Wednesday
Editor in chief: Jack Clifford
Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon uoregon.edu
EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com
Vote, vote, vote for your sake and everyone else’s
By this time next
week, students will
have received their
ballots in the mail.
Make sure to vote! Could this
point be made any more
clearly to students, or by any
more groups or organiza
tions? Probably not. Readers
may have noticed the Emer
ald’s election coverage, both
on the editorial page and in
the rest of the newspaper. We
will continue this into next
week, offering information
and analysis about what’s at
stake in this presidential and
state election season.
A few state ballot measures
to be decided could severely
affect University funding.
Other ballot measures could
affect the way elections are
run, the way the state raises
money, the way laws are
made and the way campaign
dollars are raised. These are
big questions that will deter
mine the makeup of our soci
ety. Students need to make
their voices heard.
No one has done a better
job of raising student aware
ness about the election than
the ASUO. Congratulations
are due for a job well done.
Thanks to the hard work of
campus student government,
more than 5,500 new student
voters were registered, mak
ing the University first in the
I WISH I COULD VOTE!
THEN I WOULD TELL THOSE
fy\PEOPLE WHERE TO SUCK IT®
over the country. This
isn’t just out of respect
for one’s elders: Older
people get out and
vote, so lawmakers pay
attention to their is
sues. College students,
with a recent history of
low voter turnout, are
generally ignored.
College students are
the next generation of
leaders, however. In or
der to change this
country (or in order to
keep it exactly the
same, if that’s what
you’re about), students
need to vote and get
their concerns heard.
When the older adults
see that students take
their role in the world
seriously, they will pay
attention. College-age
people are often re
garded as nothing more
than an easy demo
graphic. They buy
stuff, sure. But don’t
students have more im
portant things to say
than what brand of
jeans they like best?
For the sake of the fu
ture, we hope so.
So when your ballot
comes next week, don’t
put it on a pile in your
living room and forget
nation in new student regis
tration. The registration drive
started before the first day of class
es and continued through Tuesday,
the final day new voters were al
lowed to sign up.
The effort doesn’t stop there,
however. Now that the campus
population is registered, the ASUO
will spend the next three weeks ed
ucating students about the issues.
Yes, there are 26 measures on the
ballot. No, that isn’t a student
phone directory in your mailbox,
it’s the Voters’ Guide. Student gov
ernment members will be offering
detailed information about the
measures that affect the University.
Don’t be scared by the quantity of
issues into ignoring the important
ones.
Thanks to the ASUO, the Univer
sity is first in sort of an odd way, as
well: The world’s largest ballot box
has been built and will be erected
biovanmvaiimena tmerald cluuu‘«’ vuui vui
ers’ Guide out from un
uu campus snuruy. u may seem iiKe
a campy, over-the-top idea, and it
is. But it’s also a good, visible sym
bol of the power and importance of
student votes.
Older folks in our society get a
lot of courting by candidates and a
lot of attention from legislators all
aer that stack ot pizza boxes. Then,
when you see the world’s largest
ballot box, remember what’s at
stake — and vote.
This editorial represents the opinion of
the Emerald editorial board. Responses
can be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
Letters to the editor
WRC ignores economic causes
This is in response to Friday’s sweatshop
article (“Sweatshop debate seen in new
light,” ODE, Oct. 13). The WRC and those
interviewed have valid points. However,
they are looking at the symptoms rather than
the cause. Of course, many of “third-world”
citizens choose to work in factories — they
have no alternative. Why is this the case?
The answer is globalization and our eco
nomic system.
Due to globalization, many indigenous
societies aren’t allowed their sustainable
ways of life. They are forced off their lands
or their lands are destroyed. Once they are
unable to live off the land, they must join
the Western way of life. Without a Western
education, though, their only choice is to
work in factories.
For proof, one just needs to learn about
the World Bank, International Monetary
Fund and other Western-world projects in
developing countries. Millions of Chinese
are being “translocated” from their home
lands for the Three Gorges Dam project.
Also, the Ogoni people of Nigeria live on
some of the most oil-rich land in the world,
but the proceeds from the oil go to the mili
taristic Nigerian government and the oil
companies that support it. Closer to home,
the Dine'h Indians of Arizona are being
forced off their land because it sits on a large
source of coal.
The true goal of Western “development”
is not to solve poverty, but to extract re
sources and colonize people into the West
ern way of life. Until this addressed, human
rights problems will continue.
John W. Herberg
environmental studies
Sweatshop workers deserve better
I am horrified by the defense of appalling
labor practices that appeared in the Emerald
(’’Sweatshop debate seen in new light,”
ODE, Oct. 13). I wonder, of those students
who made those arguments, how many of
them have family on the streets or in the
sweatshops, or have lived there themselves?
Am I supposed to be impressed because
the sweatshop laborers are offered horrible
conditions as an alternative to starvation
when the goods they make are sold at such
prices that good conditions could easily be
assured?
This is not “new light,” as the article’s
headline promises. This is very old light.
Listen:
“The blacks are immeasurably better off
here than in Africa, morally, socially, &
physically. The painful discipline they are
undergoing, is necessary for their instruc
tion as a race.” — Robert E. Lee, letter to his
wife, 1856
“Must I argue the wrongfulness of slav
ery? ... There is not a man beneath the
canopy of heaven who does not know that
slavery is wrong for him.” — Fredrick Dou
glass, July 4, 1852.
Randolph Fritz
graduate architecture student
Minority hiring story slanted
Kudos to the Emerald for another chal
lenging piece of experimental journalism
(’’Minority hirings are a step in the right di
rection,” ODE, Oct. 12). Taking the notion
that “there’s no true objectivity” to its logi
cal extreme, you have bravely shot down yet
another stale newspaper convention.
What am I talking about? Nothing less
than the first-ever op-ed piece to run above
the fold on the front page of a newspaper.
Aww, don’t get all modest and try to claim
that’s just a news story. From the headline
on down, that’s pure op-ed. C’mon, with
phrases such as “ap important goal,” “mak
ing strides toward true diversity,” and judg
ments such as “concerned with intolerance
and racism” and “a sexist comment” tossed
about by the writer with no attribution to
any source whatsoever?
No, don’t get modest! You’re tearing down
the walls of the ivory tower, making way for
a kinder, more personal journalism, and one
that’s much easier to write. Thanks to this
breakthrough, we will no longer have to go
out and get people to say what we want to
quote them saying. We can just say it our
selves! Kudos, Emerald, and thank you.
Dan Atkinson
senior
journalism and history
Mothers against underage drinking
This is in response to your drinking arti
cle (’’Some drinking guidelines for the un
der-21 sect,” ODE, Sept. 18).
First, there is no reason for drinking
guidelines for people under 21 — underage
drinking is illegal in Oregon and throughout
the United States. Research clearly shows
that the longer a person’s use of alcohol is
delayed, the likelihood of them becoming a
lifetime problem drinker (and drunk driver)
is significantly lessened.
On a positive note, the reporter states
there is absolutely no excuse to drink and
drive. But if people under 21 are going to
drink, which is illegal, why would they
choose to obey the law and not drink and
drive? Drinking and driving kills and injures
innocent victims every day. Drunk driving is
the nation’s most frequently committed vio
lent crime, and approximately three in five
Americans will be affected by an alcohol-re
lated crash during their lives.
In the article, Ilona Koleszar, an attorney
with ASUO Legal Services, says “it is a non
criminal violation ” Drinking can become a
very dangerous criminal offense. Drinking and
driving killed 15,786 people in the United
States in 1999. Alcohol poisoning from binge
drinking can kill, and many criminal offenses
can occur when someone is intoxicated. About
10 million drinkers were under 21 in 1995. Of
those, 4.4 million were binge drinkers, includ
ing 1.7 million heavy drinkers.
The mission of Mothers Against Drunk
Driving is to stop drunk driving, assist vic
tims of this violent crime and prevent un
derage drinking.
Danita Derr
president
Mothers Against Drunk Driving