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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1993)
EDITORIAL Path of education leads to small desks There has been a recent interest in larger desks. This at first sounds like a ridiculous thing to spend time being concerned with, but the need is apparent. As time passes and people grow old. the size of the desk seems to depreciate relative to the size of the stu dent. Day one of kindergarten: You head to class with a white-knuckled grip on a parent’s limb. Tears suddenly fill your face when you’re left behind in the shocking new kindergarten environment. The one thing you had was room 10 move, iney weren't even desks, they were rather large luxurious tables. Luxurious tables when you really needed them the least — when you could still practically fit in the palm of your teacher's hand. When the kindergarten days ended and it was time to head off to the real world of grade school, the tables were traded in for desks. The surface area decreased but you still had volume on your side. When you're mt school, you sit It* no surprise. That* Just how It work*. Every day, every claes, students alt It* time to give them something to sit In. There was enough,room in those desks to prop open the tops and store all your necessities. From math books to reading books to yester day's lunch. There was room for it all. After grade school it was time to give junior high a go. This was tho first time that the desk space took a notice able turn for the worst. Suddenly, there was no room. Junior high was bad. but torso size hadn't even begun to matter. It was high school where changes began to happen. People were getting big. Desks were getting small. The worit load was increasing and desk space was decreas ing Now college is in session. People really don’t get much bigger. Classes can’t get much more crowded. Peo ple shouldn’t have to cram themselves into the little area available to them in class. The last thing people should have to worry about is whether they can fit in one of those seats for up to an hour and twenty minutes, and still maintain enough self-esteem to take in a lecture or — even worse — a final exam. Sure, the excuse for no new desks will be the same. There’s just not enough money to spring for the new desks. The need just isn’t really apparent. It is, however, and the need should be addressed. Some desks have been changed, but changed to the same old tiny, uncom fortable and restraining sitting devices we currently call desks. It really wouldn't be that hard to replace some of the desks with at least a table or two and some chairs. When you're at school, you sit. It’s no surprise. That’s just how it works. Every day. every class, students sit. It's time to give them something to sit in. Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon Oaky fmeM '» publiahed (Jetty Monday through Fnday during the achoot year and Tuesday and Thuraday dutmg the summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co . Inc . at the Unrverarty ol Oregon, Eugene. Oregon The fmeraW operalea independently ol the Unrverarty with otic at at Su«e 300 ol the Erb Mwnortal Umon and is a member ol the Associated Press The Emerald <a private property The untaedul removal or uae 01 papery * proaacullMe by la Edttor-ln-Chlel: Jake Berg ■magma ctmur Editorial Editor Onphtca Editor Frooianco Editor David Thom Jad Paaioy Thor Waabottan Editorial Editor Jofl Pcfchardl Photo Editor Anthony Fomoy SupplamanU Editor Katy Solo Associate Editors: Scol Clamant. Student Government/Achvifre*. Rebecca Marntt. Community, Rivart Janaaen, r*phe» Educahon/Admmttrahtyi Nawa Staff: Loan Bower. Oava Oarbonneau Mag Dodoiptv Amy Davenport. MeUa Fields. Marlm f.sher Sarah Henderson. Ant Hesaeidahi. Edward KtopfenHevi. Vm Lang Lsong. Tnsta Noai. Elisabeth Reantliama. Lia Salciccia. Scott Simonton. Stephen.# Sitton, Susanna Statlans. Jute Swan tan, Mehele Thompson A^ear. Kevwt Tnpp. Amy Van Toy!. Dan,el Wail General Manager: Judy Hod Advartlalng 01 rector: Mad. Wane* Production Manager: Mcheie Rom Advertising: Eret.me Ball lyrtdsey Bernstem. Sub.r Dutla. Ncole Herrmerk. Teiesa IsrSwUa Jeremy Mason Mtrhaei Mriiette Van V O’Bryan II. Rachael Trull, Kelsey Wete* Ang»© WtfXJh©»m Classified: Becky Merchant Manager Veto. Me ,a, Sm T re Tec« Distribution BrwKJon Anderson. John Long. Graham Sanpson Business: Kalhy Carbone. Suptnttot Judy Connolly Production Dee McCot*. P'txKclor CstvctnaRv Shawna A bee Greg Desmond Tara Gauliney. Brad Joss- JennJer Roland. NaM ThangrngJ. Clayton Vee Nmfooni Bu*Jn«*» OfftC*..^346*5512 Advertising. 346-4343 AND NOW.' /NT£OACT»Ve TV.' THIS ALLOWS VOU 7*> SELECT PROfA A WA/OLE fAEhio oP Possible Roles. Vegetable | COMMENTARY Coming out: tolerance s limits By Jodi Mai and Spencer de Mille Imagine this: You're a student who's left-handed. Your whole life, you've been encouraged to write with your right hand, to use it whenever possible When you get to college, you assume people will be enlightened enough to mind their own business. However, on your first day of class, your professor talks at length about how left-handers have led to the downfall of many civilizations. In your dorm, you often over hear the other residents making crude jokes about left-handers. The resident assistant does not seem concerned by this. Finally, when you're spotted shelving books with your left hand, you're fired from your job at the city library only to discov er you have no recourse. Seem ridiculous? Up until the latter half of this century, loft handedness was seen as "abnor mal” and "deviant" behavior that was to be discouraged Ironical ly, this is the same view that many now have about homosex uality. By now, everyone is familiar with many of the challenges fac ing the gay community. The Ore gon Citizens Alliance, the mili tary ban and "family values" have been paraded around for most of the decade. But these obstacles are no worse than what we face every day in our normal lives. The bigots and homophobes, frightening though they may be. are very easy to see. What's not so easy to see are the well-mean ing liberals, who mind their man ners in public but never examine their stereotypes. For example: the person who proudly votes against Ballot Mea sure 9, but is uncomfortable with their child having a lesbian for o school teacher. Or the guy who goes dancing at Club Arena, but gets nervous when someone in his dorm comes out to him. As a gay person, one of the first things you learn is the difference between someone who is truly accepting and someone who is just going through the motions. We call this tolerance. An accepting person is willing to listen to you talking about your lover, without being uncomfort able and without asking for the "kinky" details. People who are tolerant are frustrating because they're trying to fool us, and trying to fool them selves into thinking that they're allies in the struggle for civil rights. In reality, they're more of an obstacle because they refuse to understand. We'd rather face an honest big ot than a dose-minded liberal. The problem we had with the Emerald article on Coming Out Day ( ODE, Oct. 11) is it dis played the same, barely tolerant attitudes we've received all of our lives. While Thor Wasbotten, free lance editor for the Emerald, is correct when he says. "Balance and neutrality are what every good journalist strives for when reporting." the article in question was neither. The article quoted people who were for and against Coming Out Day. Those who were for, however, had their quotes twisted into entirely new meanings. It's true that the writer of the original article was writing as a heterosexual, from a heterosexu al's point of view. What upset many of those who were quoted in the article was the way the writer of the article manipulated their quotes to tit her point ot view, which seemed to be. "Com ing Out Day is all right, but it's not really necessary " Also disturbing, Jodi Mai was misquoted twice as saying there were 300 "open” homosexuals on this campus, when in reali ty, she estimated 2,000. Mai esti mated that 300 people, gay and straight, come into the Lesbian. Gay, Bisexual Alliance office every year. No mention was made about who, or what, is an "open" homosexual. We don't expect everyone to be completely understanding and accepting all of the time. And cer tainly reporters bring their own biases to every story they cover. We know this and accept it. But we will not stand for any thing less than fair and accurate reporting. In our opinion, an arti cle on this subject could have accurately stated how and why National Coming Out Day is important to many students, and unimportant to others, without changing the context of the quotes, or misrepresenting fig ures. We can understand why peo ple are tired of gays making a political issue out of this. We're tired, too. But as long as someone else isn't willing to leave us alone, we're not going to stop. The militant homosexual agenaa is simply to live our lives in peace. We are not going to be silent anymore lodi Mai and Spencer de Mille are co-directors of the Universi ty's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance. COMMENTARY POLICY The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes commentaries from the public concerning topics of interest to the University Commu nity Commentaries should be between 750 and 1,000 words, leg ible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verb fied when the letter is submitted. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style.