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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1997)
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom NIGHT EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom 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 Ballot measures important, need vote ■ OUR OPINION: The measures on this week’s ASUO ballot may actually make a difference. Here’s our picks. With the ASUO Executive race already decided, many students may not see the point in voting in the general election this week. However, despite the fact that the presidential spots have been decid ed, there is a very important reason to vote in this election — ballot measures. Here are the Emerald’s endorse ments for the 1997 ASUO ballot measures. Club Sports This ballot measure would raise student in cidental fees by approximately $0.43 per term to help support Club Sports. We support this measure be cause it will help raise money to lower the cost of participating in Club Sports. Club Sports provides a great opportunity for students to get involved with outside physical activities. Everyone should have access to these programs, not just those who can afford to pay the dues. For a reasonable cost, Club Sports could be made more accessible to all stu dents’ needs. Footnotes This measure would increase student pro gram fees by approx imately $0.34 per term per student to help fund Footnotes. While we support Footnotes and believe it deserves a spot on campus, we do not support this measure. The reasoning is fairly simple. Footnotes is not a student group; it is an independent company. As such, it should support itself with the money it makes from subscrip tions, not student fees. If Footnotes needs extra cash, Footnotes sub scribers will have to fork over the money. Lane Transit YIP Pfc /S District f This ballot measure would institute a student incidental fee of $6.60 per term per student to provide students with unlimited bus service within the Lane Transit District Service. For many students, the bus rep resents their only means of getting to and from school. For countless others in the dorms, the bus is their only way of getting off campus. We support this measure because it provides a valuable transportation service for a relatively low cost. Pocket Play YP /S house This ballot measure would raise student fees by approximately $0.03 per term to fund the Pocket Playhouse student theater. On the one hand, this measure should never have come to the bal lot. If representatives for Pocket Playhouse had turned in their bud get to the Programs Finace Commit tee when they were supposed to, this ballot would never have been brought to the students. On the other hand, at only $0.03 per term, it seems silly not to sup port the student theater. Consider ing how insignificant the increase Y^_ __ is, we support A this measure. Saferide This measure would increase in cidental fees by approximately $0.65 per term per student to purchase a new vehicle and wheelchair lift. This measure is probably the biggest no-brainer of them all. Saferide is an incredibly valuable service, and it should be accessible to all women. For those reasons, we support this measure. Students for the Ethical BkB D1 Treatment of Animals BIB B B This measure would m W/ ’ increase student in I/Y cidental fees by $0.11 / Aj k per term, per student to fund the student group SETA. We do not support this measure for several reasons. First of all, SETA already re ceived a significant increase in stu dent fees from the PFC. We don’t believe they need any additional money. Second, SETA is a highly politi cal and controversial organization with clear stances against animal research that do not reflect the views of the entire campus. While they certainly have a right to pro mote their views, we do not believe they should seek additional fees from the entire student body since their views don’t represent those of the student body. The ballot measures may very well have a greater direct impact on students than any ASUO position because they deal with what could be the most important issue in higher education: money. For that reason, all students should seriously evaluate these measures and then actually vote on them. This editorial represents the ma jority opinion of the Emerald edi torial board. Quoted | “I came here today to tell you we will contin ue to lead the State of Israel until the year 2000, and even beyond 2000.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assuring his party that he is here to stay “I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, and so the best thing I can do is ignore the politics... and just call it like I see it." Attorney General Janet Reno on criticism that she didn’t seek an independent counsel to investigate Democratic fund raising viola tions “I don’t apologize for the music. I don’t apol ogize for making the appearance on the show, but for whatever negative fallout there might have been, I regret that.” Pat Boone on his January appearance in black leather at the American Music Awards “I feel horrible about this losing streak, but I don’t feel horrible about the way we played today.” Chicago Cubs manager Jim Riggle, after losing 13 straight games to open the base ballseason “Nature has no malice toward us, but nature is sending us a message.” Mikhail Gorbachev, urging college students in New Orleans to protect the environment “I'm a good Republican. I hope my integrity is intact. I wantto help the party, help Newt.” Bob Dole on loaning Newt Gingrich $300,000 to pay ethics violation fines “They got me busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest." 51 -year-old Dolly Parton on the schedule at her theme park Dolly wood Letters policy The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing comments on top ics of interest to the University community. Letters to the editor must be typed, double spaced and in clude the author's name, signature, and phone num ber. The identifica tion of the writer must be verified when the letter is submitted. Letters must be limited to 250 words or less. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length, clarity, grammar or style. LETTERS visible voices On April 17, the Emerald printed an article on a stu dent tax relief bill sponsored by State Sen. Randy Leonard. I was very pleased with Sarah Keech’s story regard ing Senate Bill 1158, and its emphasis on the positive ef fect that a tax relief would have for working students. The area that was not a fo cus of the article is the chal lenge that the bill faces with the Republican-controlled legislature and April 25 cut off date for hearing of new legislation. Senate Bill 1158 is stuck in the Revenue Committee chaired by Sen. Ken Baker of Clackamas. Although the Re publican party is known for wanting to cut taxes, because students are not a wealthy interest, this tax relief is not receiving conservative sup port. The answer to this prob lem and the fate of SB 1158 is for students to make their voices heard. If you think that working students should not be taxed on the money they earn to attend college, please call and/or write Sen. Ken Baker and other mem bers of the Senate Revenue Committee requesting a pub lic hearing for Senate Bill 1158. Jef Green Political Science Parallel events The world condemns the capture of the Holy Land, and the United States stands alone with the occupier Is raelis. Money-media man Rupert Murdoch and muscle man Arnold Schwarzenegger are awarded by Israeli support ers in New York, while bul lets kill the children of the natives in Palestine. Women cry and men scream, and Henry Kissinger and Newt Gingrich applaud. Pundits make God a real estate agent for Israel, while bulldozers do their job-to prepare homes for newcom ers and destroy homes of hu man bombers. Go to sleep; be quiet; drug your conscience so Israel can expand and prosper. “Jerry Green leaves Oregon for Tennessee for more mon ey.” M. Reza Behnam Eugene A new party Here at the Really Regres sive Party (RRP), it has come to our attention that the sys tem of student government that operates on this campus has serious holes in its abili ty to represent students as a collective entity. The collec tion of candidates on this year’s slate are symbolic of the useless drips we get every year. The candidates slated for this year will promise to do one of the fol lowing: a) Reinvent student gov ernment; b) support multi cultural issues; c) support the Greeks; d) make campus safer; e) promise to solve the parking dilemma; f) all of the above; g) promise free beer. While these appear as campaign promises each and every year, it is obvious they are never fulfilled. Our ASUO Executive this year has managed to take away student seating at a basket ball game in the name of race relations, has proposed using your money to finance a completely unnecessary am phitheater and has found zero causes and activities to bring the campus together as a whole. The RRP is stringently against the continuing use less droning of monotonous candidates sputtering the same collection of cacopho nous claptrap. We are the first officially sanctioned po litical* group on campus, ever. None of the other can didates have taken on this re sponsibility, and none will because of their reluctance to alter the status quo. The RRP is dedicated to guiding the student majority, so that they will not fall prey to the trap pings of the candidates’ usu al drawl. Chris Kantrowitz Really Regressive Party Sound of Al As long as we are con vinced to spend at least $300,000 on a new am phitheater, I think that it would be reasonable to spend a few thousand dollars more to soundproof those classrooms that immediately face that corner of the EMU. 1 teach in Friendly 106. On Tuesday, I once again had to shout over the music coming from the EMU mosh pit. It’s not that the Macarena is that bad of a song; I was just terri fied by the thought that Al Gore might Macarena his way through my classroom asking for campaign contri butions. How to spend our $300,000 might, in fact, be a, decision that we can make in a moral vacuum, isolated from social realities that sur round the campus. Let’s, however, look at the difficul ties of teaching and learning in foreign languages in Friendly 106 and 214, and perhaps in other classrooms in the amphitheater’s sound path. At least budget for some insulated windows. Bruce Waller Germanics Contact us j ■ BY MAIL: P.0. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 ■ BY E-MAIL: ode@oregon. uoregon. edu ■ IN PERSON: Suite 300, EMU
