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.
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