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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2001)
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-maii: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com Exit, stage left, with no grace The news, of late, has been filled with President Clinton stories. It’s almost as if he is more newswor thy out of office than he was his last few weeks in office. Granted, all the stories being printed about Clinton’s last days have uncov ered a lack of taste, class or grace on his part, but enough is enough. Bad Clinton! There, can the coun try be done with it now? The most recent, and perhaps most egregious example of Clin ton’s lack of style (and possibly Clinton’s breaking of the law) is the Marc Rich pardon story. Rich has been living in Switzerland since being indicted on 51 sepa rate charges and is wanted in con nection with more than $48 mil lion worth of tax fraud. Rich’s ex-wife donated millions of dol lars to the Clintons in various ca pacities (the presidential library, election campaigns, etc.) and then Rich received a pardon. This smells bad, looks bad and tastes bad. But is it worth fighting over any longer? For the sake of the country, no. Earlier stories focused on the Clintons’ last day or so at the White House. Staffers supposedly removed the letter “W” from com puter keyboards, left hidden sur prises in refrigerators and general ly ran amok in the office. Was this funny? Maybe, in a sophomoric way. It would have been funnier as a skit on “Saturday Night Live” than it was acted out for real. Shame on them; it reflects poorly on the Democrats, now that the Clintons are de facto leaders of the party. More stories were printed about the Clintons’ alleged sticky fin gers. Items of value were missing from the White House. Apparent ly, Air Force One was stripped of everything hot bolted down. Could the Clintons have done a better job of playing into and per petuating the “Southern White Trash” stereotype? To the Clin tons: Here’s a dollar; go buy some class. All of these things are some what interesting, somewhat sala cious, and they provide a bit of a snicker of derision. But these sto ries also raise some questions. Do the Clintons care about the coun try that they served (some would say that they served very well)? Does Hillary realize how poorly all of this reflects on her as a new sena tor? And perhaps most perplex ing, how could a Rhodes Scholar act with such a lack of intelli gence or forethought? Surely the Clintons were aware of the press coverage such acts would pro voke. But now, it’s time to let it go. There are many more important S_- —... topics that should be taking up space in newspapers and on TV. The political world needs to get on with the business of rebuilding bipartisanship and working on the country’s problems. The Emerald editorial board doesn’t want to read any more about Clin ton’s last days of gracelessness. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu. . ASUO, Emerald present candidate debates There may not be a feverish atmosphere on the streets of campus yet, but the student election season is well un der way. Candidate signs are going up and coming down. More signs are being posted. Meetings with student groups, back-room lobbying and hallway meetings are taking place. This year’s general election takes place Mar. 5-8, but the primary is just around the corner. Voting in the primary begins Mon day (yes, in just a few days) and is available via Duck Web 24 hours a day through March 1. In the interest of intelligent debate (well, at least debate) and a thorough examination of the issues and candi dates, the ASUO, in conjunction with the Emerald, is presenting a de bate Thursday with all six of the presidential candidates. Currently confirmed to moderate the debate are: Jeremy Lang, student activities editor for the Emerald and Michael J. Kleckner, editorial page editor for the Emerald. The debate will center on specific issues of concern to the student body, as well as focused platform questions based on the candidates’ Q& As, which are currently appearing in the Emerald each day. Following the structured debate, there will be an open forum where students are invit ed to ask questions of the candidates. The Emerald is participating in the debate in hopes of raising student in terest and increasing voter turnout. We believe an informed (and enter tained) student body makes better voting decisions. Please come to Room 110 Law School from 7-9 p.m. on Thursday. Free alcohol will be provided! OK, there will actually be no alcohol allowed, but the candi dates will be excited nonetheless. So listen to the debate, ask questions, have some fun, and remember to vote next week. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu. Music students struggle for places to play Guest Commentary Melanie King I have been studying music at the University of Oregon for the past four years and have been notic ing interesting changes here in our school. Every term, the halls seem to get fuller and fuller with new faces I’ve never seen. These new peo ple must be very dedicated to prac ticing their instruments, because in the last two years I haven’t been able to find a practice room without wait ing at least half an hour. Last week, I got so frustrated look ing for a practice room that I went to the elevator to practice, only to find an equally frustrated trumpet player already using^itv Thinking I was smart and beating people to practice spots, I toted my instrument to the basement bathroom (an acoustic nightmare) and was met with a pan icked vocalist. Right now, it’s 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, and I am jammed in the only computer lab on campus that has the necessary software to com plete my assignments. I had to wait 15 minutes for this computer. We need more room in this school. I am now officially making the claim that the University of Oregon school of music is busting at the seams. The only “unpracticed” area of this school is the roof — because we can’t find the roof access. We can’t practice in the residence halls or community living spaces. And our study requires regular and long (10 20 hours a week) practice hours. The reason why this school is growing so rapidly is the outstanding faculty we have here. From Pavarotti World Contest winners to world renowned jazz pianists to interna tional composers, our star-studded faculty is drawing some of the biggest groups of music students to the Uni versity. Also, with the recent devel opment of new programs such as string pedagogy or music technology, there are waiting lists to get into the class or to even be admitted as a ma jor. The University’s school of music is in dire need of both renovation and expansion. Attention, people! Our campus has the best music school in the Pacific Northwest, and it has the potential to shine in the 21st century, but only with the proper facilities. Melanie King is a senior music technology ^ student. Letters to the editor Jacobson is the one In just less than two weeks, the students of the University of Oregon will have the opportuni ty to vote for student body presi dent. The individual elected will play a significant role in deter mining how your student fees are used. If you are someone with an interest in seeing that your fees are put toward useful and beneficial activities, then I'd recommend casting your vote for Bret Jacobson. I have known Jacobson for more than four years and con sider him an intelligent, cre ative and considerate person. Whether you are a first-term freshman, a grad student or en rolled in law school, Bret Jacob son is the type of person who will take your concerns into consideration. Additionally, Jacobson is someone who possesses the poise and presence necessary to make him an excellent am bassador for the University. In closing, I would encourage anyone interested in casting a vote for responsible and re sponsive student government to cast a vote for Bret Jacobson. Mike Morgan PSU Pre-Law Society president Portland Play by the rules Matt Swanson is a great stu dent leader who cares about student government and is not afraid to voice his concerns. This aside, it was an irresponsi ble decision for him as an ASUO Elections Board mem ber to file a grievance against my running mate, Eric Bailey, during the campaign. It is the responsibility of the ASUO Elections Board to re main impartial, and Swanson’s action now puts his impartiali ty in question. I have spoken with Matt, and while he main tains the legitimacy of his griev ance, he understands our con cern. In response, Matt has assured me that his grievance will be removed in a timely manner. I was also shocked by Bret Ja cobson’s accusation that we re moved campaign posters (’’Ex ecutive candidate takes on campaign strain,” ODE, Feb. 19), but even more so when I discovered that several of our campaign signs had been re moved throughout campus. It just so happens that in many places, our signs were replaced with “Bret and Matt” signs. So, Jacobson, how can you morally accuse someone of an action, and then turn around and do it to them? You stated yourself, “We’ll leave the dirty politics to other campaigns.” Well, you have reached that level yourself. Other campaigns — includ ing ours — are playing by the rules, and I encourage you to do the same. It is vital that this election be decided on the is sues and not on grievances or posters. I encourage the student body to educate themselves, so they can make rational, educat ed decisions. Jeff Oliver junior political science ASUO Executive candidate
