▼ EDITORIAL
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"I'm appalled that anyone would think that
John or I would be involved in such a
hideous, heinous crime.”
Patricia Ramsey, mother of murdered
beauty queen Jon Benet Ramsey, on po
lice suspicions that she and her husband
played a partin the crime.
“I would eat everything—twice!’’
Newly-crowned Miss Universe
Brook Mahealani Lee's response to the
question, "What would you do if there
were no pageant rules?"
“We certainly are investigating individuals,
and those individuals — including Mrs.
Clinton — could be indicted."
Deputy Whitewater Counsel John Bates,
speaking to an appeals court about the in
vestigation, as reported by ABC News.
“If they think they can bring anyone in to
replace Sammy Hagar they’re making a
big mistake.”
Sammy Hagar reflecting on being re
placed as the lead singer for Van Halen.
“I am happy, very happy to succeed.”
Rebel leader Laurent Kabila on seizing
control of the nation of Zaire.
“The experience has been as painful for us
as it would be for any other couple.”
Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford in response
to the tabloid the Globe's pictures.
“They were betrayed. Their lives were
trampled upon.”
President Clinton apologizing to a group
of black men the government used for
syphilis experiments, as quoted in the Los
Angeles Times.
“It makes me feel very, very good. I know
that God is still swinging in there for me.”
The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, on
his 64th birthday bash.
mgmmmiimMmimsam
The Right to Take a Stand
■ OUR OPINION: The University,
like any other consumer, has the
| responsibility to consider political
| issues when making purchases
£ I - he University is an open
% marketplace of ideas. We
| exist to help students make
-L. up their own minds. On
political issues like this boycott, the
Gardenburgers, Eire the ones who should
decide whether they want to support the
boycott. Frohnmayer pointed out:
“Students have the right and
responsibility to educate themselves about
the issue and then decide individually
what to eat or what not to eat.”
While this point is valid, it is not quite
appropriate for the current situation.
University Housing, not the individual
students, is the real consumer. Students
don’t get to decide what kind of meat will
be served in the dorms; University
Housing does. As the consumers, it is the
University’s responsibility to decide what
it will purchase. And like any responsible
consumer, it has the right not to purchase
a product that follows “unethical"
business practices.
This may or may not be true of
Gardenburger. But it is up to the
University to decide. If the University has
unilateral decision
through its purchasing
choices.”
With these words,
University President Dave
Frohnmayer justified the
University’s refusal to
enforce a boycott on
Gardenburgers in the
dorms. MEChA had
requested University
Housing pull
Gardenburger for the
questionable labor
practices of Wholesome
and Hearty Foods, the
company that produces
Gardenburger. Instead of
taking a side, Frohnmayer
chose political neutrality.
While Frohnmayer and
the University have every
right not to support a
Gardenburger boycott (for
better or for worse),
political neutrality is not
a legitimate reason for
doing so. The University
is not a politically neutral
body and need not act
| like one.
Instead, the University
has every right and
responsibility to make
political decisions, such
as whether to support a
Gardenburger boycott. By
claiming the University
has no responsibility to
take a political stand,
Frohnmayer has set a
dangerous precedent for
present and future
controversies.
The main reason given
for remaining politically
neutral on the
Gardenburger issue is that
the students, as the
consumers of
Office
of the
(Politically Neutral)
President
no proDiem wun
Gardenburger, it has the
right to say so and not
support a boycott. If it
does have a problem with
Wholesome and Hearty
Food’s practices, it has
every right to stop
purchasing Gardenburger
products.
By claiming political
neutrality, Frohnmayer
has made the University
completely free of any
responsibility in future
controversies. If the meat
the University buys came
from slave labor, under
Frohnmayer’s logic,
University Housing would
have no right to seek out
an alternate producer.
After all, that would be
forcing all students to
accept the principle that
slave labor is wrong.
The University has the
right to make this kind of
“political” decision. It’s
done it before when it
pulled veal from the
dorms for the ethical
problems with how veal is
made, and when it pulled
grapes for labor questions.
Even if students don’t
agree with the University’s
stand, the fact is, it is just
that — the University’s
stand. Students have a
right to protest University
decisions, but the
University has the
ultimate responsibility to
make those decisions.
Political neutrality isn’t an
excuse for inaction.
This editorial represents
the opinion of the Emerald
editorial board.
LETTERS
Time to lead
To President Frohnmayer:
This letter is not one of legalis
tic concern for you and your strug
gle to reach a reasonable compro
mise with the Gardenburger issue.
As a person who holds a posi
tion of leadership and represents a
diverse student body as well as
faculty, it must be hard to find a
balance on the fine line of democ
ratic leadership. I can only imag
ine the stress and weight you feel
every day in your pursuit to repre
sent this institution.
In controversial issues such as
the Gardenburger boycott, the best
interest of the campus is not al
ways apparent. In these situations,
it takes true untainted leadership
to come to a justified conclusion.
Lukewarm leadership is aimless
leadership and will never attain
any amount of justice. We need di
rection. Direction that is clear and
stem and will carry us further
down the road to justice and truth.
I ask you, Mr. Frohnmayer, to
ask yourself how you want to be
remembered as University Presi
dent. Do you want to be remem
bered as a man who acknowl
edged the struggle for justice or
one who waded in the warm wa
ters of complacency?
I hope you take all of this seri
ously, because this campus, this
nation and the world are searching
desperately for direction that is
solid and firm. This is the time to
be a leader. Take a risk, and take a
stand against injustice.
John Skalberg
Undeclared
Little light
I’d like to shed a little light onto
the Frohnmayer/Oriental issue
that has been looming over this
campus. I fear the letter written by
Guy Barker is a symptom of the
overall ignorance on this campus
surrounding racial issues [ODE,
May 13). We all need to start edu
cating ourselves before we upset
even more people because of the
uninformed opinion.
First of all, President Frohnmay
er never said anything about peo
ple from “eastern Asia" eating
rice. What he said was: “We have
rice now because we have a signif
icant group of Oriental stu
dents...” Now was he referring to
international students from Asia
or Asian/Pacific Islander Ameri
can students? Or was he clumping
both extremely diverse groups into
one pan-ethnic mass?
What was more upsetting was
that President Frohnmayer used
the rice comment to skirt the issue
at hand: Gardenburgers. How does
offering rice in the dorms correlate
with not boycotting Gardenburger
and its association with produce
suppliers who violate human
rights in their labor practices? Are
there different brands of rice to
choose from? Do any of those com
panies participate in, or associate
with, other companies that partici
pate in human rights violations?
There are no “Oriental nations,”
and while rice is a staple of many
Asian countries, to generalize and
stereotype all Asians as rice-eaters
is problematic and, I fear, a symp
tom of underlying beliefs and prej
udices that are lurking in the shad
ows. I don’t believe that the stu
dent unions are "searching desper
ately for a cause that just isn’t
there.” The causes are there; they
just keep getting marginalized and
oversimplified by the administra
tion and fellow students who
aren’t willing to see the whole pic
ture.
Robert Wasson
English
The pictures of Connie Rawson
and Jessie Thompson in the May
16 ‘‘Reader Voices” section were
reversed. The Emerald regrets the
error.