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- ©regon^£meraUr -
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
Jonas Allen, Kameron Cole
Responsibility /<
is the ^
key to credit
Creditors offer free promotions, but sufficient
funds are in students’ best interest
There’s truth to the
saying that college
students will take
anything they can
get their hands on if it’s free:
free posters, free CDs, free T
shirts, even free beef, if the
tire-buying opportunity pre
sents itself. The first week of
class provides prime exam
ples of this behavior.
Take a look at the EMU dur
ing that week. Please. It’s free.
Of course, so are half of the
items offered during the five
day business blizzard. Credit
card, newspaper and long dis
tance companies shower Uni
versity students with free trin
kets in return for students’
spending power.
With as much promoting as
those companies do, and as
much as those students are ea
ger to take, it would seem that
businesses end up with the
short end of the beefstick.
At least, that’s how it would
seem. But aside from the
wash-it-once-and-then-it-fits
Barbie fiasco, students often
face more serious conse
quences by taking free good
ies.
According to a study by OS
PIRG’s “parent” public inter
est research group, students
who apply for a credit card to
get the company’s promotion
al items generally carry a
higher balance than people
who sign up for more pressing
needs.
As if students needed to
worry about more than college
loans, the interest rate on a
credit card balance is high
enough to make the most sea
soned economics major shud
der. Student loans can take
years to pay off; a high credit
balance can haunt people for
a lifetime.
And don’t think for a
minute that credit companies
don’t know it.
For several years, credit
card companies have run
advertisements urg
ing young people
to spend their
money and
use their I
ly. They
have plead
ed for pru
dence with
televi
sions — items that many stu
dents might indeed buy.
Yet it is those same compa
nies offering promotions, all
the while knowing that many
accepting students will be
possessed by the power of
plastic.
Why would the companies
seem so hypocritical? Because
they also know the power of
the most (in)famous acronym
in business today: OAC.
"On Approved Credit” is a
term creditors are happy to
throw in students’ faces. As
soon as a student finishes pay
ing off college loans, lo and
behold, it’s time to think
mena/Emeni^^/l
about owning a house or car.
Before being approved for the
necessary loan, a student has
to prove that the company
will get its monthly payment.
Enter the beloved credit
check. Without a history of
paying bills on time, the
chances of getting a home or
car loan are finer than the
print at the bottom of the con
tract.
So having a credit card in
college seems the perfect
chance to build a history. But
once the interest builds on a
missed payment, credit be
comes a revolving door. What
once cost $100 to buy now
costs up to $120. Next month
it will be even higher. Those
students who can’t afford to
pay their balance more than
compensate for those students
who can.
That’s why credit compa
nies are in business.
Their advertisements are
not false; creditors don’t want
students to go bankrupt. If stu
dents went bankrupt there
would be no one to pay the
bills (in this case, to not pay
them).
But accepting a free gift
does not automatically mean a
student will carry a high bal
ance. Creditors visit campus.
They have goodies. Students
sign up because they can’t do
it anywhere else as conve
niently. The gift is a bonus.
Rather than accepting a gift,
students need to accept that
credit companies are in it for
the money. They also need to
accept responsibility when
using their credit cards. Free
bies are nice, but a healthy
checking account will keep
students happier than a pink
corduroy halter top that does
n’t fit in the first place.
This editorial represents the
opinion of the Emerald editori
al board. Responses may be sent
to ode®Oregon , uoregon.edu.
Letters to the Edi tor
A forum for safety
In response to Janean Fossum’s letter (ODE, 10/5)
about her experience at the Dylan/Morrison concert:
The UO Cultural Forum is a group of students
and staff that presents concerts, lectures, visual and
performing arts and film to the campus and com
munity. We are producing the Ani DiFranco concert
at the Hult Center, the Paperboys in November, the
Willamette Valley Folk Festival and Oregon Grind
in the spring, a weekly campus film series, open
mics, noon gigs and jazz cafes, art exhibits in the
Adell McMillan and Aperture galleries and more.
We are at our best when we are the sole producer of
an event.
At this point, the Cultural Forum is unable finan
cially to independently produce a McArthur Court
concert such as Bob Dylan/Van Morrison/Lucinda
Williams. The concert you attended on September
24th was produced by Double T Promotions from
Portland. Double T took the financial risk and made
decisions regarding the event. It was Double T’s de
cision to make this event general admission and de
cide how many tickets to sell.
I understand it was challenging for the security
crew, student Events Crew, and events staff to keep
aisles clear in the first balcony. They are most effec
tive when they receive cooperation from partici
pants. It is unclear to me from your letter that you
pursued seating In the second and third balcony as
alternatives to sitting in the aisles or the two rows
behind the stage that were secured by barricade tape
in the first balcony. The two rows behind the stage
were secured to create separation between the audi
ence and the stage. It was a safety precaution re
quested by the performers.
Some of your letter points to the challenges en
countered at the event. The Cultural Forum's phi
losophy of student development is to evaluate pro
grams and make changes planning future events.
Your comments will be included in our evaluation.
As I review your letter and my response. I am
compelled to share with you that our experiences
are what we make of them.
Linda Dievendorf
Program Coordinator
UO Cultural Forum and Student Activities
Resource Office
'The difficulty
now is trying to
convince you...
that what you are
being told is the
truth. You cannot
believe you are be
ing told the truth
because for the last
20 years you prob
ably haven’t been."
— Prince An
drew, telling the
media that the
British royal fami
ly is trying to open
itself to the public
for better commu
nication
“Your cops can
blow you away, but
they’re not as good
at giving kickings
in the cells. Ours
are the best at
that"
—Author Irvine
Welsh, explaining
why the British po
lice in bis novels
are portrayed as
“bad" characters
"(Mark
Wahibergjwas.in
his way, trying to
give me a compli
ment. He's a really
nice guy. I didn't
take offense at it. A
lot of people talk
about my butt and
my body,"
-HWWWJM
nlfer Lopez, re
sponutny 10
Wahibefg’snot
so-subtie stances
at her body during
the MTV video
awards
"Hiere’s a hu
mility in me, or
something, that
makes me, like, not
there, to feet
charmed. You
know, Hke 'Don't
you dare.”
—Stephan
Jenkins, like,
leader of Third Eye
Blind, describing
his, you know, un
believable suc
cess with the band
“Just once in
your lifeyou need
to have thrown a
TV out a window...
or [been] called a
freak. Every single
decent rock star
I've ever met has
had this.
—Courtney
Love, musing
about life in the
public's eye