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.
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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
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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.