
it approved the Norplant method. Now it is
up to researchers to find a long-overdue
birth control method, other than condoms,
for the male of the human species.
LETTERS
Sexist comic
lait's deconstruct Michael
Russell's "Week With Daltry"
(Hudson Van Cumin) to show
how it perpetuates some of the
most insipid myths ubout un
wanted sexual attention.
The problem is an individual
one. not a symptom of greater
inequalities in our society: "It's
all the same guy.**
The problem is less wide
spread than we think Most
men are innocent: "It's all the
same guy.” The recipient's re
sponse to the attention deter
mines her fate (also known as
blaming the victim): "Wrong
Say something noncommittal
Oh. till maybe, something.'
Hoing
Women In themselves do not
have enough authority to say
no in a convincing manner:
"Didn't having five of my male
friends pose as my exclusive
snuggle squad give you a clue I
wasn’t interested?”
Unwanted sexual attention is
a sexual act rather than a power
play: "Recently, I've lawn pur
sued as a love object by a guy
named Daltry."
It is a women's responsibility
to discourage unwanted sexual
attention, not the responsibility
of men to modify their behav
ior: ‘‘These strips are meant to
give women the tools to recog
nize and resist Daltrvesque
dorks.”
My cartoons aren't always
politically correct either, but at
least they don't exploit un
wanted sexual attention toward
women for "comic" relief at a
time when the University seeks
to demonstrate its sensitivity to
this issue.
Michelle Kau
Office Specialist 1
Anthropology
Book 'em
Well, once again the “Great
Bookstore" has seen fit to join
the ranks of false advertisers
and the Emerald has allowed
them to contribute.
Every term the bookstore ad
promises that they will pay you
one-half of the new student
price for books needed next
term.
Not up to one-half, or any
thing below, but one-half.
Each term as students sell
back their books they end up
getting one-tenth the price paid
for a book, if they're lucky.
Hey. Emerald, don't you re
quire some sort of advertising
standard for your clients,
namely that they live up to
what they say?
Hans Mitchell
Spanish/Political Science