EDITORIAL
Senator allegations
no surprise to us
You know, we knew about Packwood. too.
We did. The Oregonian and Willamette Week
weren't the only newspapers to hear about Par.kwood's
alleged sexual harassment. We've known about it for
years — ever since it started happening.
Every year we wonder whether we should do a sto
ry on Packwood's rumored indiscretions. But every
year we sort of forget about it. Next time, we say The
story will still be there.
In fact, we have a feature photo of Packwood mo
lesting The Duck We just never published it We de
cider! the picture w;cs a little too graphic for our read
ers. Trust us. a topless Packwood is not a pretty sight
Packwood even kissed one of our editors. And boy.
he didn't like it one bit
And guess what? The Washington Post contacted
us about the Puck wood story because it knew we were
sitting on valuable information So we told the editors
everything they needed to know, but then we decided
it wasn't worth our time to do a story ourselves. We
were more interested in following the lead of the Ore
gonian and The Register-Guard in printing revealing
photos of the president-elect's cut.
We couldn't even get that right, however, because
our photographers were too busy following Packwood
around to local porno shops, where he was loading up
on "instructional" videos — at least that's what his ex
pense account said.
And then there was the time Packwood came up to
our offices and ranted about how cute Michelle Pfeiffer
is We have it on video.
Well, actually, we don't really have it on video. To
be honest, we made up all the information listed above.
But already we put more work in this story than The
Oregonian did. and we didn't even break a sweat.
In Tuesday's edition. The Oregonian admitted a
sloppy job of reporting for not investigating the allega
tions against Packwood. According to the story, Pack
wood rumors had "circulated widely for years." The
paper reported that one of its female reporters even had
Packwood give her an unwanted kiss.
But after a meeting between political reporters and
editors, the paper decided not to pursue the allegations
— despite solid leads and several months to go before
the election.
The Tuesday story was reprehensible bv itself
Rather than accept direct blame for failing its readers,
the paper's editors said several times that they made
the best decisions they could based on the circum
stances. The paper's concern was being scooped, not
committing bad journalistic practices. There's only one
way to respond. Baloney!
A newspaper has a responsibility to investigate sto
ries in the public interest. This was clearly one of those
stories, as it questioned Packwood's character, his sen
sitivity and his commitment to women’s issues. But the
Oregon media blew it. They could have toppled a ma
jor-league hypocrite, but they didn't. In the end. the
only people who didn't know about Packwood's al
leged harassment in time were the public and the Em
erald
Oregon Doily
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‘Our date was going OK then all ol a sudden he starts acting
like a U.S. senator!"
Day madness
I would llki> to respond lo
Christopher Lancefield's letter
expressing Ills outrage at the
University s failure U) observe
Veteran’s Day (()L)1 Nov -4)
To illustrate Ins point, he
contrasts the University's ob
servance of Martin Luther
king’s birthday lo its non-ob
servance of Veteran's L)ny I
have no problem with his dis
content at the University's non
recognition of Veteran's Uav.
hut why does he lis'l it nix es
sarv to compute it with obser
vance of MLK Day7
It's as if lie is expressing as
tonishment that Ml.k Day is ob
served and Veteran's Day is
not Recently, a newly formed
law student group < ®hed the
Foundation for the Advance
ment Conservative Thought
published an article expressing
the same discontent and using
the same analogy
Frankly, I. along with other
African-American students, am
sick of students such as
Luncefield and organizations
such as FACT surreptitiously
implying it is outrageous we
observe MLK Day and not Vet
eran's Day
It is a not so subtle form of
ra< ism under the guise of patri
otism The University also ob
serves Memorial Day, but I
guess Luncefield feels this holi
day is more deserving of recog
nition
Monica Hardy
Law
Close house
Because of the confusion
among some observers of the
(Nov. 23) protest at tho I’hi
Kappa Psi house, i will explain
my participation.
Niki Kauch wants this house
closed for perpetrating an at
mosphere of sexual assault. I
support Rauch's fight by my
presence at demonstrations
The cause of this protest was to
encourage the closuro of the
i’hi Kappa Psi house.
I reject the criticisms of the
observers. If they condemn our
methods, they need to person
ally act on their convictions
rather than lounge in apathetic
non-activism. VVo were not a
lynch mob; there were no
lynchings, no broken windows,
no assaults ! will not tolerate
violence against women in any
form or in any setting I need
not hear where more rapes o<
cur. this is not a study in rela
tive frequency, this is opposi
tion to evnrv assault
1 support thi' greek system
under the condition that it ful
fills the six.ad responsibilities
that are placed upon it because
of its powerful position One of
these responsibilities is abso
lutely prohibiting any sort ol
gender-based Bissau It or harass
ment When this responsibility
is not met, my support switches
to stopping this system The
message I want to send by clos
ing tlie I’hi Kappa I’si house is
that fraternity existence is a
privilege, not a right I support
Greeks Against Rape because it
believes in internal change, but
there are also times lor outside
intervention such as house
closure Rape is wrong, even
when It s "only" a few times
Haidi Bowman
Comparative Literature
no options
In Tuesday's (Dm 1) fcijter
old. the editorial slated, "A tax
payer who has lived in Oregon
for many years deserves au ess
to un affordable education An
out-of-slute student who wishes
to take advantage of state fund
ing does not have the same
right to taxpayer support
As a native Seattle resident,
my first choice was the Univer
sity of Washington But in my
major, Washington has one of
the top-10 departments in the
nation, and I was not accepted.
Thus, I vvas faced with the
following choices: go to Wash
ington State University, Central
Washington, etc , and get a me
diocre education; go to un ex
pensive private school, or pay
steep out-of-state tuition in an
other stale
As "a taxpayer who has lived
in Washington for many years,”
don't I also 'deserve access to
un affordable education"? True.
I have not paid taxes in Oregon,
but I'm not getting credit for the
many years I've paid taxes to
support Washington schools.
Thus, the people in my situa
tion get screwed by the whole
slate? residency system I don't
know what the solution is
(maybe move the funding to the
federal level), hut the? current
system is nol right
Eric Sieverling
Computer Science
Think Greek
With this letter we would
like to express our objections
and deepest concern regarding
the content of a speech titled
"Current Ethnic Conflict in
Yugoslavia — Geographical
Perspective," given by Profes
sor Ronald Wixman on Nov 1(>
at the University
This man, hidden behind the
title "expert," presented his
opinions alxiut the situation in
former Yugoslavia We are not
able to evaluate everything
Wixman said What we do
know is he intentionally
abused the truth concerning the
actions and positions of our
country, Greece, with regard to
our relationship with a newly
formed country that has not
been recognized by the United
Nations, United States, Europe
an Community, etc
Wixman deliberately misled
his audience on this particular
subject Furthermore. the style
and content of tho locturo
strongly implied only one part
of the country is responsible for
everything happening during
the war in Bosnla-Her/egovina
At the end, there was no time
loft for people to rebut his
speech
It was extremely disappoint
ing for a man endorsed by the
University to deny the possibil
ity of a dialogue and thus reject
the very essence of democracy,
as it was born and developed in
our country.
His whole attitude makes us
wonder: Is this the way this
man is teaching — by present
ing his opinions as facts, by no.
offering the opportunity for dia
logue, by offending countries,
their history and their tradi
tion? Is this what the Universi
ty presents? Is this the kind of
education we're seeking?
We think hot.
Stas Stavriansas
Univarslty Hallanlc Club