Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1993)
EDITORIAL Head-in parking rule unnecessary, costly The rising tide of collective disgust with the perking situation on campus threatens to inundate the narrow confines of the overflowing parking lots and spill into the streets and alleys of the University consciousness. Far from plugging the hole in the dike, as did the lit tle Dutch boy of legend, parking attendants and meter readers on this campus are chopping at the opening and threatening the very integrity of parking as an institu tion. a tradition and a way of life. They must be stoppod. Melodrama aside, a new policy initiated by the Office of Public Safety this term has only worsened a situation that was already getting out of hand. The newest requirement? Head-in parking in all University lots. There may be legitimate safety concerns behind the recent decision, which took effect, without much fan fare. before the beginning of the fall term. OPS officials cite the dangers of pulling through one space and end ing up in another, with the front of the car facing out. They suggest that another car might try to move into that same space at that same time from the other aide, there by resulting in a front-end collision and all sorts of dan gerous mayhem. This has undoubtedly happened before, but one won ders just how often, and whether the frequency of such accidents is enough to counter the convincing argu ments that parking head-out is safer. After all. visibili ty is always better when a driver is able to move for ward. rather than have to twist around to look over his or hor shoulder. Common sense would seem to indicate that the less backing up that has to bo done, the better. Because the superiority of head-in parking is still in doubt, then, how can OPS can justify a $20 "improper parking" fine for parking head-out? “improper parking” is one of several auto-related infractions listed in the University's Parking and Trans portation Information pamphlet, which is Issued to all parking permit owners at the time of purchase. Other parking violations that are punishable by a $20 ticket include parking in driveways, yellow zones, reserved spaces, sidewalks, and, unbelievably, on "landscape areas." How can simply choosing to park backward, which may or may not be more dangerous, be on a par with parking on the lawn somewhere? The real reason behind the head-in rule, and the rea son it's so strictly (and mercilessly) enforced, is because OPS officers don't want to take the timo to walk around a car and check to see if it has a permit attached. Plain and simple. Sixty dollars is a lot to pay for a parking permit, espe cially when it doesn't oven guarantee you a space (even the most inconvenient lots are usually full by 11 a.m.}. It doesn't seem unreasonable to expect a little leniency for those people who have made that investment. If the rule must be enforced, for reasons of efficien cy, then lot the punishment fit the crime. If that happens, then maybe OPS can stem the tide of parking antagonism, before it floods the campus. If not, maybe drivers had better learn to swim. Or. worse vet: ride the bus. Oregon Daily Emerald Editor Managing I Editorial Ei Orapitlcs Editor Freelance Editor p 0 BOl 31» CUG4NC 0«CCtf* the (>«gon t'.i > fmwaM is pubksned daily Monday through Friday during »>a school i and Tuesday and Thursday dunng (he nimmi by th« O'agon Daily Emerald Publishing Co . Inc aim* University ol Oregon E ugene Oegon The Emerald operates independently ot the Umversiiy warn odices at Su*e 300 ot the Erb Memorial Umon and i* a member ot the Associated Press The Emerald is private property The uniawtui removal or use ol papers IS prosecutable by >a* Edllor-m-Chlet Jake Berg Cailey Anderson Sports Editor Steve t*m> David Thorn Editorial Editor Jell Pick hard! Jett Pastay Photo Editor Anthony Forney Thor Wasbotien Supplements Editor Kaly Soto Night Editor: Kaly Soto Associate Editors: Scot Clemens Student Government Actnnties Rebecca Memtl. Community. Rivers Janssen. F*gh*r fcvcafton Admmistrafon News Start Leah Bo*er. Dave Charbonneau Meg Dedolph. Amy Devenpod. Mata Fields. Martin Fisher. S*ah Henderson, Ank Hesserdahl Edeard Kioplenitein. Yin leng Laong. Tnsta Noel. Etuabelh Reenstjema. Lia Salcicoa. Scott Simonson Stephanie Sisson. Susanna Stehens Julie S*ensen. SAchele Thompson Aguiar Kevin Trpp. Amy Van Tuyt. Dan at West Oeneral Manager: Judy Radt Advertising Director: Mars Walter Production Manager: Morale Ross Advertising: Ftel-me Bell. Teresa Isabelle, Jeremy Mason. Michael Miiietle. Van V O'Bryan II. Rachael Trutt Kelsey Waken. An^e Windhwm Classified Becky Merchant Manager Victor Maps. San T re Tock Distribution: Brandon Anderson John Long. Graham Simpson Business Kathy Carbons. Supervisor Judy Connolly Production: Doe McCoOb. Production Coon*nat(u Shavma Abeie Greg Desmond Tara Gauitney Brad Joss. Jenn.(*r Roland Natt Thangvigil. Clayton Yae Newsroom.„.J4*-541t Display Advertising.Md-3712 Business Oftlc# .. 348-5512 ClasalHed Advertising 344-4343 2 Oregon Daily Emerald Monday, October 18. 1993 You KNOW, iF I PAID THAT THING A SALARY, 'T could BUV SO*4£ Of OUR PRODUCTS. HU*A*J SEP*I SWAWCfiV W£4K- £ LETTERS Right is wrong Throughout the 1980's and into the 1990's, the religious right has I wen working non-stop in the name of Christian purity to restric t our rights Those of us offended by this tend to associ ate this attack with Christiani ty. The religious right has driven many good and c aring people away from Christianity with its messages of hate and intoler ance. Letters like those from Matt Fox and Leta Hamilton (ODE, Oct 14) show that there are good, tolerant and even liberal Christians. It is the duty of all tme Chris tians to oppose the agenda of all members of the religious right, so that Christianity does not become synonymous with the hypocrisy, intolerance and the loss of our rights. It is the duty of those* opposing the religious right to remember that we are not opposing Christianity, hut the psc'udo-Christian religious right's attempt to control our society. Aaron Curtis Mathematics Induce vomiting When 1 pick up the Emerald, it reads like a copy of the Ore gon Commentator without a sense of humor. Your advocacy of the administration's policies is discreditable. I just finished reading your editorial concerning the Don Munson affair, having taken sev eral breaks to throw up over its contents and question your judgment. In the article you state. "When he was finally removed from his coaching position (and subse quently reassigned in the athlet ic department), it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone who follows basketball.'' Please name one major college basket ball program that has ever reas signed a coach who wanted to stay in basketball? Reassignment would absolute ly kill a coaching career. If the administration had planed to fire Monson (or reassign him to his duties), they should not have signed a three-year contract. Contract law obviously is not the administration's strong suit. This was Monson's mistake. No one is defending Monson's coaching record at Oregon. The administration had the right to fire him. but Monson also had the right to just compensation. I must also point out that hav ing a winning record at Oregon isn't extremely important. Foot ball coach Rich Brooks is 81 101-4 in football. I have a suggestion. If the Uni versity wins its appeal, let’s work on reassigning Myles Brand, Dan Williams and Rich Brooks 1 hear the University Physical Plant custodial staff needs help Jerry Carson History Psychiatric bias My letter to the Emerald (Oct 11) concerning psychiatry anti religion led to some misunder standings. I’m sorry for not tieing more clear. To respond to Matt Fox [ODE.Oct. 14): My per sonal spiritual belief is pagan ism, and because of the oppres sion pagans have undured. I strive for tolerance of all faiths, no matter how bizarre. 1 do object to those who force religious beliefs onto others, such as the Oregon Citizens Alliance. Increasingly, letter writers to the Emerald quote their Bible as the foundation for similar agendas. They thus make ridiculous ideas — such as the arrogance that Christiani ty is the only ‘'true'' religion — fair game for inspection. People are allowed extreme altered states, emotional distress and even so-called "madness" as long as they uphold the dom inant world view. If Jung Sook Jang — the University grad stu dent who died at Lane County Psychiatric Hospital — had knelt in prayer in church on Sunday, no harm would have resulted. However, she was cap tured. tied down, force-drugged and killed. The Oregonian (Oct. 13) reported that three psychiatric inmates died in Dammasch State Hospital in the past six weeks. Eight died there in the past 22 months. Several died under circumstances similar to Sook's: forced drugs and restraints. l rn glad Fox agrees such atrocities are crimes. The OCA. on the other hand, has said there's another group with "spe cial rights" they hope to target: people with psychiatric labels. True Christians must con demn the OCA, or l>e complied. David Oaks Eugene Rude behavior On Wednesday, Oct. 13,1 was visiting the University from the state of Washington, in regard to u business matter concerning mv daughter who is a student in *' Eugene. I passed by on open forum with the local Muslim Student Association and stopped out of curiosity to lis ten. I was appalled at the undisci plined and rude confrontations made by people in the audience as others were speaking. I have no idea what the issues were, as my presence was brief. It just seemed so out of the ordinary that in an academic setting with a generous number of interest ed participants present that a small number of people, not par ticularly youthful ones from their appearance, could so bold ly and disruptively remove all possibilities for a solution because of basic rude and inap propriate manners. I applaud those students who tried to restore order to an oth erwise serious and interested group of individuals. Stephanie R. Colheny Seattle