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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 27, 2000)
Friday 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 Letters to the editor Diversity is ethically necessary I realize I’m giving Bret Jacobson the satisfaction of a response to his column (’’Paternalistic ideals mas querade as diversity,” ODE, Oct. 23), but a response is more than due. Jacobson argues that “it is not the role of a public university to indoctri nate its students in any fashion with a concerted effort to draw certain de mographics to the community.” First, Jacobson has the gall to deper sonalize minorities by describing us as “certain demographics.” Step out from behind your five-dollar, polysyl labic words and have the courage to name the groups on this campus you feel are receiving special treatment. Moreover, I interpret his statement as saying the University should not attempt to recruit black, Latino or Asian students or faculty in order to teach students that acceptance and tolerance of people of different cul tural backgrounds is a desirable con dition of society. I, on the other hand, believe the University has an ethical responsibility to enrich the learning opportunities on campus. This ab solutely includes increasing the num ber of minority faculty and students and establishing an environment that welcomes difference. Finally, Jacobson's suggestion that the University place a higher priority on prostrating ourselves before Phil Knight than fostering diversity on campus is misguided. Are we a foot ball factory in disguise as an institu tion of higher education? The irony is [that] the only diversity I see is on the football field. Adam Alabarca planning, public policy & management Columnist light on thinking Bret Jacobson’s column [’’Paternal istic ideals masquerade as diversity,” ODE, Oct. 24] demonstrates that he does not understand the difference between fostering critical thinking and subjecting students to indoctri nation. A “center for the study of ...” can do a lot to encourage the former by calling attention to important issues and gathering useful and relevant in formation at a centralized location. They can, as the Center for the Study of Women in Society has, also pro vide a valuable “meeting place” for scholars from various departments to pursue interdisciplinary studies, which often results in the best, most innovative work. “Indoctrination” is what often hap pens in the absence of such centers, when students imbibe information or cling to traditional ideas without even pausing to consider other points of view. Based on what I have read of Jacobson’s columns in the Emerald, he is the one who prefers indoctrina tion to critical thinking. Ursula Wiljanen doctoral student comparative literature Facts support carrying a gun In response to Lori Brown’s letter (“Check the Facts,” ODE, 10/23), my argument was that anyone should be allowed effective defense with a gun. I used women as an example because of the size discrepancy common in male/female attacks. I believe everv person should have that right. According to John Lott Jr., senior research scholar of the Yale Law School, “One additional woman car rying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about 3-4 times more than one additional man [carrying] reduces the murder rate for men.” It’s about size. Since she requests that I check the facts ... why skew hers? She com pares the times an intended rape vic tim kills someone (rare) she doesn’t know (exceedingly rare) with the times a woman is murdered with a handgun. Brown probably knows that a rape victim usually knows her attacker, and if a gun is used in self defense, over 95% of the time it’s not fired. Is that a less successful de fense? One cannot say whether Nicole Brown Simpson would be alive had she carried a handgun and been trained in its use, but I doubt things would’ve turned out much worse. As for Ms. Brown calling me ma nipulative, disrespectful and not speaking from personal experience: The six men who approached us at a state park, and demanded that my uncle and I “take a walk and leave the women (our three female com panions) to us” — they were disre spectful. Skewing your facts is ma nipulative. Mick Briscoe graduate student fine arts Cops use emotions for monetary gain Extremist rhetoric during elections is common, but a new low was hit when Eugene Police Lt. Rick Ziel stated “If you’ve a girlfriend or wife that’s just been raped, you have to stand in a room” — the police lobby — “with other people and tell [the of ficers] what you want to tell them” ("Sparks fly over the details of Mea sure 20-36,” ODE, Oct. 23). Ziel is promoting the $47.5 million tax to fund a three-story police station and land/design for a fire station. Proponents of Measure 20-36 tout the police lobby’s lack of private in terview areas. Twice, I’ve been ush ered into back rooms for private meetings — once to ask Sgt. Kathy Flynn to address the signs from car dealerships posted on telephone poles. Activists posting flyers con cerning homeless issues were ticket ed hundreds of dollars. The second visit, with Capt. Thad Buchanan, again happened privately. If police are forcing rape victims to describe their assaults in the lobby, they should be brought up on charges. There are many private rooms available at City Hall. Ziel’s comments are merely an emotional sales pitch to get student voters to boost property taxes for the next 20 years. I trust thinking students will see through the rhetoric and oppose 20 36, a completely unwarranted and expensive proposal. City facilities di rector Mike Penwell told me the po lice lobby could be expanded for pri vate interview rooms. Certainly for a fraction of the proposed $47.5 mil lion tax hit. Carol Berg Enough is Enough Committee— No on 20-36,20-38, 20-39 Some football just doesn’t compare PAC-10 football? Somewhere, the football gods are snickering. The dif ference between football in the South and football in the West [“Memoirs of a Florida snob: the trek to Autzen,” ODE, Oct. 20] is like the difference between masturbating and making love to the woman/man of your dreams — one makes you feel kind of silly and makes you wish you had a life, while the other fills you with ex citement, anticipation fulfilled, and makes you tired and in need of some rest (and perhaps a cigarette). Anyway, go Ducks! I hope we get to see you in the Orange Bowl! Scott Dudley Tallahassee, Fla A vote for Nader; Bush means eco-destruction Commentary Michael Bond An area of America's most beautiful wildlands - larger than Oregon - may get trashed as a result of this election. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have promised to open more than 60 million acres of public lands — wilderness areas, national wildlife refuges and monuments, and other irre placeable treasures of our nation's outdoor heritage — for logging, off-road vehicles (ORVs), oil drilling and pipeline construction. Trag ically, Ralph Nader may help them do it. The immediate environ mental impacts of a Bush/Cheney victory, which is unlikely without Nader's candidacy: • Poorer environmental protection for national forests — including the Willamette and Siuslaw • More destruction of our public lands — 20 percent of the United States — with logging, road building and ORV degradation • Opening for logging the nation's last 60 million acres of roadless National Forest — an area of virgin forest as big as Oregon • Elimination of several recent national monuments, including Grand Staircase Escalante, a million acres near Grand Canyon National Park, and Canyons of the Ancients National Monu ment, our country's greatest concentration of Native American archaeological and cultural sites. • Desecration of our mag nificent Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with oil drilling, roads and pipelines. This is an ex tremely fragile habitat for millions of animals, and the impact of these oil projects on its vegetation and wildlife is immeasurable. Under Bush, Texas has dropped to dead last of 50 states in environmental standards like toxic air emis sions, toxic chemical acci dents and livestock waste production. Add Dick Ch eney's rabid anti-environ mental record, and you have a prescription for national environmental disaster. But to make it happen, you need Ralph Nader. Nader can do permanent damage to our environment without even 2 percent of the vote. Because 2 percent will make the difference be tween A1 Gore and Bush. But Nader doesn't care. Vote for me, he says, because Gore and Bush are the same. And that's a BIG LIE. According to an article in Time magazine, Gore has made the Clinton adminis tration more pro-environ ment than any in a genera tion. Gore's environmental record over the last 22 years in public service is extraor dinary. With the Clinton ad ministration, he helped to create 13 new national parks and five national monu ments, accelerated the elimi nation of ozone-depleting chemicals, forced passage of the Superfund Act and strengthened clean air stan dards and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Gore has been a world leader on global warming. He helped to lead the largest cleanup of toxic waste sites in history and quadrupled funding for parks and con servation. He proposed the recently passed legislation to restore natural water flows in the Everglades. Most importantly for Ore gon, Gore has guaranteed complete protection of the last three million acres of Oregon's roadless National Forest. These lands are cru cial habitat for Oregon's big game species and other wildlife, and provide recre ation resources to fill our growing need for the out doors. Moreover, Gore has promised to protect all of America's last 60 million acres of roadless national forest, not only in the lower 48 states, but also in Alas ka's Tongass National Forest. As one who has hiked and camped in Oregon for more than 30 years, I'd hate to see its environment, and the na tion's, get trashed by Bush and Cheney just because a handful of people voted for Nader. Michael Bond has more than 30 years of experience as an environ mental activist, Wild and Scenic Rivers planner, ecologist, author, and forest protection advocate in southern Oregon and throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa. CONTACT US! The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes and will attempt to print all letters on topics of interest to the University community. Letters are limited to 250 words. The Emerald may edit any letter for length, clarity, grammar, style and libel. Letters may be mailed, dropped off at EMU Suite 300, or e-mailed to the addresses at the top of the page. Also, please feel free to give your feedback to any individual story or column directly at our Web site. Feedback comments may appear in print at our discretion. Keep in touch!
