LETTERS
Make the University private
We can no longer afford lo have so many public high
er-education institutions in the state of Oregon.
The schools we have now are underfunded and not
as good as they could be. Facilities are in dire need of
renovation, and the prestige of Oregon’s universities is
waning. Student tuition levels have become a form of
taxation without representation.
What we should do is enter one of our institutions
into the care of someone we trust to treat it well and
who will likely do a better job of developing it than the
state. In other words, we should responsibly seek pri
vatization.
Of the three public universities in Oregon. I believe
the University represents the best candidate for sale.
Portlanders need a public institution to support their
superior numbers, and Oregon State University is an
A&M Oregon could not really do without.
Besides. Oregon State and Portland State are easily
identified as being state institutions and reflecting of
Oregon’s long-standing state/metro tradition.
With the privatization of the University, the state s
public higher education system would reap much fi
nancial relief. The rivalry that exists between the Uni
versity and OSU would begin to reflect that of Stanford
and Berkeley. and any gains in educational quality and
prestige at the University would unquestionably moti
vate OSU administrative expendables to scurry to
match them. Eugene could join company with place
names such as New Haven. Evanston and Syracuse.
Moreover, the University would likely enjoy an in
flow of needed monies for renovations, endowments of
professorships and restoration of presently-cut student
services.
Ken Lnm
Hillsboro
Fishy definition
I am responding to Martin Fisher's use of the word
"schizophrenic” in his column "Sorry, but I’m not a
Euro-American” [ODE. Jan. 26).
Along with the majority of the public. Fisher seems to
think being schizophrenic means having a "split per
sonality." In fact, schizophrenia is a thought disorder
and has nothing to do with split personality. (A split
personality is technically railed dissociative disorder
and is very uncommon).
Notice the prejudice we carry against schizophrenia
in the very way we refer to the afflicted. "He's a schizo
phrenic." we say. We do not refer to someone with can
cer and say, "He's a cancer." And yet. like cancer,
schizophrenia is a biological disorder.
The public also fears violence from the mentally ill.
yet schizophrenia sufferers are less violent, statistically,
than the general public.
A few more facts about mental illnesses in general:
One in four families hove a mentally ill family member.
One percent of the U S. population suffers from schizo
phrenia. and six percent suffer from clinical or manic
depression. More hospital lieds are occupied by the
mentally ill than those suffering from cancer, heart dis
ease and lung disease combined.
The stereotypes we hold influence both the way we
feel and eventually the policies wo make. Correcting
stereotypes is thus crucial to establishing a society more
compassionate toward those who suffer from mental ill
nesses.
My younger sister has schizophrenia. A group has
formed in Eugene to support siblings of the mentally ill.
For more information about such support groups, call
the Alliance for the Mentally III at 343-7688.
Michael Schut
Graduate Student
Environmental Studies
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Urination breakdown
After setting my books down in my statistics lab
(fourth floor of Deady Hall). I felt an urge to urinate. So
I left the classroom looking for a restroom I immediate
ly encountered a bathroom, but it was a women s rest
room.
I walked down to the third and second floors, only to
find more women's balhrooilts. Then I walked down to
the first floor and found a co-ed bathroom, but that too
was being monopotiied by women. Desperately. I ran
outside looking for a large bush when I saw a group of
elementary school kids approaching. So I ran over to
Allen Hall.
Second floor — no men's bathroom Just women's
(again). Third floor — alas. I found a men's bathroom
After I was done, I jogged back up to my class. By the
time I got back. I was late and exhausted.
1 have serious problems contemplating the existence
of so many women's bathrooms and the absence of
men's bathrooms. This dilemma raises serious ques
tions: Do women really need to use the bathroom 50
times as bad as men? Do they really need to go 50 times
a day? How much do they drink? Is this why Oregon is
in a drought?
More importantly, who was the mastermind who cre
ated this architectural inconvenience?
I don't want to sound too sexist, and 1 hate to com
plain. but I can't stop thinking about the person, policy
or transvestite that made a building without men's bath
rooms.
Adam Bratland
Biology
Choose the potential path
1 fail to see Eric Bergreen's logic ("Quality over quan
tity.” ODE, Jan. 29) that a tissue mass instantly becomes
human (or is "realized" as a human) when it is "able to
survive outside the womb and take on the world.”
A full-term newborn cannot survive on its own and
certainly is not ready to take on the world That infant
is a potential adult who will be able, someday, to take
care of itself. I know plenty of "adults" who still can't
take care of themselves.
He is putting much less value on potentials. Well we
are all potentials, and at least we have the freedom to
choose whatever our potential will lead to. All of the
potentials whose life was exterminated never had the
choice to grow up to an age where they could choose
their own path of their potential.
It is my lielief that the “quality” of one’s life is more
important than the convenience of others. It is very self
ish and vain for people to think they can decide the
quality of life someone else will have.
We vote and protest for fundamental rights when
none of us even had the right to be bom.
Alton Jot—
Eugono
Dehumanization of children
I was appalled after reading Eric Bergreen’s "Quality
over auantity" letter (C)DF. }an. 2fl) ana the lack of re
spect he gives to human life.
When a sperm and egg Join, they start to grow and de
velop into a new person Even in the earliest stages of
development, growth into a human being is specified
by the genetic code. His re-labeling an unnom child as
"a potential to become a person" dehumanizes the
child.
Dehumanization has been used for years in wars to
make killing the enemy easier If you see your enemy as
a monster and a threat to humanity, then killing your
enemy is not only encouraged but glorified
In Bergreen's case, his enemy would lie described ns
a blob of cells without a life of its own. If this blob is
lifeless, then aborting it is not killing it. His dehuman
ization of a child in this way works well. He doesn’t be
lieve that a life is being terminated by abortion. But the
worst thing I can think of about his dehumanization is
that it’s targeted at a life that can't fight back
Dove Taylor
Biology
Potential needs humanization
In hi* letter "Quality ovor quantity" [ODE. (an. 29).
Eric Bergreen *ays he doesn't consider the human em
bryo "... to be a human being." but it merely iMissesses
"the potential to become a person " This is a fairly
common view today, but I have rarely heart! a biologist
express it.
Former Surgeon (Mineral C. Everett Koop once ob
served: "Biologists uniformly take the position thnt life
begins at conception. There is no logical reason why
the pro-aliortionist should try to arrive at a different
definition when he is talking about people." Has
Bergreen discovered fundamental new evidence that re
defines biological science?
Perhaps the reason Bergreen believes there are so few
facts relevant to this topic is because he has chosen to
deny many of them. 1 believe his letter reveols more
about his personal commitment to defending the prac
tice of abortion than it does about the body of knowl
edge that science has collected concerning life.
Humans possess the dubious capability of ignoring or
altering those aspects of reality they find threatening or
too restrictive, instead of changing reality, however, we
end up deceiving ourselves and separating ourselves
from what Is true and right.
The growing child that Bergreen dehumanizes and
dismisses as a mere "potential" is nevertheless alive
and human. The continuum of human existence begins
at conception and continues through various stages of
development and maturity, each of which is normal
and necessary. This is biological reality. Moral reality
tells us that destroying innocent human life is wrong.
William Moore
History/English
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