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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
Kameron Cole
StefanieKnowlton
Giovanni Salimena/Emerald
No impleinenlalion without representalion
The
proposed
police
commission
needs to
include a
student in
order to
truly
represent the
community
There has been a lot of
talk about student be
havior lately. It has
been the subject of sev
eral meetings between stu
dents, police, city officials and
the University.
All are concerned about the
increase in violence, underage
drinking and out of control par
ties that surround the Universi
ty area. The majority has
claimed that community mem
bers are becoming increasingly
intolerant of students’ irrespon
sible behavior. Tension is high
between the community, police
and students and appears only
to get worse as events such as
the Halloween riots make a
third annual appearance near
campus.
In order to ease tension and
raise community involvement,
the city has proposed the es
tablishment of a police com
mission. With this in mind, one
would think the city would
want to include representatives
not only from the community
but also from the University.
Yet no provision has been
made to specifically include
students in the commission.
So far the proposed 12-per
son commission would include
two city council members, a
representative from the city’s
human rights commission,
eight residents and an addition
al member to be recommended
by the police chief.
In light of the recurring prob
lems between students and po
lice and the fact that nearly
17,000 Eugene residents hap
pen to be University students,
it is ridiculous that a place has
not been set aside specifically
for a University student.
Students are a huge part of
the community and probably
deal with police more often
than any other demographic in
Eugene. The city council
claims that the ordinance in
cludes a strong recommenda
tion for recruitment of young
people, but this is not enough.
Recent problems have given
the University a bad name in
the community, but most stu
dents are fairly responsible
adults. By securing a place on
the police commission, stu
dents will be able to give com
munity members a more realis
tic impression and take part in
discussing causes and solu
tions to problems that are close
to campus.
In addition, students will
give a unique perspective that
may be overlooked by other
community members. In
evitably topics such as minors
in possession, out-of-control
parties and riots will come up
in police commission meet
ings. And students can give in
formation that is invaluable to
these discussions. In addition,
without student involvement
the commission’s discussions
of these topics will be limited
to the hypothetical and have
little chance of producing
change.
Considering that the result of
these discussion will directly
apply to students, it is neces
sary that students have a voice
in the proposed commission.
Representation in the council
would breech the widening gap
between students, police and
the community, which is the
whole point.
This editorial represents the opin
ion of the Emerald editorial
board. Responses may be sent to
ode@oregon uoregon.edu
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TO HELPING THE
LESS
FORTUNATE:
President Clinton
implemented a
housing voucher
that will subsidize
rent for17,000
low-income peo
ple with disabili
ties.
TO THE UNIVER
SITY OF MAINE:
For their new
program that
guarantees col
lege students
they will graduate
in four years or
the university will
pay the remain
ing tuition.
TO THE RISE IN
PREJUDICE
AMONG TEEMS;
According toa
recent article in
theSanFrancis
co Examiner half
of the 3,123 high
school students
polled admitted a
prejudice against
gays amj les
bians. This figure
showsa 19 per
centage point in
crease from last
year.
TO DROP IN
GRANTS FOR
COLLEGE TU
ITION:
According to a
recent study, fi
nancial aid does
n’t go as far as it
used to. Re
searchers con
cluded that finan
cial aid today
covers less than
half of what it did
in 1976-77,
which makes a
higher education
difficult to afford
for low-income
families.