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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1995)
VIEWPOINTS EDITORIALS OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR City won’t let homeless set up temporary home ■ OUR OPINION: The City Council is leaving the homeless out in the cold OK, class, take out a pier e of paper. T his is a short pop quiz In basic economics, sociology and compassion. Compare and contrast the solutions a city should t ome up with when it has 1) S5 million in surplus city funds. 2) A large and structurally sound empty building (pus sibly more than one). 3) A small population of homeless < itizens who live in parks or in cars because they have no other place lo live. •l) An entire community and a network of < hurches willing to work closely with the individuals listed above 51 An approaching winter season that will probably present a mere hardship for the individuals listed in number three if they are unable to find shelter. l ime is up. Please hand in your papers Your quizzes will be graded and returned to you immediate ly Right now You get a score of 100 peri ent if you chose to use some of the funds to convert the large building into a temporary winter home for the homeless. You still get an "A" if sou came up with a variation of the above that included help from i hurch groups, private citizens and other communities. If you are the i its of Eugene, you get an automat ic “F.” Eugene shouldn't worry about its transcripts because it might end up with a headache bigger than any thing a nasty report < ard could give. The city might end up in court. Tom Musselwhite, execu tive director of the Homeless Action Coalition and Project Recover, is gath ering documentation for a possible lawsuit against the city. The City Council said no to Mussolwhite's request to turn a former parks-mainte nam e building, located at the base of Skinner Butte at 2^5 Lincoln St in Eugene, into a temporary shelter for homeless people. Musselwhite had every - thing going his way until the City Council Grinch squashed the plan. City Councilman Shawn Boles is against the idea and believes that Eugene shouldn’t have to take care of all the homeless people in this area, lie has a point. It would be great if other communities would pitch in to help people in need As far as other Lane County cities helping the homeless? We don't know why they haven’t given much support but our guess is that the "situation" is too cantrover sial. Bar k in Eugene, even the executive committee of the Whlteaker Community voted 8-1 a month ago in support of Musselwhite’s plan. Why can’t we help these people? The answer is that we can. hut it's a matter of getting tough and getting a little roughed up — like Musselwhite. There will be no car camp on Centennial Boulevard this year, so where can the homeless live? This is the real thing now. with real people involved. 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LEVEL PUYIM6 FILLS) WD£R ComSTRucT/oN "£**** Jt %y~t> {' £>ft\ rut ^vjj u V’ COAL POSTS STILL v, ^ S<.'8)£0 n> HPVWG 2 Women don’t need affirmative action' Rarely do 75 pore eni of Americans agree on any major issue li is generally impossible to get a majority, rmn h less three fourths, of adults to agree on any thing According to a Man It 1995 poll by the Washington Post, however. 75 percent of American adults are opposed to "affirmative action programs that give preference to minori ties and women in hiring, promotion and col lege admissions In this situation, I am willing to he lemming like and follow the popular tides As a woman. I feel uncomfortable with Iwing given an unfair advantage just for i arrytng the double-X chro mosome. Never In my academic (4nw have I noticed a hios again*) me for my woman hood. Instead, I have seen males around me penalized for simply being male Who ever heard of Take Your Sons to Work Day. or events specifi cally designed to lure men )o college' »iy . lntsctaM In fact, I question the mere existence of programs meant to help women at> "minorities.” The word minority refers to a small group that t:ouid be overlooked by Ihe majority How does this apply to women? Not only do women outnumber men in the "real world," but many colleges report a higher percentage of women enrolled than men Women study and work in virtually every field, and yet we are still represented as the down trodden. I do not respect or appreciate that image, and 1 definitely do not conform to it It is as alien to me as is the image of the all-powerful male What surprises me is that statistically, most people agree with me, and yet the system remains static. Unlike the myths, my supporters are not only upper-class white males who want to return women to their “rightful place." In fact, according to the Washington Post poii, 69 percent of women agree that women should not be supported by affirmative action programs At one time, society needed these programs When my mother was in high school, a college education was an abnormality for women. At that time, though, an average family, supported by an average male, could make an average liv ing That way of life is gone. Fifteen years ago, when my sister was consid ering what to do with her life, college was not considered an option, but a necessity Her gen der was not an issue, her future was. When I went through high school in the early '90s. 1 couldn't comprehend the concept that I was being “oppressed" by the men 1 surpassed in many skills and subjects. That equal opportune ty extended s< hoolwide. 1 he advanc ed i lassos wore equally populated by both sexes The highest SAT scores were earned by women. Females led the school paper, the underground paper and the vear Ixiok. A v ast majority of student body officers wen- female, two of the three valedictorians were women, and half of the salutatorians. This is the s<« ietv that doesn't give women leader ship opportunities' My female friends went to good universities based on their achievements as people,, not is rewards for being oppressed I do not feel oppressed 1 feel in control of my own destiny . As a science major, I am supposed to feel embittered by my lower education in the math and sciences and feel forced to study lib eral arts Instead. I don't No one needs to reim burse me for the injustices done to my mother and grandmothers. If women must la* considered a minority, at I oast let it help the women who were hurt by a sexist so< ietv None of my peers were. To atone for past deeds, why can't this society seek the forgiveness of those who were wronged? Why not give the si holarship money earmarked for today \ young women to the women who actu ally suffered? My mother's generation was not given a fair shot at additional education. Give the scholar ships and apologies to her and other genera tions that lat k the money to ftnant e a college education. For-women-only sc holarship money given to women directly out of high school is playing to untrue stereotypes. Use the money to compete ' sate the women who were wronged and to edu cate woman of the next generation about their rights and responsibilities for many kids today, including my nieces and nephews, both parents work and the finan cial burden is carried by both genders Many children are members of one-parent homes. Mow could they feel that women are incapable of supporting a family or holding a good job when they are raised by women who do? Learning about that antique system of treating women like second-class citizens is the only way this next generation will lie alerted to the sexism that once existed. It is the only way to truly overcome past discriminations and leave that system where it belongs — in the past. Kay Krautscheid. a sophomore majoring in biolo gy. is a columnist for the Emerald. WHAT 00 YOU THINK? The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes your opin ions on this and other issues You may submit a etter no longer than 250 words to the Emerald ottices at Suite 300 in the EMU or send us your thoughts via e-mail at odejioregon uoregonedu
