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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1994)
EDITORIAL University should try to respect all faiths The University will be more hospitable to religious minorities in the future, if the Jewish Student Union can persuade the University to adopt a new policy dealing with non-Christian religious holidays The JSU has made a proposal to the University, which, if enacted, would allow members of religious minorities to be excluded from certain academic responsibilities that conflict with the observance of their more important religious holidays. Jewish students in particular have had difficulty work ing their faith around the University's calendar. Fall term final exams often occur during Uanukkah, forcing Jewish students to cut short their celebrations or do without them altogether. When the first week of classes in a semester conflicts with a holiday, more strictly reli gious students may be dropped from t lass rolls for not showing up — oven though their faith forbids them from going to class. Very few University activities are scheduled for Sun day, to accommodate those Christian students who cel ebrate that day as the sabbath. For Jews, however, the sabbath, or Shabbat. takes place every week from sun down on Friday to sundown on Saturday — a common time for the University to schedule activities Although Jewish students are responsible for initiating this proposal, they are not the only ones who stand to gain from it. Even Christians who may follow a slightly different < alendar, such as the Seventh Day Adventists, would be helped by a University policy which allows them to reschedule their academic responsibilities to make room for religious ones. It’s no accident that the University never schedules a final exam on Christmas Day. and it isn't lut k that keeps Sunday relatively free of required activities. The ac.ado mil. calendar is a product of Christian tradition, oven though it has since been secularized. (There’s no such thing as Christmas break anymore, but. wouldn't you know it. Christmas always seems to fall during the win ter vacation. Go figure.) The main objection the University has voiced about the proposal is that it might be abused. Certainly, this is possible. Some particularly unscrupulous student might take unfair advantage of the now policy by false ly claiming to be Jewish, or worse yet, by inventing some screwball religion (maybe the Church of the Extended Ski Weekend). But there are stops the University could take to minimize this risk First of all, the University could enforce a deadline for students to ask for exemptions or schedule changes, per haps by the third week of the term. This will prevent any last-minute abuses and give professors plenty of time to deal with the request. Additionally, independent religious leaders from the community should be consulted to determine which holidays are really important and what the proper obser vance of each holiday might entail. With these precautions in place, it should be possible for the University to respect the rights of students to practice tiieir disparate faiths. Since students are paying to attend, it's the least the University can do. ,,»„v Emerald po oo« tucna out gw i;*xs 1 ’>o I D»!y l -”1*,K):« putivbed deify Monday through I «lay during inn achoo year and Tuesday and Thursday during ms summer by me Oregon Oa > Emiva'd Publishing Co . tnc al the Un,vervty ol Oregon. Eugene. Oregon I be Jmew operates .ndependentty ot me University eeth ol Suae MO of die [ ib Memorial Union and a a member ol tbe Associated Press the Emerald <» private property Tbe unlandui removal ot use of papery i prover:,.nave by ia» Managing Editor Editorial Editor Graphic* Editor Fraalanca Editor Edllof-ln-Chm Ji»e Borg Caflfy A.ndofiOf David Thorn JoH Putty Jtf*i Wimers Sports Editor Editori*t Editor Photo Editor Supplements Edita Ntgnt COMO*: u«vkj mom S*»V« J«f1 Ptcfcfwdl M* ru*w Slvrvito K«Jy Solo Associate Editors, tdward Klopfanston. StMtonl Uovommpnt Acf»v»f>a* Mcv'm. Community Ju>*e SwaAsan, High* EJuc*t*on< Administration News Staff Madefy Baocum. F'»c Bucfchaite' Wilson Chan Dav« Chartoonnaau. Amy Colombo J(f Oav.s Meg Dedolpf' Am, Oevwwn Cara Ecnevan*. Mala Fouls Martin I .,inr S»an Honda*•o'’ tleal’ie"® dimes Yin tang leong Manus Merand Tnsta Noer. 1 iisabotn H<wnsl|wr.a. Robb.® Reeves. b» Sakinxia Scon Simonson Stephan* Sr saw Susanne Slogans Ju*Ki Swan son Mchere Thompson Aguiar Kevin Tipp Am, Van Tuyl. Darnel A«s! Genera* Manager Judy Han! Advertising Director Mars A aim Production Manager Mcheie (toss Advertising Sut»r Dutu Nccxe Herjmars leresa IsabeKe Jen Man. Je-em, Mas M. • ;kt Mii'-eTte Rachael Trull Kelsey A re I*r Ang* W-xmenr Classified Betsy Merchant AAmagre Victor Mena. San ire Tecs Distribution And, Harvey Jonn Long. Granam Simpson Business. Kath, Carbone Suparv cv Jud, Connoa, Production. Dee McCobb Producton CoorcSrianor Sneena Aoew Greg Desmond, lara Gauitne, Brad .toss Stac, Mtchei: Jennifer Roland, Raft thangviit. Dayton Vee Ntwtroom 34f5S11 346*5512 Dtsptsy Advertising ClMUfUd Advertising MMW r WE ARC NOW QtOiNQ, To 'w€L/AQ£/ To £^0 THt PATTTQsj rnm HU rtDTJ (uS? of dependence and Foster self -reliance . run ye as. 7v£ /rev rnT7 iTTsi rvITi rrm /s WOftK. n i »■> M3UV MOW/VC, PEOPLE OFf lv£LPAft£ *oL<_S /A/FO JOffT. rrm rtn>. (SB? rtJOW. fAEMlI/XJUL JOBS UNLUCZ B£foA£. fiitHTA,UAV. TWS 7)M6 foA SoX?£... run fTLD /iCi ftED It’s time to end Welfare Preform as we.know it. ■ *7tU <•*<-£) IT’S BfOOMt A WAV Of U?f ~~i lJ OPINION USSA needs to take responsibility Robbik RhU> Hang up the phone, and cancel the arrangements for the conventions It's tune for the University branch of the United States Stu dent Association to he more accountable for its spending Ac ‘ ording to a rei ent art ic le in the ()regon Commentator, the USSA has freon given almost Slti.out) in iiu idental fees for the 1993-94 sc hool year (Actually, it originally received $10,000. but the Incidental Fee Commit tee gave it another $5,800 in a spec ial request in October) But what has the USSA done with this money? According to finan cial records, it tins spent all but about $3,000 ot it. |ust more than halfway through tin* year It's true that the money was appropriated to be spent, but the expenditures tell an interesting story USSA tins managed to spend 5700 on long-distance phone calls, about $500 more than it should have. Among this total are several five-hour phone calls made by former ASUO Vice President Diana Collins Puente While no one is really sure whether these calls were of a business nature (they were made to Michigan, where she allegedly has a boyfriend, but don't assume anything). Collins Puente should be congratulated for her stamina After all. not everyone c an talk, on the phone that long It must have lieen an interesting conversation I don't want to pic k on Collins Puente She is not the only per son responsible for the large phone bill Another USSA mem ber has already reimbursed the A SI'() for long distance person al calls made on Ins USSA long distance account I know, communication with others is an important part of running a group on campus, and the telephone is one wo\ to do it However, may I suggest an alternative? The U S Postal Service has this thing called a stamp, which can bo put on a letter, and they will deliver it anywhere in the nation The best part is that it costs only 20 cents per letter! If only all of life could Ik* this simple The USSA has apparently also spent thousands of dollars on conventions I would imagine that it would lie a pretty ground breaking < onvention to have pis tified spending a good chunk of the budget on it Maybe it could be worse We could all he pay ing to send USSA mem tiers to a monthlong convention in Tahi ti this summer, 1 suppose. Maybe I am misunderstanding the concept of a student organi zation I've always believed that an organization that is funded In student fees should somehow contribute something back to the student bod) Maybe a speaker here, a program there, but some thing from the group that could possibly justify the expenditure of scarce funds. instead, the USSA is spending (or. more specifically, over spending) its budget by talking on the phone and going to con ventions. This might be a group that I'd like to join Imagine — your phone bill covered by student fees (as long as you hush up the fact that the calls are personal) and being able to go to a few con vent ions. 1 wonder why the University branch of USSA doesn't have thousands of mem bers. The USSA seems to have lost grasp of a fairly fundamental economic concept It’s called a budget If a group is appropriated $200 for long distance calls, it shouldn't spend $700, or even $201 for tin- phono bill. The group should spend no more than $200. If, however, more money needs to be spent (and granted, we can all probably relate to a time when our phone bill was $500 more than usual), why can't the members of the group chip in a little something to cover the cost ol the differ ence (or, for those of us without connections, what would nor mally be called “overdrawing an account")? Belter the people that make the calls pay rather than the entire student bodv The remaining $3,000 of mon ey that the USSA has was frozen bv the ASUO finance coordina tor last week, in a long overdue move. If anything good comes out of this, it would hopefully be that student groups should be more aware of the fact that they are not just spending money given to them by the University, hut money given to them by the stu dents of the University. And while 1 am cognizant of the fact that student fees pay fur many good things here on campus (and that funding I have no quarrel with), I have better things to spend my money on than five hour phone calls from a group that goes to conventions but doesn't do a lot around um pus I’m singling out the USSA now, but I'm sure that there are other examples of misuse of stu dent funds around campus It might be even worse than this. The point of this column isn't to put down the USSA. I'm sure that there are many people who belong to the organization because they truly believe in what the USSA stands for. My point is that the financial orga nization of the USSA is shoddy at best, and there definitely needs to bo changes if the USSA even wants to be considered in getting funding again next year. After all, it is our money. Hobbit1 Reeves is a columnist for the Emerald.
