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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 25, 1995)
VIEWPOINTS EDITORIALS. OPINIONS. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR House Republicans feed the arts to the market ■ OUR OPINION: Cutting the Nt A just sacrifices culture for power Last week, the Republi ( an-imt House of Represen tatives approved a hill that would rut federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts hv *t() pen ent. and phase out all funding for the organization hv 1‘t‘JH Although th«* House defeated an amendment that would cut the NEA budget by an additional 510 million and speed the demise of the organization, the original hill now lands in the lap of the politic ally polarized Senate The modern attiu k on government funded art has been an annual occurrence sine e l'lH'l, when Sens Alfonso 1.)’Amato and Jesse Helms staged their "moral outrage" on the Senate floor over NEA funded pho tographs by Robert Map plethorpe and Andres Surra no. Hoi .him* of tho controver sy o\ i«r "anti (ihr ist ian ami "obsi ono" imagery. tho NKA has l>ec:ome fused in tin* minds of many Amorii ans with loft wing, elitist art Conservatives hold up art they oppose as an example of the disintegration of morality and family values In tho bipartisan battle for America's soul, the NHA has become an expedient scape goat for Republic ans However, controversial art accounts for only a minis rule percentage of the Nl'.A budget. The Mapplethorpe exhibit cost each Americ an the staggering sum of one sixteenth of 1 percent of a single penny The largest percentage of the NEA's budget is alloc al ec! to media arts, museums, theaters and contributions to state arts programs. Since its formation under the Johnson administration, the Nh.A has been responsi ble for free or suggested donation admission to museums across the coun try. While* conservatives con tinue to paint publicly fund ed art as welfare for the rich, attendance re< ords from national museums suggest otherwise in 1952. before tin* founding of the NKA. fewer than seven of every 100 Ameri< ans v isited a museum in a given year H\ 1988, thanks to art education in public schools, free admission and more than 1,800 new museums across the country, annual museum attendant e had increased to almost 31 per 100 Americans. Between 1965 and 1975, the NKA more than doubled the number of orchestras and literary magazines and quintupled the number of claim- i ompanies in the 1 ■nited States The organiza tion and the state art pro grams it supports are responsible for hundreds of thousands of public foun tains. sc ulptures, murals and theater performances in c:itv parks across the nation. Most important, only U> pen onl of the Nl-.A's budget is derived from federal funds In fact, tin* United States spends less money on public: art than every other Western nation exc opt Ureal Britain. As such.the taxpayer will f»*el no economic tremor from the fall of the NKA, but the cultural chasm will he immeasurable If the bill becomes law. America will not be losing homoerotic photographs or avant-grade performance art Instead, we will witness the ater and museum closings, high admission prices to orc hestra performances and a downward cultural spiral. As the arts become only accessible to the wealthy, the middle and lower class es will wade through tin* muc k of made-fur TV' movies and lowest com mon-denominator program ming. In offec t. the defunding of the NKA will transform the arts into the elitist entity that Republic ans already accuse them of being. The Oogon Da^y i meraid s put*shed darfy Monday through V>«iay durwg We schoo* >*kV end T wO-sday and Thursday dur«ng We by the Oegon Oa^ I «*-«f aid PuCAsftmg Co Inc ei we U<werMy of Oregon, Eugene. Oregon The Emerald operates independent*? o* the Urvve»sdy ivth oKktl a! So<?e 300 ctf the fcrto We*” ■ U»vh" *>•! »* a •• O'^he* * t»ve Aiaooatad Pttts The t "<wat»;t ■-* private property The urvaefu* r«*?t*ov*i or use o* pHpet *9 proSnoutatAe try i#* Editortn-ChteT 0:»><J Try Associate Editors W.i- eiene $ .n*.v.h Sar-anlhe Mter* ■ Ra ?-=ey. Sea?- S*' w Designer Sieve-■ Astxif > Photographer TV .» **. . Night Editor Davxl Tt v General Manager Judy H*kj ! Advertising Director M.i » «V.t ■<• Production Manner M -’ «-•<? Ri ss l Advertising Aj e a •• **.■ ■ tee Y#i 1W*. 3, - .’ Qober. tu-athe- Jo» *\sSon. Ke#»y l ys - T»**\» I Shanaman j Classified HecAy Mrw •..».•■ M.» ’^rv Production: Ra v j«y . ter Ma>ond Buimm r '' ■ A k ' ■ Distribution > ■' g I ©•«.-'■ ««■ *,*■ Newsroom 340-5511 Display Advertising 340-3712 Business Office 346-55t2 Classified Advertising 346-4343 Vugon Oarfy Eme/aid Tuesday, July ?S 199S 2 r n/ESE PEOPLE /A/ MOLLVWOOD //AVE SCX.Q 7"HEtR SOULS fOft TONES' AAJO CAftE^ ^DVAMCE^lEA^ r GREAT BOB/ AMO WERE AQ£ THE. EnDoRSE^NTTS AMO HON£Y YOu WANTED ) dole; foS. PREVDE.VJT (boS\ 0 4 ✓ Wl'vt P*ACT/CAUY l GA'/^C TMf W>*Xf WWi.0 LETTERS Butterfly hum file i*. a series of moments a beautiful symphony like the munan h butterflies and drag onflies that dance past the Knight I.ibrarv s windows, enjoying the California pop pies, butterfly bushes and other wildflowers Violin solos, piano re< iinls, jar./ that hums out of the muse depart rnent. the elegant architecture of Willamette Mall and the (as tie (I)eady Hall), the endless characters of faces of people as they play their multi-roles — if one hurries, he or she just might miss it1 Appreciating life's precious "gems'' can add such a richness and priceless meaning to the daily routine. Is there mystery and magit — the other half of the "logical" — in your world ? Do you make time m your hectic schedule for finding the treasured seashells in the sand? In peace, K C Prtmbs Journalism Get over it Somehow I cannot remem ber another war in history when people looked for their missing-in action relatives lor 20 years alter the peace It is bordering on the absurd. "We don't make peace or start up relations with the enemy. Vietnam, until they tell us all they know about our missing ” That is quite a task’ Can you imagine this sce nario for Anzio, Iwo lima or the D-Dav Iieac lies' Soldiers died there by the thousands honor ably. but we never could account for all of their bones to burv in the United States This identification of bones and teeth has become a lucrative industry that is costing the tav payers millions. I admit I did not have a rela tive killed in a war. but I would never dream to demand a searc h for my grandmother’s hones in Auschwitz We need to he done with this sick chap ter in American history It appears as if Americ ans have not Inarm'd over the years from that war, and they speak, of it in the same terms as before |ust what made this a righteous war' It was such an awful waste of valuable human life on both sides, and it proved nothing M< Narnara s liook (and oth ers) opened up new angles that an* hart) to swallow after all these years but not unknown to many of us at the time If lead ers and the top brass did not know what the war was alxnit, how could the foot soldiers or the U.S public? It is high time to make pent e and get over the paranoia that Vietnam is "hid ing" our MI As Wide K. Cherry Eugene Women acted As a woman, a student and a summer Safende co-director, ! am disturbed by some of the comments made by Michael Hndicott in his commentary lODt'. July 20) 1 applaud him for opposing the "reduction of financial and ideological sup port for women and their issues' (OPh, May 24). howev er. 1 do not believe that hndicott realizes that the Women's Center and Safende were formed by women to fill a void in our campus communi ty. First, let me address what seems to be a recurring theme in Hndicott s commentaries Saferide exists for women It was formed by women who saw the need and came togeth er to help other women Four out of every five women will be raped in her lifetime Saferide was formed as an attempt to curtail rape We do not exist to end all violent crime; no one organization can do that We are interested mainly in decreasing the number of rapes and other sexual assault. No. men are not given rides, nor can they drive Saferide vehicles during operating hours. Our riders support this policy. If a woman is escaping a situation of sexual assault, would she feel safe if tier only alternative was to get into a car with a man' However, men can be involved in every other aspect of Saferide’s services. In the past, we have had male dis patc.hers. Women’s Studies' credit is given to women for driving, it is also given to men for putting gas in the vehic les or serving in some other way. If a vast majority of male stu dents feel unsafe walking alone at night, they should take action and form their own transportation service. As sum mer co-director, I would wel come this because it would mean muc h less harassment of our drivers by male students Speaking simply as a student now, 1 would welcome the for mation of a men's tenter if its purpose were to help the com munity as a whole The Women’s [’.enter is open to men and women, and I would hope that the Men’s Center would lie as well I would hope that Kndicott would want to address such issues as domes tu abuse and sexual assault in his center (these are men's issues as well as women's issues) in addition to forming a support group for men, Kndicott needs to realize that the women's organizations were formed by women (often against overwhelming odds) because they were needed After years of oppression, women joined forces to empower themselves if men would like to start a men's t en ter, then they need to join together and take action. It is in) hope that this clears up any misunderstanding that Kndicott might have with women's programs and with Safende in particular. I look forward to meeting with him sometime in the near future if anyone has any questions or would like more information, feel free to send an e-mail mes sage to Saferide at saferidex£gladstone, or call us at 346-0653. Quimby Masters Political Science
