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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1997)
T EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom NIGHT EDITORS: Shannon Sneed & Mike Schmierbach 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 . ■■ -- -•■wmr.xm.-vmix - ww 9 »■ VW,'' •■. •■ -•.. Footnotes proves it can’t handle adversity ■ OUR OPINION: Footnotes has handled minor setbacks with juvenile whining andfinger pointing BACKGROUND ■ FEB. 12: The EMU Board holds a meeting to discuss the possi ble relocation of Footnotes. ■ MARCH 10: Kristin King deletes EMU Board Member Jenna Wasson’s Footnotes sub scription. ■ APRIL 10: ASUO Executive staff revokes Foot- j notes’ ASUO pro- : gram status. ■ APRIL 23: Footnotes sends approximately 5000 e-mails to students urging them to support their ballot mea sure. ■APRIL 23: The EMU Board votes to guarantee \ Footnotes a spot intheEMU.but with an increased I rent. ■APRIL 30: Foot notes’ ballot mea- j sure is voted down. ■ MAY 6: Footnotes an nounces it will not i stay in the EMU. There are many ways people choose to deal with life when things don’t go their way. Some quit, some try again and others change their strategy. Still others choose to throw a temper tantrum and blame everyone but themselves. Footnotes’ actions over the past few months clearly shows it chooses the latter approach. To be sure, things haven’t been going Footnotes’ way lately. The EMU Board would n’t allow the group to remain in its spacious office; its rent increased; it was reprimanded by the ASUO Executive; and to top it all off, its ballot measure failed, and it may now be throwing in the towel because of it. Things consistently haven’t gone Footnotes’ way, and Footnotes has consistently reacted with poor judgment. Footnotes’ first mistake was picking a fight with the EMU Board. With its lease in jeop ardy, Footnotes coordinator Kristin King deleted board member Jenna Wasson’s sub scription to teach her a lesson on the value of Footnotes. Of course, the result was a wave of bad publicity for Footnotes and an aggra vated EMU Board, now even more intent on mak ing life hard for the group. In the face of this bad press, Footnotes resorted to more whining about the unfair representation it was getting from the campus media. As an almost punitive mea sure, the EMU Board decid ed Footnotes could stay in the EMU but that it would have to pay more rent. In reaction, Footnotes sought increased revenue from the students through a ballot measure, which as an inde pendent non student group, it had little right to do. /J When its ballot measure failed, Footnotes resorted to more gloom and doom talk. In reaction to the ballot measure’s defeat, Footnotes Board member Devon London was quoted in the Emerald as saying, “We’ve received no support from this University. We’re considering folding up the tent.” Then, on Tuesday, Foot notes announced it would not return to the EMU and may not return at all, citing higher rent and lack of student support as the main reasons. Despite Footnotes’ annoying behavior, the fact remains that most students do support Foot notes. The Emerald supports Footnotes as well, even though it did not choose N to endorse its ballot measure. Even mem-' bers of the EMU Board, who have ,—_. continued to battle Footnotes on every front, find it a valu able service. What most people do not support is Footnotes’ “us against the world” mentality. While the people behind Foot notes may feel the campus is out to get them because of their string of political losses, in many cases they have no one to blame but themselves. If Footnotes members hadn’t turned the lease renewal into a personal battle with the EMU Board, they may not have had their rent jacked up. If they hadn’t been so unapologetic about deleting Wasson’s sub scription, the ASUO Executive might not have taken away their status as a student group. I __ And if they hadn’t bothered the student body by sending out thousands of random e-mails asking for support for their ballot mea sure, they may have actually received extra funds. But instead of dealing with minor setbacks, Footnotes waged a war against the EMU Board, and when its measure failed, a war against the very student body it is supposed to be serving. Now Footnotes employees are marching bravely to'the grave, convinced the world is out to get them. Rather than raising subscription rates (which many students would be willing to pay), Footnotes has given up entirely on stay ing in the EMU. Perhaps Foot notes really can’t afford to stay in the EMU. More likely, though, it wants to disappear from the scene with the same melodramatic overreacting it has come to be famous for. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editori al board. CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald LETTERS Stones roll on I agree with the editorial on denying The Rolling Stones concert performance in Autzen Stadium (April 9, ODE). The points made were great. The University does not seem to care about the students or the community. Jason Lee Eugene Foul journalism The latest issue of the Oregon Voice is one of the foulest and most disgusting pieces of “journalism” I have ever seen. I am aware that the publication is into “parody.” However, most of the content of this sex issue is very distasteful, to the extent of being oppressive. The articles display little more than the most degrading sides of sex and are rather misogy nistic. I am not expressing conservatism nor a desire for censorship. I am merely expressing that the Oregon Voice’s depictions of sex did not fly well with me. I also find it strange that it will print a piece about rape alongside features glorifying pornography, a factor in perpetuating the rape culture. Remember, student fees pay for this perpetuation, so I urge you to pick up a copy of the magazine and see for your self. In addition, I contributed to this issue ... I am the author of the “If you said no, if there wasn’t consent, it’s still rape.” piece (pg. 24). However, for some rea son, my name was not attributed to this piece, not on the page, nor on the list of contributors on the first page. Not only is this illegal and borderline pla giarism, it is also extremely disrespectful to not ac knowledge that it is my work. Though I am thankful it printed the piece, which contains very important information about rape, it is unfortunate that the surrounding articles promote what my piece speaks out against. Rebecca Farmer English Conservative greed The uproar over raising the minimum wage in Oregon is astounding! Oregon is not one of the “af fluent” states — there is a lot of poverty, and home lessness is still at large and too many single moth ers on minimum wage (this is not just a starting wage for teens). On top of this lousy salary, the Restaurant Asso ciation was intent on paying less than $4.75 because of tips! This ploy was trying to make us believe restaurants were suffering, when in fact this is an other corporate scheme to avoid paying decent wages. Compare this poverty level pay to the outlandish ones the CEOs of corporate America are pulling in — salaries in the millions with stock options and perks over 200 times the earnings of the workers who produce. It is gross and quite unsustainable. How come people who elected all these Republicans into our House could not see this coming? Conservative or plain greedy and uncaring of the common good? Even with this small victory in our legislature, there remains a mountain to overcome. Hilde Cherry Eugene All thumbs THE DAILY BAROMETER With barely any funds, the staff of the Oregon State student newspa per still manages to publish on a daily basis and is even trying to innovate along the way. BIJOU The 13th Avenue theater is regress- j ing to the 70s and j '80s, and we love it .Willy Wonka and the Chocolate j Factory has already been shown, and Saturday Night Feverls on the way. OSSHE The Oregon State System of Higher Education recently passed a j pre-proposal for i the implementa tion of Ethnic Studies and Women's Studies I majors at the University. Ethnic j Studies should become official in the fall, and Women's Studies j is scheduled for 1998. finally. | EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICES Almost 200tests tor prospective teachers failed to arrive in Eugene from the New Jersey-based company last week. With a monopoly on the tests, the business can apparently afford to make mistakes. ]
