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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1997)
▼ EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom NIGHT EDITOR: Jennifer Schmitt EDITORIAL EDITORS: Ashley Bach & Brian Diamond mm editorials, letters, commentary and perspective i NEWSROOM: (541)346-5511 DISPLAY ADVERTISING: (541) 346-3712 BUSINESS OFFICE: (541)346-5512 1 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: d (541) 346-4343 m&mx&s9sm$st ASUO fails to connect with students ■ OUR OPINION: Campus apathy relates solely to student government, not general activism As we listened to the ASUO Executive can didates spout their various ideas and thoughts about the student body, two things were repeat ed over and over again. 1) Students don’t care about student government and 2) Students are always willing to volunteer for orga nizations like Saferide, Sexu al Assault Support Services and other causes they care about. Both of these statements are true. Students are apathetic to ward the ASUO and general EMU community. And they do volunteer for common causes like making campus safer and helping victims of crime. But none of the candidates seemed to comprehend the trou blesome relationship between the two truths, and ultimately the reason why nobody cares about what they do or who wins this election. People in the ASUO com plain the average student has no idea what they do. They are con vinced they affect the student body in important, even grand ways. Therefore, it is their job to educate the student Day on the deci sions they make and general k ly mo & noto * nous lives they maintain. The problem is, the ASUO, as it is now, will never fulfill this goal. It will never convince stu dents that student government is something they should be in terested in. Much of this argument lies in the “average student” we all like to throw around as an example. This person is not involved in any student groups, unions or government. He or she ventures into the EMU only to study, if that. And he or she does not give a rip what the people in the ASUO Executive, Student Sen ate, Programs Finance Commit tee or innumerable other com mittees do. Why? Because it does not affect his or her life. This is even more important because this average student makes up the majority, or at least a large part, of the student body. The ASUO cares about these people and wants to reach them. But they say they are up against a self-proclaimed, wide spread “apathy.” This apathy, however, begins and ends with student govern ment. Students care about is sues that affect them, their friends and the perception of the greater good. They are will ing to volunteer for organiza tions like Saferide and SASS be cause they feel they are making a difference and can see tangible results of their labor. To the average student, noth ing student government does is tangible. Even big moves like the roping off of 228 seats at a men’s basketball game only af fect a small number of people. If any concern does exist among students, it would probably lie in the ASUO’s handling of incidental fees. With an estimat ed total allocation this year of more than $6.3 million, stu dents would be dumb not to care about the ASUO’s financial activity, right? Wrong. Most students don’t care® much about where their / incidental fees go or even Y\j its minute fluctuations in amount. The fee increas- Of es by less than $20 a Aa year, not nearly enough / to make the average stu-i' / 4 dent care. This all paints a sad I picture, we know, but I it’s reality. Students \ aren’t apathetic. \ They’re just smart \ enough to realize that the \ ASUO isn’t worth worrying about on a daily basis. It’s necessary to keep the Universi ty going, of course. And many student government positions and duties are important. But they aren’t part of students’ lives. We hope the candidates real ize what they’re up against. I They can try to “reach out” to / the student body all they want, but will be hard-pressed to do / much good. As it is now, the / ASUO is a centralized opera- / tion, not given much of a / thought by many students, / toiling away and “fighting for/ student interests” in obscu- / my. miu unui genuine re form occurs, this fact will never change. This editorial repre- J sents the opinion of / J the Emerald editor- / ial board. / READER VOICES What makes your ticket the most qualified to be ASUO president and vice president? “We're the most willing to go in there and make some noise. We’ve done it all year, and we'll do it next year.” Ben Unger “I really think it’s time to get somebody in there who wants to make things interesting.” Ed Madrid ‘twill not sleep until the library stays open until 12 and we’ve par tied with Ric Flair, the nature boy." Brad Smith “We feel we have more solid program ideas. Instead of just talking about campus safety, we’re going to push for a cam pus watch program.” Ryan Ositis J “Through our combined experience on the Student Senate, Constitu tional Court and various student programs, we know what needs to be changed [with student govern ment] and howto change it.” James Boyd “We've been through the elections before. We’ve all heard the same stuff last year. We have feasible strategies that you can actually sit down and explain to people.” Brandon Lee Smith WINNERS Tiger Woods The 21-year-old golf superstar set nine records on route to winning the Masters, including youngest winner and widest margin of victory. Walter Cronkite The 80-year-old broadcaster is quickly recovering from quadruple bypass surgery and says he is in excellent shape. Linda McCathern A jury awarded the Portland woman $7.6 million after ruling that the Toyota 4 Runner she was driving was to blame for her paralyzing car crash. Douglas C. Engelbart Inventor of the mouse and 20 other com puter patents, Portland inventor Douglas Engelbart won the $500,000 Lemelson MIT Prize for 1997. LOSERS Wall Street Fears of inflation sent the Dow plummet ing 134.38 points last week and made in vestors uneasy about the market’s fu ture. President Clinton The President’s line item veto power was ruled unconstitutional by a U.S. District judge. The CIA The CIA admitted that its own intelli gence mistakes may have led Gulf War soldiers to demolish an ammunition sight filled with dangerous chemical weapons. Walter Conte The high school principal was arrested on charges of voyeurism after videotap ing 16 cheerleaders changing behind a two-way mirror in his home.
