EDITORIAL
Dorm life shouldn't
include vagrant life
After high school graduation, it's off to college for
some For most freshmen there's dorm life, the institu
tional living system where people live in small concrete
cubicles with couches that can be made into beds ■ or
is that beds that < an be made into couches?
Suddenly, privacy is history. Everyday, students sleep
in the same rooms, shower in the same showers, walk in
the same halls, eat in the same cafeterias and pay mon
ey to do it.
For incoming freshmen, one of the most traumatic
experiences is meeting their roommate, others in the
same hall and their roommates. As if the whole room
male experience isn't bad enough, imagine meeting a
vagrant who is a neighbor’s roommate. The whole dorm
life idea is crazy enough to begin with, so why make
space for vagrants as well?
The last place one would expect to see a vagrant tak
ing refuge is a college dorm, but they are. They are at the
University, and some dorm residents are inviting
vagrants to stav with them.
»\ residence hull director said trie general rule is:
Guests arc welcome for a few days, and it is a good idea
to let the hall director know if a guest will be staying.
For those who have guests of the opposite sex. the
guests are encouraged to use the appropriate bathrooms.
Dorm residents are welcome to have brothers, sisters
and friends stop in for a visit but certainly not vagrants.
The somewhat vague policy now being enforced
(most of the time) obviously leads one to believe there is
a problem. A large part of the problem might very well
be the source of the policy. After making a call to try to
discover what the dorm "guest policy" was, a residence
assistant recommended that a call lie made to someone
at an area desk, who recommended that a call be made
to housing, who recommended that a call lie made to a
residence director, who finally unveiled the hard-to-get,
easy-to-bend policy.
One thing for certain in a group living situation is that
not everyone will agree on everything. The ono thing
that has always boon understood is that everyone pays
rent. Everyone except the vagrants. The rules dealing
with guests are an attempt to appease the majority, but
lot's not forgot the idea of group living. The group living
idea is that some people will have to sacrifice some
things for the benefit of the entire group.
The blame for vagrants shacking up can be put on the
residence assistant or the blnmo can he put on those
with the open door policy that allows the vagrants to
bunk up.
For those dorm residents with an open door policy,
shut it. College dorms are not a place for vagrants, nor
is the idea conducive to group living. Some people -
believe it or not - don’t want to live with vagrants. And
for those dorm residents who stumble over a vagrant
taking uninvited refuge, call the residence assistants
and have them do their job. And for those who enforce
the "guest policy.” revise it.
Oregon Doily
Emerald
Managing EdMo<
Editorial Editor
Graphics Editor
Fraalanca Editor
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■w JUDGES
A
LETTERS
True motives
On |an 2H, a proposal vs as
submitted by the Oregon Com
mvntator demanding the offb e
currently occupied by the Iran
ian Student Association, the
Japanese Student Organization,
the Muslim Student Association
and the Singapore Student
Association
The Commentator's proposal
is to move all of the above orga
nizations from our now modest
a< i oinmodations into a virtual
pigeonhole in KMU Hoorn 205,
also known as the piano room.
The KMU Hoard House Commit
tee took this proposal seriously
enough to schedule a hearing
Wednesday night
How can a University that
seemingly prides itself as a
champion of equality and multi
i ultural learning take this pro
posal seriously ' Bv sheer num
tiers the lour collei live student
assix lations represent more than
TOO people, while the Common
lator, with its alleged staff of ' i
and a i in elation of not much
more, serves only as an agitator
and a nuisance
We all know the reputation of
the Commentator, but on Tues
day. Feb 1. I overheard some
comments that only further stain
that reputation Comments such
as "That's so unfair that the
Black Student Union and
Saferide get so much more mon
ey " What’s worse is that these
people are funded by the Uni
versity You and I are paying for
them. Is this the kind of repre
sentation we want?
I believe the true motives for
the move, tiesides "conquering"
our larger office, are to get the
collective four student unions as
far as possible from the "white
student union " Do these people
deserve a largo office to further
propagate their views? Do we
really need u "white student
union" at a University striving
for diversity and equality?
Michael Shaheed Glaros
Officer of Cultural Affairs
Muslim Student Association
Hypocritical?
Non-Zionist Jews? As a non
Muslim. non-Jevvish American
citizen. 1 attended the roundtable
discussion Feb. 7 and was inter
ested in the Jewish population's
justification of "occupation,
exclusion and killing" of the
Palestinian people.
Thu co-director of tin; Jewish
Student Union replied. "Where
should we go'" My response: I
wouldn’t go and slaughter those
with whom your people had been
living peacefully for the past
1,000 years — possibly you
would claim the land that was
rightfully yours in Europe!
Most of the other Jewish stu
dents simply claimed, "I'm a
non-Zionist Jew.” Really' I’ve
never heard of your kind. I don't
see your objections in the letters
section of the icx.nl newspaper;
I've never seen you on the
evening news or heard you on the
radio.
If you object, as one of the Jews
said, to "going to Israel and see
ing a Palestinian boy being
stoned by the Jewish boys while
riding his bicycle," why not dis
tinguish yourselves? Why, for
example, co-sponsor a fund-rais
ing event for the people of Bosnia
as a non-Zionist Jew and be
killing Palestinians, as Serbs do
Bosnians, allowing yourselves to
tie publicly represented as a Zion
ist Jew? Isn't this hypocritical?
Amy L. Davis-Bruner
Psychology
Struggle
I feel that there is a great
amount of misunderstanding and
insensitivity surrounding the use
of the word "Jap” as an abbrevi
ation for "Japanese" in the Uni
versity's slide collection. Two
previous letters in response to
Edward Klopfenstein's Jan. 27
Emerald article on Asian-Amer
ican racism defended its use.
equating "Jap" to "Chi" for Chi
nese and "Kus" for Russian. 'Hus
analogy fails miserably, for "Chi”
and "Kus" carry no negative con
notations or meaning other than
as abbreviations The authors of
those letters, I.isa Clay-pool (ODE,
Fell 3) and Charles Lnchman
[ODE. Feb. 7). possibly do not
know what the word "Jap" means
to a Japanese-American.
f or myself, "Jap" means more
than just an abbreviation for
"Japanese." It was a derogatory
term used during World War II
to fuel hatred and distrust
toward anyone with an Asian
face. It was the last word heard
bv my uncle before he was run
down and killed in the street on
his first day of school. It con
jures up images of my family,
forced out of their California
homes to be shipped off to
internment camps. It reminds
me of their struggle of more than
50 years to regain what was lost,
every obstacle they faced and
every form of discrimination
they felt.
But "Jap" is not just a word
from the past. We hear it on this
campus whispered behind our
hacks, yelled at us on the street
or in threatening phone calls
recorded on answering
machines. When you use the
word ''|ap.'' you are not just dis
respecting me but every lapan
ese-American in this country.
"Jf’N," which is non-offend
ing, ran easily he substituted for
"Jap'' as it is used in the course
catalog.
Brandon Sugiyama
Asian/Pacific-American
Student Union
Dave’s no Duck
Open letter to Dave Charbon
neau:
We are writing this letter in
reference to your Feb. H article
in the Emerald about our signs
at the basketball game against
Cal.
First of all, I don't think that
you understand our true dedica
tion to the Oregon basketball
team. The signs weren't made to
get on television: they were
made to distract Jason Kidd and
take him out of the game men
tally. This is what some true
sports fans do at sporting events.
I jo you understand (erry Green's
sixth-man concept? F'very week
you rip on our basketball team,
vet you get annoyed when some
guys want to do something
about our team to make it better
We made five signs altogether
Two wore in support of Brion
Smith, wanting him to bo rein
stated. The fifth sign made no
reference to Kidd's features. I
personally think that the basket
ball team appreciates the effort
to support it. Why can't you see
it as something positive? So
from now on, leave sports to the
fans who really appreciate it'
Adam Aro
Ryan Maklnson
Quinn Vance
Students