Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1995)
EDITORIAL Student senators should retain seats The University Assembly Committee on Governance Reform, headed by associate fine arts professor Laura Alpert, meets today to plan a series of campus forums that will give students and faculty a voice in making changes to the University Assembly and University Senate. The assembly, a body of more than 1,000 members that includes faculty and the 18 members of the Student Senate, and the University Senate, which is currently made up of 36 faculty members and the 18 student senators, makes decisions on curriculum and other important Issues. These student senators provide the student body with an important voice in the work ings of the University. Currents have been stirring among faculty in both bodies to reduce half the number of students sitting on the University Senate Faculty, it seems, has lost respect for student representatives. A string of unrea sonable zealots have led some faculty assembly mem bers to conclude students are an impediment to responsible governam e Students will loso a valuable opportunity if the foibles of their forbonrers cost them these seats An education in democ racy ensures that students become responsible citizens capable of stepping into the lead* Kttslp roles tli.tt await them Redut nig the number of students on the University Senate runs contrary to this democratic ideal, anti deprives students of the oppor tunity to learn the mechanics of governing Strong beliefs poorly resoart bed and ardently pro moted endanger student representation. Too often, stu dent representatives have been under prepared, less than cooperative and ignorantly enthusiastic Last year Student Senator Hillary Aitken sat on the Assembly Committee on Multicultural Education that wrote the new multicultural curriculum requirement. Aitken impeded the pace of ACME by coming to meet ings without a thorough understanding of or. it seemed, a desire to grasp the important and complex decisions facing the committee. She compounded her ignorance by loudly insisting on her prejudgments — holding up votes and discussions with opinions she brought into the room, headless of the faculty mem bers’ reasoned debate. Current Student Senate President Martin Fisher is committed to changing the faculty's perceptions of stu dent representatives. He hopes the student senators will not sit together or vote as a block. By promoting the image of students as reasonable, open-minded adults rather than adolescent ideologues who blindly vote along popular lines. Fisher hopes to preserve the lB-soat student voices on the University Senate. Aitken should serve as a warning to this year's stu dent senators. Democracy requires more than simply voting your opinions. Responsible representatives must openly discuss and defend their opinions as well as voice them. Oregon Doily >0 BOI *»** 0*tG0N*'*v) TN» Canyon D*ty t AS t» p%4**Ned fJa^y tAjotoy through f r«fc»y during fho *cf»oorf >*«' ftrtd Tu«»d«*y tby»»d4> during !h« »urnm#r by I ho Oogon Da-<i f:m*raW KiOi*/vng Co . Inc At Px> Un»v*r*rty o> Ooyon. £ ugan*. O^gcm TNi l>n*t*Acl otmtmm mdaptntlantfy o« th# L>*vOT*y w*?h oflco* ai Suio 300 o» tho £»t> Marjory* Urnor> ana t« a o* tho A-MoevUod fN»w* TNl t m+akt d p*V«Hj property TH« umawhi removal or uH o< pap**t * pro*«u/labta by Ufm EdftoMn-Ottotf. KsH Soto tonor E<*uxt*i\anot Art Editor Editor tfdv*d I Horn NotO# (Wv« loti N*WI tllllw (porta Editor Supptawiama Editor Mk^>t EdHor Haoaara Mwnei On* Matt TnMa Mom LOR Oadmawu Commumty. T *lany Sown r*gnar f dkjcMxwv Adm«watraaon Mw ton. Staua Aatx»y Amy CeAsnbo. P* OaTy. Amy l Oauanport. Taafta l tnanaanar. Aoe t Utmada Porno Fontana. Odyta for mar' Onaaaphar For Matt G*ton. Gary Grau Joa Manaood. Kna Itarvy, T-auor Kaarne, Adam Mnchar, Sottnrm MjrU. Mart IrfcTyta. Ban Moatro* Sum Mo-agamar, Anna Maar Komla*!. Qvtahna Por-m*. CoAaar Poring,. SNary Harrwy Kata Satnxmn. Paul Vari S«wa. 'Wa T omaotut. K» Warn*. Bran Womack Oanara* Man agar Jody Mad Advamatng Oracle Mart WaAar Production Managar Mena* Boaa Advartiamg Anna Amador Arvla Borgaaa Marco Dung. Tony For. I no Harare. hkcota Harrmarv Jaramy Maaon. SaraP Mac ran Tom Mtlatolaar*. Waaa* Oaaalflad Barky MarrPant. Atanagar Joa SaAtrv Joct War OratrrtootKwv JoPr Long f wax ftakocp. Hargna /arena Buataaaa kafpy Cartlona. Suparwacv Judy Conors*, Production DnPAa UCott). Product*v> CodrdnaAx Shaama Afcare Tara GauAnay Brad Joaa. Jarvwtar Boland. Clayton Yaa >*♦-5511 *444511 H*w*foom Omc« D*kp4*> A4v«rtl*t»g *44-1711 Qmmnm) Atfvwuwng J444M ■ LETTERS Library needed A recount hits confirm**! that tin* munsurt to build a now Eugene Public library full short by a handful of voles in the November election. The margin of defeat was so narrow that the I MU precinct's under vole (ballots cast by voters who skipped this measure) * mild have easily (.hanged the out come. We would like to stress that the need for ft new public library will not go away. Of the State’s major cities, only Eugene has added no public library space since the 1950s In that time, the city's popula tion has more than doubled, and the public library's circula tion has increased by a factor of six. It is interesting to note that University students check out nearly as many books each year from the crowded. 1950s-vin tage Eugene Public Library as from the University's spacious, modern Knight Library. Many of the public library's popular novels, travel guides, children's books, and other materials are simply not available in a uni versity library designed for research purposes We would like to thank the hundreds of dedicated volun teers who gave their time, ener gy and resources in the recent library campaign. With each election. Eugene has moved closer to endorsing a bond mea sure. Uni longer Kugene (inlays building an adequate, cost effective. up-to-date public library, the greater tha need will b*Hiime. Ann* Carter President. Eugene Public Library Foundation Abortion wrong It seems ironic when I read today's front page {Register Guard. Dec 7) A man it being sentenced to death, having committed the crime of mur der. Vet there are so many who commit this crime and are not punished at all Men like the one who was the victim, in this particular (awe Murder is a particular kind of action. This action may not even cause a person's death for some time (infecting someone with AIDS, for example), but it in stiii murder V*>! at least one sui h action is still quite legal, nmf in rnanv i axes even sup porteil by our government against innocent Americans! When an action alters the future well-being of any huntan. a crime has been com mitted. So. a woman sits in a clinic today. If no action were taken, she would have a healthy baby in five months Yet in a few moments, a delib erate action will be taken to ensure that this is not going to be (he case, i agree, let's not delve into this woman's body. Hut in five months. I'm going to expect an investigation. Where is the baby? It was. by logical definition, murdered But not by the law of our once blessed country. I think there are lots of peo ple much more worthy of the death penalty than the man 1 read about today. And they would say the same thing "I’ve done nothing wrong.” Bob Wet get Eugene Care limited Jennifer Ulum, spokeswoman for Sacred JJeart General Hospital, repeated the mantra "Not on our time, property or by our physicians," when she explained hospital policy for bidding doctor assisted suicide [ODE. Dec 5). Three weeks ago another Sacred Heart Hospital spokeswoman. Bev Mayhew, intoned the same "Not on our time, property or by our physi cians" dictum forbidding artifi cial insemination or abortion. Both Ulum and Mayhew pref aced their comments with con cerns about meeting communi ty needs, but the reality is that the Vatican's sledge hammer is closing more doors to legal medical services. If physicians at Eugene Clinic and Women's Care PC are forced, financially, to join Sacred Heart they'll be forbid den from providing these three medical services. Citizens con cerned about Sacred Heart erecting unreasonable barriers to safe, legal medical t;are must make their voices heard. Urge Sacred Heart to put substance behind its so-called concerns about community health needs by at least not forbidding "its" physicians from providing these services at facilities away from the main hospital premis es Sacred Heart gobbles deeply from tin* pubih trough vla its tax exempt status as a ‘‘non profit" religious institution. Now it bites the very hands of the public from which it feeds - Call or write physicians at Kugene Clinic and Women's Care PC, Contact Sacred Heart to reverse its irresponsible stance that potentially prevents patients from seeing their own physicians for these medical services. Sacred Heart's monopolistic, oppressive attitude is akin to words spoken 1,995 years ago — "There's no room for you at the inn." Slam! Carol Barg Eugene Gender or sex? From the Pocket Oxford Dictionary. gender, n.. grammatical clas sification or one of classes (masculine, feminine, neuter) roughly corresponding to two sexes and Sexlessness From Fowler's Modern English Usage gender, n , is a grammatical term only. To talk of persons or creatures of the masculine or feminine g , meaning of the male or female sox, is either a jocularity (permissible or not according to context) or a blun der Contrary to popular miscon ception. words in and of them selves cannot he sexist, only genderish Similarly, an employer cannot hire or not hire on the basis of gender, but rather on the basis of sex. Furthermore, to insist that the gender of our words rigorous iy-not-loosely matches the sex of the items referred to is chau vinism. which Webster defines as "excessive devotion to a cause or ideal." A ship may lie (ailed she. the pronoun he may sometimes embrace a woman, and either sex may hold the position of chairman without requiring the change of his job title to a piece of furniture. Earl Gosnetl Eugene
