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
Wednesday
February 16,2000
Volume 101, Issue 98
Enierald
ASUO
SUPERvision
not so
SUPERfluous
V
How well do you think a business
could be run if most of the staff
— including the leadership —
changed from year to year?
Stability would be lost. Efficiency, too.
The time taken to retrain people every
year for such limited roles would eat up
most of the yearly tenure anyway.
But what if there was someone who al
ways stayed behind? Someone who knew
the ins and outs of the entire organization.
Someone who could be a reference, a histo
ry book and a mentor?
Yeah, you’re thinking, that would be great.
And that s what student government
thought about the ASUO Executive coor
dinator position until a year ago. The po
sition was held by a non-student, Cheryl
Hunter, a professional coordinator who
was the one constant in the ASUO of
fice from year to year.
Under the ASUO Executive leader
ship of Geneva Wortman and Morgan
Cowling, that coordinator position was
cut from the ASUO budget. Whether it was
to cut costs or to make the ASUO more stu
dent-rum the longtime ASUO constant
Hunter was let go. She had advised and
trained ASUO staff, linked the ASUO
and University administration and
researched and helped organize
the office since 1989.
She was let go after 10
years with the ASUO.
And things haven’t
been easy ever since.
ASUO President
Wylie Chen and Vice
President Mitra
Anoushiravani have
tried to get the coordi
nator position back.
They appealed to the Pro
grams Finance Committee
twice, but the efforts failed.
There will be no coordinator
next year.
One asks why is this posi1
tion so important? Well, imag
ine going into the ASUO Executive
position and having no guide or frame of
reference. Chen said the position would have
Giovanni Salimena Emerald
added some consistency to the ASUO Execu
tive by having a person who knew the histo
ry of the office as well as being familiar with
legal issues, Oregon Administrative Rules
and the Green Tape Notebook.
“It’s for the betterment for the entire
ASUO. There are a lot of things that come
across our desk, and we’ve been bombarded
with administrative work,” he said. “We’ve
been stuck at our desks, just taking care of
red tape, bureaucracy.”
He said he feels bad for the upcoming
exec because they too will have to be buried
in paperwork, and the ASUO will have no
institutional memory.
It’s true that when one door closes, anoth
er always opens. The elimination of the co
ordinator from the ASUO has left the execu
tive with much more work.
Money may have been the motivating fac
tor behind the cut, but at $18,500 a year, the
coordinator costs students about 42<! per
term. That’s 42c we’ll gladly pay to make the
ASUO run more smoothly.
And it’s money that is being spent now
and in the future for similar positions. The
big uproar this year in the Programs Finance
Committee budget hearings was that the
Multicultural Center received a $38,743
budget increase to finance a new MCC coor
dinator position, the very thing the ASUO
has begged for with perhaps more of a need.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Al
liance also has a non-student, paid coordi
nator. She is the one people go to when they
need information; she is stability. And the
MCC obviously wants that same thing. What
student has the time to run the MCC and
still take care of his or her life?
While the ASUO Executive still runs the
ASUO, there’s no doubt that having a coor
dinator around — who is not a student and,
therefore, doesn’t have the same pressures,
biases and time commitments — is invalu
able. And yet the PFC chose not to fund it.
Impassioned speeches from both Chen
and Anoushiravani coupled with the sad
ness last year as Hunter was ousted from a
picture in our minds of someone who is very
much needed. And that need was recognized
a year ago when the position was cut.
“The position that Cheryl holds is more
than just a position; it’s a person,” former
ASUO Multicultural Advocate Joseph Roley
said in the March 31,1999 Emerald. “It’s
one of those things where you don’t know
the value of it until it is gone.”
Upon the decision by the PFC to fund the
MCC’s new coordinator position, Coordinat
ing Diversity Intern Jay Breslow said the po
sition was “a historic thing. It’s going to
change the entire way [the MCC] is run.”
Until they get rid of it.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald
editorial board. Responses may be sent to
ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
Quoted
“It’s a thrill
because the movie
was made for love.
We did-it because
we thought it
could be very
special ... It’s
absolutely a thrill
to be a part of
something that has
meant so much to
so many people.
We're all just
thrilled that
people like it”
—Annette Ben*
rang, star of the
film “American
Beauty,” on the
film’s eight Acade
my Awards nomi
nations, an
nounced Tuesday.
CNN.com, Feb. 15.
“There is an inves
tigative lead in the
district of Oregon.
I do have informa
tion, but I can’t
impart it."
—Michael
Brown, chief of
the criminal divi
sion of the U.S.
attorney office in
Portland, confirm
ing that some com
puters in Portland
may be linked to
the major hacking
crimes of last
week, which
downed such Web
sites as eBay, Ya
hoo and Amazon,
The Oregonian,
Feb. 15.
“I had some noisy
neighbors, but
there’s nothing
like a 6-foot-thick
chunk of ice bash
ing against the
wall of your room
to wake you up at
4 in the morning."
—Oregon 4th Dis
trict Rep. Peter Pe
Farioon his recent
trip to Antarctica
(official business
for the U.S. Con
gress). The Regis
ter-Guard, Feb. 15.
Letters to the editor
Book swap participation encouraged
In most situations, a consumer must
“hunt” for the bargains — not so with the
non-profit ASUO Book Swap. The book
swap gives students the opportunity to set
their own prices for their books and the
ability to sell older editions that the Uni
versity Bookstore will not accept. This bar
gain is not one you have to scrounge for;
the ASUO Book Swap will be convenient
ly located in the EMU during finals week of
winter term and the first week of spring
term.
Book swaps have the potential to be
highly successful, but only if students par
ticipate. The more students we have stop
by, the more books we have, the more mon
ey you can save. I encourage students to
participate in the ASUO Book Swap — it
will be worth your time and money.
Christa Shively
undergraduate, Spanish
Grievances take away our choices
The atmosphere surrounding this year’s
ASUO elections is a textbook example of
misplaced priorities. As with every year,
the candidates appear at various events de
scribing the issues that they have chosen as
a platform. As with every year, many color
ful posters, fliers and handouts in many
forms appear around campus promoting
their respective candidates. And, as with
every year, every little misstep that a candi
date may make is followed by endless
shouts of “Bloody Murder!”
The uproar regarding the “C.J.-Peter”
ticket is a prime indicator of where the pri
orities rest for certain groups on this cam
pus. For example: Nearly all sets of candi
dates for various offices (ASUO Executive,
Student Senate, etc.) have experience in
serving the student body, so why invest so
much energy into removing candidates and
taking the choice away from the students
themselves? It detracts greatly from the in
tegrity of the student government on this
campus when qualified candidates are
burned at the stake on technicalities.
Where are the priorities? Do we want an
effective ASUO? Or do we want headlines
and scandals? Do we want the freedom td
choose our own candidates? Or do we want
to attack the other side simply because
they’re “the other side.”
Drop the grievances; don’t insult the stu
dents’ ability to make their own choices.
Devon Streed
political science
Austin ignorant with diversity comment
I can see what Scott Austin was trying to
say about the University not being diverse
(ODE, Feb. 14), but his reference to the Uni
versity being “about as diverse as the state
of Mississippi” shows his regional igno
rance clearly. According to 1990 census
data, Mississippi is about 64 percent Cau
casian and 35 percent African and African
American — a far cry from the University’s
dismal 1.5 percent of African-Americans it
boasted fall term.
I applaud his call for more diversity, but
perhaps he will check his facts next time
before he blurts out tired Hollywood stereo
types.
Jason George
sophomore, journalism