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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2001)
Thursday 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.uqregon.edu EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com The year that A PAINFUL ROUTINE CASEY HOLDAHL T | he school year is coming to a close, and thus, it is time for reflection. Time to look back with senti ment and smiles at all the wonderful things that happened in the first full school year of a new millennium at this fine institution of higher learning. Time to recall all of the great strides that we have made together as students and as a community. mings year of ^ gher Jm Having a hard time remembering? It’s not the beer, the weed, the E or the acid that is keeping you from recalling all of the great things we did this year. The thing keeping you from recall ing the good times, the achieve ments and the triumphs is that they never happened. This year we’ve had our collective asses kicked by the state govern ment, the Eugene City Council, Oregon State University and our very own administration. And since this could very well be the end of my very short run as a columnist at the Emerald, I figure it’s time to vent all the gripes I have with the afore: mentioned groups. First, the state. If you’re an Oregonian, you’re used to get ting the short and pointy end of the stick when it comes to fund ing for education. When Mea sure 5, a constitutional property tax limitation, passed in 1990, Oregon schools lost a great deal of funding. That’s why tuition keeps go ing up. The upcoming school year is no different. Even bus loads of eager-to protest college students couldn’t keep the state government from once again cutting money for public schools, the University in cluded. But this isn’t my only beef with the state this year. The more personal and insulting blow was the de cision by the State Board of Higher Education to remove the University’s affiliation with the Worker Rights Consor tium. I think the WRC was a toothless and unworkable or ganization, but I also think that as a University, we should have the right to join whatever organizations the students deem fit. Basically, we have to pay more to be here, and we still don’t have any say in the administration of our school. The state sucks. The Eugene City Council did all they could this year to make Me in hugene even more unbearable than it already is. If you don’t know what the Special Response Fee is, contact City Councilor Bonny Bettman, Ward 3, and ask her about it. I’m sure she would love to tell you how two parties with more than 25 people within 90 days can cost you thousands of dollars. It always amazes me how the government in this town seems to forget that the only thing that puts this cloudy JUJJU.. V /\ \y~-* f* > vy % / ( osu "7 X <1 '1 / y 'V/ ^-S' % (EUSENE.4 (OftESOfJ -. _-r.......[[ir.tey XA\ j/pr 1 OUAT W/ r—0>tn KJ 1- " ':.U"rWf Bryan Dixon Emerald little bum haven on the map is-the University. The University single-handedly keeps a large portion of this community going. Does that mean University students have the right to run unruly? No, probably not. But does it mean the Eugene City Council should enact laws specifical ly focused on bleeding more money out of cash-strapped students? Hell no. University students don’t owe the Eugene community anything more than is already contributed: jobs, a work force, culture, national media attention and a lot of cash. The Eugene City Council sucks, too. The group that I’ve had a long-standing hatred for finally one-upped the University of Oregon this year, and with an exclamation point. Oregon State University really asserted its dominance, and in my opinion, took control as the most powerful public university in Oregon. Not only did they beat us on the field, they beat us for the right to colonize Eastern Oregon via a branch campus in Bend. If this wasn’t bad enough, I might also bring to your attention that Oregon State gets all of the good concert tours that somehow stumble into this fair state. Missing Sugar Ray on the “MTV Campus Invasion Tour” was no big deal, but the recent slap in the face by the rapidly decaying Tom Petty is too much to take. These may seem like trivial things, but to a dyed-in-the-wool Beaver hater, these things be come important. Oregon State University really sucks. And finally, we come to the University of Oregon admin istration. Besides giving the toy cops on campus the abili ty to search, seize and arrest, the guys and gals in Johnson Hall have pretty much stayed quiet. This would be OK if the state of the University was shipshape, but it’s not. Diver sity on this campus still sucks, programs for the underprivi leged and underrepresented still suck, and nutrias and raccoons are continuing to reproduce at an alarming rate. These are problems that should have been tackled and remedied months ago. So why haven’t they? Be cause no one got pissed off enough to sleep in a tent on the Johnson Hall lawn this year, and thus, nothing has been accomplished by the administration. With all the good weather this winter, I was sure that someone would take the torch of protest and light a campfire with it on the steps of the administration building, but I guess not. I suppose it’s our job to harass and browbeat the powers that be into making change, but we failed miserably at it this year. So the bottom line is, we suck. See you next year. Casey Holdahl is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald. His views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. He can be reached at choldahi@gladstone.uoregon.edu. Letters to the editor Sightings of attacker need to be heeded I am writing to warn the campus community that we cannot rely upon the Eugene Police Department to en sure our safety concerning the recent attacks on women in the area. One evening last week, while, ironi cally enough, I was dispatching for Project Saferide, a gentleman entered the office requesting to use the tele phone to report a sighting that he is convinced resembled the police sketch of the suspected perpetrator. After over half an hour, an officer fi nally responded, but rather than tak ing this call as an opportunity to track down a genuine offender, he essential ly chose to criminalize the man report ing to him because he had no perma nent address to provide. The fact that his report was completely disregarded should be of concern to us all. Heather Mitchell junior women’s studies/environmental studies Race Against Racism deserved better coverage The Oregon Daily Emerald is a widely read news source on campus. It helps determine what is important, to the campus community and has the responsibility of informing students about issues and events that may be of interest. With this in mind, I want to address the lack of coverage of an event held nine days ago that merited significant media coverage, yet re ceived nearly none. The second annual campus-affiliat ed YWCA Race Against Racism raised awareness of the fact that racism is still a very real issue not only in other places, but also in our community. University students organized the event and provided powerful campus voices for equality. A majority of par ticipants were University students. Despite extensive publicity, almost no mention of the race appeared in local papers. On May 20, more than 400 people showed solidarity in combating racism by running and walking in Al ton Baker Park. This year’s attendance was more than quadruple last year’s showing of 80 people. This increase proves that the issue matters to com munity members. We have not won the race and must continue to fight for what is right, with or without the media’s help. I hope the Emerald covers this event closely next year. The Emerald must prioritize events that are politically motivating, affect many people, are results of stu dents’ hard, selfless work and that take advantage of the power to influ ence and stimulate our student body in positive ways. Working together, we can win the race against racism. Courtney Misslin senior French CORRECTION In Tuesday's guest commen tary ("Don’t be silent; report harassment,” ODE, May 29), a location was incorrectly reported. The author, Courtney Misslin.was actually told that two girls were fol lowed by a man into Beall Hall. The Emerald regrets the error.
