EDITORIAL
Privatization is the
wrong way to go
Members of the stale Board of Higher Education pro
posed Friday what it deemed "radical” ideas for cut
ting the state's higher education budget, including pri
vatization of the University.
As the crunch of lfltJO’s Measure 5 continues to erode
funding for higher education, cost-cutting ideas that may
* have once been taboo are now eligible for serious con
sideration.
Privatization should not be one of these ideas.’
The state of Oregon has long prided itself on its com
mitment to higher education. The only effect Measure 5
should have is to give the state the chance to renew,
rather than renege, that commitment.
This is not to say education should be left untouched
by the budget-cutter’s ax. but it should not bo expected
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be the case.
Privatization is simply a bad idea whose time will
never come. Though the slate may save money by not
funding a major university, the loss of access to potential
students will result in fewer Oregon residents I wing able
to earn a college degree. Fewer college-educated citizens
will simply increase the gap between the “haves" and
the "have-nots."
An alternative scenario would have private corpora
tions sponsoring certain departments or schools. Stu
dents could study «t the Du Pont chemistry department,
computer science in the IBM computer lab. or journal
ism at the Gannet School of Journalism.
Although such endowed departments and schools
could offer lower tuition because of their corporate sub
sidies, an inherent conflict of interest arises as these
schools become corporate "minor leagues." training stu
dents not to be better citizens, but belter employees.
Another proposal that surfaced Friday was to consoli
date the higher education system into a single, giant state
university where schools would specialize in certain
fields, thus eliminating redundancies.
This “radical" idea was first proposed in 1932 by a
group of taxpayers who believed creating a single stale
university, which would have been located in Corvallis,
would save the state S20 million in 20 voars.
The Zorn-Mac:Pherson bill, as it was called, would
have moved the University's law school to Salem and
loft nothing but a teachers' college in Eugene. Voters
soundly rejected the proposal by a 5-to-l ratio, and the
University was allowed to flourish.
It was a bad idea then, and it's a bad idoa now. Legis
lators are proposing those and other mindless methods
of cutting the budget because they are afraid to face the
real task at hand — tax reform.
No amount of budget-cutting, no degree of privatiza
tion and no rehashing of long-dead debates will help
provide a secure fiscal future for the state. Legislators
should have more sense than to come up with ideas such
as these, and the state Board of Higher Education should
have more sense than to entertain them.
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Same old song
Thanks to 199Q’s Hallo! Mea
sure 5, (ht*ri' is a plan lo cut th«*
University's Spanish program by
20 percent next year. This would
come on top of other cuts in the
Spanish program that have
occurred during the past two
years. Such a cut would have a
devastating effect on the quali
ty of the program and on the
number of available Spanish
classes
The Spanish program has
already !x*mi trimmed to tire max
imum. Our highly qualified
Spanish instructors are terribly
underpaid The de|Hirtment o|*>r
ates on a shoestring It’s the only
department in the University that
I know of that still uses blue
mimeographs for handouts
because they can’t afford Xerox
es Instructors often < ut paper for
handouts into two or three pi«»s
just to save a few pennies
When I Itegan taking Spanish
here three years ago. this Uni
versity had a truly outstanding
program with an excellent selo -
tion of classes. But even then
then' wen* not enough classes to
go around Many students want
ing to study Spanish found
themselves out of luck, forced to
wait until they had more regis
tration seniority. This year, w'ho
knows how many students have
been turned away from Spanish
classes? I would guess the num
ber is in the hundreds.
Add to this the fact that
demand for Spanish classes has
tieen increasing steadily, and it
seems likely that any further
cuts in the Spanish program
will cause hopping-mad stu
dents to visit Johnson Hall.
Eben Fodor
Graduate Student
Environmental Studies
WHPAAMs unite
Could someone please help
me understand something? You
see. I am a white heterosexual
Protestant American-American
male, and sometimes 1 have dif
ficulty understanding racism
and diversity. If “love see no
color.” and we are all equal
regardless of rat e, religion or
sexual orientation, why is it that
minority students are threaten
ing to leave the University
unless more professors and staff
"of color" are given positions?
Why is the University offering
"people of c olor" higher wages
as an incentive to join our
diverse University team? Per
haps it is my ignoranc e, but 1
usually judge a professor by his
or her teaching ability — not
skin color.
When our University is facing
major cutbacks, should we be
offering more money to profes
sors bec ause they happen to
have a different pigmentation in
their skin? As you can see. it is
difficult being a WHPAAM Any
slanderous ad hominem abusive
letters would he greatly appreci
ated by me and all of the other
WHPAAMs out there Thank
you.
Gregory 0. Jacobs
Pre-Journalism
Open mind
This is in response to Sean
McGrath's letter [ODE. Feb 25),
1 also read Leviticus 20:13. My
translation read: If a man lies
with a male as with a woman,
both of them shall be put to
death for their abominable deed.
They have forfeited their lives.
Wow. Pretty strong language,
eh?
Five years of Catholic school
left mo with the impression that
our God is a loving God (that is
if we, in fact, believe in the
same God). I think any genuine
love between two humans is
cool, regardless of gender 1 bet
God agrees
If one stops to consider all of
the hate and discrimination
these folks encounter, why do
you think they would choose to
lie homosexual? Could it lie they
were created that way hmm?
Surely in McGrath's readings ot
the Bible, he has come across
the verses about loving one
another and all of God’s crea
tures being sacred? They're pret
ty strong, too. McGrath might
want to look them over
At any rate. I have a hard time
believing that the prejudice he
expresses is part of the philoso
phy of I hi- National Student
Exchange. As with Koreans,
blacks, jews or any other minor
ity. homosexuals are people, too;
don't hate them just hecausethey
are different than you. McGrath
and I ore obviously different in
our beliefs, but 1 don't hate him
because of it keep an open mind,
it can't hurt.
Nicole McCullough
Theater Arts
Book of Sean
To all you poor ignorant peo
ple who think it is OK to he
homophobic, let me sav that I am
trul\ sorry I pray that one day
you will know the truth In the
meantime, let me direct you to
Sean McGrath. National Student
Exchange. Compassion 00:00.
Robert Ward
Eugene
Right to know
Wednesday, citizens art* urged
to attend a critical Oregon Sen
ate hearing: It's time to go to
Salem to protect our drinking
water supplies. We. as Oregoni
ans. rely on groundwater for
more than 75 percent of our
drinking water, yet cancer-caus
ing agricultural chemicals threat
en that supply. Detectable levels
of pesticides lace 10 percent of
our groundwater w'ells, accord
ing to a federal Environmental
Protection Agency study.
Unlike our neighbors in
Washington and California, we
do not have access to informa
tion about pesticide use in Ore
gon No "right to know" pro
gram exists. This leaves
Oregonians in the dark about
our most Ikisic resource. To pro
tect Oregon's groundwater and
Oregonians' health, we need a
Community Right to Know pro
gram for agricultural chemicals
Wednesday we have the
chance to show concern for the
issue before the Senate We
can't afford to wait until the
next legislative session. Call
34H-4377 for more information.
Karmen Fore
Ryan Decker!
and Eight Co-Signers