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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1994)
EDITORIAL A new age for city if the voters allow it Anthropologists and historians are wild about ages. These are the folks who brought us the Stone Age. the Dark Ages, the Age of Reason and the Space Age. As his tory progresses, one age gives way to another, which is. in turn, supplanted by another, until we come to the pre sent day. And what do they call the age we live in tonay? The Information Age. The Eugene City Council, in an appropriate burst of informed reason, recognized this new age on Wednes day. as it approved a plan to include computer technol ogy in its plans for a new library In all. St.5 million of the new library's total price tag of $19 million will be earmarked for computer hardware and computer net work capabilities. Now. the Council has an even more important task ahead: it must convince the public of the need for the library, and it must do so before the May election That’s when the voters of Eugene will decide whether to approve a $50.2 million bond issue, which, if passed, will pay the cost of the library and a variety of other civic projects. Improving the library will require more than simply creating more floor space and adding more bookshelves. It will require just the kind of technological improve ments that the Council has outlined, as well as the capacity to expand when the time inevitably comes. That's why it is imperative that the voters realize the benefits of voting "yes" when they are faced with the bond measure three months from now. . Anyone who has used the facilities available in the University's Knight Library knows that the modern library can bo much more than just a repository of books. It is a research Mecca, a place where one can sit down in front of a glowing video screen and ac cess information that couldn’t be contained in a dozen libraries' worth of ordinary books. At the risk of sounding melodramatic:, public libraries are a pillar of democracy. Like the* public school system, libraries are a way to make people better citizens. The better the citizen, the bettor the city — state, country and world. Libraries can bo a groat equalizer as well. Many social theorists are saying that the gulf between the "haves" and the “have-nots'* is not so much a question of “Who has the money?" as "Who has the information?” If this is indeed the case, then the public library may be the only resource available which can help the "have-nots" shake off that title. There are few services that a city can provide which truly servo everyone. Efficient, modern libraries are among those few services. Hopefully, supporters of the library will bo able to make the case for a new library, and for the bond issue which will pay for it. They must inform the voters, so the public will be able to inform themselves. Oregon Daily Emerald PO DO I 3«V«J luCI»4t C«iCO»4 The C>agon Dw£y (rnmmkJ ts pubkshed Ja..'y Monday through f "day during the school ,o.i and Tuesday and Thursday dunng the summer by the Oregon Oa-ty Emerald Publishing Co , Inc at trie University ol Oregon Eugene Oegon The £ mwa*d operates independently ol the University with othces at Suite 300 ol the t n Memories Unron and s a member ol the Associated Press The f mweM is private property The untaertui removal or use o' papers s protocolafcky by e» Managing Editor Editorial Editor Graph tee Editor Fraetanca Editor EdIlor-in-Chlef: Jake Berg Sport* Editor Ca/tey Anderson David Thom Je" Pastay Jell Winters Editorial Editor Photo Editor Night Editor: Jett Supplement e« Pvddvardt ts Editor Sieve Mens Jett Pckherdi Mrchaet ShmdMr Katy Solo Aaaoclats Editor*, Edeard Ktoptenstem Student Government Artruhe* Rebecca Mernn Communtfy. Jute Seen sen Higher EdUcehorVAdminisfralon New* Staff: March Baucum, Enc Bock halter Wriaon Chan. Dave Charbonnaau. Jvn Davit. Meg Dedolph, Amy Davenport. Car* Echava/na. Malta Fratds. Martin Fisher. Sarah Henderson Heatheria Himee. Vm Lang Leong Manua Meland. Tntta Noel. Elisabeth Reenstywna. BoOtxa Reeves Le Satcicoa. Scott Srmonson Stephan.« Srsaon Susanna Start wit. Jute Seenawv iAchete Thompson Aguiar Kevin Tnpp Amy Van Tuyt. Oarvet Waal Oanaral Manager: Judy Red Advertlaing Director: Mart Waite Production Manager: MKhaie Rost Advertising Sub* Dutta Ncoe Herrmark Twesa Isabella Ja« Mar on Jwem, Meson Mrcheer Mulatto. Ftachaal Tru*. Kelsey Waken, Ange Wmdieim ---m—* gecky Mwchant. Manager Vidor Mays &m Tte Teck DlatrtbuUon: Andy Harvey John Long. Graham Srmpeon Sualnaea Kalhy Carbone Supervisor Judy Connolly Production: Dee McCcbb Production Coondnafor Sheene Abate. Greg Desmond. Tara Geoltney Brad Joss Stacy Urtochwt Jennie Roland, Natt Thangwja. Ctaylon Vea Neweroom__MMil 1 Diapiay Advertlaing.MMT1I •uemees Onto#..MMttl Cleeemed Advertlaing. MMW TH£ CAP^A'M HAS DETfcTtD A Lirnc 7u«8uL£Nce up Ahead, so he's made a suo»ht alt/tooe 7t> EAv»50«f A S"POTHER R'K. 6NjoV youfi FuW. »-c xm jw> j £>**v rxt gxAOu? /up^ TRAAJH^^CM/: VOOd, p,LOf /J ^ SU&JtCT 7D FAlf^TlNC SfiCiLS. OPINION Right to pray not guaranteed for students Marius Meland l ■ a he 1 S Senate just passed a law with an amendment .A. proposed In lilt- venerable |esse Helms, stating that the fed eral government has the right to withdraw funding from any pub lit school that denies its students the "constitutional right to prayer." I t»eg your pardon? I don't pre tend to he a legal scholar, hut as far as I remember, there's noth ing in the U.S. Constitution that could be interpreted as guaran tt>eing students the right to pray in school In fact. I even looked up the Constitution in 1993's "Almanac." and unless there have been any dramatic changes since Inst year, I fail to see when* Mr Helms and his colleagues found the legal support for their claim a proposal sui n as inis is, 01 course, to be expected from Mr Helms, whose policies aren't exactly what you'd call progres sive Mr Heims, who has spent decades in the Senate fighting cavil liberties and equal rights for women and minorities, is paid for and owned by the American tobacco industry. The only redeeming quality about the North Carolina senator is that he makes it somewhat less embar rassing to say that you're from Oregon, home of Bob Pack wood. Much more disconcerting than Mr. Helms' proposal is the wide support that it has received from the U S. Senate. Democrats and Republicans alike have wel comed his proposal in a time when the courts consistently have ordered students to restrict their religious practices to the pri vate sphere. Bear in mind that this is the same Democratic Con gress that was going to champi on civil rights and liberties after twelve years of Republican reac tionism. It's hard to explain why Con gress would suddenly embrace Mr Helms' ideas But here's a golden rule in politics: If you want to find out why a politician votes inconsistently, look to the lobbyists It you can't find any thing there, look to the polls In this case, the lobbyists are the powerful and financially strong Christian Right, and the opinion polls show that a vast majority of Americans support school prayers. Let's take a look at the Consti tution and see where the sup porters of this now law could find arguments for the right to school prayers. The First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establish ment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." The troublesome thing about the First Amendment is that the first and the second phrases could be interpreted as contra dictory. While an opponent of school prayers may emphasize the fact that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establish ment of religion.” a supporter would point to the fact that Con gress shouldn't prohibit ' the free even ise thereof " 1.fuming from previous mis takes. Mr Helms and his sup porters have been shrewd enough to try to avoiii violating the first part of the First Amendment. If. for instance, he had proposed that the government support Christian prayers in schools, he would have been in deep consti tutional waters. No matter how you interpret the Constitution, there tan be no doubt that it pro hibits the recitation of a prayer from a particular religion, such as the Lord's Prayer. But no, Mr. Helms is a lot smarter than that Rather than proposing outright prayers in schools, he appended to the law a subtle statement that the gov ernment could withdraw its funding from a school that denies its students what he calls the "constitutional right to prayer.” And prayer is defined more pre cisely as a moment of silence for reflection and contemplation. Mr Helms thought he was on the safe side, since the law doesn't favor a particular kind of religion, hut allows students of all religious persuasion to pray in school. But he seems to have forgotten one thing: Although various kinds of worship exist in all religions, the "silent prayer" is practiced most often in Chris tianity. Muslims, for instance, pray by lying down toward Mecca and reciting a certain formula Although it's true that medita tion is common in some Eastern religions, the classroom setting and the limited time will hard ly afford the students the kind of environment required for medi tation. More important, however, is the fact that allowing prayers in school would be unconstitution al Whether Mr. Helms's law discriminates against a particu lar religion or not is irrelevant. The point of the First Amend ment is not only that the govern ment shouldn't establish a par ticular religion, hut that the government shouldn't establish religion at all. I horn s a subtle difference between "Congress shall make no law regarding the establish ment of religion," which is what the First Amendment actually says, and "Congress shall make no law regarding the establish ment of a religion." In this case, one letter makes a great differ ence. If people want to pray, that's fino. They have a constitutional right to practice their religion But there's no such thing as a constitutional right to pray in school. Pray wherever you want, Mr. Helms, but please don't force your religion on school children. That's not only unconstitu tional, that's un—American. Marius Meland is a colum nist for the Emerald