EDITORIAL
Mention of ‘athlete'
significant to article
Media coverage of the arrest of three University of
Washington student-athletes on Sunday, and subse
quent reports Of the case that have appeared in the pages
of the Emerald and elsewhere, has generated another
round of accusations that the media are operating with
bias against certain groups of people.
There are charges, for instance, that the repeated
inclusion of the word "athlete" in connection with the
suspects was unnecessary and that by including the
word, the media demonstrated a negative bias against
athletes, which in turn could result in an increasingly
negative view of athletes by the public as a whole.
Obviously, the actions of the three suspects are of
more Importance than their status as athletes — more
Important, even, than the fact that they were Washing
ton students, or, for that matter, students at all. But that
doesn’t mean that those other facts (and they wore facts
—■ that's irrefutable) are totally irrelevant, either.
Calling the three men athletes was no! an attempt to
malign athletes in general, nor was it merely a thought
less way of adding length or meaningless detail to the
story. Rather, the suspects wore called athletes because
they were athletes and because it matters.
Athletes are representatives of the schools for which
they play and, to a lesser extent, the stale where that
school is located. It’s an overused description, but ath
letes really are "ambassadors," especially when they re
away from their home campus
The attention that is focused on athletic s, and there
fore athletes, at most major universities is a double
edged sword. Athletes are showered with more appre
ciation than non-athletes could over hope for. (Who won
the Rose Bowl last year? Now. who won the College
Howl! A-ha! See what we moan?)
As a result of all this attention, athletes are placed on
a pedestal by their schools, their communities and, yes,
the media. It shouldn’t be at all surprising, then, that the
media make a big deal about it when those athletes lose
their balance and fall off the pedestals they've been
placed on.
Furthermore, many athlotos (particularly those who
play football and basketball) receive benefits that are not
extended to most non athletes: scholarships, choice liv
ing arrangements, expensive treatment on road trips, not
to mention the intangible pork of getting their faces on
television and in the newspaper. Taken together, these
benefits offered to athletes represent an investment by
the universities for which they play. It is not unreason
able to expect the athletes to behave appropriately: it is
also not unreasonable for the media to make a note of it
when they don’t.
It would be unfortunate if the actions of these three
individuals cast a bad light on athletes. If that is the
result, however, it will the fault of those three athletes
and not the news sources that reported the information.
After all. the media are not obligated to omit signifi
cant facts just to keep people from building their own
stereotypes.
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LETTERS
Bad tax
The problem is money. Tliis is
wtinl has constantly been the
prohlum with education Along
i nines 1990's slate Hollo! Mea
sure 5 — a complex measure,
which I don't Indieve many peo
ple understood fully at the time.
They sow dollar signs and all
the money they'd save.
The truth is. individuals paid
very little (a few dollars a year).
Hig business saved a large sum
of money, but the businesses
were of such size, it mattered lit
tle to them Measure 5 was a
measure of greed Big business’
wav to squash the public, and
keep money.
After the measure's installa
tion. schools lost a large majori
ty of their income Now, we deal
with a sales tax7 This simply
won't work A sales tax hurts
everybody.
It hurts both the middle class,
the lower class and Oregon's
economy It will practically kill
small business People will sim
ply spend less money Contrary
to what the bill s.ivs, the tax is
not temporary. Once money is
generated, it is not reversible
Then comes the most famous
reason: increase. Once a sales
tax is in place, it is very easy to
watch it climb. California's sales
tax climbed from five and a half
percent to eight and a half per
cent in just four years! It is a
vicious chain tax that causes
less money to be spent, which in
turn causes a higher tax.
M. Tllden Moscbetti
Biology
Racial rape
Concerning the Nov. 2 article
in the Emerald, once again the
newspaper lacks empathy and
promotes the negative stereo
types society ascribes to black
men.
Rape is a continuous issue on
college campuses, yet when it
becomes racial, there is more
attention drawn to the fact that
the assailants are black.
We are not condoning the
alleged actions of these three
black students, but the simple
fact that you would print
enlarged pictures on the front
page is outrageous and incon
siderate.
In the past, there have been
similar and even worse inci
dents. There have been students
from this campus convicted of
rape and other crimes, yet we
are not warned nor do we have
printed photographs of
assailants of various racial back
grounds.
In the future, the Emerald
should not make criminal inci
dents a racial issue. If there are
going to be pictures printed of
black criminals, then there
should be pictures of all crimi
nals, of various backgrounds.
Johnson, Sanchez, Dawson
Eugene
Fire Jake
The Emerald participates
willingly in the vilification of
black males Such efforts not
only reflect the raging white
supremacy apparent in society,
as do similar undertakings by
the nation's collective news
media, but also shame this fine
institution of higher education.
Its student-run newspaper
should be in the vanguard of
changing America into a color
blind society instead of perpetu
ating vestigial and deleterious
ideologies that threaten to
destroy our nation and many of
its inhabitants.
Tile photographs in the article
involving the University of
Washington athletes had only
two effects: to reveal the sus
pects' racial identity and to rein
force the stereotype that all
black men are rapists, drug
abusers or thieves and lack
respect for the law. The news
value of the photos was mini
mal. the individuals were in
custody and posed no harm to
the community.
The editor can claim the pho
tographs were featured to get
readers' attention, that the shots
were an integral part of the fol
low-up report, that the photos'
ability to grab the reader’s atten
tion warranted their use. Any
claim the editor might make in
support of the photographs
should be disregarded because
the prejudicial effect clearly out
weighs any beneficial effect.
Such irresponsibility, espe
cially when it deals with a vex
ing sociological dilemma that
threatens to consume society,
should be addressed harshly
and swiftly. The editor of the
Emerald should be fired.
Patrick Patton
Law
Multiculturalism
Hus anyone bothered to answer
the most fundamental question?
It often seems that my own ideas
of what multiculturalism should
he, in fact, are not the same as
those of many people with a
more prominent role in the
debate.
If ‘‘multiculturalism" simply
means a multiplicity or mix of
different cultures, we must then
ask the question; What exactly is
culture? Of course to many peo
ple. “culture" is u term that auto
matically assumes racial or eth
ic connotations, but this need not
always l>e the case Here are my
suggestions for some basic ele
ments that characterize culture:
customs and tradition, art. eth
nicity or race, religion, language
and bacteria found in yogurt.
To me, multiculturalism is any
number of these criteria (except,
perhaps, yogurt) applied to spe
cific. mostly geographically based
groups of people. While none of
these factors is mutually inclu
sive, many of them are funda
mentally related to one another
in a complex system of relation
ships. i
Because of the breadth of
meanings encompassed, howev
er. it becomes clear that to define
multiculturalism in terms of
these criteria is to render a one
or two course curriculum require
ment inadequate, especially if the
intended purpose is to make stu
dents' understanding of culture
multifarious.
David Moon
Gsography/lntt Studios