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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 12, 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 Wednesday April 12,2000 Volume 101, Issue 129 Emerald Giovanni Salimena Emerald While many students desire more voice in the University Senate, granting them decision making power would create difficulty in taking long term action Fact: Students continue to occupy the lawn in front of Johnson Hall. Fact: They want the Uni versity to sign onto the Worker Rights Consortium. Fact: Today the University Senate will probably recom mend to University President Dave Frohnmayer to join the WRC. Fact: Frohnmayer said Mon day he would sign onto the WRC by the end of the week if the senate does make that rec ommendation. Fact: Even after the president does this, some students will still be very angry. Fact: This has to do with the concept of shared governance. Shared governance is the term used to describe the way the University is run, although many of the student protesters do not agree that there is shared power. Much like our U.S. gov ernment, there is a senate, a president and a University As sembly (which convenes at least three times a year and has the power to introduce legisla tion according to the Universi ty Senate Charter). The Univer sity Senate is comprised of committees that make recom mendations to the University president. Students do have a voice on this University Senate. Five stu dents are elected each year to sit on the senate, and they have voting rights. Also sitting on the University Senate are faculty and staff, for a total of 48 seats. Students have more say on the University Assembly — this in cludes 25 members of the ASUO Executive, 18 from the ASUO Student Senate and five from the ASUO Constitution Court. What some of the protesters in front of Johnson Hall want is a change to this system. They want Frohnmayer to recom mend that the University As sembly add more students to the University Senate and to each committee. They think that the committees from the University Senate should have decision-making power rather than always needing the final say of the president. Student democracy and power is a must in certain situ ations. But there is such a thing as going too far. We need peo pie who are going to be around for more than four years to make crucial long-term deci sions. Students just can’t do it. They aren’t available. These kinds of long-term plans and ideas about how the University should be run should not be made fleetingly. And, unfortunately, being here as a student for three to five years is pretty fleeting in terms of the bigger picture. We may want legislation that won’t even take effect until 2003. And by then, students may have different ideas. The bu reaucratic system just isn’t con ducive to people being around for a short amount of time. That’s why, perhaps, senators and congressmen on the na tional level are re-elected so of ten: It takes time to get things done, and if the mix of people making decisions changes every couple of years, nothing would get done. Attitudes change from gener ation to generation and even within generations. People who are 16 years old now have vast ly different experiences and histories than we students now do. They may embrace corpo rate greed with a vengeance — and that’s their prerogative — but if they undo what we’ve just done, then there’s no consisten cy for the University. And we need consistency for education al standards and business deal ings. That’s just the way the world works. At this University, we have seen shared governance at work. Students voted to adopt the WRC. Students on the Uni versity Senate made clear argu ments to adopt it. Students on the Licensing Code of Conduct Committee did the same. Some students on that committee have complained that their voices were marginalized, un heard. But those faculty or staff who didn’t listen have appar ently still recommended the WRC, so what wasn’t heard? By all indications, the Uni versity will exercise the will of the students by the end of this week. Our voices have been heard — and through the proper channels. This editorial represents the view of the Emerald editorial board. Respons es may be sent to ode@oregon.uore gon.edu. Letters to the editor Tracy Olsen for City Council I am a 22-year resident of the Eu gene area and a working mother of three. I was both pleased and sur prised to hear that a longtime friend, Tracy Olsen, announced that he would be running for City Council in Ward 3.1 consider myself very lucky to have known Tracy since my family moved here in 1978. Growing up, I was always impressed with Tracy’s maturity, integrity and outgoing per sonality. Tracy has always been a per son whom you could trust. I look for ward to seeing someone on the City Council who is interested in hearing all points of view and is willing to work for the good of the community. People who have spent their entire lives in Eugene appreciate the quality of life in this community. I believe that Tracy will work hard to enhance our city government while comple menting Eugene’s best characteristics and making this a truly great place to live and work. I encourage everyone to get to know him and support his run for City Council. Veronica Robbins legal secretary Involvement is commendable Compliments are in order for those students who have struggled to learn about and bring attention to the issues of corporate sweatshops, the current inadequate shared governance at the University, and the fact that we are all implicated as students, workers and consumers in this system. I commend them for having the courage, strength and hope to make a better world by their own efforts. A dark contrast to those students’ efforts was clearly evident on your Perspectives page Tuesday (ODE, April 11). What sad and sobering commentaries we got from other members of the University there; a full blast of columnist Mason West’s adolescent cynicism; Moses Messen ger’s miseducation of real economics; Suzanne Clark’s lack of analysis about how this University’s bureaucracy discounts student, faculty and work er voices; and John Condie’s inability to know real character and the lack of it. And as far as the Emerald is con cerned, I propose we rename it the Johnson Hall Rag. As a writer and for mer newspaper columnist, I conclud ed months ago that Laura Cadiz and crew are positioning themselves for corporate journalism. Good luck to them and the Moseses and Johns of the world — they are in for some hard surprises. Peter Ferris Eugene resident Quoted “The biggest thing is, I tell my dad it’s a cheap way of not buying him a gift on his birthday.” —Cincinnati Reds star Ken GriffeyJr. on homeringon his dad’s birthday, April 10. Griffey is the youngest play er to hit 400 home runs. ESPN.com, April 11. “You could have bounced a quarter off his bed.” — Dan Jones, of Portland, on his son, Seth G. Jones, 18, who died in the Marine a ire raft crash Saturday that killed 19 Marines. The Ore gonian, April 10. “We’re young. We're cute. We’re available. So what are we doing here alone?” — Debbie Giaco mo, a third grade teacher in Silicon Valley, complain ing about the fact that men outnum ber women greatly in the area but that dates are hard to come by. The Reg ister-Guard, April 10, “I’ve got both their albums, and I would love to cov er one of their songs.” — 1960s and 1970s singerTom Jones on his love for the Backstreet Boys. CNN.com, Apriln CORRECTION In the article “Fo rum targets com munity racism is sues” (ODE, April 5), Richard Ro drigues’ name was misspelled. The Emerald re grets this error.
