Letters to the editor
Saferide defense insulting
Project Saferide’s preemptive
defense for their sexually discrim
inatory practices given in their
letter to the editor (ODE, Oct. 4)
was extremely insulting for two
reasons. Jessie Wofsy said, “Be
cause Saferide is primarily a rape
prevention shuttle, we are only
able to accommodate female rid
ers.” This quote strongly implies
that only females can be raped.
Anyone who has read a newspa
per or has seen the movie “Deliv
erance” knows that this is false.
The second implication of Wof
sy’s statement is that by having
males in cars with females, males
are invariably going to attempt to
rape the female passengers.
Everyone should agree that this
notion is ridiculous.
I have strong doubts that this
letter will be printed because of
the high risk of sparking a dia
logue, which this paper obvious
ly abhors. However, I would like
to see some discussion on a safe
service that is equitable to both
sexes.
Dustin Preuitt
Computer and Information Science
Clearing up confusion
I want to clear up any confu
sion that a recent letter to the edi
tor may have caused (ODE, Oct.
4), where a student senator mis
stated the amount of money that
we spend on sports tickets. The
letter said that we spend
$1,750,278; the actual number is
$1,075,278. Clearly it was an hon
est mistake. Another piece of mis
information was the assertion that
there are not enough sports tick
ets for everybody. The fact is that
while over 2,600 student tickets
were unused or sold to the public
for the University of Southern
California game this year, there
are more than enough tickets each
year for everybody at this Univer
sity to attend two football and two
basketball games.
Another important thing I want
to share is that the Athletic De
partment (because of low student
attendance) can sell any student
tickets not picked up five days be
fore the game. This arrangement
has already made the Athletic De
partment a dollar amount in ex
cess of six figures this year.
If you add it up, we as students
pay about $13 for each ticket that
we get, and the Athletic Depart
ment in turn sells them for $17 to
$25 , depending on the game.
This means that we are helping
the Athletic Department make
$30-$38 per seat that we don’t
pick up. Get the picture? I want to
let everyone on campus know
about this. If you have a sugges
tion or comment about how we
can get this out to the masses,
please get in touch with me via e
mail (spunser@gladstone.uore
gon.edu). So use your tickets, tell
your friends and Go Ducks!
Spencer Hamlin
ASUO Student Senate
Help protect financial aid
On October 6 and 7, the stu
dents of the University have a
great opportunity to make them
selves heard in the White House
and in the halls of Congress. Ac
tion is needed NOW to protect
federal financial aid programs
such as the Pell Grant, campus
based aid, the Perkins Loan, fed
eral work-study and the LEAP
Program. Our political power as
students lies in our grass-roots
strength — our ability to mobilize
in large numbers and tell our po
litical leaders that they need to
protect our right to higher educa
tion by increasing funding for fed
eral financial aid programs. At
President Clinton’s Web site,
www.whitehouse.gov, students
can e-mail the president and urge
him to veto any legislation that
cuts or freezes funding.
Also, students should tell the
president to urge Congress to in
crease the maximum Pell Grant a
student can receive by $400 to
$3,525 in the fiscal year 2000 bud
get. These programs are vital to
making college available to all
students and helping students
avoid overwhelming debt.
Oregon students can also call
Senators Gordon Smith and Ron
Wyden and Congressman Peter
DeFazio toll free by dialing (800)
574-4AID. In an era of budget sur
plus, Congress has no excuse not
to improve funding for student fi
nancial aid programs. Education
is a right, but it is under heavy at
tack by many members of Con
gress. I strongly urge all Universi
ty students to send an e-mail to
the White House and put in a call
to the senators, urging them to
keep the doors of education open
to all.
Robin Miller
ASUO Federal Affairs Coordinator
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