EDITORIAL
City Council shirks
government duties
When does a government stop working for the peo
ple?
After the elections of course
The newly elected Eugene City Council will take
office on Jan. 1, after which they will have the authori
ty to make policy decisions. Hut until then, the incum
bent City Council remains Eugene's governing body.
The incumbent council, however, has postponed
action on a proposed restaurant tax because new coun
cil members are opposed to the idea. Never mind that
the incumbents are still in power, or that the restaurant
tax was the only tangible result of the Eugene Deci
sions process.
Essentially, the incumbent City Council lias given
up its governing powers for the wrong reasons. When a
council is elected, it is to govern for the duration of its
term. Seeing as how this term does not end until Jan. 1.
the council still has a month and a half to govern the
city. It is the current council's responsibility to imple
ment changes as it sees fit. If a restaurant tax was on
the agenda before the election, it should be on the
agenda afterwards.
Hut instead the incumbent council is waffling on
its responsibilities be*
cause the new council
has a different porspec
tive. If the same City
Council were serving
next term, it would
continue its plan to put
the tax before the vot
ers. A government
should not stop govern
ing when u seat changes
hands. President Bush
Now the council Is
downplaying the
Eugene Decisions
process — and the
$400,000 spent not
arriving at a
solution.
is not about to lift the
gag rule (Hi abortion clinics just because Bill Clinton
won the presidential election.
The City Council needs to take a hint from the two
biggest office-holders on how to transfer power Clin
ton has repeatedly said he will not try to tell Bush how
to do his job. His task is to prepare for the upcoming
administration, not to influence the current one.
And even though Bush has been cordial toward
Clinton’s transition team, he will not change his poli
cies during his final two months He proved he will
run government the same as before when he vetoed a
congressional tax bill shortly after losing the election.
Eugene Decisions was originally supposed to find
the most palatable solution to Eugene’s budget short
fall. Participants suggested a restaurant tax and the
council indicated it would put the idea before tin; vot
ers. Now the council is downplaying the Eugene Deci
sions process — and the $400,000 spent not arriving at
a solution.
If the City Council doesn't want to finish what it
started, all the members should ask why they wanted
to be elected in the first place. It could have saved a
whole lot of trouble.
Oregon Daily
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OPINION
Promotion supports stereotypes
Colleen Pohig
It was all very cute and nice
not tn mention dangorous
ly subliminal
Students who picked up the
little i ardlxiurd boxes the
pink ones for the femules and
the blue for males that the
University Bookstore was giv
ing away free last week got
more than hair treatment and
shaving cream,
Thev also received a subtle
message from the University
and advertisers that women
should let feminine and sexy
toward men, and males need to
Imi strong, smart and appealing
to women.
Oh yeah 1 can hear the dis
gusted voices of some men and
women right now saying, "Not
another uptight feminist who
finds something sexist about
everything and anything," In
fact, even while talking ulxiut
this in the office just now.
someone said to me. "Colleen,
you always get so mad — how
cute "
Cute?
I have better things to do
with my time than be "cute”
and complain about meaning
less things. I’m writing this be
cause 1 realize it's the little
things, like these boxes, that
perpetuate sexism and discrim
ination
Last Monday I saw several
students carrying these little
boxes with the word "FRLb"
on them Amazingly, that word
seems to jump out at students
anywhere, anytime, so I decid
ed I'd check it out.
Out of curiosity, 1 picked up
both the male- and female-la
beled lx>xes At my first glance
of the ''female'' box. I was
stoked to have some Cornnuts
and some O.B.s. However. I
could have definitely done
without the perfume and hair
treatment
Next. I opened the blue box
and was surprised to find shav
ing < ream. cologne. deodorant,
a f t e r s h a v c, T v I e n o I a n d
Cornnuts
Tim message 1 got just from
these boxes was that I was sup
posed to smell "nice" and have
shiny hair Also, because my
box didn't have Tylenol or de
odorant, I figured being a wom
an means there's no real stress
in mv life, so I am never sup
posed to get headaches — or
sweat
From the male box, I gath
ered that all men should be
clean shaven, smell like some
thing you clean the floors with,
and they should stop their
stress-related headaches with
Tylenol Oh yeah, and when
they sweat (unlike women, re
member) they smell like Old
Spice.
Well, at least the bookstore
had the sense to know that both
sexes share u common love for
Comnuta.
I ventured further to look at
the advertising Included In the
lioxes and grow even more an
gered at the different ads and
the messages conveyed.
The men received ads rang
ing from Inside Sports swim
suit editions to shaving bro
chures. The women had glossy
pamphlets with catchy phrases
like "the Beauty Difference" on
them.
Something even more unbe
lievable caught my oye. On the
flaps of the male box was a
"special offer" for a computer
modern and Prodigy, which is
an on-line computer database
Sounded like a good deal —
until 1 checked out the female
box. What a joke. Printed on
those box flaps was an ad for
AT&T Student Saver Plus.
Oh yeah, I got it now. While
men are getting headaches and
sweating over their computers,
women are merely talking on
the phono all day — when
they're not washing their hair,
that is.
Has the University ever
heard of "generic"? Why not
have one box labeled "studont"
that has shampoo, soap, tooth
paste and condoms - things
that both women and men pur
chase
For the last 20 years, the
bookstore has hough! the boxes
from Campus Source, a nation
wide company that sells pro
motional items primarily to
campuses
Jim Williams, general manag
er of the bookstore, told me it
has no control over the items in
the box and that it had "no in
tention of being sexist."
I believe the bookstore stalf
had no intention of being sex
ist, but that's not the point The
point is that the bookstore obvi
ously didn't see the division of
products and ads for women
and men as stereotypical.
Yes, I'm a woman, and be
lieve it or not, l sweat. So why
wasn't there deodorant in the
female box? Isn't that sending
some sort of subliminal mes
sage that while men sweat und
need deodorant, women don't?
I know - I’m ungry about the
advertising and the University
isn't pushing those products,
supposedly.
Nobody is forcing the Uni
versity to buy these promotion
al products. Next year, it
should make the decision to ei
ther not buy the boxes or
strongly suggest to Campus
Source that they should pro
duce one generic box that has
items everyone uses
It's a joke when your univer
sity requires you to take a race
and gender class and then turns
around and promotes things
that define women and men in
stereotypical ways.
And one final note: 1 used
more of the items from the box
labeled "male" than from the
“female" one Hmmm ... maybe
that means I'm not the carefree
"lady" I’m supposed to be. Call
the gender police.
Colleen Pohllg is an associate
editor for the EmeralJ.