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.
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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