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Alumni weekend
Homecoming weekend is,
and hasti 7 been, an event
for students
years since I graduated.
I’ve gotten older, wiser and wrin
kled, but the University is largely the
same. There is still no parking with
in walking distance, still crime and
poor housing options in the West
University neighborhood, and the
football team is still trying to piay it
self into the upper half of the confer
ence.
As I stand with a few hundred
other former University students
near Autzen Stadium before this
rainy homecoming football game, I
realize one change here that seems
to come with age: an interest in
homecoming.
As a student in 1998, homecom
ing weekend was a non-event. It
may as well have been a week of
Thursday night Must See TV. I had
no idea what events were going on,
where they were or how I was sup
omecoming football game,
Oct. 23,2023
Not much has changed
on this campus in the 25
posed to get involved.
Or maybe it was just that I didn’t
care.
Either way, homecoming was not
important in my life or the lives of
most students I knew. Instead, it
was, if anything, an event for alumni
still closely connected to the Univer
sity and for contributors.
At the time, part of me was won
dering if that was the way it should
be.
In the early ’60s there was a bon
fire and jazz musician Duke Elling
ton played on campus. Homecoming
was big — for students.
Some local officials said stu
dents’ apathy to homecoming and
other University events started in
the late 1960s and early 1970s
and may have been spurred
during the Vietnam War. In
fact, a 1967 Emerald editorial
proclaimed, "Abolish home
coming."
Whatever the cause, stu
dents were more or less
non-existent at the home
coming festivities when I
was here. Today, that all
makes sense.
Students were, and still are, most
ly apathetic to University involve
ment. But for the alumni it is often
the opposite.
We have been away from the
school for years and the University
is new again. Some of us haven’t
seen our college friends since we left
school, so it’s a time for us to remi
nisce and visit the foot of the Pio
neer man where we passed out one
night, the breeze way that was new
when we were here or the changes
in the 13th Avenue area.
There’s nothing new for students
this weekend. Why
should they care?
This is a weekend for us, the
alumni and the donors, and has been
for some time.
The Alumni Association tent is
starting to empty and the stadium is
beginning to fill up. It's funny how
things change, when in reality they
are actually the same.
This editorial represents the opinion of
the Emerald editorial hoard. Responses
may be sent to ode®Oregon uoregon.
edu.
1
student tent
\
Chris Hutchinson/Emerald
Letters to the Editor
No on measure 64
The debate over how to
manage Oregon’s forests has
reached a critical point with
ballot measure 64. In short,
measure 64 is an act that
would prohibit clear cutting
and pesticide use in all of
Oregon's forests. I am not
necessarily trying to endorse
a yes or no vote, rather I
would like to point out a very
real and serious problem.
I would personally be very
pleased if clear cutting in the
world's forests was a thing of
the past. It is undeniable that
sustainable forest manage
ment must be part of our fu
ture, and perhaps this mea
sure is a solid first step in
that direction. Unfortunately,
harvesting trees is a neces
sary part of our lives, and
even those people who detest
clear cutting the most de
pend on wood products on a
daily basis.
Given our current situa
tion, the effectiveness of
passing measure 64 will be
nullified for the following
reason: The state estimates
that if measure 64 passes
Oregon’s logging output will
be reduced by around 60 per
cent. However, our demand
for paper and other wood
products will remain un
changed. If the state’s figures
correct it will mean that the
lack of timber coming from
Oregon must be made up
elsewhere.
Unsustainable forestry
practices will continue in
other states and other coun
tries that do not prohibit
clear cutting. The hypocrisy
of.our consumption is self
evident. We cannot continue
to consume forest products at
our current rate and imple
ment sustainable forestry
practices at the same time. If
we don’t bring our use of for
est products under control,
laws to selfishly protect our
forests will only endanger
forests in other parts of the
world.
Eric Colbeck
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Kameron Cole
Thumbs
/i
THUMBS UP
To being held ac
countable
The United Na
tions is threaten
ing to take away
the United States'
vote if its $197
million bill is not
paid.
To animal
freedom
Twenty-four rhe
sus monkeys
broke out of a
cageafTulane
University, the
world’s largest pri
mate research
center, and two
are still at-large.
So, if the animals
are found, does
that mean the re
searchers will
have to punish the
escapees, and
thus spank their
monkeys?
THUMBS DOWN
To bureaucratic
B.S.
The U.S. spending
bill the Senate ap
proved on
Wednesdays
4,00Qpages, 16
Inches tall and 40
pounds. The tall
got one represen
tative's vote bbthe
“faith" of its con
tents.
To reported HIV
case* on the rise
The Eugene HIV
Alliance has seen
a 277 percent rise
in the number
clients in the last
three months.
CORRECTION
The Oct. 19 story,
“HIV Alliance sees
increase in clients,”
should have said
the organization
gets an average of
nine new clients per
quarter with a July
September in
crease of 277 per
cent. The Emerald
regrets this error.