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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2000)
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 i nursaay Frebruary 17,2000 Volume 101, Issue 99 Emerald ///». gl ^ made it through the tech | MkMnocrat propaganda prophe In cy of Y2K Armageddon. * * All appeared safe and tran quil on the horizon. Yet, in the first third of the new year, we find our selves at the dawn of a new barrage of political hype and harrowing hypocrisy. Brace yourselves, the ASUO elections are less than a week away. Harbored in a cut-and-paste work of grievances, campaign promises, baby-kissing and international house coffee-breaks are six candi dates for this year’s ASUO Execu tive. Unless you belong to the micro cosm of small world squabbles known as the Associated Students o the University of Oregon, you proba bly don’t care. At the national level, elections are also underway. Even at the na tional level, you are probably far overcome the po litical failures of his father. The other is si dates is at tempting to thralled. One of the major candi from en multaneously attempting to break away from the scandal of his boss and shine in the light of his prosperity. Lurking in the shad ows are a few mavericks vying for center stage in the world’s seediest arena. If presidential elections are the Montage restaurant, ASUO elections are the Hammy’s special. Swipe your student ID card, and see how far five points will take you. This year, you need not leave the confines of your own comfortable home to participate. Voting will take place entirely on-line, via the Duck [ Web voting system. You can point and click for the next representative who will allocate your student dol lars and fill vacancies left by depart ing student senators. Perhaps this revolution of unprecedented acces sibility will push voter turnout f through the roof to a dreamy level of say, 15 percent. Dare we dream? On a brighter note, this year’s bal lot brings us a real choice in candi dates, instead of the usual collage of rich kids and snot-nosed, wannabe Opinion Eric political demagogues. First, I’ll look at the two tickets who are actually running full-scale campaigns. Those with crazy addi tions like a vice-presidential candi date. You have Jay Breslow and his running mate Holly Magner, against Autumn DePoe and her companion Caitlin Upshaw. Both tickets bring a level of credibility and dedication that is often lacking in student gov ernment. DePoe has long been known as a rebel and reformer with in the ASUO playhouse, often times being the sole voice of discontent against a concrete wall of slated power players. Breslow seems com mitted to diversity and effective communication within the ASUO, another trait that would serve stu dents well. All said and done, it’s a Coke vs. Pepsi dilemma. Do you want the sharp-but-sweet classic DePoe Coke or the smooth and soothing choice of-a-new-generation Breslow? Either way, the age of accountability and actually doing your job, established by this year’s executives, Wylie Chen and Mitra Anoushiravani, should continue. Of course, if you’re not a fan of soft drinks, you could always go for the Antifreeze flavor of recently re moved candidates or the madness inducing mercury of Scott Austin. Then, we would need only to elect an aspiring Alice to accompany his Mad Hatter. For yet another perspective, you could compare our ASUO candi dates to some national figures. De Poe has been branded as the John McCain of the ASUO. She hasn’t spent a dime and wants to eliminate the pork from student government. Not a bad idea, since the U.S. Supreme Court is likely to run our fee system through the grinder in the next few months. Someone needs to protect student programs. Breslow might be a Bill Bradley of sorts. He seems to have a genuine interest in improving campus diversity, and he has the savvy to work within the system. Even if you hate politics. Even if you’d rather snuggle up to a bed of nails than get involved in the sys tem. Even if you just don’t care. Take a moment to examine this year’s candidates both at. the local and na tional level. Take a Coke or a Pepsi out of the fridge and make yourself comfortable. Next year’s leaders are only a click away. Eric Pfeiffer is the freelance editor for the Emerald. His views do not necessarily repre sent those of the Emerald. He can be reached via e-mail at epfeiffe@gladstone.uoregon. edu. Letters to the ed itor Gabbe, Larson campaign reaches out So what exactly is going on here? The elections board has re moved C.J. Gabbe and Peter Lar son from the ballot for serving coffee to 20 people — I’m not quite seeing the reason for re moval. Gabbe and Larson were trying to reach out to a group of students who tend to be over looked. Why is this a bad thing? Isn't that what democracy is all about — advertising your self and your issues? Gabbe and Larson were the first of the candidates to reach out to the International Stu dents Association; they found a platform to speak about their campaigns and then they get punished. The inexperience of the elections board has lead them to make this unjust decision. Gabbe and Larson are the best candidates for the job. Let’s put them back on the ballot and allow the students to choose. Courtney Hight environmental studies Friends don’t make friends drink As a “drier than a forsaken desert’’ student, I wish to thank you for the insightful article about the debate regarding a campus “beer garden” (ODE, Feb. 7). Al though I am strictly against alco hol consumption, I would not force my beliefs on others by peti tioning for a law against alcohol consumption. However, I beg the same respect from those who do drink. I don’t want a part in it, however small. I will not be forced into supporting that which I be lieve to be wrong. I am now look ing forward to better acquainting myself with our student govern ment and regret that it has taken an attack on my personal values to get me involved. Thank you for providing my motivation. Sara Vogelsberg pre-major, journalism PFC explains reasoning Many questions have been brought up concerning decisions Programs Finance Committee has made. We’d like to take a few mo ments to explain PFC’s reasoning. The PFC was given a 0-percent benchmark for student groups, which was approved not only by the PFC itself, but also by the ASUO Executive and the ASUO Student Senate. The Emerald reported that Des ignated Driver Shuttle was grant ed $50,876, a negative 30 percent. This was true as of Jan. 27, but as of Feb. 8, DDS was granted almost $13,000 more, giving them a total budget of $63,157, a negative 12 percent. The Emerald failed to mention DDS appealed to PFC and part of their appeal, for wages, was granted. The Student Bar Association did ask for a budget increase, which was hard for PFC to grant, considering that last year, the group didn’t use $3,739 of their $11,00 budget. And many conferences were not granted an increase this year, simply because last year confer ences received increases of up to 66 percent. The order in which groups ap pear before PFC doesn’t matter. The numbers speak for them selves. Whether the group goes first or last, their numbers don’t change. Furthermore, groups are responsible for scheduling the date of their hearing. We encourage students to be come active in the PFC process. Come to office hours and look at ledger sheets and post-closes, which indicate individual groups’ spending. Decide for yourself whether or not you believe a group efficiently and effectively spends your incidental fee dollars. Shantell Rice ASUO PFC Chair Emily Owens Sedgwick ASUO PFC Vice-Chair
