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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Kameron Cole
Adoptees should gain access to
family roots
.W.
State Ballot Measure 58
would allow adult j
adoptees access to I
original birth ||
certificates ‘fc
V
>oPPOp. T*
Measure ^3
mation. The advances
made in medical technolo
gy make it imperative that
medical history be available
to anyone and everyone. It
could save my life or even
N my future child’s life.
J Disclosure could only
be inappropriate and
It’s true. I am not my par
ents’ daughter — at least not bio
logically.
And though my adoptive par
ents have provided a good life and a
loving home, they cannot answer
those nagging questions that insist on
lingering in the back of my mind.
What is my mother’s name? What is
my father’s race and nationality? Why
did they give me away? What kind of
medical history do I have? Do I need
to worry about breast
un
\ til you have to fill
out a medical
questionnaire or
register for classes
at a new school or
explain to a friend
why your siblings
ih
Giovanni Salimena/Emerald
look nothing like
you. Not lotow
ing leaves me
watching
Opinion
Tricia
Schwennesen
cancer, and are my
chronic allergies
something I inherited?
I believe that 1 am en
titled to the answers to
these questions. I have
earned that right by
striving to get ahead,
moving forward in life
and becoming my own
person. I have success
fully reached adult
hood, and now I want
some answers.
Oregonians have a chance to answer
these questions for hundreds of
adoptees by voting yes on Measure 58.
Measure 58 could abolish the 1957 law
that sealed away original birth certifi
cates leaving adoptees to forever won
der about the possibilities.
The lack of family information
leaves many adoptees with a huge
gaping inner wound that can some
times
lead to feelings of shame
and insecurity.
Being adopted never bothered me
until I had to make a family tree in ele
mentary school. The assignment was
torture on my little girl heart because
naming my family members seemed
to me to be a bloodline of lies. I was
ashamed that I didn’t have my moth
er’s smile or my grandmother’s eyes. I
didn’t have my father’s height or my
grandfather’s nose. But my parents
were smart. They never hid my adop
tiveness from me or anyone else.
They taught me that family was mote
than biology and genetics.
You would think that coming to
terms with being adopted and accept
ing your adoptive family as your one
and only would ease the doubt that
comes with not knowing the biology of
your existence. It doesn’t.
It’s easy to set the questions aside
strangers in
the grocery
store, in the mall or at work, wonder
ing if the woman with the dark curly
hair might be my mother or the man
peppered with freckles across his
nose might be my father. It doesn’t
matter that I’m not a native Oregon
ian. My biological family could be
from anywhere and might currently
live right here in Eugene. Who
knows? I know I don’t.
I understand that there was once a
time when illegitimate children left a
permanent black mark against unwed
mothers. But that time has passed.
Today, if a woman accidentally gets
pregnant, it’s more acceptable to give
the baby up for adoption because the
only other alternative is abortion. And
no one likes the idea of killing a child.
Birth parents have a moral obliga
tion to provide family history and
more importantly, vital medical in
harmful for both parties in
volved if the birth mother was sexual
ly assaulted. In this situation the cir
cumstances of the birth should be
revealed as an explanation for the lack
of information available. No identify
ing information should be divulged.
Oregon is one of 43 states where
birth records are available by court or
der only. In the last decade, state law
revisions have given adoptees new
ways to get crucial information.
Adoption agencies are required by
an Oregon statute to keep voluntary
registries for birth parents and
adoptees. Agencies must also conduct
searches if requested by either party.
Unfortunately there are no guarantees
for a thorough search, registries are in
convenient and the alternatives can be
expensive.
Before I have children of my own, I
should be able to provide them with
an accurate medical history based on
biology as well as family history based
on life and love. Accidental parents
need to quit being selfish and the law
needs to recognize that adoptees have
the same right to build a life based on
truth not a fabricated birth certificate.
Tricia Schwennesen covers the College
of Arts and Sciences, the University
Foundation and the Oregon Public Em
ployees Union for the Emerald. She can
be reached via e-mail at tschwenn@
gladstone. uoregon edu.
Letters to the Editor
Students must vote
All of the sudden half the term is fin
ished. Mid-terms are the subject of our
nightmares. Some of us are wondering if
we will get through our classes, how little
sleep we can survive on, how long the sun
will last and even more students are won
dering how they will vote on Nov. 3 Stu
dents are proving that we want to be recog
nized. We no longer think politics are
frivolous, that propositions are pointless or
that our vote doesn’t matter. As of the vot
ing registration deadline, 3,500 University
students registered with ASUO. This num
ber doesn’t take into account those stu
dents who are already registered. In other
words, the students are ready to be heard.
Students have made the connection. The
only way the government will work for us
is if we hold them accountable. Yes, we
have registered to vote. Yes, we are educat
ing ourselves about the issues at hand, but
it’s that last step we need to take. We need
to make intelligent decisions and get to the
polls and vote. We must strive to under
stand what issuers will impact students
and our state.
Last session, students voted and legisla
tors saw that we not only care, we matter.
Legislators saw that some progress on the
tuition freeze was necessary. This year we
have the opportunity to do the same and af
firm a tuition freeze. As student voters we
have taken that step. As a fellow student, I
thank you for caring.
Janette Sherman
ASUO Intern
Escaped animals a hazard
I am disappointed that the Emerald gave
a thumbs up to the monkey breakout at Tu
lane University Primate Center (ODE, Oct.
22). This poor attempt at journalistic hu
mor did not recognize the seriousness of
escaped research animals and how their
lives and the research they aid are affected.
The escape of these animals does not corre
late to a gain of freedom, but rather results
in stress to the creature and possibly pre
mature death. Released research animals
often die in new, unfamiliar surroundings
from starvation, trauma caused by cars, an
imal attacks and fear. These monkeys are
extremely valued creatures used in the
study of cancer, malaria, leprosy and AIDS.
Their escape is not a matter to be taken
lightly, nor is it to be summed up as a gain
of freedom for these animals.
Jocelyn McAuley
Institute of Neuroscience
CORRECTION
In the "Private dona
tions, grants on the
rise" story (ODE,
Oct.23),astate
mentattributedto
Paula Burkhart, as
sistant vice provost
for research and tac
ulty development
should have said
federal research dol
lars have declined in
the last 10 years na
tionally, but the
amount of federal
research dollars at
the University dur
ing the same time
has risen due to its
quality faculty.
Said
&Done
“People see it more
asafamily tragedy
there."
—Bob Huff, Viti
Fualaau’s lawyer,
on France's reac
tion to Fualaau's
tour to promote the
book, “Only One
Crime, Love”
“it’s not just a place
to come and sit and
be sad or worried.
It's a place that at
tempts to dignify
the life of the peo
ple.”
—Carlos Mar
rentes, director of
Centro deTraba
jadores Agricolas
Fronterizas, in El
Paso, Texas. The
center provides
free shelter nightly
forfarm workers
who work in West
Texas and New
Mexico during the
picking season.
“I'm not one to
gloat overthese
things, ifs just part
of doing our busi
ness.”
—Eureka Police
Chief AmieNHI
sap, on a federal
judge dismissing a
lawsuit Monday by
anti-logging pro
testers whose eyes
were swabbed
"I do think if s a
great sadness that
the Oxford dictio
nary isdotng this.
Hearing split infini
tives is like listening
to Mozart when the
pianist keeps hit
ting all the wrong
notes."
— Lottos Jestin,
head ol the English
departmental
Central Connecti
cut State Universi
ty, on Oxford die
tionaries ending
its centuries-old
ban on splitting in
finitives.
“I don’t like to kill
things. I like tools
and problem-solv
ing."
—Allen ingling,
University of
Maryland veteri
narian who is in
Neah Bay, Wash.,
to help the Makah
Indian Tribe with
their first whale
hunt in more than
70 years.