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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2001)
Monday 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 Giovanni Salimena Emerald Stop the insanity of senseless rioting The last few months have seen some notable instances of riot ing, and it isn't in protest of multinational corporations or little Cuban boys being returned to their fathers. Instead, people are getting all worked up over... holiday celebrations and their sports teams. The Emerald edi torial board would like to urge calm. Ac tually, we urge the rioters to get a serious grip on it. The first widespread round of destroy ing property and drinking and urinating in the streets (along with a little public nudity) took place during Mardi Gras in Seattle; Philadelphia; Fresno, Calif.; and Austin, Texas. There really seemed to be no impetus for these riots, unless it was a little too much to drink, some anger at the police at being told to go home and some anger at their cities for not having all-night Bacchanalian festivities. The most recent exhibits of destruc tion and looting (minus the public nudi ty, as far as we can tell) took place during March Mayhem, the NCAA Tourna ment. Thousands took to the streets in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Maryland, In diana and Arizona after their college teams lost basketball games. Alcohol may have played a role here, as well. But really, people, stop the insanity. These are just sporting events. Yes, we know that the big leagues are a riotous inspiration (think Chicago and Detroit in the last 20 years). And our neighbors across the Atlantic are world-renowned for destructive displays of anger after soccer losses (or wins, for that matter). But fans rioting doesn’t make sense. They weren’t even playing the game, they were just upset that some other guys lost. We, again, must urge calm. There's always next year. It does make one think, though. The Dionysian aspects of life (rambunctious, chaotic partying and a sense of losing oneself to a very human sort of fleshly mayhem) have been repressed for an aw fully long time. Mardi Gras in New Or leans is the only place people are al lowed all-night carousing in any sort of state-sponsored event. It works well there, too. The people revel in their base humanity, and the next day it gets cleaned up. No excessive destruction, just a little release. Maybe we need more of this. Whatever the reason, though, it is grotesque and unacceptable to break stuff because of sports losses or bar clo sures. Get some control. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emer ald editorial board. Responses can be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu. Letter to the editor The Register-Guard should bargain in good faith May 1 marks the second anniversary of The Register-Guard’s refusal to negotiate a contract with the Eugene Newspaper Guild. What I have heard about The Register Guard’s tactics saddens me. Several years ago, I read a book by M. J. Levitt titled “Confessions of a Union Buster.” Levitt chronicles his role in one of the United States’ first union-busting firms. He ex plains how these firms teach companies how to destroy unions at any cost. It was one of the most frightening accounts I have ever read. I can’t really relate the process in the space available, but I encourage everyone to read the book. Many things I have heard about Register-Guard tactics during the Guild’s struggle echo Levitt’s book, from reports of union-bashing literature sent to Register-Guard worke rs to the hiring of a union-busting attorney from Tennessee to negotiate for the owners. This attorney, an outsider, has absolutely no vested interest in the Guild, The Register-Guard or this community. I ask the owners of The Register-Guard to abandon their attempt to destroy the Guild, beginning with the firing of their outsider negotiator, and returning to face-to face negotiations with the Guild — a long-standing tradition of the Baker family. If The Register-Guard continues to bargain in what I see as bad faith, as a subscriber of over 20 years, I shall find it necessary to permanently cancel my subscription. Gary Jarvis Junction City Procedural shortcomings weaken electoral integrity The recent case of Steven Lockfield in the ASUO elections requires some action on the part of student government. For those who don’t know, the ASUO Student Senate is composed of 18 senators. There are nine finance senators, elected by the entire student body, and there are nine academic senators, who represent different majors and departments and are elected only by students currently enrolled in these departments. Lockfield signed up to run for a student senate seat representing the wrong major. He is a history major, but he ran for the seat covering social sciences, when he should have run for the arts and letters seat. The Constitution Court decided that he was unfairly denied the chance to win the seat he should have run for, so they put him on the general election ballot in the right slot. OK, here’s an idea. Maybe one should check really carefully when signing up to run for stu dent government. It's good to know which seat covers what major, before you campaign. The fault doesn’t lie exclusively with Lockfield, however. The Elections Board should be checking to see that student senate candidates are in the right spot. It is the integrity of their election, after all. Apparently the Elections Board doesn’t have a system for this sort of double checking. They need to. There was also some question as to whether ASUO elections rules specify that a student needs to run for the senate seat representing their major. A geology student, say, may be eligible to run for the senate seat representing the law school. If that's the case, the rules need to be changed. What’s the point of having different senate seats for different majors, if anyone can run for any seat? The Emerald editorial board certainly hopes these changes are made and procedures are put in place to see that this doesn’t happen again. After all, there was a victim here. Ben Lacy ran for the arts and letters seat unopposed in the primary and won. He checked to be sure he was in the right race. But now, despite his win, he has to face another vote, this time with a competitor, and he did nothing wrong. In the interest of disclosure, we should note that Ben Lacy works for the Emerald. But the point would be the same no matter who was having to run another campaign for a seat that he or she had already won. The point is, it doesn’t seem fair. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to ode@oregon.uore gon.edu. Poll Results Every week, the Emerald prints the results of our online poli and the poll question for next week. The poll can be accessed from the main page of our Web site, www.dailyemerald.com. We encourage you-to send us feedback about the poll questions and results. Last week's poll question Which movie should have won the Oscar for best picture? Results: 102 total votes Chocoiat—12 votes, or 11.8 percent Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon— 34 votes, or 333 percent Erin Brockovich —12 votes, or 11.8 percent Traffic—25 votes, or 24.5 percent I’m glad Gladiator won —19 votes, or 18.6 percent According to our poll, “Gladiator” was not the best picture. Our voters prefer martial arts and drugs. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. The real tragedy, however, is that “Almost Famous” wasn’t even nominated this year. For shame. This week’s poll question: What should the ASUO spend the $100,000 overrealized account money on? The choices: Kick-ass music festival Covered moving sidewalk Full-time bike taxi Improved student lounge Free massage clinic
