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EDITOR IN CHIEF
Ryan Frank
EDITORIAL EDITORS
KameronCoIe
Stefanie Knowlton
They won.
Get over it.
The OSPIRG flap has been
interesting to watch,
but it’s time to move on
r>
For weeks we’ve been caught in a storm.
A flurry of posters, buttons, leaflets, ^
rumors, accusations, letters to the /jP
editor and general snarkiness. / f
We’ve been regaled with accounts of / l
who put posters where, how much / /
money this or that organization / /
spent on its campaign and where ex
actly the money goes.
Welcome to democracy at the Univer
sity. It’s passionate, fiery, occasionally bit
ter but never dull. And sometimes, it’s even
mildly entertaining. The annual elections
have at last passed us by and now it’s all over
except for the grievances.
And make no mistake, there are grievances. Just
last Thursday, before the general elections had
even been decided, a student filed a complaint
against the ASUO questioning their use of student
fees to bring consumer advocate Ralph Nader to
campus on the eve of the general election.
The grievance alleges that Nader’s appearance
violated an ASUO election rulejbarring individu
als from disrupting class time to promote measures
or candidates and an ASUO Executive rule that
states that incidental fees may not be used to sup
port particular campaigns.
True, the apt timing of Nader’s appearance does
inspire raised eyebrows and chin scratching, but is
that enough reason to clog the process with yet an
other grievance?
When one considers all of the information, it’s
unlikely that the ASUO went out of its way to in
fluence the election.
Furthermore, Nader’s appearance in the EMU
Amphitheater was not the sole reason for his visit
to Oregon. He had already spoken in Portland ear
lier that day, and he was billed as a speaker for
Earth
Week,
which coincid
ed with the gener
al election.
If nothing else helps
the ASUO’s case, the
event was not well publi
cized. So, if this was all a
plan to give OSPIRG the edge
in the polls, it wasn’t a very good
one.
Finally, OSPIRG won by more
than 471 votes. While several
hundred students attended
Nader’s speech, it’s unlikely
that the rally alone was
enough to account for such
a significant win. Whether
you support or oppose OS
PIRG, the math pretty much
speaks for itself.
To even conceive
that Nader’s ap
pearance had a
significant affect
on the election
'outcome, one has to
believe that the peo
ple who attended the
rally were not only influ
enced by Nader, but that
they fanned out across cam
pus, luring the masses to vote
in favor of OSPERG. The only
trouble with that theory is that
the voter turnout was about 15
percent, indicating that the mass
es aren’t so easily lured.
So congratulations to OSPIRG for
regaining its funding. If nothing else,
we hope that the past two elections have
opened your eyes to the fact that you can
not take anything on this campus for grant
ed.
And most of all, congratulations to all
students who cared enough to vote, to get
out there and campaign for the issues
and candidates they believe in and even
to file grievances when they thought
people weren’t playing by the rules.
Now let’s find something else to ar
gue about for the next two years.
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses may be
sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
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CORRECTION
The voting results that accompanied the
April 23 article, “Students vote to reinstate
OSPIRG" should have read; No. 3 OS
PIRG: Yes: 1,437; No: 966.
in the April 23 article "Ducks break los
ing streak, don’t get the sweep,” the score
of game one should have been reported as
4-0. The Emerald regrets the errors.
LETTERS POLICY
The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt
to print all letters containing comments
on topics of interest to the University
community, letters must be limited to
250 words. The Emerald reserves the
right to edit any letter for length, clarity,
grammar, style and libel. Letters may be
dropped off at EMU Suite 300.
Thumbs
THUMBS UP
To reaching out
The Ribbon of
Promise, avio*
fence prevention
campaign started
in Springfield after
the Thurston High
School shooting,
will establish a
chapter in Little
ton, Colorado.
Leaders of the
campaign hope it
will a step toward
healing the com
munity in the after
math of last week’s
shootings at
Columbine High
School.
To preventative
measures;
Several junior high
school students
were expeiled from
school and held on
conspiracy
charges after po
lice found bomb
making materials
and instructions in
their homes last
week. The police
were alerted after
students over
heard the boys dis
cussing plots to kifi
students and
teachers and came
THUMBS DOWN
To red-lighting
teens: The Oregon
Legislature is con
sidering bills that
would limit teen
access to driver li
censes; One bill
would limit the
number of passen
gers minors can
carry, and the other
would deny licens
es to teenage
dropouts.
To race-based
stops; Ayear after
three minority mo
torists were shot
during a traffic stop
in New Jersey, an
investigation of taw
enforcement agen
cies has confirmed
that racial profiling
does occur in the
state.