Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas
Newsroom: (541)346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Friday
February 11,2000
Volume 101, Issue 95
Emerald
Election season is upon us again.
Brace yourselves.
Because if years past give us any indi
cation, then elections can get pretty
messy. Grievances. Accusations of unfair
ness. And, of course, posters being put
over other peoples’ posters in a most im
mature fashion.
It seems that no matter who the candi
dates are—or even what the quality of
their platforms are—that elections are
showcases of rude behavior and finger
pointing.
New year. New century. New election.
New attitude.
Even though the gauntlet has been
thrown down—one
grievance filed, one
campaign-spend
ing challenge
made—there’s still
time to have a good,
clean and fair election.
The first order of
business, then, is the
grievances.
While many
grievances
in the
VOTE
elections process are fair, the tone in
which they are presented or the subjects of
them are often quite petty. So what if
someone postered over your posters?
Their actions were wrong, but filing a for
mal grievance really slows the elections *
process. A better remedy would be to talk
to the ASUO Elections Board or, better yet,
to talk to the offending candidate or ticket.
It seems a lot of problems like that can be
solved through communication rather
than through litigation. If serious candi
dates want to run a serious election, and if
students are paying attention to which
candidates are following the rules, it’s in
everyone’s best interest to follow the rules
and to discuss problems that come up.
Also, candidates can even discuss po
tential problems in advance. Earlier this
week, ASUO Executive candidate Au
tumn De Poe announced that she and her
running mate, Caitlin Upshaw, would be
spending only $20 on their campaign.
While there are no limits to what a candi
date or tickets can spend — although lim
its for donations by groups do exist —- the
use of exorbitant amounts of money does
unfairly taint an election.
We’ve seen concern over campaign fi
nance in the general presidential elections
for the nation, and it’s true that money
^ can buy more advertising, more
J y’-v campaign buttons and more
>i posters. But deep pockets
aren’t always successful. Just
witness the exit of national
presidential candidate Steve
Forbes on Wednesday. His
money, $66 million dollars of
it, couldn’t buy him the vot
ers’ attention to his message.
While we don’t necessarily
recommend limiting campaign
spending to $20, the spirit of De
Poe’s challenge was in keeping with
a fair and equal election.
And we know that quite serious prob
lems or grievances could arise. Of
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course, uiey snouiu ue laKen care ui wiui
the utmost seriousness. The issue we are
speaking to is when those grievances
and problems get so out of control that
the election is more about who is found
guilty of wrongdoing than who is good
for the students.
That hurts everyone.
Money doesn’t always bring success.
And whining won’t generally get you
anywhere. Keep those in mind when ob
serving all the candidates this election
season. And candidates, let’s see a clean,
even election. Good luck to all.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emer
ald editorial board. Responses may be sent to
ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Letters to the editor
Emerald lacking material
I would like to thank the Emerald for the won
derful article by Sridevi Palanivelu (“Oregon
springs pinpoint lava flow,” ODE Feb. 4). I have
been dismayed with the lack of educational articles
since I entered the University this winter. I read the
Emerald often, and so far there have been little
more than the stories involving ASUO or Programs
Finance Committee squabbles and athletic events.
Both of these I understand are important, but it of
ten feels as though the newspaper is just filling
space. (Who really cares that the student govern
ment turned down plans for an on-campus beer
garden?) If the Emerald is lacking material, just look
around; I’m sure many of the departments could
provide similar success stories as those mentioned
by Palanivelu. There is great pride in learning about
the academic accomplishments of my fellow stu
dents in this place of higher learning.
Seraph S. Cortez
post baccalaureate
Defining diversity
How does a person measure diversity? And if di
versity can be measured what elements are being
taken into consideration? Does the University have
a problem with diversity? What exactly does this
mean? In recent Emerald articles, the University
has been attacked for its lack of diversity. Is there a
lack of ethnic representation on campus? By exam
ining the last names of the two ASUO Executives, I
can infer that they are of different ethnicities. Is this
lack of representation? The University has many
fine language departments. It has departments for
the further exploration of different genders, sexual
persuasion and ethnicity. The University sponsors
numerous clubs that provide the opportunity to
promote healthy interaction on campus. Do other
major universities offer these same opportunities in
such abundance for minority representation? I
might suggest that we start praising the University
for its efforts to allow everyone to have a forum to
self-promote. Please, let the Emerald stop with
these generalizations about the state of the Univer
sity and write about something more specific and
not so vague.
Paul Horseil
journalism/ business
Candidates should be heard
Admittedly, I don’t understand the specifics of
election regulations. But, it seems ridiculous and
not in the University’s best interests to penalize
candidates for “attempting to influence the out
come of an election” (ODE, Feb. 9).
That, to me, could mean two things: bribing —
and no bribes were taken at Coffee Hour since food
is offered indiscriminately to anyone and talking
about positions — and why shouldn’t candidates
talk about their positions? Should they be silent?
Don’t students need to be influenced by candi
dates? Shouldn’t we, as voters, “influence the out
come of the election” by voting for the candidates
who are most qualified? And how do we voters
know who is most qualified if candidates don’t at
tempt to influence our decision by talking about
their positions?
I would like to penalize all candidates who are
“not attempting to influence the outcome of the
election.” C.J. Gabbe and Peter Larson seem*to be
concerned that students hear about their positions
— and also that international students are taken
into consideration.
I only found out about Gabbe’s and Larson’s posi
tions at Coffee Hour — and I bet that was the first
time for many international students too. I hope Jay
Breslow and Holly Magner will come to Coffee
Hour so we can hear from them as well.
Gabbe and Larson ended their brief discussion at
Coffee Hour by encouraging students to inform
themselves about all candidates and to vote. Not to
vote for them, but to vote, period. And that’s an in
fluence that should definitely affect “the outcome
of the election.”
James Pippin
University student
Thumbs
To a “queer* kind
of diversity
The University’s
Queer Film,Festi
val began Thurs
day. Checkout
movies that wouldr
n’t necessarily
show up on the big
screen, and team a
tittle about all
kinds of different
people.
To free soda
Kudos to the Bap
tist Student Union,
which gave away
free soda in the
EMU on Wednes
day. They Just
asked people to
smile and then
handed them a
frosty beverage.
The nice gesture
brightened up a
few people’s days
and proved you
can get something
for nothing.
To hack, hack,
hacking away
The same group of
hackers apparent
ly sabotaged the
Web sites of Ebay,
Yahoo, Buy,com, E
Trade,Amazon
and other top*
namecompanies
this week. TheU.S.
Justice Depart
ment still has not
found a motive for
the hacking, and
thereare nosus
pects.
To carelessness
The new Universe
ty homepage de
buted this week,
and one of the
new features is a
"featured Web site
of the day. "Unfor
tunately, one of
those first featured
sites was that of
the Collier House
and Clancy
Thurber’s Bistro,
the campus restau
rants that closed
last term. Oops.