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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1997)
▼ EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbo m NIGHT EDITOR: Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITORS: Ashley Bach & Brian Diamond editorials, letters, commentary and perspective NEWSROOM: (541)346-5511 DISPLAY ADVERTISING: (541)346-3712 BUSINESS OFFICE: (541)346-5512 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: (541) 346-4343 Boyd, Oberriter for ASUO Executive ■ OUR OPINION: James Boyd and Andrew Oberriter rise above a less than-stellar field of competitors for the top office As an editorial board, we recently had the privilege to speak to all 11 candidates for ASUO President and Vice President. And it was hell. With such a variety of personalities and philosophies among the candidates, one would think a rich blend of unique ideas and solutions for the problems plaguing this' campus would come forth. It didn’t happen. Instead, we continually heard the same rhetoric: Make campus safer; Fight for more student parking; Spend student money responsibly and the grand-daddy of them all: Make the ASUO more accessible. Of course, a few decent ideas did emerge from the glob of recycled platforms. The Campus Watch program, proposed by Ryan Ositis and Dayna Terry, was promising. As was regular presidential attendance at ASUO Student Senate meetings, brought forth by Brandon Smith and Asha Mary John. But ultimately, only one ticket had an adequate amount of tangible solutions coupled with an intelligent identification and analysis of campus problems: James Boyd and Andrew Oberriter. We wanted practical ideas for changing this campus, not just complaints about the present campus and student government. Every ticket thinks it can do the job, but Boyd and Oberriter alone have the plans to accomplish it. It wasn’t a clear-cut decision by any means. Our displeasure with all the candidates made it hard to pick one ticket above the others. But we’re happy with our choice. Boyd and Oberriter have strong experience in not only working in student government, but criticizing it. Boyd, bitter after being voted out of the senate president position last fall, spoke out against his former source of income in both the Emerald and Oregon Commentator. And Oberriter, currently the Commentator’s editor-in-chief, has been analyzing ASUO improprieties for almost two years on staff at the magazine. Now, both men appear willing to change the processes and fit We wanted practical ideas for changing this campus, not just complaints about the present campus and student government. Every ticket thinks it can do the job, but Boyd and Oberriter alone have the plans to accomplish it. -99 bureaucracy they’ve observed (and been a part of) for so long. Their proposed restructuring of the ASUO office and hierarchy is intriguing and includes moving the senate into the ASUO space and strengthening the role of the ASUO Academic Council. They also have a good head start on making all their plans reality, including several plausible ideas on just about every issue concerning students today. With campus safety, Boyd and Oberriter support the implementation of a regular OPS bike control and a volunteer student service for escorting fellow students across campus at night. Like many of the candidates, Boyd and Oberriter realize a campus parking structure will never materialize without the, so far, non-existent support of the University administration. But they also recognize the ASUO’s focus on the parking problem should be on fighting rate hikes, dwindling permits and protecting rights students have already. Their ideas on making student government more accessible to students are less notable but accurate in their intent. Student government does need to be more visible to the average student, the question is how to do so. Boyd and Oberriter’s idea of a monthly ASUO newsletter printed in the Emerald as an advertising insert could help, despite the obvious high cost. With Oberriter’s involvement in the Commentator and Boyd’s last experience with the ASUO, the exact intent of their campaign could easily be questioned. Both men are seniors, so many people have also wondered whether they would even be returning next year. They are, and from all we have seen and heard, appear committed to fighting for the average student’s interests in lobbying, the incidental fee process and with the administration. They may not be flashy, or more importantly, the most popular men on campus. But that’s for a reason. They’re willing to stand up for what they believe in, and they will be effective. Vote James Boyd and Andrew Oberriter to ASUO Executive. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. LETTERS Dirty money Dave Frohnmayer ought to take an Ethics course. Maybe he’d learn how wrong it is to accept Phil Knight’s new "gift.” It is tainted money earned in In donesia where the pay is $2.15 a day! Frohnmayer knows full well, so he must be hard up. Is he in a “big business” that plays the capitalist game of being “com petitive”? Like the City of Eugene, the University is chiseling away at faculty salaries and courses and then has the utter nerve to build yet another “needed” sports facility “ at Autzen stadium to the tune of $13 mil lion. I know, "funds are not transferable.” When you are hard up to educate our kids you could learn to juggle funds. Sports are as untouchable as the Pentagon! Is this teaching? Do the Ducks make the Univer sity go around? Whiter education? Hilde Cherry Eugene Scientific progress The University biomedical research benefits the world’s animal and human inhabitants. Through our cutting-edge biomedical research, University re searchers are laying the foundation for a much happier and healthier civilization. Recently some students have ques tioned the use of animals in University scientific experimentation. This coincides with the circulation of misinformation by Students for the Ethical Treatment of Ani mals. One of many incorrect claims on a flier passed out recently be SETA states that “information extrapolated form animal models can not safely be applied to hu mans.” In reality, many human benefits come from animal research. One thrust of our own lab’s research is to understand the brain’s neuromodulator systems. Malfunctioning neuromodulator sys tems are at the heart of depression, mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, Parkinson’s disease plus nu merous less common disorders. In addition, neuromodulatory degener ation leads to the cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s and AIDS patients. The chances are high that someone you know and love has been stricken by one of these disorders. Their current treatments, and their future hopes, result from animal re search in labs such as our own. Brent Field Institute of Neuroscience The Drawing Baird
