LETTERS Violence It s odd to rend about Cerrv Adams of Siiui Fein. Northern Ireland and fits refusal to renounce violence Why should he? Have the British renounced theirs? The cause and effet t of their struggles have gone for 600 years and will never cease as long as the British occupy for eign soil as cruel colonizers (the last i olony they won't give up) and fostering the religious war between the endemic (latholii s and the Protestants they brought in from Sr otland It's the same grim stupidity that goes on in Bosnia where power hungry politic ians fed "Nationalism” to the people who lived together and intermarried, for hundreds of years and go along reasonably well. Now the war has wiped out their former lives and the country has 1ms nine as unlivable as Ulster If Clinton can go out on a limb for Sinn Fein, why isn't he working more closely with peace groups in Bosnia7 I hey are there! All he relies on his lame foreign affairs "team", and a lot of empty threats Hilda K. Cherry Eugene Hoops I have hoen to only four of our men's basketball games this year, and I think that there ure two guys that deserve a whole lot more praise than they receive. 1 don’t even know their names, that's because their names aren't even on their shirts, or their warm-up suits I am of course talking about those two players that are there every game, warm-up before the game cheer through the game and nev •t get to plus m th(> game I iie> sit on thi' i>en. 1993 she culled the Office of Affirmative Action to report her experience in an out door art class She alleges, "They (sic) told me there was nothing they could do." As cur rent Director of the office. I found this allegation most dis turbing It is very unlikely that anyone in this office told Ms Gray there is nothing we i mild do. Stan dard office practice is to refer grievance inquiries to trained intake officers who inform the caller of the option to file formal or informal grievance within the 180 days of incident. No deci sion on the merit of a case is made on the basis of telephone inquiry. If an intake officer is not available, callers are encour aged to make a prompt appoint ment for an office interview Failure to file a timely griev ance does not mean allegations of illegal discrimination are ignored Indeed. I am unaware of any instance in which the University failed to respond to a serious claim, regardless of tim ing When Ms Gray reported her exponent e to the offit «• in Oi t a c ornprehenst ve informal tnquin imisui'i! and stgnifn ant resources anil staff linn* wi>ri' devoted to her assistant o By mao urntelv portraying the University's response to Iter own experience. Ms Ura\ does a tragic disservit e to others who would consider reporting an incident of ihsi riinination Ken Lehrman Director, AAAEO No harassment In response to the letter bv Devon Cir<»\ {ODE ill!'14) I would like to clarify several things The class that is referred to by Ms Gray has been offered for 1 T> years and over 41)0 students have sin cessfully i ouipleted tile course and reports of positive exponent es are often re< eived At no tune and under no i ir i umstiiiu es was a student instructed to harass another stu dent in the way described bv Devon Gray I am very sorry licit Ms (.ray s experience at the lliuversity has not been satisfying to her Ken O'Connel Fine A Applied Arts Distortions As thu host of Dr Hurry Bin swanger’s le< tortt "Bridging the Israel Ought' Gap How to Derive Morality from the Facts." I wish to corn* t a few of Juniper Brinkman's distortions [ODt. 2/l/%») Brinkman's essay was dedi cated mainly to branding Dr Biswanger and Avn Kami racists. be< ause Dr Biswanger i ondemned the I.A Hints Brinkman sa\ that Dr Biswanger called all the i olored people iii I.A bloodless sat ages ! his ruin uloux lie was referring spot ifu nllv to the riot ms a lar>;«* port entage nt whom were w hite Ayn Hand's individualism is contrary to all collectivism, racism included Hr Hiswnngor said that \ allies exist only for individuals, vvhn h con trad it ts Hrinkman's altruist ideal of "col lei tive responsibility He said reason is one's moral faculty Sint«• reason is possessed only hv individuals and is exercised hy choice, this i ontradu ts Hrinkman's (and Hitler s) idea that one's moral status is inher ited from tine s rai e Situ tt mate rial wealth is t routed h\ apply mg reason to at turn, i outrun to Hrinkman (anti Marx), people "below the poverty line” have no right to goods produt etl hy others Damon Cole Mathematics Wacko Andrea. your response to Mr Thorn’s article shows that you arc not glorified being human You misunderstand the role of being huinnn Humans am at this top of the animal kingdom. We rule it Perhaps if humans didn't exist the lion would he the king We rule the animal kingdom because we are capable of intel lectual thought which enables us to invent tools to enhance our environment, enabling us to live longer, healthier and increase our population, making us the majority. Humans also rule be< ause we can manipulate the environ ments and populations of all other spei ms You confirm this at the end of vour column In stating "we seem to 1 house to destroy the planet " This i ontra (In Is what you said about Mr I hiirn having a thin "urgument" Ims nusc lit* stalial yve re supori or because wo can manipulate." II vou question our ability to manipulate, then how can we possibly destroy the planet? Also, as a landscape an luted, aren't you manipulating land to lienofit humans7 Andrea answered her own question when she asked. "Why is a man who builds a fin1 to stay warm better than the hear who is |usl warm7" With the prior state ment about ' ‘lowly subspecies not wasting an ounce of energy' pertaining to items that intelli gent humans have produced for humans The answer the hear is a lowly subspur in! Andrea thinks that human intelligence isn't significant Her attitude is, other animals don't waste time with intelligent thought so why should humans7 Humans hap pen to he the only specie capa ble of intelligent thought If Andrea lived up to the way she thinks, she would live m harmo ny m a i ave y\ ith a fire burning i (instantly to si are hears from try ing to take the i ave and make lunch out of her Finally, this notion that wo iuxhI to "save thn planot" is hog wash Who or what needs to ho saved7 Tho only < haruetors that want to dostroy it aro thoso pho ny cartoon villains in Captain Planet Wo havo powor. hut nev or enough to dostroy tho planot, only God can. Stop understating tho si/.o of our world by calling it a planot. planets are little pic tures in books or tiny spooks in tho skv. then perhaps you will realize how enormous our world is. John Eccleston Eugene N.V.AA. Gonza ez Professor Emeritus. California State University. Hayward & International Writer-m-Residence, University of the Philippines will be in Eugene for a series of events today b tomorrow, February 9tb b lOtb. Today: Philippine Literature Work-m-Progress Southeast Asian Stud.es Brown Bag Talk Cedar A & B rooms, at the EMU 11:00—Noon Reading from The Bread of Salt & Other Stones 159 PLC (Humanities Center Conference Room) 3:00-4:00 Booksignmg at the UO Bookstore Upstairs 4:30-5:30 Potluck Dinner 2092 Roland Way (Off Oakway Road) 6:30—8:30pm of Salt .uni * )tit< r Stun* % In his latest book, The Bread of Salt and Other Stories, a retrospective selection of 16 of his short stones from the early 1950s to the present day, Professor Gonzalez 'documents the struggle of Filipinos to come to terms with their sense of themselves, especially in the midst of the country's continuous and evolving relationship with the United States. The stones embody the ambivalence, the uncertainty and the conflicting values faced by Filipinos caught up in the often unpredictable outcome of the meeting between these two different cultures.' Co-Sponsored by: Center lor Asian & Paafic Studies Creative Wnting Program, Humanities Center, Office ol Multicultural Affairs, UO Bookstore, International Student Association, AsiarvPaaficAmerican Student Union (APASU), Kultura Piltpmas Philippine Student Organization, PhH«>ine-American Association ot Eugene- SpnngfiekJ