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 io iiikr ilnl MI tin! uf im: siiuki;, tin is smjiiuiigi v guiug iu 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. Oregon Daily Emerald the Oregon D*>» (e Associated Press The Emerald «* Kano* Jeremy Mason, van V OSyr*n It GtOian Oh. Rarnam Trot, Ango Wrr 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