EDITORIAL
i
Traffic booth OK;
cost way too much
The Office of Public Safety wants to protect students
from traffic snarls on 13th Avenue with a new traffic
booth.
Located between Oregon Hall and the Student Health
Center, the booth cost the University $43,000 and was
paid for with money from parking tickets and a bicycle
improvement fund.
Once the booth is operational, an OPS employee will
staff the it from 7 a m. to 5 p.m. and ask incoming dri
vers for their destination. If there is another way to
roach that destination, the driver will be asked to turn
around and use the alternate route.
There's nothing especially wrong with booths. Some
campuses use them as informational facilities, especial
ly at central campus entrances. Some schools uso
booths for security when the campus is located in a
dangerous area. But the
main purpose of this
booth, according to
GPS. is to reduce car
traffic on 13th Avenue.
Because of the one
way nature of 13th
Avenue, it is an espe
cially dangerous place.
When drivers don't
realize they have
With the booth in
place to ferret
out unnecessary
traffic, these
enarleare
unlikely to occur.
passed from a two-way
stroot to a one-way, they can end up heading straight for
bewildered bikers legally using the bike lane on the
north side of the road.
There is also a problem with some impatient drivers
who have made the unfortunate mistake of driving to
the comer of 13th Avenue and University Street when
classes have let out.
After waiting several minutes for the never-ending
stream of students to clear the street, many of these dri
vers begin inching forward in a confrontational man
ner in order to break through to the other side of the
student blockade. No serious confrontations between
pedestrians and autos have occurred yet, but the poten
tial is there.
With the booth in place to ferret out unnecessary traf
fic, these snarls are unlikely to occur. More important
ly, people who can justify traveling up 13th Avenue can
be warned that they may face a delay.
The only questionable aspect of the new booth is its
considerable cost. There are some places where you can
still build a house for $43,000. Although the idea of the
booth is a good one. $43,000 is way too much money to
invest on such a small project. This is the second time
in the past few months the University has spent a sig
nificant amount of money on a questionable project.
The covered bike racks outside the EMU cost $08,000,
and there is no proof that more people ride their bicy
cles to school now than before.
The traffic booth is a good Idea, but all other options
should have been evaluated before such a significant
amount of money was spent.
Oregon Daily
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PUBLIC CONTEMPT
LETTERS
Will always be
This is in response to Martin
Fisher's column that stales he
resents being labeled as a Euro
American (ODE. )an 2fi) I. too.
would like to be "just an Amer
ican. no hyphens, thank you."
But when I tell people that, they
start to drill me about where I'm
from. They usually don't seem
satisfied with "Portland." They
want to know where I'm really
from.
Writer Toni Morrison has an
interesting thing to say about
the word "American" in her
book. Playing in the Dark She
writes that "deep within the
word 'American' is its associa
tion with race. To identify
someone as a South African is
to say very little; we need the
adjective 'white' or 'black' or
'colored' to make our meaning
clear.
"In this country it is auite
reverse. American means white,
and Africanist people (and
other minorities) struggle to
make the term applicable to
themselves with ethnicity and
hyphen after hyphen after
hyphen."
Like it or not, Fisher will
always be a Euro-American to
me. as long as I am a Chinese
American to him.
Linda Liu
Journalism
Pre-judged
Apparently the proverb about
repeating the injustices of histo
ry unless we heed their lessons,
flew right by Steve Masat, Zoe
Pargot and Barbara Rodgers, as
they buried their noses among
the pages of a provocative issue
of the Commentator (ODE. Feb.
3).
I commend their exquisite
choice of reading materials, yet
I cannot understand what pos
sessed them to condemn Ed
('.arson because he is a conserv
ative.
My displeasure stems from
their protest of Carson being
confirmed to a seat on the Inci
dental Fee Committee, simply
because he is affiliated with a
conservative journal (the Com
mentator ).
Carson's opposition is acting
in a fashion that is undeniably
chic for the next four years The
plight of all conservatives today
is to be pre-judgod and discrim
inated against in a manner that
reeks of onti-semitism, or any
other "-ism" that pertains to
treating people poorly as a
result of their lieiiefs.
(jirson is neither a racist nor
is he a homophobe. Labeling
like that went out with the duck
walk Yet to reprimand some
one for becoming active in cam
pus publications and student
government would certainly
give Hitler a hearty chuckle.
Stereotyping and discrimina
tion are not hip, even under the
guise of diversity, (kiod luck to
Carson and may harmony find
a way to skinny through the
fangs of the IFC.
Joshua Peterson
Undeclared
Good choice
Who does the Incidental Fee
Committee think it's kidding?
Several members of the IFC ques
tion the appropriateness of Ed
Carson, managing editor of the
Commentator, being involved in
allocating money to student
groups — and yet several current
IFC members are themselves
members of these groups.
Do they have some reason for
thinking they can be so inti
mately involved in special
interests and yet remain impar
tial in allocating student money
to organizations campus-wide,
yet Carson, who has no such
conflicting interests, cannot?
Diana Collins. ASUO multi
cultural advocate, meanwhile
complains that Carson's
appointment sends a ”... bad
message to students of color....”
She contends. “He has created a
non-hospitable climate for
women and people of color on
this campus." [ODE. Feb. 3).
How many people did she
talk to in forming this opinion?
Far from being open minded,
she has tried and publicly con
victed him of bigotry on the
basis of his Commentator affil
iation.
1 believe I know Carson well
enough to say she is wrong, and
the flimsy basis of her judgment
reveals a serious lack of profes
sionalism. It seems the IFC like
wise has little respect for
students outside its special
interests.
In this light, I applaud ASUO
President Bobby Lee's appoint
ment of an informed and quali
fied candidate to the IFC. I
would hope the members of this
group who are so quick to judge
and condemn will someday
open their eyes and realize
their's are not the only opinions
that matter. Perhaps then voter
turnout will at last reach the
double digits.
John R. Ford
Biochemistry
Civil rights
I just moved to Kugene about
a month ago, and 1 was excited
the anti-gay measure did not go
through in this state, but when
I read about what happened to
Steve Laliberty and his friend
(ODE. Feb. 2) i was saddened
and disappointed.
I wish we in this country
could learn from our mistakes
of the past, using history as our
teacher.
In the 1960s, African-Ameri
cans, led by Dr. Martin Luther
King, marched for their civil
rights while bigots threw stones
and yelled obscenities at them
In the South, civil rights
activists, both white and black,
were murdered, and the presi
dent of the United States had to
call in the armed forces to pro
tect African-American students
who were the first to desegre
gate the all-white public
schools in Arkansas.
I see a direct parallel between
the way African-Americans
were treated then and the way
gay people are treated today. I
would ask all homophobic peo
ple to take a long look at them
selves and try to discover what
they are so afraid of and why
they are so hateful.
I think they will find their
homophobia stems from their
own insecurities about them
selves.
We all know that the day will
come when gay people are no
longer treated as second-class
citizens. And when your chil
dren read the history books,
wouldn't you like to be able to
tell them you fought on the side
of civil rights and justice, not on
the side of bigotry and hatred?
Kendal Bennett
Euoene