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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 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 Monday April 17,2000 Volume 101, Issue 132 Effierald The EMU board must decide if the revenue generated by a computer and advertising kiosk will be worth the disruption Most students have grown up in a media saturated society, and that means we’re all too used to be ing inundated by millions of dollars worth of advertising messages. While that’s one price of a market-driven economy, the consumer messages are often in ideological conflict with the democratic ideal. Now the EMU Board is pondering injecting a monstrosity of advertising into the building designated for stu dent speech and activity. Under con sideration is a kiosk system billed as a benefit to students, but the board should reject the proposed kiosk be cause it’s an invasive use of advertis ing into an area designated for free expression. The proposed system comes from a company called Campus Link and would offer students the use of com puters and telephones that they could use to access their Duck Web and e-mail accounts in exchange for a good deal of advertising around the kiosk, which would inject roughly $5,000 a year into the EMU coffers. The contracts are available in either seven or 10 years in length, which makes it important to make the right decision from the very beginning. The EMU, by design, plays an im portant role in the quality of student life. Its main function is to provide a location for students to congregate and discuss the important issues of the day. The ASUO, Student Senate and Club Sports all have offices in the structure and hundreds, if not thousands, of students gather daily to eat, commune, take a break or get some work done outside of class. This type of expression is vital to the civic, social and academic learning process that universities are de signed to bestow upon their students. Such an important venue should be kept as free of commercial influence as possible. The EMU plays far too valuable a role in the campus com munity to start selling it off to the highest bidders and creating a cheap ened mall for students-turned-con sumers. Besides those practical problems, another concern is the aesthetic ef fects of the Campus Link terminals. The machines are large, unbecoming and create high traffic areas. Accord ing to board member and ASUO Vice President Mitra Anoushiravani, the terminals are “ugly” and “hideous.” Not an overwhelming endorsement. The high-tech appearance of the ter minals would disrupt the rustic aura of the EMU and alter the relaxed na ture in the building. The existence of available comput ers in the middle of a heavily traf ficked area would at first seem a ter rific idea because of the convenience it would offer. Having telephones and computer terminals handy seems beneficial. But, as many know, those services are already provided in the student union building, and there’s rarely any significant waiting time involved in the computer lab. Therefore there is really not much need for the extra service of the proposed kiosk, and the insignificant amount of revenues to be generated. Because there are so many con cerns, ranging from practical to aes thetic to ideological, and the small benefit to students, the EMU Board should reject the Campus Link pro posal and retain the important role of the student union. This editorial represents the view of the Emerald editorial board. Responses may be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu Thumbs To tougher teacher tests The American Fed eration of Teach ers, the nation’s second-largest union for public school educators, is recommending more rigorous standards and a national test for teachers to in crease the level of education throughout the country. To Ducks heading for greener pas tures Two former Duck football players, running back Reuben Droughns and linebacker Pe ter Sirmon were drafted in the NFL’sannual two day extravaganza. Droughns will head to the Detroit Lions, chosen nine teenth in the third round and Sirmon was chosen by the Tennessee Titans number 34 in the fourth round. Massacre of the Johnson Hall lawn The WRC protest not only put stress on the administra tion, but its nearly 10-day camp out, complete with tents, destroyed much of the grass in front of the building. The re pair work has al ready begun. To Oregon’s num ber one in a bad way According to the April 14 issue of The Oregonian, the state is the only in the country where the pre dominant strain of the meningococal vims is resistant to vaccine. In the past seven years, about 770 people have fallen ill from the disease, and 60 have died.
