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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1998)
CONTACTING US NEWSROOM: (541)346-5511 E-MAIL: ode<®oregon. uoregon.edu ADDRESS: Oregon Daily Emerald P O BOX 3159 Eugene, Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: www.uoregon.edu/~ode mmmm mssm mm EDITOR IN- HIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbach NIGHT EDITOR Nicole Krueger The media should he focusing on whether the president is a felon instead of digging up irrelevant dirt Did he or didn’t he? Yes, we are talking about President Clinton and the scandal that has been the focus of many conversa tions in the nation this week. But we aren't asking if Clinton had a re lationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, be cause that is not the heart of the is sue. We are asking whether the president suggested Lewinsky lie under oath — whether the Presi dent of the United States committed a federal offense. Ah, yes. The perjury issue. Re member that one? It seems to have gotten lost in the rage of headlines like “Classmates recall boast of earlier affair” (Oregonian, Jan. 25) and “Lewinsky may have forged letter, college says” (Oregonian, Jan. 26) and interviews on the lo cal news with Lewinsky’s neigh bors and former classmates at AN EMERALD EDITORIAL Lewis and Clark College. Scandal always seems to get the attention of the media and of the people, and this is a scandal with massive implications if it is found that Clinton did indeed suggest that Lewinsky lie under oath. But it seems that the media have been fol lowing the road of the tabloids, dig ging up dirt on everyone involved under the guise of seeking the truth, burying the issue of perjury in the meantime. What is getting buried concur rently while all this is going on? Perjury and obstruction of justice are federal, and thus impeachable, offenses. The implications of im peachment or resignation are far more important to the day-to-day functioning of the United States than whether the president had an affair. (Not that we are condoning that sort of behavior.) Where are the examinations of how the country will function in the event that Clin ton is removed or steps down from office? Other issues are also getting over shadowed by the large headlines and head shots of Clinton, Lewin sky, Kenneth Starr, Vernon Jordan and Linda Tripp. In the story in the bottom left cor ner of Sunday’s Register-Guard, we find the following: “White House officials said a countdown to a mili tary strike could begin as soon as Ramadan — the Muslim holy month of fasting — ends Friday.” In a twist that makes the writers of the film “Wag the Dog” look psy chic, a potential military situation starts brewing. Clinton would prob ably like to see real life follow the plot a bit more and have rumors of war obliterate reports of the sex scandal. But, unlike in the movie, reports of the possibility of war have not knocked the sex scandal off the front page. Rather, the oppo site seems to have happened. The article goes on, “The White House meeting came as a consensus emerged in the president’s national security staff that Iraq would never comply with the U.N. inspectors, and that smart bombs and cruise missiles may be needed to destroy Saddam’s hidden potential to build crude weapons of mass destruc tion.” Another casualty of the scandal was Clinton’s discussion of his pro posal to crack down on Medicare fraud. The main point of his plan is to prevent overcharging “of every thing from drugs to wheelchairs by medical suppliers” (Register-Guard, Jan. 25). He says his steps will save Medicare $2 billion over five years. This, too, seems pretty significant, but in the most packed news week in recent history, it got lost. No one knows what really hap pened between Lewinsky and Clin ton except for Lewinsky and Clin ton. While the media will continue to speculate until the truth comes out, remember the real question to ask: Is he or isn’t he ... a felon? This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial hoard. Responses may he sent to ode@oregon uoregon.edu. Drawing Board SPARE CHANGE? fl SSSS® C> JOHN GLENN SPACE WALKER LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Uphold decision Editor’s note: This is an open letter to University President Dave Frohnmayer. With respect to the recent decision by the Appeals Committee to uphold the finding in the Danta Graham-Preston case that he was in violation of the Student Conduct Code, we would like to encour age you to stand by these decisions and findings which have essentially been made four times now. We believe in the process which has been established by students and faculty, and we believe that the process has been followed thoroughly to the end with the results essentially be ing the same every time. The sanctions ultimately handed down need to be strengthened now by your sig nature. We feel that anything less than cat egorical acceptance of these sanctions would seriously undermine the integrity of the system that we have in place and would put into question the importance that the administration puts on the safety of women on this campus and ultimately the safety of students in general. The process is what needs to be upheld now, and that is what falls onto your shoulders with this appeal. We urge you to take this appeal and place your endorsement on the final deci sion that was already made. This will send a clear message to the campus com munity that feeling comfortable and safe on this campus is of utmost importance to you and the administration. Any other de cision which might lessen any aspect of these decisions would be a mistake and would seriously damage student/admin istration relations. ASUO President Bill Miner, Vice President Ben Unger and staff University should accept ASL I was pleased to see the front page arti cle on the University’s lack of acceptance of American Sign Language as a second/foreign language requirement (ODE, Jan. 27). I have been both disturbed and surprised by this since arriving at the University. After doing some research on this subject, 1 found that many universi ties and colleges across the country (at least 85) accept ASL as a second/foreign language for purposes of a degree. Some of these include Harvard, Yale, NYU, BYU, USC, Purdue and the entire Univer sity of California system, just to name a few. A full list is available at: http://www.unm.edU/~wilcox/ASLFL/u nivlist.html. Often the misconception is that ASL is English on the hands. Not so; that is an other signing language called Signed Ex act English. There is substantial research in the area of ASL showing that it is in deed a distinct language. Its syntax is not the same as spoken English. ASL has its own rhythm and meaning. Additionally, the argument is the ASL is not a "foreign” language. In some universities, Native American languages such as Navajo are accepted as “foreign" languages. I guess we need to define "foreign,” whether this means a foreign country’s language or a foreign, unfamiliar language. Finally, ASL is thought to not have its own literature or culture. In fact, with the statistic of 500,000 native signers in Amer ica, the deaf culture may be the third largest non-English speaking group in our country. The literature of ASL includes po etry, plays, narratives, films, etc. Hopefully soon, the University of Ore gon will join the ranks of the other 85 pro gressive universities in the United States by accepting ASL as a foreign/second lan guage. I have chosen ASL as my second language; I am in good company. And, with instructors like Jo Larson-Muhr, we have a wonderful opportunity to learn from a tremendously talented native sign er. We at the U of O have a very diverse of fering of foreign dialects. I think it only proper to add the third most used language to them. I urge anyone interested in an ap peal of the foreign language requirement to include ASL, or for more information to contact the Office of Student Advocacy. Donna M. Oakes Psychology
