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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 11, 1994)
EDITORIAL New policy on Haiti will assist refugees Although Haiti’s authoritarian government isn't like ly to be affected, a change in the U.S. polity toward refugees of the small island nation represents a step in the right direction. President Clinton announced this weekend that the Navy and Coast Guard would no longer bo required to turn back boats of Haitian refugees, as the old policy dictated. Instead, the boats will lie directed to a specif ic location (as yet unnamed) on American soil where passengers' applications for asylum will be processed. The processing center will be charged with the task of determining whether the refugees are fleeing Haiti for political or oca It is important that the U.S. remain a country open to those who are politically persecuted. nomtc reasons, Political refugees may bn granted asylum and allowed to remain In the United States. Economic refugees will be returned to Haiti. The plight of the "boat people" has been played out in dramatic fashion on TV news programs. Many refugees have endured tragic hardships in crossing the 200 miles of water that separate Haiti from the southernmost tip of Florida Some have died in the process; others have made it almost all the way on tinv, crowded, almost unsea worthy c raft, only to 1m* turned back in the last few miles Now they won't 1m* turned bat k, either in the last few miles or the first few at least not by Amerit an ships Many refugees eventually will be forced to return any way. if it is determined that they are fleeing Haiti for eco nomic reasons only, but at least now thos.* few individ uals with a legitimate case for political asylum will be given a hearing out. It is unfortunate that the United States can't be a haven for ail the refugees, but Haiti has the lowest standard of living of any country in I-at in America. If America opened its doors to all who wished to enter, the inundation of immigrants would have serious negative repercussions in those states forced to accept them But it is important that the U.S, remain a country open to those who are politically persecuted and Haiti has a lot of those Since the overthrow of Haiti's first demo cratically elected president. )ean-Bertrand Aristide, in 1991, the military government of Haiti has continued to suppress its opponents' voices in the country Those individuals who run the risk of being imprisoned or worse for nothing more than their opposition to an illegal government, should have a place here. But that shouldn't be the end of the story The Unit ed States and the rest of the world community need to adopt harsher sanctions against Haiti to help bring about the return of Aristide to power. Only then will the polit ii al refugees stop coming; only then will the e< onomy of 1 iaiti he allowed to grow and raise the standard of living for Haitians; only then will the economic refugees stop coming. Oregon Doily Emerald rT-TTTHTTTnr Managing Editor Editorial Editor 0/«p^ic» Editor F raaianc© Editor t^« QriQ&n 0*Jy Emerald » pubfeshed da->» Monday through f ' day during (ha v *. • yea? and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Da<*> Emerald Pu&fcshmg Go . Inc . at the Un*veriA> of Oregon Eugene Oregon The Fmore*? operate*. independent^ o' ?h# U- varsity w*n othcee a? Sort# 300 o* *?'e £rl> Memorvat U<v-on and r» a member 0* f*e Assooated Pims The imtufinKl <t private property The un4Mr*u ’«mov* or use of papers .» proaecuta&e Editor*irvChl#f Ja*»e Be*g CaAey AAdarsn Sports Editor Survey s Davd Tr>or Editorial Editor j*»f! P<*hard! JoffP&say Photo Editor Kt> hae Srvndw A ,w a Baum Supplements Editor K»?y Soto Night Editor: Catay Anderson Associate Editors l dward Kiopten*!** Sfufenr G£?*#rn^<r{ Act* '*** Rebecca Merntt Commun-fy Meathehe Hunn, Higher f Joc*t<on. A&n-m&at*an News Staff lev Be?’. •*>** A son Cf v' Dave Chartxyvvnau Amy Co-u -•bo jw D*v n Mag Oedolph. Amy Devenpo't T ash a E*ch#nsehe*. Ma a F>#»de. Mar ho f she* Sarah Henderson Yin l eng leong. Su/anne Marta M«f!u* Me1 and Tr.sta Nee! f sabeth i)M'"s, wf'a. Robb*e Heaves m:p Sabour n. t»a Sai . a Scott Simonson. Stephana S»saon. Susanna SttNnt McNdMi Thompson. Amy Van Ti , Den**; West General Manager Judy Rk*J Advertising Director. Mark A a.! nr Production Manager M»che»e Rota Advertising B a- Da* s S.-b*' Dutta N-co'e HerimarV Teresa Isabel J«f? Ma- on .‘eremy Mason M*. hae» M one, Kelsey AeSw Classified: B«>. Merchant. Manage/ V<* M»* a $*m Tie T*> Distribution: John Long. Ferenc RakOCJ Graham S«mpson Business. Kithy Carbone. Supervisor Judy Conno#y Production Dee McCobt EVodUfon C<x*iMn*kv $h**na Abee Greg Desmond Tara GauHney. Brad Joss. Jenry.% Rpianc. Na?t Thangsnpt. Dayton y«e Newsroom 3465511 Display Advertising >46-3712 Business Office 346-5512 Classified Advertising 346-4343 „?£«. ME.GA Mac,^om n'ART I 1 In America we don’t Have to stand in line. ■ , I a ;A * J 1 "W !!.“■*■ M'-'. wf iiT STILL WWU.E Ol/ft - cct-v^uNiTitS TVQN i^iTO nvS i k LETTERS No killing ! would 11L<* in lake issue with !• statement made b\ Michael in a recent Emerald article about kidney donation [OPE April 21). Jette's comment that Sat red Heart "makes a killing" on dialysis couldn't be further from the truth Dialysis (the process of mechanically filtering blood — a task usually performed h\ healthy kidneys) is, in fact, one of several services that the hospital provides to patients for which it receives relatively little com pensation For the fiscal year ending June 30. too t, for example. Sacred Heart lost $1-03 million serving dialysis patients Previous years' statements tell a similar story Hardly a killing, as Jette suggests but nonetheless a service we will continue to provide us long as there is patient need Beverly Mayhew Director, Public Affairs & Communications Sacred Heart Health System Think again In his letter. "Don't talk" {GDI'. April 22) Matthew liasek makes it painfully dear that he is iII atlvised as to what equality real ly is Matthew lielieves that since there are no physii ally chat longed members in thegreuk s\s tem. we don't know anything a trout "lack of sensitivitv Well, the truth is that Matthew is ignorant as to what the greek system is all about. J can't speak for the greek system as a whole, but 1 can assure you that the rea son Matthew did not receive an invitation to join Sigma Phi Fpsilon was not because of any physical characteristics. When Matthew came through Fall Rush three years ago it seems he had a desire to prove the stereotypes right. He didn't When he entered the house, he was loud and abrasive to all of us, he talked about women in ways we don't tolerate and made it clear that he only wanted a place to party. No man would receive an invitation behoving in this manner and thus no further explanation is needed. However. with views as skewed as Matthew's I w rite Sigma Phi Epsilon stands for three cardinal principles, one of which is virtue To hold virtue is to keep alt relationships honest, never using another person Invit ing Matthew to join regardless of his inexcusable behavior would go against everything we trelieve. Matthew closes his letter. "If you can't walk the talk, then don't talk!" This leads me to believe that he wants to he accepted for his physical attrib utes, not as an equal When Dis ability Awareness Week came around and thegreek system got involved, getting ridiculed is not w hat 1 would have expected A simple thank you would have been Sufficient Lee H Kole Exercise and Movement Science Invisible When I ivroll- inv letter, 1 assumed some would question it But because 1 wrote to student newspaper, do you assume that I am hall your age' M\ political career began in lb'H. when, aged 15,1 went dix>r to-door educating voters about a California ballot initiative designed to outlaw gav and les bian teachers 1 participated ill the Harvey Milk Riots by rolling polo e curs Mv two Ixwt friends form high school, with whom I shared these experiences, died from AIDS more than 1(1 years ago Yes, many names have been used for ga\s and lesbians, and each offended some who are called those names. But truth fully. no one individual is aver age. and a huge range of behav ioral variations are all normal At 30 and with long hair, 1 share your campus invisibility I wear my life-long clothing pref erence: tiaggy pants, t-shirts and flannels—that now peg me as an aging grunger Ironically, this was the lesbian "uniform" when 1 came out. The uniform changes with each generation, and I’ll pass on piercings or short hair. But when my life partner and 1 hold hands in Valley River Cen ter, we <ire anything but invisi ble. Betsy McCluer Pre-journalism Wotton Ward 4 A very important decision ln< es voters of Ward 4. a choice between Peter Wotton and Lau rie Swan so ti -< rihskov for Eugene Otv Council These candidates are easily dis tinguished on the basis of crucial environmental issues, such as the ozone initiative, Peter supports it and Laurie opposes it, along with the others who charge it is redundant. Don’t la* deceived by this argument. The federal gov ernment has an established record of poor regulation in the face of well financed lobbying efforts. ff the measure is redundant, why are the makers of CFCs. which destroy the ozone layer, contributing large sums of mon ey to defeat the measure in Eugene' We are carrying out a dangerous, unnecessary, and poorly advised experiment on our earth; while humans who are not careful may get melanoma, animal and plant life t-an't put on straw hats (lharlie Ogle, diair of the Many Rivers Group of the Sierra Club, states. "Peter Walton is the supe rior i andidate by far " Wotton is also endorsed by Commissioner )errv Rust and the League of Con servation Voters Wotton imposed a campaign limit of $5,000 for his campaign, with no contributions over $50. Swanson-CiribsLov is spending more money on her campaign than both the candidates togeth er s|H*nt in the 1090 Ward *t elec tion She said she would limit individual campaign contribu tions to $50. but has accepted "in kind" contributions in excess of this limit. I intend to vote for Wotton because he has thought deeply nl>out the important issues fac ing city government and will he an effective proponent of a more liv able Eugene Howie Bonnett Biology
