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
0
Wednesday
April 5,2000
Volume 101, Issue 124
Emerald
toleran
__ tVl
Free speech is perhaps the most important ele
ment to the Bill of Rights. Protecting speech is
a noble cause, especially protecting speech
you don’t like.
And ignoring that point is the problem with a new
proposal that the ASUO Student Senate passed last
week. The idea is for a pledge of respect that would
state the University’s support for diversity, its stance
against bigotry and racism and its need for cultural re
spect. This pledge is non-binding; students don’t have
to sign it, and it doesn’t even take effect until the Uni
versity administration — read: University President
Dave Frohnmayer — adopts it.
And the administration shouldn’t adopt it.
Flag burning, Ku Klux Klan rallies, hardcore rock ’n’
roll and even grotesque anti-abortion demonstrations
are all examples of things we perhaps would rather not
tolerate, but we accept them with the notion that even
bad speech has a place in a democracy.
But when such hatred is revealed, as it was for in
stance two years ago with the killings of Matthew
Shepard in Montana and James Byrd Jr. in the Texas
dragging death, we tend to speak out against it in
droves. The shock to our system produces hate crime
legislation or promises to teach our children more
about different cultures.
And while these sentiments are popular, speech that
promotes bigotry or hate is not treated with the same
respect.
On the surface, any statement that promotes diversi
ty and rejects bigotry is a good one. We’ve noticed that
this campus could use some more diversity, and in no
way are we suggesting that diversity not be a positive
issue. The Multicultural Center and all the other pro
grams on campus that work toward diversity — racial,
sexual — are much-needed. Tolerance is a good value
to have, and past campus events (the notorious e-mail
last year that caused the diversity sit-in in Johnson
Hall) show us we need more tolerance.
The pledge then is a good idea for some. But that
only applies if you agree with those ideals. No one can
force a racist to change his or her mind, and constitu
tionally, the racist doesn’t have to. The University
shouldn’t change that.
Because if the University proclaims some dogma,
some guidelines, some pledge to respect all people, it
really isn’t promoting the diversity of ideas that such a
proposal prides itself on. Diversity itself does not
mean a diversity of ideas.
And the danger is that freedom of speech will be
snuffed out by democracy. The majority of people —
or at least outspoken people — on this campus are lib
eral. And conservative views are often pushed out of
the way altogether because no one shouts loudly
enough to be heard. To include all speech, we should
at least have an atmosphere at our public university
that leaves the door open for it. Even
speech we de
plore.
Speech
and
thoughts
are now being used against peopli
in the legal system. Hate crime leg
lation means that killing people
because they are black is different
than just killing them. The mes
sage is meant to be that hatred is
wrong, but the alternative message
is that people killed because of
their race are more important than
people killed in a random burgla
ry. We don’t know how far to go
with this. Should thoughts be im
portant? And should freedom of
speech apply to killers?
These are questions we still wres
tle with because hate crimes are a
problem in our country. But in tak
tic measures
to curb hate violence are we in fact policing peo
ple’s thoughts in addition to their actions?
And in wanting a diverse campus are we in fact
legislating personal desires and morals?
College campuses have always been a home to
free speech. In the 1960s, that speech was directed
at ending the status quo of racism, sexism, anti-gay
and pro-government sentiment. Now the status
quo is political correctness, suspicion of the gov
ernment, diversity and acceptance of all lifestyles.
Those who challenge this are not unlike the protest
ers of old. Even if we feel that they are personally
misguided, we certainly should respect their right to
be so.
Tolerance is good for this campus and for Ameri
ca, but no pledge is going to change the way people
feel about one another. If anything, being forced or
being asked to accept someone else’s priorities could
create a backlash. At the very, very least, it should cre
ate concern that we are not the liberal campus we
pride ourselves on being.
Otherwise, we’d really let people be who they want
to be, and we wouldn’t decide what they should think.
This editorial represents the view of the Emerald editorial board.
Responses may be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Catharine Kendall Emerald
Quoted
“He has the heart
of a lion. He has
done it for four
years, not just one.
That’s why you
love him. He's
what our program
embodies.” —
Michigan State
men’s basketball
head coach Tom
Izzo, on his player
Mateen Cleaves’
play in the NCAA
Championship
game. Cleaves
sprained his ankle
in the second half
but came back
courageously to
lead his team to
victory. The Regis
ter-Guard, April 4.
“Microsoft mount
ed a deliberate as
sault upon entre
preneurial efforts
that, left to rise or
fall on their own
merits, could well
have enabled the
introduction of
competition into
the market for In
tel-compatible PC
operating sys
tems.’’— U.S. Dis
trict Judge Thomas
Penfield Jackson,
in his ruling
against Microsoft
in the govern
ment’s anti-trust
lawsuit. The Ore
gonian, April 4.
“There are not a
lot of reasons for
people to vote.” —
Pollster G. Terry
Madonna, director
of the Center for
Public Affairs at
Pennsylvania’s
Millersville Univer
sity, on the presi
dential primaries
in Pennsylvania
Tuesday.
CNN.com, April 4.
Letters to the editor
Campus clocks changed
Checking the campus clocks, you may
have noticed a change not only in the time,
but also in the clocks themselves following
the switch to daylight savings time. The
newest clocks actually say “daylight sav
ings time” on them. You might ask why the
need for new clocks; why not just reset the
time?
Prior to last fall, most clocks on campus
were connected to a master clock system,
based in the Knight Library? The decades
old system was failing and could no longer
provide reliable time. The cost of replacing
the old system was estimated at $300,000.
Thus, the idea for an inexpensive, easily
maintained alternative was born. Two sets
of clocks were purchased, one for each time
period. The cost to purchase the 700 clocks,
dismantle the old system and install the
new clocks was $33,000.
The clocks are battery operated and there
fore not affected bv any electrical outage. To
ensure that the clocks keep good time, the
batteries are replaced every six months, at
the two annual time changes. The batteries
still have some life in them, and Facilities
puts them back to work in pagers and small
flashlights, and we also make them avail
able to other departments.
Our goal is to have a minimum of one
clock in each classroom and one on every
floor of all campus buildings. (Individual
departments are responsible for purchasing
and maintaining their own clocks.) If you
notice a problem regarding the public
clocks, please contact Custodial Services at
346-2316 or via e-mail at janitor@
oregon.uoregon.edu.
Jerry Dominy
manager, Custodial Services
University Facilities Services
NAACP targets racial profiling
The Register-Guard for Monday, March 6,
on the front page show ed a photograph of
some students and teachers, both black and
white, in Montgomery, Ala., celebrating
their unitv prior to commemorating the
35th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday”
march from Selma to Montgomery. Here in
Springfield on the same day I heard a dis
cussion of racial profiling problems here in
Lane County on “Critical Mass” (KLCC). I
guess some things changed over the last 35
years and some things have not. One thing
that has changed is the relationship of the
police and the NAACP.
With that attitude in mind, the NAACP
has been meeting with management people
from local law enforcement agencies to en
sure that the pronouncement signed by the
heads of the local law enforcement agencies
stating they would not practice racial pro
filing is honored. The local chapter of the
NAACP met in December of 1999 with sev
eral members of the local law enforcement
community, and we plan to meet again in
May.
The Oregon ACLU is in the process of de
veloping a special form to record com
plaints against racial profiling. In addition
to the NAACP and the Oregon ACLU, peo
ple can also report these events to the Lane
County human Rights Advisory Commit
tee’s staff liaison, Laura Yergan, by calling
682-3153. A subcommittee that deals with
issues of this type and is chaired by Fil Sori
ano (686-7555 x5310) is actively involved
in dealing with the issue of racial profiling
in Lane County.
G. Dennis Shine
membership chairman,
Eugene/Springfield branch of the NAACP
CORRECTION
The article “Class syllabi, bios to go up on
Web” (ODE, April 4) should have read that the
potential presence of syllabi and professor bi
ographies on-line refers only to general educa
tion courses. In addition, the headline to the
story was misleading by implying the process
is already completed or well on itswayto com
pletion. The process is still in the early plan
ning stages.
Also, in the Oregon Club Sports roundup (ODE,
April 4), Anthony Rethwill’s name was mis
spelled.
The Emerald regrets these errors.