Oregon Daily TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24,1991 EUGENE. OREGON VOLUME 93, ISSUE 19 Springfield debates Rights Commission’s future Focus turns to gay rights, religion By Gerrit Koepptng Emerald Reporter The religious right came out swinging tit Monday night's Springfield City Council meet ing. The issue was over whether the City Council should perma nently disband that city's Hu man Rights Commission, hut the real issue behind the debate was primarily over homosexual rights Last week thro e c o u n c 11 members, Half Walters, Larry Shan/, and Ceorge Wojcik, ten tatively voted to disband the committee because of the com mittee's repeated insistence that homosexuals be given pro tection under the city's anti discrimination statute A final vote was slated for Monday night, but public testi mony from many of the more than 4SO people in attendance dragged past midnight. No de cision was reached by press time. Before the public hearing be gan, Rob Du I’ree of the Spring field police department said that in 1091 there were four re ported cases of hate crimes, three of which were racial In the previous year there wore no reported cases, he said Many people who opposed the committee said that since fiTvrHo by And?* Joseph Allison ot Springfield gives his view of the Human Rights Commission on Monday night as tho Springfield City Council debated whether to disband the committee there worn so few violations, no need for a full-fledged Human Rights Commission existed. But people such as Sandy Shirley, 1366 L Street, Spring field, countered that Du Free's statistics only consider vio lence against minorities and do not take Into ai count the fre quency of disc rimination and harassment Most of the opposition to the commission came from the group's stand on homosexual rights John English, Springfield, said ho was concerned about his children and their values. "Springfield residents find it reprehensible to support homo sexuals touching that lifestyle to our children." he said He also said if homosexuals were given legal protection, then, for instance, a landlord who didn't want a guy or lesbi an couple flaunting their lifu style in front of his or her chil dren could not prolix t the chil dren without tile landlord loos ing everything from disi rimina tion lawsuits Martin KuVoal, president of tho Springfield and liugene N AACP, said it was Impossible to say that one group has pro tection from discrimination but another does not He advocated tho return of the commission and the protection of homosex ual rights Daryl a Meet, n disabled Springfield resident, came to the opposite i onclusion He s.dd that if you combine the ho mosexual cause with tlie cause Turn to RIGHTS, Page 3 Spnngfield’s City Council controversy In August 1<)‘I0. I Im S|>rIiifjfic?Itl Human Rights Commission asked tIn- <'itv Council lo ailil guys and les hinns to thu list of othur mi nority groups that urn pro tected h\ tin' i Ity s .inll-tiIs crimination ordinance At thr timu, a majority of conn i ll members indicatuil limy would probably support such an effort Within 11 a v s, the No Spe cial Mights (,om in i tine, a branch of the staum hly con servative Oregon Citizens Alii a me, staled that it would sponsor a referendum if an ordnanc e was passed protecting gay and lesbian rights Three months later, the Human Rights Commission asked the < ily council to re fer the issue to Springfield voters. In januarv 1991. the poli tical balance of the Council shifter) to the right when two liberal council members were replaced by conserva tives. Kail Walters and Lurry Schanz. Kvenlually the issue was tabled until a month ago, when the council appointed liberal a f fir mat 1 ve - action specialist Kon Sinecure to the Human Rights Cnmmis Turn to COUNCIL, Parje 3 INDEX You have a choice_ Bochum: of a billing entry on their fm: cards, some inlcrn.ition.il CTFs may believe they arc obligated to buy their mandatory health Insurance through the AS!JO, when in fact, they have the option of buying through another carrier See story, Page 4 Openings available_ Students seeking to round out their fall term course loads are in luck. From physics to political science, an thropology to art history, a few class es are available for student sign-up See listing, Page 5 Smith suspended_ The Oregon football team will bo without the services of cornerback Daryle Smith, who was suspended indefinitely bv head Coach Rich Brooks on Monday, reportedly for disciplinary reasons. See story, Page 13 Two graduates start lecture taping service By Daralyn Trappe Emerald Associate Editor When Todd Lynch transferred to I ho University from UC Irvine in l'.Wt, he noticed thiil something was missing here After graduating in December, tie decided to fill ttiat void and has started a new student service on campus After working out a deal with loot notes. the program that offers written re < minis of lectures lor several courses. Lynch and fellow graduate Waller Mai Beth have liegun a program of taping lei lures and selling those tapes to stu dents. "It's an extraordinary study aid and the students really got a lot of use out of it (at UC Irvine), so after we graduated we decided to give it a shot and see if we could make this service a reality," Lynch said. Ho and MacBeth ran their idea by sev eral organizations, both on and olf cam pus, and all made offers. Lynch said But the two eventually decided to join forces with Loot notes. The new service, known as Replay, lias just one term to prove itsolf "This service is a division of foot notes, hut it has to he completely self sustaining, it has to produce enough money on its own to exist." Lynch said "After a term, if it's not breaking even, then it won't be subsidized." Several professors have agreed to 1m: taped, but some have declined, Lynch **noeen a few who are appre hensive about it. And then there are some that are saying yes, hut they want to keep an eye on it," Lynch said. "It's a brand-new service, so teachers aren't sure how it's going to work, hut for the most part they've really embraced it (biography Professor William la>y will have his Natural Environment course taped this full. Having used the written Footnotes for several years. Loy said there are some drawha< ks to such ser vices, hut the benefits are greater "I do feel that having these services encourages some people not to come to class, but on the other hand, it’s impor tant lor foreign students (and) for stu dents who are out sir k for a week and Turn to REPLAY. Page 3