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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 24, 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 24,2000 Volume 101, Issue 137 Effierald Oregon isn’t just a Nike school in terms of athletics. The special rela tionship the University has had with alumnus and com pany CEO Phil Knight has benefited both parties, espe cially the school, which has received about $30 million in donations throughout the last few years. But now the University could be facing the possibility of a retraction of Knight’s more recent pledge of $30 million to aid in the renovation of Autzen Sta dium. The root of the rumored retraction, of course, is based upon broadcast news reports citing anonymous sources who claim Knight was an gered at the University’s de cision to join the Worker Rights Consortium without joining any other labor prac tice monitoring group the company found more palat able. However, the unconfirmed reports have led to an air of uncertainty throughout the campus community and left stadium construction plan ners in a precarious position of wondering whether their project will indeed com mence. As a matter of grace, Knight should speak pub licly and clearly on his inten tions, whatever those may be. The proposed expansion of Autzen, estimated around $80 million in total costs to produce about 12,000 extra seats and 32 luxury boxes, would obviously be a boost to Uni ver sity. The "" Up extra funds would fl| boost resources to school athletics and, pre sumably, trickle into the gen eral University coffers that would lead to higher profes sorial wages and better facili ties. But with construction to begin in a matter of months, should a major contribution like Knight’s fall through, the sooner that is known, the sooner plans can be altered or scrapped altogether. Though it’s possible, it’s highly unlikely a matching $30 million replacement do nation could be found on such short notice. Not only is the timing par ticularly bad for any such pledge withdrawal, but it’s a frustration for many not to have any answer at all. Waiting up in the air with no definitive word from Knight is a valid concern about the future relationship between the University and one of its most important alumni. There is little argu ment from most mainstream observers that Knight’s con tributions to the campus through the law school, li brary and athletics are of considerable benefit to the school. Any sort of answer by the Nike businessman to clear up this entire unfortu nate situation would be a While a Knight clarifica tion would be a gentlemanly act, the reporting of the un substantiated pledge with drawal rumor, including the use of anonymous sources, was in poor taste by the state’s broadcast media. Un named sources spreading suspect rumors is not only shoddy reporting but puts strains on the ties of very im portant relationships. Right now Knight and University President Dave Frohnmayer should be talking to each other trying to resolve the sit uation, not having to worry about the validity of media reports. Of course, all of the un named sources, possible loss of construction at Autzen and possible rift between the University are all just specu lation at this point. And that’s the problem. Knight should be gracious and pub licly state his intentions so that the campus can start planning its future and get past this ugly incident. This editorial represents the view of the Emerald editorial board. Re sponses may be sent to ode@ oregon.uoregon.edu And never turn your back on a monkey with a gun There’s really nothing more entertaining than a barrel of mon keys. Unless it’s an epidemic of man-hating, thirst-riddled simians war ring their way through the Sudanese countryside. That’s precisely what’s hap pening, and its conse quences warrant serious con sideration about the primates that are terrorizing the lands of afar — and near. The Oregonian publishes a science section every Wednesday, which includes a round-up of interesting sto ry capsules from the world around us, distributed by media conglomerate Los An geles Times Syndicate. And not once, but twice, did they list stories involving the murderous activities of mon ter with the monkeys taking charge in the beginning be fore being overmatched and turned back by the hero keys or unspecihed species, though the paper did point out that orangutans are notorious for their antisocial behavior. In both instances, the usually friend ly fellows appar ently were motivat ed by a severe drought, pitting man against mon key. In the first in stance, a farmer watering his crops Commentary Bret Jacobson ic, it not mdustnal * ized, Sudanese people. What does this say about us as peo ple? It says that while we all be i lieve we’re imper 1 vious to the dor | mant, war-like l nature of lower I species, we can all 1 be the subject of gruesome monkey hate at any time. was stoned to death by a group of the thirsty creatures. The second case was a lit^rpj w^r for war. With all otthis primate violence in foreign lands it makes one wonder just .what American, monkeys. are like. If not kept in dingy isolation in our finest zoos, they would probably run rampant and try to take over our country through bloody revolution. Anyone who’s at tended a circus knows that a monkey war would be devas tating because three or four of them can fit on a child’s tricycle, and there’s just no stopping them. And never turn your back on a monkey with a gun. When they say it’s so simple a trained mon key could do it, believe them. With all this heightened awareness of the gorillas in our midst, it’s only a matter of time before Fox Television airs its serious look at “When . Mo.nkey$ Attack." There.wiM* be plenty of violent scenes of innocent children poking a sleeping simian with a stick and receiving an undeserved bite from the vicious crea ture. As the conscientious pro ducers of the television show will tell you, don’t think that you are immune from mon key attacks. But should you ever be approached by a shady primate, just remem ber to utter the immortal words of Charlton Heston. “Take your stinkin’ paws off me, you damn dirty ape.” Bret Jacobson is an editorial editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald. His views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. He can be * - readied Via, e-mail bjacQtjSQ® _ Afctadstcm^.tjoregcrtifedu,* * * * *1 * Thumbs Tothedinosau with a heart of rock A fossilized Thescelosaurus contains an object that could turn out to be a heart with four chambers. That could be evi dence that the ex tinct species were actually warm blooded animals like mamma Is and birds. To a wise critic Wednesday and Thursday of last week, social critic extraordinaire Tim Wise lectured on campus and around town about the need for people of all races and backgrounds to work together to battle discrimi nation. To a tacky parody The “Do you agree with Ryan?” signs around campus have been vandal ized and turned into highly inap propriate and low brow vulgarities, an unnecessary act beneath college students. To an officer’s budget abuse Investigators say Sgt. Richard Bar ton, a 24-year vet eran of the Port land Police Department, was fired for “unsatis factory perform ance” after being identified as a ringleader in an overtime abuse case at Central Precinct.
