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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 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 April19, 2000 Volume 101, Issue 134 EffieraM The Athletic Department wants to give seats in Section 9 to paying customers, but students, who provide the home-field atmosphere, object The Athletic De partment is much maligned. High ticket prices, too much corporate sponsorship, too much Alumni at tention — the list of perceived sins goes on and on. On the other hand, the Athletic Department also gives us great games, fan- „ tastic student athletes and fun sayings such as “Mowe Town” and “You’ve got to ERNit!” But sometimes the criticism is well-de served. And what was reported in the April 14 issue of the Emerald is a good ex ample. The Athletic Department has pro posed changing the order in which sec tions of Autzen Stadium are offered to the general public in preseason games. The idea is that Section 5 through Section 9 are student sections, but they are currently put on sale to general public fans if not all stu dent tickets are claimed. In preseason, which is before school starts, many of those tickets go unclaimed because few students are on campus. Right now, the sections are offered up to the general pub lic in the order of Section 5 to Section 9. The proposal would be to reverse this or der. Sounds simple. But what it means when one looks at the diagram of Autzen is that the best seats (Section 9) will go first rather than last. Students will get their best sec tions put up for grabs. The actuality of giving away our tickets isn’t that big a deal. If so few students at tend preseason games, then why not give away their seats? The problem is which tickets are being given away. General pub lic ticket holders often complain that sit ting in the corner section (five) isn’t as good because students sitting in the next section over block their view when they stand up. So the Athletic Department is trying to placate them while making some more cash. “If [tickets] are free, it seems to me we should have some say in it. We can sell more tickets. We need all the money that we can raise,” said Sandy Walton, sen ior associate athletic director of intercolle giate athletics. Well, this reasoning isn’t good enough. Students are the heart of University sports. We are the athletes, and we are the fans. To even think of taking our best seats and giv ing them first to the general public is dis appointing. If we allow the seats to be giv en away, the possibility is opened that one day the Athletic Department will think that all full-price-paying ticket holders should get the choice seats. The problem is that the Athletic Depart ment is discounting the heart, passion and energy students bring that the general pub lic often does not. It is the student section that most often makes it onto TV high lights and amuses the crowd with its green-painted faces, outrageous costumes and sheer vocal power. We are the ones who get the “De-Fense” chants going. We are the ones out there playing. Students are the heart of the University, and al though the actual faces in those stands change from year to year, the energy does n’t tend to change as well. The Athletic De partment needs us. It thinks it needs more revenue from corporate partners or from more well-paying seats. But what it really needs is the fans, the students. Starting in Section 9. This editorial represents the view of the Emerald ed itorial board. Responses may be sent to ode@ore gon.uoregon.edu Letters to the editor Human rights more important than lawn With regards to the comments on the protesters ruining the lawn out side Johnson Hall (ODE, April 17), let’s try on a couple different perspec tives and decide which seems more reasonable. (1) Protests occur because people want attention and something fun to do. Green, full lawns, placed artfully between smooth, elegant sidewalks are an important part of our enjoyment of the natural world and preserving their beauty is a noble and worthwhile goal. (2) Protests are a useful way of causing change in a slow-moving bureaucratic system, and they help educate the public about important issues. Perhaps our system of government even requires both the conservative rulers and the radical protesters in order to run most efficiently. Lawns are a strange hu man invention, require enormous ef fort and resources to maintain and be tray |Jie human need to mold our environment to fit our sense of “or der.” Does anyone even know what used to grow naturally here before we did a complete overhaul? I fear that perspective (1) is all too common. Maybe I just have bad mem ories of mowing the lawn as a kid, but please stop whining about the lawn and learn about the heartfelt concerns of the protesters, protesters who feel that eliminating gross violations of human rights are more important than your visual enjoyment of the Johnson Hall lawn. Ethan Blansett graduate student, physics Protesters hypocritical Myself, along with countless others I am sure, are wondering about the true stance of some of the protesters who were outside Johnson Hall. One of the main objectives of the Worker Rights Consortium seems to be labor rights, i.e. sweatshops. If one takes a moment to stop and observe the ap parel and tents owned by these pro testers, they would see many were produced in foreign countries and most likely in these so called “sweat shops.” I myself saw at least eight people who were being very vocal at the time wearing Nike shoes. I am not against the WRC, but the protesters should be more aware of their situa tion before they chose to take such a stand. This sort of hypocrisy takes away the credibility they are striving for. Todd Huegli computer and information science Students lack respect, power On April 12, the Emerald editorial board expressed its belief that shared governance is functioning perfectly. Perhaps the editorial board has not been paying attention to recent events. Yes, all parties have recom mended membership in the Worker Rights Consortium. So why did students feel unheard? Perhaps because they had to fight for a solid year to attain the administra tion’s agreement to sign on with the WRC; this indicates that at the very least the administration failed to ade quately communicate to students how it was addressing the issue. Though students do have a voice in the University Senate and University Assembly, these two institutions serve in an advisory capacity only. The senate and assembly have influ ence, not power, and only in the form of power can they be certain their de cisions will have an impact on Uni versity policy. It is degrading to students that the editorial board feels student power is impossible because of our short time here. If it is true, why involve stu dents in University government at all? The protesters are asking for greater student voice, not total control over University policy; there are many other members of the Universi ty Senate and Assembly, as well as the administration, to provide conti nuity if necessary. This is our Univer sity; it exists to serve our educational needs and because we pay to attend it, we have every right to have a say — in the form of power, not merely in fluence — in how it runs. It is time that students receive the respect they deserve. Katie Mayer pre-journalism Rebecca Wilson journalism Quoted “We won’t avoid using him. He’s a talented pitcher, and that’swhat this is really all about.” —Atlanta manag er Bobby Cox on the return of John Rocker from a Ma jor League Base ball suspension. Rocker was sus pended for racist remarks in Sports Illustrated maga zine that ignited a national contro versy last winter. ESPN.com, April 17. “This is the first glimpse into the most secret train ing and testing fa cility for the Air Force.” ---John Hoffman, president of Aerial Images Inc., a company that is posting some of the first aerial pho tographs of Area 51 ever on its Web site. The images came from a Russ ian satellite launched in 1998. The Register Guard, April 18. “We’re not out of the woods entire ly.” —Russell Jones, chief Asia econo mist for the invest ment bank Lehman Brothers in Tokyo, on Tues day’s record close of the NASDAQ stock exchange to regain some of last week’s losses. The NASDAQ and the Dow Jones both had their largest one-day point drops ever last Fri day April 14, The Associated Press, April 18. “He was very upset ...with some of the ladies who were complaining about him.” —Phyllis McLenon, deputy director of the Lin coln Park Housing Commission in De troit, on the man who allegedly killed two people and injured at least one other in shootings at a sen ior citizens hous ing complex. The suspect had been accused of sexual harassment. CNN.com, April 17.
