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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1994)
EDITORIAL Students must help prevent tuition hikes (jotting an education used to bo about acquiring knowledge in all of its abstract and concrete forms. Stu dents studied subjects ranging from literature and phi losophy to quantum mechanics and organic chemistry. Along the way. students are supposed to grow into ma ture. responsible adults who have the life experience to complement their education. Since the passage of Measure 5 in 1990. the lessons being taught in higher education in Oregon have all been about money. Specifically, how are the public col leges and universities going to get more of it? On Friday. July 22, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education approved the 1995-1997 biennial budget pro posal. which includes a 9 percent tuition increase for residents, a 3 percent increase for nonresident under graduates and an 18 percent increase for nonresident graduate students, h also contains a $50 per term tech nological resource fee the University will charge begin ning this fall. Student lobbyists called on student leaders from Ore gon's schools to say “enough is enough" and demand that Governor Barbara Roberts "put more money into the higher education budget and to earmark that mon ey so that the proposod 9 percent per year tuition Increase could bo 3 percent per year instead." This is a nice thought, but there is no concrete source for this money, which is predicted to come from taxes and the lottery. This Increase is a slap in the face for resident students who have stuck it out with an Oregon school because they didn’t think the state would really sell them down the river. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has hap pened. But asking the already emaciated state govern ment for money it does not have yel is not going to help. Neither is blaming the State Board of Higher Edu cation. In light of Measure 5. innovative solutions are few and far between. Right now the board is considering a proposal for using a system of differential tuition (tuition would vary from school to school, dependent upon market forcos) and a proposal to turn the whole system into a public corporation. The issue should not be brought down to a "Give us more money” situation. With so many Oregonians mak ing the samo cry. it is doubtful that anyorto would hear the students’ demands. Students should play a more active role in keeping the cost of a college education down. If we were not creative people, seeking a better world for ourselves and those who come after us, we would not have embarked on the incredible, albeit bumpy, journey of education. College years are one of the only times in life when people are allowed to spend a majority of their time just contemplating without creating something concrete. It is possible that somewhere in some public university in Oregon there is a person who is going to develop a cure for AIDS or a person who is going to figure out a way for us to preserve more of our precious natural resources. If this tuition increase makes you angry, but angry is all you are. and you are not motivated to try to find a better solution, you had better be prepared to get angri er. This is only the beginning. But. if you are truly a stu dent, you will at least try to find a better solution. If you can come up with something hotter, the President's office is in johnson Hall. Oregon Daily Th« Oregon Datfy fmnild 4 published da*y Monday through Friday during t.Ne *;Nx* yea* and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oagon Da»ty Emerald Pubfcahtng Co Inc . at the University ol Oregon, tuger*e. Oregon Jh# t operates .odependentty ot the Unrvenuty mth arices at Su*e XX) of the Frt) Memorial Urvon and a member o» tne Aoeocutfed Press The f % private property The uniowtut removal or use of papers ,» prosecutable by law Editor Kaly Soto Associate Editor* Meg Oedotph Lie Safcxo*. David Thom Photo Editor Mchaerf Sh«xfer Night Editor. David Thom Gener al Manager Judy feed Advertising Director Mar* Warier Production Manager Mchete Roes Advertising Brian Daw Sub*r Dutt*. Tony fo* Jeri Manon k*chae< Msiade Classified Becky Merchant. Manager Business Kathy Carbone. Suoerytecv Distribution. John long, f erenc RaKoc^< Production Dee MpCobfe. Production CoonJnaitv Tara Geuriney Newer00m — -*46-5911 Display Advertising..3463712 Business Office.346-5512 Classified Advertising 346-4343 PO 00 Emerald ltX*f »4 0*»f GOh LETTERS Zionist fascism Semper fi: For the U S. Ma rines used as cannon fodder during the Israeli retreat from Beirut. Let's avoid the obscuring nature of /.ionist hype and con sider the real issue the nature of the Jewish state Israel chose the model of a centralized autocratic regime with nationalistic policies, regi mented industry, commerce and finance, censorship and sup pression of opposition. Web ster's defines tins as fascism Similar Western nations were Italy under Mussolini and Ger many under Hitler. The Zionists have likewise pursued an aggressive military policy against the racially arid culturally different residents of Palestine. It began as simple ter rorism, including the massacre of most of the Palestinians in Deir Ynsim in 1947. This c o incided with the U N -sanc tioned division of Palestine into the tillable Jewish section, leav ing the Palestinians with Gaza, the underdeveloped heights of Judea and Samaria, and the bar ren West Bank. The atrocity incited hundreds of thousands of Arabs to flee for safer havens, freeing up yet more real estate for the evergrowing Jewish pop ulation. This caused the problem of the stateless Palestinians, refu gees and victims of Zionist oc cupation tactics. Isn't it obscur ing the issue to ignore the Camp David accords? How about the listing for the Inst eight years of Israel as one of the worst abusers of human rights by Amnesty International? The same eight years of the Intifada "uprising"? All the while the Zionists continue to suck at the pork barrel of U S. deficit financed foreign aid. See The Lobby: Jewish Political Power and American Foreign Policy, by Edward Tivnan. Let's not obscure the issue. We fought World Wrar II to wipe out the German and Japanese versions of fascism, but with the PC' Israeli brand, we just throw money at it. Semper fi. Donald Stowman Eugene Enlightened From Stephen Crawford's July 19 commentary (ODE), it would seem ho believes certain fudeo Christian beliefs should bo overtly given the weight of law by the U S. government. It seems he thinks that only those rights which ant "God-giv en," i.e., that are acceptable to the religious doctrines that he defines as "Christian,” should be protected by the Constitution, and that he agrees with the con servative, Reagan appointee jus tices that lesbian and gay peo ple, making love in the privacy of their own homes, can be made by a state into criminals. It was the ideas of the en lightenment that served as in spiration for the Constitution. These were ideas that were gen erally anti-trad it ion/religious/ superstitious in nature People were starting to think that they could question their cultural traditions, and look at the world, their societies and their selves as they actually are. rather than as tradition says that they are supposed to be — and that they could think about these things rationally. Where the law succeeds, it succeed* because it dews this — it tries to look at the world as it actually is And where it fails, it seems to fail because it comes from people's preconceptions, dogmatic belief systems, mis understandings. greed, or poli tical expediency. The Constitution is a great document because it was based on the idea that if you could see the world as it is. and think well about it, you could make a better society It is great because it broke with tradition, and pro posed new, bold ideas, not because it was based on any par ticular religious doctrine. It went beyond the majority. Christian mores of the time, whic h allowed for such things as the genocide of Native Amer icans, slavery, child abuse, witch burnings, and the exclu sion of women from political and economic power, and it told people that there can lac a place where they can speak, think, and live without fear of oppres sion. It continues to say this, to everyone. Ben Iglauer Computer and Information Science Freedom Open lotttir to Stephen Craw ford (ODE. Fuly 19): I certainly hope you do not preach philosophy like you preach history. The framers of the Constitution did indeed have religion in mind; that is why they definitely state the separation of church and state and why the three sections of our government — legislative, judicial and executive — exist. They realized that in the heat of passion crowds can vote for the moment and so the other branches can rein in discrimi nation and mob rule. This coun try was founded by people, who were escaping the turmoil of repression in the Old World and fleeing here to begin a new endeavor of personal freedom. The majority does rule in most cases except when it tries to run over the individual rights of others. I am sure the Church of England and the Roman Catholic; Church agree that to distort the context of documents is despicable but they must change and correct past injus tices (civil rights, woman's suf frage and the abolition of slav ery). Any attempt to force u partic ular narrow religious viewpoint on others through the establish ment of "law" is theocratic, not democratic. You have the right to believe in and practice your religion, but you do not have any right to pass any judgment or infringement upon my right to practice and believe some thing different If you think homosexuality is a sin. then do not do it. I douht that you are without sin. and therefore can cast the first stone. 1 think you will find that the laws of America go back to Creek, Roman. English and ludean law. not Christian. You should rediscover history and philosophy. Remember, reli gious freedom is freedom of — and from — religion. James Dean Poynor Eugene
