EDITORIAL
Ridiculous spending
damages credibility
There must he a clause in the University planning
code that requires money from the parking fund bo spent
on the dumbest idea availablo at the time.
What else could explain spending $43,000 for the
checkpoint outside Oregon Hall? What elso could
explain spending S95.000 (and perhaps more to come)
on seven covered bike racks to keep students' butts from
getting wet?
Now. round three in this ongoing comedy of errors has
been proposed, and, judging from recent history, will
probably be enacted.
The newest fiasco is a proposed "gateway," which is
supposed to alleviate the traffic problem at University
Street and 18th Avenue. The plan calls for the installa
tion of two concrete columns at the mouth of University
Street.
These columns will be effective, no doubt, in elimi
nating the annoying traffic problem of people driving
down the sidewalks, but it will do little else. And even
better news, this war to eliminate sidewalk drivers will
only cost about S 100.000.
The message to those who question wasteful govern
ment spending is clear: "Look elsewhere! You'll find
no pork-barreling hero!"
"Cars would be slowed down” by the gateway, accord
ing to a recent University planning memo. Assuming for
a moment that cars really do come careening down Uni
versity Street, across 18th Avenue and onto campus, the
only time these columns would actually slow cars down
is when they run into them. Now there’s a plan.
Another part of the plan calls for realigning parking
spaces on University Street to bo at 90-degree angles,
rather than slanted as they are now. The change would
add about 70 new parking spaces. That's good. It's part
of the $100,000 plan. That's bad.
There's no parking problem that a couple buckets of
paint and a few work-study students couldn't solve.
There may be a silver lining to all this. The checkpoint
could be used to collect tolls from cars, and the money
could bo used to fund bigger, more defondable and more
heavily armed checkpoints.
And wouldn't University President Myles Brand and
ASUO President Bobby Lee look good standing in front
of our new impact-absorbing, traffic-deterring towers,
with cups in hand begging for loose change from
passers-by.
It is important for the University to remember the pub
lic doesn't care where the money came from. The public
is aware of only two things: The University is whining
incessantly about the offecls of Measure 5; and the Uni
versity (if the gateway is built) will have spent $238,000
to keep bikes dry and to eliminate a non-existent traffic
problem.
No amount of public realtions. no amount of politick
ing and no amount of explaining will satisfy taxpayers'
justifiable outrage and disbelief.
Oregon Doily
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VI
BOB POLE
MUTTEMNGS
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LETTERS
Respect
The quality of dialogue that
goes on in our community and
across our country concerning
such "hot" issues as homosex
uality and abortion is deeply
disturbing to me A typical con
tribution often consists of little
more than an attack on the char
acter and motives of some per
son or group that does not agree
with the contributor
Can we not treat those with
whom we disagree with respect
and civility, even when we view
their ideas as truly ugly and
destructive? (ian we not ovoid the
reaction that allows us to justi
fv stripping them of their human
ity and pouring contempt on
them instead of seeking to under
stand them accurately and sym
pathetically?
Are we so poor in our own
humanity that we can't genuine
ly wish (and treat) someone well
who doesn't believe as we do?
Mv attempt to silence my
opponents by vilifying them and
by assaulting (heir motives and
character, instead of engaging
their ideas with my own. says
more about my own character
and values than it does my oppo
nent. It also seems to preclude
any realistic possibility that my
ideas and values will come to
have any influence on others,
beyond hardening their positions
and driving them away from me.
Placing dehumanizing labels
on fellow humans ("hateinon
ger,” "faggot." "queer." "homo
phobe." "Nazi." "bigot." "mur
derer," etc.) or ascribing to them
motives of fear, hatred and igno
rant*. does not belong in an open
and fruitful debate. Rather, they
are the tools and tactics of inse
curity used by the bully, the
manipulator and the demagogue
William L. Moor*
History
English
No obligation
In her pique and high dud
geon, Jennifer Horton (ODE.
Feb. 17) joins Sarah Ross and
Co. and manages to miss the
point entirely about the alleged
assault on Steven Laliberty by
Todd Pendexter and the mob
reaction to it.
The University is under no
obligation to provide an educa
tion, let alone awareness-nising
workshops, to someone who has
reached what passes for adult
hood in this society without
learning that attacking people
because you don't like them is
not acceptable behavior.
The expulsion from the Uni
versity ot a convicted offender
would certainly be warranted;
whether the vie tirn is a student
is irrelevant. It is long past time
we discard the notion that one's
actions (antisocial or otherwise)
take place in a vacuum and that
there can be no extended conse
quences.
Far more important, though,
is that Horton. Ross and their
minions must note my use of
the magic word "convicted "
The main point is that, so far.
Pendexter has not been convict
ed of anything, hih! talk of
expulsion or anything else is, to
say the least, premature.
The lynch mob. metaphorical
ly or otherw ise, is an old Amer
ican tradition, but let's not drag
it from under its rock to this
place of ostensibly higher learn
ing and imply in any way that it
belongs here.
Michael E. Stamm
English Department
KKKristianity
When 1 talk with folks who
shove intolerance in the name of
religion. I've discovered a
revealing test I ask them. "What
is your view of Native American
spirituality7 Is this a legitimate
religion?" One bigotry-pusher
even answered. "It's satanic.
They must convert so they can
go to heaven."
Narrow-minded people
shouldn't misuse the name of
|esus. who spoke of tolerance and
unity among the downtrodden.
I've created a better word for
what these pretend-Christians
really push "KKKristianity."
This isn't about being white.
I'm proud of my Lithuanian
ancestry. Lithuania was the last
European country converted to
Christianity — by the sword. It
took the Crusades. That phony
conversion didn't stick too well
on many of us pagans.
People who push bigotry in
the name of religion claim
they're being "moral." Yet all
major world religions agree that
hateful lies are immoral.
Instead, how about speaking out
against people who rip off our
savings and loans or who strip
Oregon's heartbreakingly beau
tiful natural wealth and mail it
out of state?
We who experience disgust at
"KKKristianity" are getting a
taste of what it dished out to
other Americans:
New England women mur
dered as witches.
Native people invaded by the
Oregon Trail.
Enslaved African Americans.
Emotional people forcibly elec
tro-shocked for "mental illness."
And of course. Earth itself.
“KKKristianity" seems to cre
ate the hell on Earth it claims
exists after death. Let Oregon go
down in history as a place
where independently thinking
people joined the world in
pushing back "KKKristianity"...
forever.
David Oaks
Eugene
Brotherly love
In response to Jake Berg's
opinion column "The Universi
tas is a neat place” (ODE, Feb.
Ifi). I would just like to say that
1. too. derive great pleasure from
witnessing bicycle crashes.
With the recent icy conditions
in the Eugene area. I was fortu
nate enough to view several
ooality hike wrecks. In my book,
mure is no occasion more jovial
than viewing a fallen cyclist.
Injuries are a bonus.
Josh Barg
freshman
LETTERS POLICY
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