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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2000)
Oregon Student Association pushes for voters ■After a successful spring registration campaign, the OSA looks to the fall to sign up more young voters By Jeremy Lang Oregon Daily Emerald With the help of some high-pro file Oregon representatives such as Peter DeFazio, D-Eugene, the ASUO signed up 250 students in its voter registration campaign, which ended last week. It may not seem like that big of a number, but it’s a huge differ ence compared to the single-digit numbers posted by other Oregon public schools, such as Oregon State University. “We tooled them,” ASUO Vice President Mitra Anoushiravani said at the April 26 Student Sen ate meeting. But the spring campaign to reg ister students for the November election is only a precursor to the upcoming fall registration cam paign, organized by the Oregon Student Association. It has a goal of registering 27,500 college and university students and an extra 5,000 non-college youth before elections begin. “In the fall, it’s going to be huge," OSA spokesman John Wykoff said. “It’s probably our No. 1 priority.’’ ASUO Federal Affairs Coordi nator Robin Miller, who helped organize the spring campaign at the University, said extra organi zation and help from Oregon Reps. DeFazio; Vicki Walker, D Eugene; and Floyd Prozanski, D Eugene, and State Sen. Tony Cor coran, D-Cottage Grove, led to the high showing. “We just had people out there,” she said. But Miller added that while 250 registered students may seem like a lot compared to some of the other schools, she was hoping for more. “We faced the obstacle that stu dents aren’t thinking about vot ing right now ... it slips to the wayside,” she said. She said the ASUO is getting ready for the big fall push and, among other ideas, is working on a campaign to send a registration card to every University student, and she is confident the ASUO can meet its goal of 5,000 registered students by Oct. 15. Wykoff said the OSA is also planning some events. He said that most of them will be straight voter registration campaigns in stead of concerts or events where a registration booth is set up as well. He said a more expensive concert usually produces fewer voters than a campaign where voter registration is the primary goal. “It’s not as sexy, but it produces a lot more registered voters,” Wykoff said. Vietnam continued from page 1 As part of educational ex change groups, Fry has traveled to Vietnam six times, most re cently in January when he taught at the country’s largest public university, Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City. “I have been treated so well,” said Fry, a political science pro fessor. Reflecting on the war that ac counted for deaths of three mil lion Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans, Ramsing called it a “tremendous waste.” The Vietnamese are trying to “put the war behind them and move on,” Ramsing said. Being a protester in a time of war Philosophy Professor Cheyney Ryan, co-chairwoman of the Uni versity Committee on Peace Studies, strongly opposed the war as a student at Harvard Col lege in the 1960s. “We tried to disrupt the war making capacity as much as we possibly could,” said Ryan, who was eventually expelled from the school for peaceful protests. “The thing I feel a lot more now than I did then is the utter pointless ness of the war. I tend to think now that the issues were all ones that could’ve been worked out if this country had not been so racist and imperialist toward that part of the world.” Similarly, Fry protested the war as a student at Princeton University. After receiving his graduate degree in 1966, Fry joined the Peace Corps as a vol unteer and headed to Thailand, where he recalls seeing Ameri can bombers taking off every eight minutes. “We still don’t get it,” Fry said. “We need to better understand other countries.” Because of the anti-war protests, the U.S. government changed its policy toward foreign affairs, Ryan said. Prior to mili tary action now, federal officials make sure there is public sup port. “The reason why the Vietnam War is one of the defining events of the second half of the 20th century is that it shifted the pa rameters — it made another Viet nam less likely," Ryan said. “That’s due entirely to the anti war movement.” While Ryan attributes the end of the Vietnam conflict to the anti-war movement, he admits to being somewhat erratic at the time. "You’re very brave when you’re 20; you think you’re in vincible,” Ryan said. “In retro spect, this all looks kind of coura geous, but it was really a function of stupidity. And I don’t know how my parents tolerated it.” After 25 years of reflection, Ryan said many lessons can be learned from the longest war in American history. “People of my generation have an obligation on the basis of what we’ve learned from the Vietnam experience to talk about it and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Ryan said. Get Ready for Summer! Plan Your Classes Now The UO Summer Session Catalog with Schedule of Classes is now available on campus. The Catalog contains important information about courses and special programs offered this summer, registration, housing, and fees. Telephone and DuckWeb registration May 1. w Now! Pick Up Your Free Copy Today Pick up your copy today in the Summer Session office, 333* Oregon Hall, or at the UO Bookstore Telephone (541) 346-3475 http://uosummer.uoregon.edu/
