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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 26, 1998)
NEWSROOM: AOORESS: (541)346-5511 Oregon Daily Emerald E-MAIL: P.0 BOX3159 ode@oregon. uoregon edu Eugene. Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: www.uoregon.edu/~ode * EDITOR IN CHIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbach NIGHT EDITOR Holly Sanders Spreading blame for lack of access ibe ongoing disagreement about building an elevator in the EMU was caused by errors on the part of several groups great many people. To be fair, however, let's start with ourselves. If you are in a wheelchair, you cannot make it into the Emerald offices. This has been the case since last spring, when the wheelchair lift by our offices broke. This isn’t the only place in the EMU that is inaccessible to some people with disabil ities. Other student groups’ offices and the International Student Lounge are also un reachable. There is something upsetting about the fact that our own facilities do not meet the Americans with Disabilities Act. As a renter, we are not legally bound to tackle this problem; the responsibility for making sure building facilities meet the law lies with the EMU board. Morally, however, we ought to be concerned about the problem and take action to fix it. Having taken the first step by admitting we have a problem, there is still a lot of blame to distribute. The EMU has been in violation of the act since spring, and until the end of January, no one had taken clear ly visible action to fix the situation. The problem, as we mentioned, came about when a lift located > his article is about blame. And there’s a lot of blame to go around. The blame could start with a upstairs broke, that was last spring. This is Febru ary. Between last spring has been undergoing ma jor renovations. The prob lem should have been mentioned earlier. To that extent, a lot of blame rests with the EMU board. Late last month, the board petitioned the *' Student Senate for S.'iOO.OOOto pay for an ele vator that would bring the building into compliance with the act. and February, the EMU l no amount lias been reduced to $250,000, but the request still raises a number of concerns. AW EMERALD EDITORIAL As members of the Senate have noted, this request should have been made earlier. The EMU board insists it was seeking alter nate funding, but that process could have taken place a while ago and probably should have been more effective. Additionally, the board has requested that the money come out of the Overreal ized Fund — an account that contains stu dent fees in excess of those budgeted for. Theoretically, this money ought to be in place for emergencies, but like the more egregious decision by last year’s ASUO Ex ecutive to spend some of the fund on an amphitheater, this would seriously deplete available resources. Troubled by this possibility, the Senate refused to consider the request until a clar ification of policy regarding the Overreal ized Fund had taken place and more information about the eleva tor and possible options was made available. . . i 1 Ins is understand able, but also trou bling because of the possibility that the EMU — supposed ly dedicat ed to the service of students — will remain inacces sible to a portion of the student body. Therefore, some blame must lie with the Senate. This delay woidd have been un necessary if the Senate had clarified use of the fund last year during the amphitheater fiasco or earlier this year. Moreover, if the fund isn't the proper source of money for the elevator— which is certainly a logical claim — the Senate should work with the EMU board to find an appropriate source of funding. After all, this situation ought to be a source of concern for everyone at the Uni versity. This means, of course, that some blame also lies with an administration that continues to manage buildings that don’t meet ADA requirements. While the EMU doesn't fall directly un der administrative control, other equally inaccessible buildings on campus do. This is an issue people at Johnson Hall should have been worrying about and working on solving fora while. If University fund-raisers had been working to get money to update existing buildings instead of striving to build new ones, perhaps a fund would exist for con tingencies such as this. Few things reflect worse on a University than facilities that exclude some of the students. Mistakes were made by numerous par ties. Mistakes had to be made by numerous parties in order for such an egregious viola tion of code to continue for so long. In or der to end that violation, however, it will take die cooperation of the various parties who are to blame; all involved groups must work for a solution that maintains the fi nancial stability of die student body while strengthening the legal and moral credibility of the University. \ i This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial hoard. Responses ma y he sent to CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald Avoid judgement As a Catholic Christian in favor ot gay rights, I was saddened and angered by Barry Williams’ letter attacking homosexuality. To use the Bible to justify ha tred toward and discrimination against gays should be unthink able for any practicing Christian. Jesus spoke of love and non-judg mental attitudes toward others. Sadly, my fellow Christians are often the first in line to endorse discriminatory attitudes. Regardless of any moral opin ion of homosexuality, however, arguments over gay rights initia tives should remain on the legal level. In other words, is it ethical under the law to fire an employ ee or refuse a person housing only on the basis that he or she is gay? Common sense tells us that it is not. In response to Williams’ com ment regarding homosexual mar riage, one must consider the pur pose of marriage. Is procreation the sole reason to get married? If so, how does Williams justify the marriage of infertile couples? It strikes me as ironic that gays are often lambasted for their alleged promiscuity, but then are subse quently denied the opportunity of monogamous marriage. Perhaps in matters such as these, Williams should look to Mother Teresa, the “most ad mired individual of this decade,” who said: “People often ask me what I think about homosexuals ... and I always answer that I don’t judge people. It isn’t what anyone may or may not have done, but what you have done that matters to God. ... If you judge others, then you are not giving love.” Annie Abiner Psychology/sociology Williams prejudiced Regarding Barry Williams’s let ter to the editor (e.g.. “Homosexu ality is unnatural,” ODE. Feb. 25). the Bible has, alas, been made to say a great many things. Some times, as when Williams juxta poses so-called biblical evidence ("The emotion God feels [toward gay and lesbian people) is fierce, burning anger”) with forecasts of the imminent deaths of young men and women from AIDS, we learn rather more about one per son’s uncharitable opinions and desires than about the Bible and its relationship to a viable Christ ian faith. Although few among my fel low students can be persuaded by the predictable claims of the OCA to adopt Williams’ fierce brand of morality, this doesn’t re lieve us of the necessity of re sponding to his point of view, particularly when it appears in our newspaper. I hope others will make their thoughts known whenever Williams and those of his persuasion choose to subject us to their prejudices. Brian Whaley English Group offered subsidy According to Sal Piazza, sales director at the Convention and Visitors Association of Lane County, both his agency and the University of Oregon have at tempted to subsidize the Promise Keepers’ Autzen Stadium male supremacy rallies (Register Guard. Feb. 20). Presumably, both the associa tion and the University would of fer the same preferential treat ment to any group of Moonies, Scientologists or secular human ists wanting to converge in Eu gene. Ron Black Junction City Higher ed is priority Thanks to Michael Burnham for a good Emerald article on my recent announcement of candida cy for state Legislature. I knew I could count on a UO reporter to do better than the rest of the me dia community at catching the highlight of my speech: the criti cal need for restoring state funds to the higher ed system. A generation ago, I served my turn as an Emerald reporter on my way to a journalism degree at the University, so I know how tough it is to keep up with a rapid-fire speaker. Thus, no criti cism is intended when I offer the following clarification of my key statistic. Burnham writes that I said, “the state has reduced funding for colleges and universities by 6.4 percent since 1990." The sad truth, as 1 described it, is actually much worse than that. In 1990, 15 percent of the state's budget went to higher ed. Now the per centage has fallen to 6.4 percent. Math majors won't be the only ones to perceive that such a de cline is not marginal: it’s precipi tous. Your 80 percent increase in tuition since 1990 is just one con sequence of that defunding. I am offering to be a voice with in the Legislature’s majority part (a rare phenomenon from a Eu gene district) for improved fund ing of higher education in the coming session. Call me with questions or suggestions. I’m in the phone book. Norm Fox, candidate House District 41 UO Class of '68
