Letters to the editor
Jesus vs. Ryan
Jesus was a revolutionary. Ryan
is a business administration ma
jor and a football player. Enough
said.
Lucas Thurston
linguistics, romance languages
Power of the vote
Today is the last day to register
to vote in the Oregon Primary
Election. Unfortunately, voting is
not a right that is fully taken ad
vantage in our country, and
among college students, voter
turnout is especially low. At the
University, we can solve that
problem and increase the strength
of our political voice.
The ASUO has made it a priori
ty to help students strengthen
their political voices in local,
state and national governments.
The first step in that process is
registering to vote. Registering to
vote now means that you will re
ceive a ballot for the Oregon Pri
mary Election in May and the
General Election in November. In
the elections, we will have the
chance to choose our local, state
and federally elected officials, in
cluding the mayor of Eugene,
state senators and representa
tives, U.S. representatives and the
president of the United States.
But in order to vote, one must reg
ister. Voter registration cards are
available in the ASUO office,
where you can fill out the form,
and we’ll deliver it to Lane Coun
ty Elections for you!
If you have any questions about
voter registration, talk to Robin
Miller or Arlie Adkins in the
ASUO, Suite 4 in the EMU or call
346-0628. Register to vote and
strengthen your political voice!
Robin Miller
ASUO Federal Affairs coordinator
Vote no on 81
I recently saw the movie “Erin
Brockovich” and found it very in
spiring. Why did I leave the the
ater with that feeling, in spite of
the movie being about people
who were injured by a large cor
poration that treated their health
with total disregard? Because the
movie illustrated how our civil
justice system is used every day
to hold wrongdoers accountable
for their irresponsible actions.
Oregonians are under the threat
of losing the power of the civil
justice system that was so won
derfully illustrated in “Erin
Brockovich.” Ballot Measure 81,
on the May primary ballot, would
let the politicians in Salem limit
damages in any civil action, no
matter what the Constitution
says. That means despite what a
jury of ordinary people decides,
its decision won’t matter because
the legislature would have the
power to assign a one-size-fits-all
limit on damages, rather than let
ting juries decide on a case-by^
case basis.
When Erin asks in the movie,
“How much is your pine worth?”
what would your answer be? I
know I would want a jury to de
cide, not the politicians in Salem.
That’s why I’m voting “NO” on
Ballot Measure 81.
Kristin Davis
reader
Nike not the only problem
If there is one argument that to
tally skirts the sweatshop issue, it
is the argument that those fight
ing them are hypocritical because
they themselves are wearing
clothing made in sweatshops.
Chances are, if you happen to be
wearing clothing right now, you
are probably wearing sweatshop
produced goods.
Why? Nearly the entire gar
ment industry is using horrific la
bor practices. Some of the protest
ers were wearing Nikes. Does this
make them hypocrites? No. The
alternatives to buying sweatshop
produced goods, with a couple
exceptions, are making your own
clothes, buying them secondhand
or getting them tailor-made.
So, rather than go to great
lengths to find sweat-free clothes,
why not try to pressure those who
profit from these unfair practices
to change their ways? What a con
cept: trying to make the world a
better place rather than just eas
ing your conscience. To me, the
real hypocrites are those who say
they are against sweatshop labor
who take no action to change it,
but instead only take small meas
ures to make themselves feel that
they are not contributing to the
problem.
And hypocrites are those who
claim to be against sweatshops
but wag their self-righteous little
fingers at people who actually are
doing something just because the
doers might be wearing sweated
clothes. Do not place the blame of
inhumane labor practices on peo
ple fighting them. Place blame
where it belongs: squarely on the
shoulders of those despicable
CEOs and subcontractors who
think the dollar is more important
than basic human rights.
Randy Newnham
linguistics and anthropology
co-coordinator, Survival Center
WRC shackles business
I would like to voice my sup
port for Phil Knight’s rescinding
of funding for the University ath
letic department. The Worker
Rights Consortium as an organi
zation has lofty ideals. They are
also ideals that make it impossi
ble for businesses to function.
This is likely because of the
WRC’s lack of knowledge about
business. The WRC isn’t an estab
lished organization. It doesn’t
have a board of directors yet. It
doesn’t have its own code of con
duct. It doesn’t have its own in
spectors.
What it does have is a commit
ment from universities to bind
companies to whatever rules it
decides is appropriate. Currently,
the plan is to have each Universi
ty make up its own code of con
duct. This will give businesses
not one but several hundred
codes of conduct to meet, a ludi
crous plan. The Fair Labor Asso
ciation may not be perfect — its
code may not be strong enough —
but it is better than the utter non
sense the WRC proposes.
I support Knight’s decision to
drop his funding. He has been the
University’s strongest supporter
— note the library that bears his
name. Nike made its position
clear with Brown: Joining the
WRC means breaking contracts
with Nike. The University’s ac
tions are a clear backstabbing of
our greatest patron. The only de
cent thing for us to do is to give
him back the law school.
Jay Schneider
graduate student, computer and
information science
Protest misrepresented
I am deeply dismayed by your
coverage of the 1970 student
ROTC protest (ODE, 4/19). There
was no personal account of the
event on behalf of the protesters.
Simone Ripke chose to limit the
bias of the article to that of the
University administration and
student ROTC members at that
time. In no way is there an at
tempt to hear the student voice.
In order to provide accurate cov
erage, all sides need to be heard
from. Improper coverage lends
this article a very disturbing tone.
The protesters are depicted as vi
olent, raging lunatics. The ending
quote that “the Oregon campus
has always been a hotbed of ac
tivism, and that’s not any differ
ent today,” suggests largely that
student activists today are still
carrying the torch of uncontrol
lable rage. Intolerable media of
this sort is what has led public
opinion to marginalize those who
have the courage to speak out as
ignorant and volatile. In short:
Shape up — you’re messing with
people’s heads.
Nick Vaughan
music
Students make a difference
Last weekend, the Friends of
the Library raised $56,000 at its
annual used book sale. We could
not have done it without the help
of two wonderful groups of Uni
versity students. The ROTC
cadets and Presidential Student
Scholar Association helped move
2,000 heavy boxes of books to the
fairgrounds. The community
needs to know students do things
other than riot at Halloween. Next
year more than 16,000 children
will attend programs at the li
brary paid for with the money we
raised. And University students
helped make it happen.
Norine Madden
Book Sale chairwoman
Friends of the Eugene Public
Library
Bonny Bettman is endorsed by:
Organizations
Campus Green Party
Oregon League of Conservation Voters
Oregon Natural Resources Council
Sierra Club
Elected Officials
Bill Dwyer Gary Rayor
David Kelly Peter Sorenson
Scott Meisner Betty Taylor
Floyd Prozanski
Members of the Campus Community
John Baldwin
Jerry Berk
Shawn Boles
Howard Bonnett
Tom Bowerman
Suzanne Clark
Paul Engelking
Joan Fariel
Eben Fodor
Linda Fuller
Jerome Grzybowski
Chuck Hunt
Robert Long
Greg McLauchlan
Sandi Morgen
Robert O’Brien
Chris O’Conner
Paul Prew
Cheyney Ryan
Nathan Tublitz
Ray Wolfe
Authorized and Paid for by Bonny Bettman for City Council
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