Oregon daily emerald., March 17, 1997, Page 2, Image 2

▼ EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Steven Asbury
MANAGING EDITOR:
Thom Schoenbom
NIGHT EDITOR:
Thom Schoenbom
EDITORIAL EDITORS:
Ashiey Bach & Brian Diamond editorials, letters, commentary and perspective
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The Drawing Board
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ALGORE
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MACAREVA
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AL Gore
DOES THE
Mea Culpa
-LETS lO%
Friend of
Bull...
BILL
LETTERS
Academic censorship
We are writing to alert the community
that the University exercises academic cen
sorship. Recently, three candidates the so
ciology department selected to interview for
faculty positions were rejected for inter
views because the administration decided
they were “inadequate,” principally based
on their publications appearing in “unre
spectable” journals.
We believe that all these candidates were
vetoed because of the political orientation
of their research. These candidates do work
that carries “progressive” political implica
tions: environmental racism, sociology of la
bor relations and the sociology of race and
immigration. This politically motivated de
cision carries dangerous implications for
academic freedom.
The administration’s enforcement of
“high standards” over the wishes of the de
partment points to a larger structural prob
lem. Hiring faculty who publish in “re
spectable” journals raises the rankings of
the University departments. And higher
rankings mean more grants.
Yes, this limits the range of opinion/re
search interests expressed by hirees to the
mainstream. The University wasn’t meant
to be run like a for-profit company. The sell
ing out of departments for grant money
treats education like a product that must ap
peal to the lowest common denominator:
consumption.
Hiring faculty who attract the bucks is the
bottom line in the administrations’ hiring
criteria, leaving the variety of opinion that
is at the scholarship carries dire implica
tions for University students, the future of
Oregon and all the democracy of the nation
as a whole, which relies on voters to be in
formed by all perspectives.
Of course, such censorship also enables
the University to avoid addressing ques
tions such as “Where did Phil Knight get
that $25 million he donated to the Univer
sity last year anyway?”
Ginger Davidson
Ben Scribner
& 17 co-signers
Sociology
Living legacy
Blessed be! The command economy has
finally reached the University. Our ASUO
President, Matthew Scotten, wants to use
$340,000 of student fees from an emer
gency fund to build an amphitheater in the
EMU Courtyard, something the market
would never provide. A market failure?
Hardly.
Something our spend-happy president
has either a) not considered or b) is not
willing to consider is that there is already
an amphitheater in the University vicinity.
Anyone who has ventured out on the path
ways near Autzen Stadium know that the
city of Eugene has an amphitheater in the
Willamette greenway, which is only used
in the summer. The only need for another
is Scotten’s want of a living legacy at the
University.
Why, then, is this proposal even consid
ered? Because individuals, in their limited
mental capacities, cannot accurately deter
mine what is necessary and wanted by a
large number of people who individually
serve their own interests.
This is made especially evident by the
collapse of the Soviet Union. Ever wonder
why you won’t find an orthodontist in
Trail, OR (pop. 200)? The market doesn’t
demand it. And I’ll be damned if the mar
ket would demand a new amphitheater in
Eugene, in lieu of the one existing, the
EMU Ballroom, Hult Center and WOW
Hall.
At $340,000, they could use that thing
200 times, and it would cost more than
$1,700 per use — not counting the foregone
interest. Scotten complains that the money
is just sitting there, doing nothing. Hey!
$340,000/17,000 students=$20 per student.
How about putting that money in an ac
count I can draw from with my new stu
dent ID card?
Down with the egocentric, living legacy
amphitheater for President Scotten!
Jonathan Collegio
Economics