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
Perspectives
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Carl Yeh
Register-Guard guilty of spreading rape myths
Two recent editorials
have contained offensive
attitudes that miss the
meaning of consent
Do the editors of The Regis
ter-Guard have daughters?
How about wives, moth
ers or sisters? Anyone
who has read their recent editorials
about the sexual misconduct case at
the University wouldn’t think so.
The Guard’s views propagate a dan
gerous rape myth — the notion that a
woman who has had prior sexual re
lations with someone can no longer
say “no” to future sexual relations.
Autumn DePoe, communications
director for the ASUO, called the first
piece the Guard did on the subject
“the worst editorial [she] had ever
read.”
Think we’re exaggerating? Read
this direct quote: “The acknowledged
prior sexual intimacy and the volun
tary nature of the overnight visits in
both cases would destroy the credi
Jeff
Shaw
bility or any charge
of sexual assault.”
There are two im
portant parts of that
sentence: what it
tells you and what it
doesn’t. It does tell
you that, by the
Guard’s standards,
any woman who
has had any sexual
contact with a man
has no right to say
no in the future. 1 he problems this
causes are obvious: what if someone
changes their mind? And what about
breakups? According to the Guard,
any sexual contact with someone ob
ligates you to accommodate their sex
ual desires — even if their desires ex
ceed your stated limits.
And those limits are exactly what
the Guard doesn’t tell you about. In
each case, the woman reports having
explicitly said beforehand that she
did not want to have sex. One
woman says she explicitly told the
man "no” during the act itself. This
allegation is glossed over in the
Guard’s editorial. Why the selective
emphasis of case details?
Most frightening about publishing
this kind of stuff, though, is that it
discourages reporting of a crime
which already has a low rate of dis
closure. "I could definitely see [the
editorials] as discouraging reporting
of sexual assault crimes,” DePoe said.
xxo^J^^uL «»>
t*AA^^U****" "^' '
“They not only said they didn't be
lieve the women, but they actually
wished [the accused man) good luck
in his endeavors.”
Apparently without any recogni
tion of irony, the Guard admitted that
the women didn’t press criminal
charges “because they didn’t want
the pain and embarrassment of a
courtroom trial.” Imagine that. It’s a
good thing they didn’t know with
what care and delicacy the Guard
would treat their feelings. If I knew
my reputation would be dragged
through the mud in the local newspa
per, I might think twice about report
ing a crime too.
Remember, also, that the Guard
published this opinion twice. As if
the above quotation from their first
editorial wasn’t enough, they came
back on Feb. 2 with this gem (one can
imagine the incredulous tone in
which they designed this sentence to
be read): "Both women are accusing
the defendant of having sexual inter
course with them without permis
sion even though each acknowledges
a prior sexual relationship with the
man and having agreed to spend the
night at his house.”
Again, they don’t tell you what the
women claim, that the parties in
volved agreed not to have sex on the
night in question. It’s sad that we live
in a world where people can be vic
timized by someone they trust. It’s
sadder still that newspapers publish
opinions like these, designed to
shame people who have done noth
ing wrong.
“I've read the Register-Guard ever
since I was able to read,” DePoe said.
"Reading that editorial made me dis
appointed in a newspaper that I had
read daily. I’d never want to give my
money to a newspaper that encour
ages a rapist society and discourages
women from reporting rapes.” I’ve
talked to a few people already who
have canceled their subscriptions as
a response to these opinions.
One can only hope more will fol
low suit. Victims of sexual miscon
duct deserve understanding, compas
sion and support, not condemnation.
And we all deserve a society in
which you can agree not to have sex
and have your wishes respected.
At the top of its masthead, our lo
cal daily claims that “a newspaper is
a citizen of its community.” Through
its editorials, the Guard has been an
irresponsible public citizen to this
point. But if the editors are serious
about upholding that creed, I have a
simple proposal.
The Guard could help make up for
its misinformation by reaffirming, in
print, this simple truth: When a
woman says “no” to any kind of sex
ual behavior and then someone goes
forward with that behavior, it’s rape.
That much is plain and simple. To
everyone, anyway, except The Regis
ter-Guard.
Jeff Shaw is a columnist for the Emerald.
His columns appear alternate Wednes
days. His mews do not necessarily those
of the newspaper.
rUdimama
In the editorial
“Work to protect
labor lobbyists"
(ODE, Feb. 10),
the explanation
of the fate of a
measure to elim
inate state con
tributions to em
ployee pensions
should have said
the measure was
defeated when it
was overturned
by a state court.
The Emerald
regrets the error.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Firm should get credit
The recent story focusing upon the role
that students have played and are currently
playing in the renovations of the EMU omit
ted several critical points of information. The
most glaring omission from the article was
any reference to the landscape architectural
firm of Cameron/McCarthy/Gilbert, who are
the designers of the outdoor space currently
nearing completion. The article in Wednes
day’s Emerald (Feb. 4, ODE) completely ig
nored the fact that while student designs from
two studios I taught were shown to the De
sign Advisory Group, and to CMG, they were
used as idea generators, or as places to start,
not as a singular driving force behind the pro
ject. While many good ideas came out of the
studio work, including many of the ideas you
see being incorporated into the new court
yard, the integration of those ideas into a
buildable and beautiful design is fully the
work of CMG, and credit should be given
where it is due. Also left out of the article was
any reference to the generosity of CMG m giv
ing our students an opportunity to play a role
in parts of the design and construction of the
new courtyard (planting design and installa
tion, irrigation design and installation), and
specifically Larry Gilbert’s interaction with
our students in leading weekly walking tours
of the construction site that give our students
an opportunity to see how a project like this
comes to fruition. While the contributions of
the students will in fact save money that can
be spent in other areas of the project that were
shortchanged or omitted due to an already
limited budget, a point of equal or greater im
port is the educational role that these oppor
tunities offer to our students. While this last
point was made in the article, the role that
CMG played in making it happen was left
out.
Stan Jones
Professor, landscape architecture
Looking for a lawsuit
If I were Donna Albro, Bill Miner, Ben
Unger, Robert Wasson, a member of the
ASUO Women’s Center — or the ODE, for
that matter — 1 would think twice (having ob
viously failed completely to think the first
time) about using the label of “rapist" quite so
casually. As 1 understand it, “rapist" is a title
that can be bestowed on a criminal at the con
clusion of a criminal judicial proceeding fol
lowed by a conviction, all in a court of law.
Prosecution under the Student Conduct Code
evidently is not required to meet the stan
dards that would be required by a court — al
though it certainly should be. But the use of
such language following a SCC investigation
and "conviction” in such a case does not ex
empt anyone from being sued for slander or
libel. President Frohnmayer, in ordering a
long-overdue review of this case, is obviously
aware of this.
Donta Graham-Preston may or may not be
guilty; we’ll never really know until there has
been some sort of thorough and impartial —
and legal — investigation. In the mean time,
all the P.C. rhetoric about “rapists” and “sur
vivors” won’t alter the fact that this whole
business looks a lot more like a Star chamber
than a legitimate inquiry' — or that it also
looks like a humongous lawsuit just waiting
to happen.
Michael E. Stamm
Graduate secretary, English aepartment
Thumbs
To Culinary
Workers Union
local 226:
After being on
strike since Sept
21,1991, The New
York Tenes reports
thatthe union ffnal
ly won a contract
from the Frontier
hotel in Las Vegas.
In the more than six
years 550 workers
were on strike, not
one crossedthe
picket lines. Work
ers were protesting
a variety of unfair
labor practices,
charges upheld by
the U.S. Court of
Appeals forthe9th
Circuit The victory
is part of a larger
growth of labor in
Vegas, which AFL
CIOiYesiderttJQhn
Sweeney called
“the hottest union
city in America.”
To the U.S.
Marine Corps:
After an incident
even the Marines
admit displayed
“recklessness" in
which a low-flying
jet severed the ca
ble on a ski it and
killed 20 people in
Italy, a steady se
ries of damning
revelations about
the way the military
treats the commu
nities in which it
has bases have
emerged. Not only
did the Marines ad
mit their pilot was
in error, but reports
have also come out
that such haz
ardous behavior
was not uncom
mon in the region.
Worse, in the days
following the acci
dent, the Marines
and other officials
have shown great
disrespect for com
munity members
investigating the in
cident, going so far
as to deny the plane
had a flight
recorder late last
week, then deliver
ing the recorder
from the plane over
the weekend after
an engineer con
firmed the military
was dishonest
about the presence
of such a device on
the plane.