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
Stay vigilant
against the threat
of hate crimes
The past two weeks have been frightening and yet pro
ductive for students at Penn State University, located
in the appropriately named Centre County in central
Pennsylvania. Ordinarily, the Emerald editorial board
focuses on issues directly concerning the University of Oregon.
However, the events at Penn State are instructive for all of us,
and they are scary enough to demand everyone’s attention.
On April 20, a black student reporter for Penn State’s stu
dent newspaper, The Collegian, received a typed death threat
that also threatened the leader of Penn State’s Black Caucus.
It wasn’t a simple “You’re going to die” message. It said, in
part, that “this is a white academy in a white town — in a
white country and by god it’s going to stay that way.” The let
ter said to look for the body of a young black man in the
woods of Centre County. Handwritten on the letter were the
words “Grad Day = bombs-PSU.”
The next day, the Black Caucus organized a protest. Twen
ty-six students were arrested after running onto the football
field before the start of a game and refusing to leave. The
protest was designed to make the community aware of the
threatening atmosphere on campus, which the Black Caucus
said the administration wasn’t doing.
But wait, there’s more. Three days later, on April 24, the
body of a black man was found in Camptown, Pa., more than
100 miles from Penn State. Police said the killing wasn’t re
lated, but the discovery upped the stakes for students. An ad
ministration-planned “unity march” that afternoon was
overtaken by Black Caucus members, who used the rally to
demand an active response from the administration.
That evening, students camped out in the student union.
Then on April 2 7, the body of a black man was found in the
woods in Centre County, some 20 miles from the campus.
Student fears and demands escalated.
The sit-in lasted until Thursday when an agreement was
reached between students and the administration on a proac
tive diversi ty plan, including expansion of the African and
African American Studies department and a $900,000 com
mitment to create an Africana Studies Research Center.
Obviously we’re horrified by the hatred and violence of the
threat. We’re dumbfounded that the administration barely re
sponded. We’re also outraged that no national news covered
this story in detail — our information is from The Collegian
and the Penn State Web site. Students received death threats
last October. The FBI has been investigating for months. Police
even visited Black Caucus offices in early April to warn stu
dents about death threats. The administration simply dragged
its feet until students reacted, and it should be ashamed.
However, we also have a message for students at this Uni
versity: Be vigilant. Don’t assume our campus is clean of irra
tional, bigoted hatred. America is not a “white country,” and
it never was. Whites immigrated to this land along with peo
ple of color. The 2000 Census shows the diversity in Ameri
ca. But that doesn’t stop some people from desperately wish
ing it were a “white country.”
In 2000, there were 22 hate-crime complaints filed with the
Eugene Police Department. Those are just the officially reported
incidents; the actual number may be higher. According to the
Southern Poverty Law Center, Aryan Pride and Volksfront have
a presence in Eugene, and organizations such as Communities
Against Hate are working to stop them. Two years ago (almost to
the day), a racist comment in a class right here at the University
and further racist and sexist comments e-mailed to students in
the class sparked a protest and sit-in at Johnson Hall.
While the University may not be a perfectly safe, racism
free and completely responsive environment, we would like
to take a moment to thank all the people in the administration
who have reacted immediately with concern for students this
past school year. While we haven’t always agreed with them
(nor they with us), people such as Erica Fuller, Carla Gary,
Anne Leavitt, Chicora Martin and Mark Tracy have been alert
and responsive to students’ concerns.
The University community should be proud of the strides
it has made toward understanding and diversity, and it
should feel relatively confident that, were an incident similar
to the death threat at Penn State to happen here, our adminis
tration would handle the situation better. More importantly,
though, we should all continue working together to build a
community where those types of threats would never occur.
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Re
sponses can be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu.
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Resigning chief offers final words of wisdom
Guest Commentary
Roberts.
Raschio
To ASUO President Jay Breslow:
I want to submit my formal res
ignation as chief justice of the
ASUO Constitution Court. The
experience has most certainly been edu
cational and interesting. My tenure at the
University of Oregon Law School comes
to an end on May 13, when I graduate and
so must my tenure on the court.
If I may be presumptuous, I’d like to
make three suggestions about the future
of the court at the University.
First, the role of the court needs better
definition. The ASUO Executive and the
ASUO Student Senate can assist that by
using the court in the means laid out in
the Green Tape Notebook. The court is,
by design, a body that should be avail
able to answer questions, to avoid mis
takes and to make student government
run effectively. The genius of three
branches of government is that it ensures
all branches check each other’s work and
distribute power so no one branch gains
total advantage.
Unfortunately, that is not the way
things have run at the University. The
court has been forced into the role of elec
tions referee. The other two branches
have ignored many responsibilities of the
court, such as review of rules and dead
lines, which are specifically laid out in
the Green Tape Notebook. As a result, the
court has not been able to assist in the
smooth governance of the ASUO. It is a
shame, but it can be changed with respect
to the court’s role in student government.
Second, the court should not be the
elections referee. The executive is in
charge of the administration of the
ASUO. Lately, that difficult role has
been thrust upon the court. The Elec
tions Board must change their rules and
set up a means of formal adjudication to
ensure that elections run smoother. The
current process is not efficient, not fair
and leads to the transfer of power from
the executive to the court. I believe it
has done fundamental harm to the
court and the ASUO.
Finally, there must be special care
given to the choice of whom to put on
the court. This court can and should be
a place that students can turn to in the
future for assistance. However, if the
justices are unfriendly to student
needs, consider themselves smarter
than everyone else or take advantage of
the system by pushing their own per
sonal agendas, the court is irrevocably
injured. I have seen that this year, and it
is unacceptable. These are important
nominations, because the ASUO struc
ture of government depends on an in
dependent court. Those who would be
justices must use sound discretion in
the exercise of power. Please take the
time to ensure that the new justices will
use that discretion fairly.
Again, I want to thank all that I have
worked with and come to know in the
past year and a half. It has been quite
the ride. I wish all of you well. The
ASUO Constitution Court is a good in
stitution worth protecting and empow
ering. Good luck on the continuing ex
periment of student government.
Robert S. Raschio was chief justice of the ASUO
Constitution Court for the 2000-01 school year.
Poll Results
Every week, the Emerald prints the results of our online poll 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
What should happen on the final episode of “Survivor”?
Results: 129 total votes
Colby is the final survivor.—8 votes, or 6.2 percent
Colby finally loses immunity. —18 votes, or 14 percent
Host Jeff Probst gets attacked by wild dingps.—27 votes, or 20.9 percent
The jury drinks too much and is hung. — 33 votes, or 25.6 percent
CBS cans the stupid show. — 43 votes, or 33.3 percent
It is very pleasing that our poll respondents understand the
insane lameness of this show. Only 26 people voted for the “real” answers. With luck,
those 26 will soon get a “real” clue and watch something that matters.
This week’s poll question
Should the Oregon Legislature forbid cities and counties from passing laws that ban
smoking in bars, restaurants and bingo parlors?
The choices:
Yes
No
Don’t know
Letters to the editor
Three reasons why the
Emerald stinks
1. An editorial board who wants to
find the “middle ground” between
racial equality and race-baiting adver
tising income.
2. An editorial board who wants to
find the “middle ground” between a
sexism-free campus and strip-club ad
vertising income.
3. An editorial board who wants to
find the “middle ground” between a
woman’s right to choice and Christian
right, pro-life advertising income.
My mother once told me, “You are
what you do, not what you say.”
Gary Malcolm
senior
computer and information science
Editor’s note: The Emerald’s editorial
board is separate from the advertising
department and has no control of the
advertising policy of the newspaper.
CORRECTION
The phone number for University
Housing is 346-4277. An incorrect
number was given in a story about places
to live (“Eugene offers variety in
residential choices," ODE, May 4).
The Emerald regrets the error.