OPINION
Student government resumes entertaining antics
. . . > • • . i . i 1 I • L .
Kb i\ Tripp
It's about time. During the past
few montlts. student govern
ment has begun to take on a
disturbing new trend
Members of the various gov
erning bodies have apparent!)
turned their focus toward real
student concerns and interests
Elected offic ials from the Inci
dental Fee Committee to the EMI'
Hoard of Directors and the ASUO
have apparently halted their age
old battle cry of "student ernpow -
erment'' in favor of addressing
student tonuirw and better man
aging budgets
With tint budget season cur
rently approaching its second
month. my apprehensions had
begun to grow Where was the
drama7 Where were the petty
arguments and pointless squab
bles? Where was the self
absorbed politicking that I had
come to expe< t from an evening
in the EMU Hoard Room7
I was at a loss After spending
the first half of mv college ( aroer
enjoying the zany antes of.
among others the i omedy team
of Steve Masat and Jason Moore
1 wasn't prepared for the seern
ingly efficient nature by which
the IFC and EMU board intend
ed to run this year's budget sea
son I went to my first IKU meet
ing of the new year and found it
totally devoid of even the small
pst squabble Afterwards, even
a batch of TaooTime Mexi fries
couldn't lift my spirits Only Pah
st roil Id.
1 felt as if I had just witnessed
a boxing match ringside only to
see the contenders sit down and
discuss their problems rational
ly Mu vim, 1 thought, this largely
new group of student gov ernment
officials have no sense of their
own heritage Maybe they forgot
about the men and women who
have held the very s«sits they now
sit in And. maybe, pist maybe,
they forgot about the ear-piemng
si reaming mati ties they would
engage each other and anyone
with three miles in. o< t asionallv
needing to cull in the Universi
ty Office of Public Safety to set
tle the matter Maybe they nev
er even knew.
Then again, maybe they did
On Tuesday. OPS and the
r.ugctfUf |>o! ii.t* wow cat loci in to
break up mi argument between
ncivly appointed IK member
Uaitiltn Twain and ASUO Mul
tu ulturul Adiih alt* Udeii Ajrian
Omari that had apparently tiro
ken out in the ASUO of fit «*
sometime after a very heated
meeting involving Ajrian-t)mari.
Twain and several other ASUO
members And although no
charges wore pressed, and it isn’t
even clear who said what, the
spat does at least give the upt om
mg budget season a bit of spice
After reading this news in the
hnu-rald last week. 1 was imme
diately thrown hack to my
bygone days of youth, to waking
up to headlines dost ribing pin *
ical alien ations lietween ASUO
presidents and IK(! i hairmen. to
watching the same li t' chainnnn
being dragged out of a meeting
In ()i’S after Ins i olleagues gave
him tin' I mot And, of tours*', the
screaming 11 otiltl never lor
get that Former KMl) hoard
member Jason Mount at I Ml
Dirt'i tor Dustv Millar for no
apparent reason; former li t
Chairman Steve Musa! at anyone
for any reason; and everyone at
everyone i’Isi' for reasons most
hail forgotten
And I thought it was all in th«
past
So them is a ra\ of hope
among the murky storm t louds
of student government, and it
even seems possible that the
new fares that have graced its
waters mav not have forgotten
their long and distinguished lin
eage Remember, free entertain
ment is onl\ a meeting awa\
Inst i hot k the Intemld I1 Ms
kt'vm Tnpp is o columnist foi
thr Kmerald
LETTERS
Dump God
I don't think the Oregon Citi
zens Alliance, the anti-abortion
organizations, and all the
plethora of anti-civil rights neo
fascist religious right groups
would have so much power in
this country if they didn't have
unlimited money to use to pro
mote ignorance, tyranny and tor
ture
From your campus all the way
to the Supreme Court, religion is
supported and promoted. Snip
ping at the OCA and anti-choice
terrorists will not get to tile root
of the problem, which is reli
gion. Until people dump God
with the rust of their garbage,
there will he no advancement in
the human condition.
It's really shocking to know
that there is not one politician,
not one University professor, no
one with influence who dares to
speak out against the injustice of
requiring all of us to support
such silliness as a belief in a
"supreme being."
Hope you have some use for
niv enclosed material My sin
cere best wishes for your sui •
cess iii fighting the viciously
cruel OCA
Helen Posey
Eugene
Uneducated
This letter is in response to
several coinmonts made by
columnist Robbie Reeves in his
opinion article regarding armed
forc es recruiting (ODK. Ian 20)
While I agree with his state
ments on the general tendency
of rec ruiters to be overbearing.
I'm outraged and incensed by
several generalities he made in
reference to the armed forc es as
a whole
His statement that participa
tion in various ac ts of murder
and mayhem is the purpose of
the military, shows Mr Reeves
to be either extremely narrow
minded or completely ignorant
Members ot the armed forces
provided aid in disaster relief in
south Florida after a hurric ane
devastated the area, and they
provided assistance in flood
relief in the Midwest. The Hint
ed States Marino Corps helped
my mother leave Spokane.
Wash., where she was a bank
teller. to receive her bai helor’s
degree and ascend to the rank of
colonel and my father to gain Ins
associate's degree and the rank
of captain after being a high
school dropout.
Vos. the military is not for
everyone and obviously not for
Reeves But. tor mv parents and
many others like them, it pro
vided opportunities they would
not have had otherwise So I
would applet into it greatly if the
next time Reeves writes ail opin
ion. it is an educated one
Keith Quebodeaux
Political Science
Record straight
l et me get tills straight I he
Emt-mSd accepts letters of iMI
words or less, hut if there are
words larger than are i ommotily
used in a journalism student (two
syllables), it will edit lor length
— except when they're written
bv John Wayne Johnson and
mailed in from Mars There's
nothing quite like consistency
People tend to put a lot of time
into tiieir letters, often editing
very precisely to get them under
2.r>0 words Hacking out entire
paragraphs is kind of cheesy
Still, it's not quite ts i heesy ‘is
misspelling a letter writer's name
Here are some ways that my last
name is not spelled (ole Clot,
(dam. Colostomy. Mahon
II 1 have to show my 1.0. to xuh
mil a letter, it only seems logit at
that the hmrmtd would get the
name right lot identally, please
resist the temptation to plat e a
witty title on this letter, such as
Not ( lose enough or "Hu! no
cigar Sly di* tor has warned me
that laughing uproariously
eii use me, laughing hard may
damage my health
Oh yeah, stay tuned fur ail
upt unnng ( iilmnii on the theo
ry of journalism written by biol
ogy majors Since journalism
students seem to think of them
sel\ es as experts in environmen
tal theory . somebody has to pit k
up the slack
Finally, a public service
.iiinminc Minimi Motor* \< In
police Inn« been liidniK on 12th
Avniun*. right pus! Patterson
Street, in keting tm \i lists like
gangbusters Von have been
warned
Steve Close
English
EDITOR S NOTE: TheEmer
aki <>(h)lcH)ites lor the spelling
error.
Human
potential
(iptni letter iii Unvn Thorn.
1 sen von are receiving guile n
Int of i ritii ism fur your opinion
i uliiiiin id Inn 12. Well, you
have mv support for vour views,
l.iheral apologetics is a waste ill
human potential
Kathleen Cousins
Business
i
LETTERS
The Oregon Daily lunrrald will Attempt to print all letters
containing comments on loplt s ol interest to the 1 'diversity
community
The luiurnld reserves the right to edit any letter for length or
style.
FINAL LIQUIDATION
OFFICIAL
Uof 0
DUCK
STUFF
ponwear
EVERYTHING!
DON'T WAIT! DOORS CLOSE JAN. 31!
720 East 13th Ave.
CAPS
T-SHIRTS
SWEATSHIRTS
SHORTS
-JACKETS
BAGS
GLASSWARE
MUGS
DECALS
SPIRAL
NOTEBOOKS
COMPUTOR
SUPPLIES
BATTERIES
& MORE!
OPEN 12 00-5 30 Monday-Saturday, closed Sunckr
AIL SALES AWf l INAL
AND iMlTIO TO STOCK ON HANO
In the University Center Dusamg
Across frorr* Sacred Heart Hospital