EDITORIAL
Owner loses battle
between gas, God
Texaco said the buck stops with it. Barry Davis said
the buck stops with God. On Thursday. Texaco said
Davis's bucks will just stop.
Davis claims Texaco and the government are attempt
ing to infringe upon his freedom of religion. Texaco says
it just wants Davis to honor his contract.
Davis leased three Texaco gas stations, including one
in Eugene, and was required to keep the stations open 24
hours a day. seven days a week. However. Davis, a fun
damentalist Christian, decided to close his stations from
sundown Friday to sundown Saturday to observe the
sabbath.
Texaco twice took Davis to court for violating his leas
os and won both times. Davis, however, has ignored the
courts' rulings Davis -
bogan closing the sta
tions last year, after sev
eral years of running
them in compliance
with his leases, accord
ing to Texaco.
Obviously, this is a
delicate issue. Davis
certainly has a right to
observe the sabbath or
Davis signed his
leases with full
knowledge that he
was required to
keep the stations
open around the
clock.
any olhor religious
belief he has. And few would be willing lo grant the gov
ernment authority to order people to violate their reli
gion.
However, that is not the case here. Davis signed his
lfasfN with full knowledge that he was required to keep
the stations open around the clock. When no decided to
start closing them, he should have known he was violat
ing his agreements.
Davis argues that his freedom of religion is being
oppressed. Nothing could bo further from the truth. No
one is tolling Davis what religion he must practice or
that he can't practice his religion.
All Davis has to do is got others to run the stations for
him during the sabbath. His religion does not apply to
the individual stations, it applies to him. Ho could stay
home, observe his religion, and every one would be hap
!>>'•
Granted, Texaco could have at least considered mak
ing an exception for Davis. It would probably have been
little skin of Texaco's nose if throe of its Oregon stations
were closed once a week. However, Davis himself
appears to have made little effort to seek a resolution to
the problem. His unilateral closing of the stations and
ignoring of court orders suggests an unfortunate lack of
flexibility.
The issue is not one of religious freedom but of hon
oring a contractual obligation. With a little flexibility
by either side, these two concepts could coexist peace
fully.
Oregon Daily
Emerald
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LETTERS
Equal time
1 am baffled by University
Provost Norm VVessoiis' letter
{OVK. Mav 14). He adamantly
defended Jacob Beck. |.T.
Sanders. Tom Givon. Glen Love
and Paul Csonka. the "reaper t
ed" professors slandered by the
Student Insurgent
"Advocacy of a point of view
that relies on blatant efforts to
intimidate faculty or any others
who wish to engage in enlight
ening examination of a complex
question should be rejei ted by
the University community."
wrote VVessells.
1 am confused why our
provost did not defend with
such vigor the integrity of
Clarence Spigner, Sandra Mor
gen and the rest of the Multicul
tural Curriculum Committee
In a throe-page memo distrib
uted to all faculty, Givon used
language that implied Spigner
and the rest of the Multicultur
al Curru ulum Committee were
anti-Semitic "ayatollahs" of
politically correct views and
that they were outright racist
themselves
Wesseils did nothing
On April 7, Beds, grabbed
Morgan's wrists at the Univer
sity Assembly meeting It was
captured by local news
reporter*, and if you missed the
broadcast, look in the April H
Register Guard.
Where was Wessell*7
At the last assembly meeting,
Sanders moved to delete the
identity of Asian-Americans
and all people of color from the
requirement. Why am I so vehe
mently against the generic term
"minority"? It belittles the exjie
riences of my people. No other
oppressed grouo has been
enslaved, interned, exploited or
murdered en masse in the Unit
ed States, with the exception of
people of color.
Why isn't Wessells defending
us?
I do not support the Insurgent,
but I demand equal treatment
and justice.
Dick Lee
English
Definitions
It is sometimes asserted that
people, practices, ideas or insti
tutions are "racist" or exhibit
GOODWEKSf \
I®RS8
188®?
|
"racism." Without addressing
the propriety of making such
assertions. 1 would like to offer
some suggestions as to what
they might lie taken to mean.
Rat isin:
A| The belief that people can
be divided into several "ra<:es''
so that everyone is assigned a
race, and no one is assigned
more than one.
H) The tmlief that such a divi
sion makes possible useful
processes of human reproduc
tion
(’) The belief that sue h a divi
sion makes possible useful pre
dictions about external anato
my.
I) } Internal anatomy
K) Behavior
K) The belief that such a divi
sion should or must play a
determinant role in lavs
G) In behavior
II) In the valuation or evalua
tion of individuals.
Note that A is an obvious
mathematical truth, but B is bio
logically, or at least historically,
false C, I) and K contain poten
tially testable hypotheses and K.
(; and H do not. Almost all
Americans are implicitly or
explicitly racist according to at
least six of these definitions I
do not claim to have exhausted
the possibilities.
Jerome Berryhlll
Chemical Physics
Precious gift
Thank you Hob Weigel for
being courageous and standing
up for your beliefs [DDK. May
18). I too believe in pre-marriage
celibacy. It takes lots of determi
nation and self-control, but it is
worth it.
There is a woman out there
who will value the precious gift
you are saving for her. Just
remember, there are many who
are on your side. You are not
alone.
Sharon Graville
English
Psychology
Bigot crusade
May 17 brought the upsetting
experience of evangelists on
campus — and they weren't
even students. Did campus cru
saders hire “Rent-a-Bigot?"
They have freedom of speech,
hut they do not have the right to
attack others. At such a central
location of campus, it is impos
sible to ignore them.
If they had been preaching
racism or anti-Semitism, they
would not have been allowed,
so why were their homophobic
and violently anti-choice rav
ings' A university should he a
community where diversity is
embraced; instead 1 felt attacked
and threatened. 1 am here to
learn, but how am I to concen
trate on taking a test when out
side of the classroom people are
shouting that I do not deserve
human reaper t?
! do not want to make an issu**
of mv sexual orientation. 1 am
vorv tired of being an issue, u
cause or a statistic. I am a per
son who is not heterosexual. Hut
these attacks force me to wear a
pink triangle everywhere I go. to
"out” myself to strangers I have
many important things to wor
ry about, and defending un
safely and civil rights should
not need to tie a focus
1 appeal to alt campus powers
that be that there not be a recur
rence of this nauseating event
As 1 respect the rights of all
Christians to exist. I demand the
same respect.
Heidi Bowman
Comparative Literature
All washed up
An op«n letter to the person
who stole my detergent:
We live in a society, and in
doing so we agree to consent to
certain limitations to our behav
ior. By accepting the benefits of
societal living, we also accept
the drawbacks. One such draw
bm k is that it is not OK to take
other people's possessions, for
example, detergent.
If you are in the Bean Com
plex laundry room and see
someone’s nearly full box of
detergent, and even if your
every cell yearns to grab it and
run away, you simply cannot.
We do not live under martial
law. We are not savages. Might
does not make right.
Here is a simple rule to live
by: If it is not your detergent, do
not take it. Please, let’s work
together to stop this madness
Josh Psddison
Pro-Journalism