EDITORIAL
Include all students
in center’s mission
The debate over multlcultirralism has. at times,
divided this campus. At a University Assembly meet
ing last year, professors almost resorted to duking it out
because they disagreed on the subject.
Even with the emotionally charged debate that sur
rounds mulliculturnlism, voters on this campus last
spring approved an operating budget for the newly
opened Multicultural Center's first year.
The center opened last semester and members of the
big four student unions wore appointed to run the cen
ter. Wo applaud the decision to hire these people to
head the center. After ail, the center grew out of plans
and proposals from those same student unions.
This center was built with money from the now
defunct Incidental Fee Committee, which agreed to
kick in $50,000 and $50,000 in matching funds from
the University administration.
When the administration agreed to help build the
center, the only condition was the center would “raise
elements of different cultures up for review and discus
sion," said Cerard Moseley, vice provost for academic
support and student services.
Our hope is that tin* center will do just that
In a letter distributed by five MEChA members to
members of the Black Student Union, the Native
American Student Union and the Asian/Pacific
American Student Union, the authors wrote. “What
business do white people ... have being on the center's
board anyway." We hope this is not the attitude that
prevails at the center.
The directors of the center should see it a wav to
make all students, especially white students, aware of
the triumphs, struggles and uniqueness of other cul
tures.
Isn’t that what the struggle for mu It {cultural Urn is all
about?
Wo want every person of every ethnic background to
fool that his or her heritage is important and valued.
If wo shut the door on any one culture we close our
hearts and our minds to the value of that culture. They
will in turn shut the door on ours. We all have to live
in this country and on this campus together; the more
familiar we are with each other's struggles and cultures
the easier it will be to do so.
We are coming up on the Martin Luther King Jr. holi
day. King preached non-violence and oquality.
As a society we have not yet reached that goal, and
putting separatist policies into place will not help. It
will only make the chasm between the ethnic groups
bigger.
The Multicultural Center has the potential to be a
place of education and understanding for all students
on this campus. The name says it all: Multicultural,
being of many cultures.
We hope it will live up to its potential.
Oregon Daily
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■ OPINION
Sports get priority at University
Since !hi* recent exidement
over lho Rose How), it has
rx < um»d to me to express somo
i oncem over the pin of colloid
sports at the modern college
i am pus
The United States ns a notion
has always plan'd a high impor
tance* on sports in general, espe
cially football. The college com
munity doesn't seem to be an
exception It seems that sports
have a duproportionally high
place relative to the purpose of
the University.
College sports, foot twill specif
ically. appears to attract more
attention, both totally and
statewide, than any other col
lege event.
When was the last time peo
ple turned out by the thousands
to see the invocation of the new
University president or the com
pletion of the Knight Library
renovation?
From on informal perspective,
academics have been given a
Iwick seal to the college's sprawl
ing athletii s department
At the very least, we should
Ixs concerned because the word
"university," according to my
dictionary, means "an institu
tion for higher learning with
teaching and research facilities
constituting graduate and pro
fessional schools ...” the opera
tive terms being "learning" and
"teaching."
Yet, from what ! read in the
newspaper and from what I
know about the administration
of college sports, the University
is no longer for "teaching and
learning" — it is for "playing
and winning."
Still, it is comforting that the
school is propping their players
for life after college Students
are recruited aggressively from
high school to play on college
teams, tempted with scholar
ships These players aren't pur
sued for their intellectual abili
ty, hut for where they can place
the team in next year's playoffs
This can't be cheap for the
athletic department. Nor can it
be cheap for the University to
have students on campus that
were preferentially admitted on
condition they would play
sports for the school.
1 separate the two entities, the
University and the athletic
Pul VwSicKik
department because school ath
letics must I hi granted an enor
mous amount of independence
in order to have the budget and
power of admissions that it has
My freshman year. I e-mailed
former University president
Myles brand to ask him about
his salary He responded by say
ing when someone has obtained
a certain station and responsi
bility in life, it is often rewarded
with the appropriate compensa
tion In ms case, it was a
$ too.000 a year, plus housing,
etc
Football coach Rich Brooks
does similarly well, that is. in
the $100,000 range
1 wonder then, does his posi
tion in life and responsibility
reward him with such compen
sation!1 His responsibility is to
assemhle a college football
team and push them to an ath
letic performance that will win
a lot.
I don't want to belittle such a
responsibility, yet I am curious
as to what this elephantine
responsibility moans to the Uni
versity. Publicity? Money? Pres
tige? Aiadtunic improvement?
Tile answer to the latter is no.
Winning a bowl game does not a
great university make. Even the
millions given to the school
upon reaching Rose Bowl status
never saw the library, the
romance languages, or even the
school's highly rated biology
department.
Rather, i spw uloto the money
went to flying the team to
Pasadena, feeding them steak,
dinners and new band uniforms
for their appearance at the game
Still, I'm not bitter. I have nev
er been rnu< h of a sports fan,
particularly since I came to the
University. My concern steins
solely from the lack of connec
tion I see between college sports
From an informal
perspective, acade
mics have been given a
back seat to the col
lege s sprawling alhlet
ics department
and higher education.
The way I see it. a college edu
( ation is too expensive already
without resources being spent
on trying to get to the next bowl
game or becoming national bas
ketball champions.
i only wish some of that mon
ey could l»e reallocated for gen
eral student use. even for those
students who don't go to foot
hall games.
The ancient Romans promot
ed public games because they
would entertain the people and
keep them from causing trouble
in the city or otherwise inciting
rebellion What is the Universi
ty’s excuse?
Paul Van Sickle is a columnist
for the Emerald.
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