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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1999)
NEWSROOM; (541)546-5511 E-MAIL ode@oregoauoregon.edu ON-LINE EDITION: www.dadyemerald.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Frank EDITORIAL EDITORS KameronCole Stefanie Knowlton Wylie & Mitra for ASUO Executive The Emerald editorial hoard sees promise in Wylie Chen and Mitra Anoushiravani As the skies change from gray to golden and the mood goes from sullen to sensual, spring brings an air of re newal. Students feel this force as they plan for graduation, internships or summer vacation. In a similar spirit, it is also time to determine the tone and shape of stu dent government in the coming year by voting for an ASUO president and vice president in the spring elections. After speaking with eight of the 11 candidates who chose to participate in our endorsement interviews, we real ize several candidates have new ideas, among these are disbanding the ASUO, building a high-powered tele scope to inscribe the executive’s ini tials in the moon and getting rid of the annoying fight song that chimes from the EMU. ■ i.;:; We have decided, however, to endorse a more traditional ticket with Wylie Chen for president and Mitra Anoushiravani for vice president. Experience, enthusiasm, a somewhat attainable agenda, a professed commitment to ethics and cleaning up the current imbalances of power and personal agendas in the ASUO give Chen and Anoushiravani the edge. Chen, a planning, public policy and manage ment major, has vast experience in the inner work ings of student government. He was a student sen ator, the ASUO outreach director and a member of the Women’s Center advisory board. Those skills give him insight on what is wrong in student gov ernment, he said. Anoushiravani is a political science and theatre arts transfer student from Hamline University in Minnesota. Along with student government expe rience at her previous university, she brings en thusiasm and a fresh perspective. Together, Chen and Anoushiravani plan to es tablish checks and balances on the executive’s power by reworking the elections board’s so un popular events, such as this year’s special elec tion, will not become a reoccurring problem. Net working and delegating power and responsibility to other campus organizations for positive change is another way Chen and Anoushiravani set them selves apart from the other candidates. Outreach is another strong aspect of their cam paign. In past elections, voter turnout and overall student involvement in government has been low. Most students seem to not understand or care how the ASUO affects them. This will be a difficult problem to overcome. Past executive candidates have promised greater ASUO accessibility, but it continues to be one of NickMedley/Ememld the biggest criticisms of the executive. To correct the problem, Chen and Anoushira vani purpose advertisements in student publica tions, ASUO newsletters and general publicity. Most of the ideas have been suggested before, but with their enthusiasm, experience and refreshing perspective, the Emerald editorial board believes they may be the ones to accomplish it. We encourage all students to vote in the pri maries on Wednesday and Thursday and in the general elections April 21 and April 22. The only way to make your opinion heard is to be active and vote. Those who don’t can claim no right to com plain about what happens in the future. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses may be sent to odeQore gon.uoregon.edu. Letters to the Editor Good job, exec This year I have been impressed with the out reach the ASUO has done to get this campus active on student issues. How could you miss the ASUO in the fall registering more than 3,500 students to vote? They were on every street comer. They came into my classes doing raps on offering internships and a chance to get involved. I even saw them at Taylor’s and Rennie’s registering students to vote. Last term I was invited, along with every other student, to participate in a lobbying effort at the state capitol. Students from all over the state rallied on the capitol steps to tell legislators what we want from them. I had such an amazing experience and learned so much from being up in Salem. I was impressed at how well respected the students were by the legis lators. Many of them kept commenting on how visi ble University students have been all term. Each term ASUO runs days of action offering in formation and opportunities for students to get di rectly involved with issues such as child care, cam pus safety, diversity and legislative issues, including a tuition freeze. 9 A Drannn flnUit Cr The ASUO Executive staff is constantly working in students’ interest to improve our university ex perience. This year’s ASUO Executive staff has gone out of its way to get students to talk about the issues and get involved. Megan Alampi Planing, public policy and management Hard work unappreciated I am writing in response to the editorial regard ing the ASUO Executive (ODE, April 4). The article paints the executive as a joke and a failure. I am presently in my second term of interning with the ASUO and have had ample opportunities to see how it works. With this experience in mind, I would like to give a different image to the ASUO. For one thing, it provides a place where students can build their leadership skills. Through the in ternship program, students can get a hands-on ex perience in the office, which helps them improve their public speaking, time management, event planning and a variety of other important skills. The ASUO has one of the strongest student gov ernment internship programs in the nation and is a great resource for its students. The editorial gave the idea the ASUO hasn’t ac complished anything, but we helped sponsor a rally to promote a hate-free campus, put on the book swap in an effort to save students money and have been lobbying in Salem to freeze tuition, increase the Oregon Need Grant, maintain student control of fees and a variety of other issues that are important to students. No student government is perfect, and I can tell you that the ASUO Executive has been working hard for the students at the University. I would encourage you to come out and vote on elections day. If you want to effect change on our campus, you need to make your voice heard. Matthew Lieuallen Political science CQftHECTION In flie April 8 article, “Controversial Emerald col umn (fisputed," Usa Foisy’s name was spelled in correctly. The Emerald regrets the error. Thumbs these upcoming tests, students will still advance to the way and 28th Ave a safety hazard to drivers and should be removed.
