EDITORIAL
Packwood inquiry
necessary but late
Nearly throe years after The Washington Post pub
lished allegations of sexual misconduct. Sen. Bob
Par kwood is paying his duos.
The Senate Ethics Committee Wednesday released a
resolution outlining 1fi instances of alleged sexual
misconduct anti said it will pursue an investigation it
also found that Packwood may have violated Senate
rules by trying to find his wife a job and by altering the
contents of his diaries.
The committee will conduct a formal inquiry that
could include public hearings. If the committee con*
eludes that Packwood violated standards of conduct,
he may fnc e expulsion from the Senate or may lose his
chairmanship on the Finance Committee
It's about time. For the women who i laim P.u kwood
abused thorn, three years was too long to wait for an
investigation. There is no ext use for delaying any
inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct, espe
cially when the accused is an important public official
responsible for the welfare of tin* stale
Until this week. Pack wood's allegations wore almost
forgotten. When the Republicans gainer! control of the
Senate, Pat kwood was abb- to regain the f hainn.mshtp
of the finance committee. lie managed to improve his
public image and was positioning himself for re-elec
tion
Fortunately. the Senate Bthii b * Smualttw (topped in
tx>for« *1 "'.is too late. It s not fair to let Par kwood con
tinue with business as usual while more than a dozen
women claim he is guilty.
if Pei kwood Is innocent, in* should be able to con*
tinuo his work as our senator free of any accusations or
rumors Ho would do a mut h batter job as a senator if
ho is able to disprove the allegations.
The possibility that he may be guilty shadows any
victory ho makes on the Senate A formal investigation
is the only way to make suns our senator is worthy of
our support.
Pack wood’s accusers have faced a discouraging
fight They have been pushed aside by the Senate,
probably because of Packwood’s long outstanding
record. Their stories deserve more attention.
The accusations made against Pack wood are serious.
In one case he allegedly "ran his hand up the leg of a
dining room hostess and touched her crotch area." In a
case involving another woman, he "held her tightly
while pressing his body into hers and kissed her on
the mouth." Those are just two of IB accusations.
A thorough, hard-hitting investigation could clear
up misunderstandings and would allow Packwood
and his accusers to get on with their lives.
People in positions of power should not be able to
escape allegations like these. Elected officials are
entrusted with a great amount of responsibility and
should not he allowed to abuse their offices
An investigation is long overdue
Oregon Daily
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■ LETTERS
Why advertise?
I i (innot figure out whv Mr
(iechter would want to advertise
a Uh tun- by Mr Al-Asi through
a commentary (ODE. May 15)
that lie felt would be hateful Fur
ther, 1 do not understand why it
would take him one year to make
an allegation that Mr Al-Asi's
talk a year ago was hateful
He makes the claim without
presenting any quotes or evi
dence Without any transcripts
or tapes of his talk, it would be
impossible to confirm any alleged
allegations.
How can Mr, At*Asi he anti
Semitic as Mr. Hechter claims
w hen he is in fm ! Sermtii ? Is Mr
(.«*( liter assuming that a Pales
tinian is not Semitic because he
is not Jewish? That kind of think
ing in itself is prejudicial.
A university community
should value free spoor h and
have trust and confidence in
everyone's intelligence to hear
a lecture and form their own
opinions
Oppressive governments sui h
as Nazi Germany oppressed free
speech to enable and facilitate
their crimes against humanity,
lo oppress speech on the
grounds of being hateful opens
the door to stopping people from
speaking out when necessary.
I riti speech and human rights go
together and cannot lie separat
ed.
A free debate on l' S Middle
Hast polit v as well ns what is
happening in the Middle East
adds to the University commu
nity A debate should occur.
fo< using on ideas without dehu
manizing comments that ques
tion peoples' motives. Parties in
the Middle Hast conflict apjrear.
rather, to call each other names
than talk to each other ami
address their comments.
The campus community can
bring people from all sides on a
people level for dialogue. It may
just be possible to reach real
understanding of varied views
rattier than having party lines
from governments that have often
refused lo even talk to each oth
er.
Martin E. Lewis
Eugene
Why yell?
This letter is written to both
vent frustration and hopefully
provide at least a small insight to
members of OPEU of the stu
dents' report,ussions of the cur
rent strike
On Friday morning, l was sit
ting in my physics class in
Willamette Hall around 10:15
a m , when alt of a sudden an
enormous organized shouting
display begun to unfold in the
foyer, not more than 50 feet from
my classroom. Ibis continued for
approximately five to seven min
utes and it was the angry war
cries of OPEU strikers.
Although i sympathize with
and support the strikers, I find
this display highly inconsiderate
and, in fact, completely rude, due
to the fact that classes were not
only ill session, but ut least one
of them, mine in particular, was
in the middle of a fairly difficult
midterm exam
1 don’t think I need to say that
th.e shouting was not very con
ducive to test-taking This is in
fact, the second time one of mv
classes has been interrupted by
the shouts of the strikers How
ever, this time was the most frus
trating and disturbing A great
majority of the student and fat -
ulty population is supporting you
and your efforts to receive what
should rightfully tat yours, how
about a little support and con
sideration for us?
Chad L. Anderson
Psychology
Why not hemp?
1 would like to address Brian
Womai k in response to his edi
torial "Hemp legalization going
to pot" {ODE. May is) Regarding
hemp. Brian, you should do more
research before you publicize
such reckless opinions. Hemp
and pot are not the same species
■ LETTERS POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all letters
containing comments on topics of interest to the University
community.
The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or
style.
of plant It's not even feasible to
grow pot along with hump and it
is a myth that the legalization of
hemp would entail the legaliza
tion of marijuana.
Hut what if it did/ Matty would
su\ that the war on drugs in this
country is a war on our consti
tutional rights From what you
sav. it sounds like you would
favor even the prohibition of
alcohol if it was still feasible
Why stop there, though? Why not
prohibit everything that is poten
tially dangerous to individuals?
Maybe we should all use dull
point scissors for our own good
Maybe w e should outlaw down
hill skiing, surfing and hang-glid
ing.
Who needs freedom when we
could have a total police slate j
protecting us from ourselves?
That would be great. But as long
as the government is looking out
for safety so much, they should
also look hat k into hemp Any
one who has read the research on
hemp agriculture and the histo
ry on how hemp has been demo
nized by various business inter
ests in the United States can set*
how disturbingly naive your t ol
utnn was Don't buy that farm,
Brian.
Before the demonization of
hemp, it was used to make every
thing from paper money to cloth
ing to oil paint to the sails on the
Mayflower. Hemp is an Karth
friendly alternative to many of
the industries that are now ruin
ing the environment (e g petro
leum, paper, cotton). It can In
grown without pesticides and is
a high source of protein.
No. it can't he used to "build
tanks and construct stealth
bombers.” It sounds to me. Bri
an, that you would destroy the
Karlh to preserve what vou con
sider to be morality.
Bradley Butterfield
Comparative
Literature