Letters to the editor
Our purpose is higher
than that of Horowitz
In a manner that some might
understandably assume is simply
a marketing strategy for his book,
author David Horowitz has
placed, or attempted to place,
full-page ads in campus newspa
pers at several dozen of our coun
try’s leading universities, includ
ing our own University. Horowitz
lobs simple catch phrases and
slogans into a set of issues that
are complex and divisive. He has
a right to do so — to be simplis
tic, and if he chooses, even to be
cynically provocative.
Different institutions have re
sponded to Horowitz’s ad in dif
ferent manners. Our University
has the opportunity to respond in
ways that show our distinctive
strengths. This week our Univer
sity benefits from the hard work
and leadership of students, who
have organized the “Dr. Edwin
Coleman Conference,” and then
May 11 our Wayne Morse Center
sponsors its conference on “Libor
in a Global Economy.”
These academic and institu
tional settings are important ven
ues for students, faculty and staff
to focus on race, class, inclusion
and social justice. These are ven
ues in which ideas are explored,
illuminated and constructively
challenged. Further, we are
launching this year our Center on
Diversity and Community, with
the purpose of engaging us in
constructive research, conversa
tion and public service concern
ing the societal challenges and
opportunities developing as our
society faces its diversity.
Horowitz’s purpose can be to
sell books. That is his right. Our
purpose is a higher one — to
build community, to honor iden
tity within community and to en
gage in thoughtful and respectful
conversation.
. Dave Frohnmayer
president
University of Oregon
‘Coon’ is short for ‘raccoon’
Oh, please. Dr. Coleman may
indeed be a wise man, but he is
no etymologist. He chastises a
friend ( “MCC gears up for ac
tivism, diversity,” ODE, April 18)
for saying “coon’s age,” claiming
it is racist. While “coon” itself is
a derogatory and racist term relat
ing to blacks, other uses are en
tirely unrelated to race. It is very
simply a colloquial term for rac
coon.
Blacks and other historically
oppressed minorities have plenty
of real reasons for claiming vic
tim status; there’s no need to start
making up new ones.
Mark R. Baker
class of‘85
Gladstone, Ore.
Editor's note: According to fa
book titled “I Hear America Talk
ing, ” by Stuart Berg Flexner, coon
was originally a short form for
raccoon in 1741, went through
several other meanings, then be
came a reference for a black per
son by 1862. According to the
"Enyclopedia of Word and Phrase
Origins,” the phrase “a coon’s
age, ” meaning a very long time, is
an Americanism first recorded in
1843 and probably related to the
old English expression ‘‘in a
crow’s age. ”
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