®regon$K£meral&
The ol’
switcheroo
I
The Legislature is
trying to give students
a bad program in the
disguise of higher
education funding
Genesis tells the story of Jacob, the son
oflsaac, who fell in love with Laban’s
youngest daughter, Rachel. Jacob
went to Laban to ask for her hand in
marriage and the father requested that Jacob
work in his fields for seven years to earn his
daughter’s hand.
Once Jacob completed the task, he was given
a wife, but upon receiving her as his wife he
discovered she was not his beloved Rachel but
her older sister, Leah.
This tale of deception and manipulation can
be seen in our current situation as University
siuaents depending on tne
do what it should — give us a tuition freeze in
stead of instituting unwanted half-baked pro
grams supposedly designed to help all stu
dents.
As told in the story of Jacob, people are not
always what they seem and programs do not al
ways do what they are designed to.
Senate Bill 104 is Leah, the sister we never
wanted. This bill would create a loan program
at Oregon’s seven public universities that
would allow students to repay loans according
to how much they make after graduation. The
loan obligation would end after 10 years or after
they have paid three times the amount of the
original loan.
Therefore those who have the fortune, or mis
fortune, of making a sizable income after gradu
ation would pay more than those who make
less. Not only is this program unfair, it would
be expensive.
Nothing would stop students from taking out
loans they knew they could not repay, and the
state and other students would end up picking
up the bill.
The program also fails to help students who
are already in school, and it will be slow in im
plementation. Only 2,000 students in the next
two years would be affected, at an estimated
cost of $15 million.
Legislators should be more concerned with a
program that would help all students, such as a
tuition freeze, the Rachel to college students.
This is what we asked for in countless trips to
Salem. A freeze would be an immediate solu
tion to the increasing cost of tuition and would
make education more accessible to lower-in
come families. Legislators could also add to this
by increasing need-based grants at Oregon uni
versities.
Students are already too much in debt as it is.
With incomes decreasing, the cost of education
increasing and government offering few solu
tions, students are discouraged from pursuing
higher education. Loans do not save students
money and are a barrier to education — not a
gateway.
Token programs such as SB104 do not ab
solve the Legislature from focusing on the real
needs of college students. It should not
be up to Legislature to try and figure
out what would be best for us
or what we want.
We have spoken:
We want Rachel
not Leah, and
>
stop trying to ma
nipulate college
students. Unlike
Jacob, we know the
difference.
This editorial represents the
opinion of the Emerald ed
itorial board. Responses
may be sent to ode@ore
gon.uoregon.edu.
Letters to the Editor
Bryan Dixon/EmeraU
Nike’s university
I would like to thank Mike Hines
for his article "Getting Cozy with
NIKE?” (ODE, Feb. 23) because it re
minded me, once again, of how much
I despise the vast majority of modem
media. Normally I am amused by friv
olous paranoia, but the subject matter
chosen for this article enraged me.
I can wholeheartedly say I am sick
to death of instances in today’s society
where a person’s altruism is mistaken
for avarice and domination. The only
flaw in the ASUO/Nike assimilation is
people like Hines who search the ends
of the eart h just to find something else
to gripe about and who systemically
continue to bite the hand that feeds
them.
Phil Knight is offering generous
contributions that will aid the Univer
sity in numerous ways, including: ex
pansion of the student body’s resource
pool through the addition of the new
law school and the already existent
Knight Library, access to new facilities
and equipment and improvement of
the overall reputation of not only the
University but the state of Oregon.
The composition of this article irri
tates and nauseates me. As a journal
ist, it is your job to find subject matter
important enough to your reader to
make them read your literature. Once
you’ve found that, you are supposed
to follow up with a halfway intelli
gent, articulate argument that supports
its claims.
Hines’ article does none of these
things. I’ve read more intellectually
stimulating literature written on the
bathroom walls of the EMU by some
drooling, rambling crackhead. Fret for
your journalism degree, Hines, and
dear editor, fret for your newspaper.
Andrew Stover
Psychology
Get active
With the cost of tuition rising more
than 80 percent since 1990 and the
threat of a tuition hike looming, it is
now more important than ever that we
fight as students to keep our tuition
rates flat. With every rise, however
slight, students are shut out of higher
education — either having to drop out,
transfer or reduce credit hours. Statis
tics have proven that a $1,000 tuition
increase will reduce or eliminate ac
cess to almost 15 percent of the stu
dent body.
We had a day of action on Feb. 17 to
show our legislators we care about our
tuition rates. The governor allocated
$15.3 million and the state Senate $15
million for an in-state tuition freeze.
Students need to show support so this
piece of the budget does not slip away.
There are suggestions being put into
legislators’ heads to use this money in
other areas. We need to show our sup
port. Stop by the ASUO to find out
how to get involved.
Ceri Swanson
Senior
QUOTED
“The public is tired
of partisan BS. We
want subjective
news!!!!!!”
-Clearly meaning
objective news,
John Adamson, in
ternational studies
student, com
ments in a letter to
the editor on the
Feb. 23 opinion
piece “Getting
Cozy with NIIS?”
“Rather than allevi
ating concerns, the
study reveals that
assisted suicide is
bad medicine and
even worse public
policy."
-Wesley J.
Smith, lawyer for
the International
Anti-Euthanasia
Task Force, de
scribing the recent
Oregon report on
assisted suicides
in 1998.
“But Oregon seems
to have shown, on
this most personal
and final of issues,
that it is possible to
make law and bu
reaucratic rules
that aOlow people to
take responsibility
forthemselves,
without the state,
or anyone else,
abusing them. That
ts a cause for re
lief.”
-A New York
Times editorial
praising the study
of the 15 deaths
that occurred in
Oregon under the
new physician-as
sisted suicide law.
CORRECTION
The March 1 arti
cle, "Sweeping the
night away,”
should have read
that janitor Bob
Foster has worked
at the University 25
years and four
months. The photo
outline should also
have read that Fos
ter’s shift is from
11 p.m. to 7:30
a.m. The Emerald
regrets the errors.