Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
PO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mai I: ode@oregon. uoregon.edu
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Editor in Chief:
Andrew Adams
Associate Editors:
Jeremy Lang
Peter Hockaday
Editorial
Diversity should be
a discussion for all
The news that Erica
Fuller, the former direc
tor of the Multicultural
Center, would be resign
ing after spending only a year on
campus came as somewhat of a
shock. Fuller came to Eugene
with an undeniable zeal for ad
dressing campus diversity is
sues, and this spirit and enthusi
| asm made for quite an eventful
| year. But she found our weather
| mundane and said she had to re
turn to the Florida sunshine
from which she came.
Former student advocate for
the University of California at
Santa Cruz Steve Morozumi has
replaced her.
As one of the largest student
groups on campus, the MCC
has a responsibility to both mi
nority students and also to the
campus in general. In her many
activities on campus, Fuller at
tempted to bring out the differ
ing viewpoints from the many
non-white students on campus.
Her efforts deserve praise, but
in this time of transition it is
important to remember that in
promoting the needs of some
on campus, one cannot forget
the needs of others.
Too often discussions on race
are reduced to a polarized de
bate between skin tones — those
with a lighter shade of skin ver
sus those with a darker shade.
That has never been much of a
problem here at the University,
but steps can be taken to ensure
it never is. Instead of one side
placing the blame on the other
or ignoring each other, the many
groups on campus need to work
together to form one coherent
identity. We cannot point fingers
at each other, but instead should
look for mutually beneficial so
lutions to diversity questions.
One way to do this is for the
MCC to continue to make an ef
fort to promote the views of its
members on campus in a way
that does not alienate it from the
rest of the campus. As much as
the MCC wants to ensure its
voice is heard, it and other
groups need to be strong mem
bers of the campus community.
Criticism should always be giv
en where it is needed, but we
need to avoid playing a “blame
! game” in our attempts to pro
mote diversity on campus.
Morozumi, along with the rest
of the MCC, is an excellent posi
tion to help facilitate a strong dis
cussion on race and racial per
ception here on campus. As more
non-white students come to the
University, it will become even
more imperative that these stu
dents feel welcome on campus. It
is the responsibility of the major
ity of students to offer that wel
come, but it is the responsibility
of groups on campus represent
ing those students to not closet
them from the campus communi
ty. The groups should serve as a
resource of support for those stu
j dents, but not as their only en
gagement with campus life.
The problem with groups di
vided along cultural or ethnic
lines is that there is a risk they
will identify themselves first as
members of that group before ac
knowledging being a member of
the greater whole. No one is say
ing that the situation has become
so polarized that the University
identity has become lost; it just
needs to be considered that we
are in fact one whole community.
The MCC has always been one
of the most visible groups on
campus, and let’s hope Morozu
mi helps keep it that way. But
let’s also hope that as the issues
of race continue to be discussed,
we can do it as one community
and not as a group of factions in
competition to be heard.
Gang of Nine refreshing
A certain group of folks with
decidedly pro-development
views have been the cause of
some quite indignant outrage
from many members of the Eu
gene community recently. The
“Gang of Nine" has been poking
fun at the Eugene City Council
with professionally drawn car
toons that have appeared daily
in advertising space in The Reg
ister-Guard since June 24.
The cartoons have inspired
dozens of letters to local news
publications and were the sub
ject of a Register-Guard news
story and several columns, one
even authored by the newspa
per's executive editor.
While the idea of a newspaper
making a media buzz over its
own advertising is another issue
altogether, the ads are in and of
themselves an interesting look at
the Eugene community. Many
critics of the cartoons are blast
ing them for what they say are
mean-spirited depictions of
councilors and the fact that
those who paid for the ads are
staying anonymous. Well, any
one who has any experience
with editorial cartoons knows
that caricatures are by their na
ture not supposed to reflect
someone in his or her best light,
and anonymity is anyone’s right
in the correct context, which ad
vertising is.
What is refreshing is the fact
that this campaign comes from
the other side of the Eugene po
litical spectrum. Most of the
time, Eugene seems to operate in
some sort of liberally progres
sive vacuum. And it is nice to
see those on the other side of the
fence making some noise.
This is not an endorsement for
the Gang of Nine, but an en
dorsement for an active and en
gaging local political dialogue.
So let the critics whine, but for
the sake of good political debate,
let’s hope the gang doesn’t stop
getting its opinions heard.
This editorial represents the views of the
Emerald’s editor in chief and does not
necessarily represent the views of the
Oregon Daily Emerald.
Condit harmed his own image
Guest Commentary
Philip
Terzian _
WASHINGTON —
While the Senate
drones on about a
patients' bill of
rights, and the pundits ponder
the president’s latest polls, the
city is transfixed by a tragic
. mystery.
Sometime around April 30 or
May 1, a 24-year-old woman
named Chandra Ann Levy pre
pared to leave Washington to re
turn to her parents in Modesto,
Calif. Her internship at the Fed
eral Bureau of Prisons was over,
and she was expected at a home
town commencement to pick up
her master's degree from the Uni
versity of Southern California.
Her apartment had been
scrubbed, her luggage was
packed, her bank account was
closed and her airline voyage to
California beckoned. But she
never, apparently, arrived at Rea
gan National Airport. After sev
eral days, her frantic parents in
California notified the Metropoli
tan Police in Washington, and
the search was on.
It produced nothing. Apart
from a few random sightings,
including video footage from a
convenience store, all within
the period before her scheduled
departure, Levy seems to have
vanished. The police dredged
the rivers, combed the parks
and interviewed people who
had known the young woman.
Such standard procedures for
missing persons came up emp
ty, and given the general incom
petence of District police, the
case of Chandra Levy was des
tined for oblivion.
Except for two things. Unlike
the families of other young
women who have disappeared
from the streets of Washington in
the past few years, Levy's parents
know something about working
the media. With much fanfare,
[
they have made repeated visits to
the District, posted notices
around town, held a press con
ference and hired an attorney
with connections to the Clin
ton/Lewinsky case.
And of greater interest, the un
accustomed spotlight that shone
on Chandra Levy revealed a con
nection to 53-year-old Rep. Gary
Condit, her hometown congress
man. From the very beginning,
Condit has characterized Levy as
a "great person and a good
friend," expressed his concern
that she quickly be found and
stoutly denied that their relations
were anything other than correct.
His staff has been called upon al
most daily to issue categorical
denials that Levy and Condit
were lovers.
The pressure grew sufficient
ly intense, however, that Con
dit, too, was moved to hire a
criminal lawyer with connec
tions to the Clinton/Lewinsky
case, one Abbe Lowell. As if on
cue, Lowell issued a suitably
Clintonian declaration: His
client, he said, "has resisted and
will continue to resist efforts by
the media to dissect and mis
characterize his and his family's
private lives. Unlike some, Con
gressman Condit remains singu
larly focused on what is and re
mains the central mission at
this time — locating Chandra
Levy.”
What Lowell did not address,
of course, was whether his client
and Levy were lovers, or ques
tion the veracity of six other
women who reportedly have
come forward since Levy's disap
pearance to report their own af
fairs with Condit.
As always, in Washington,
this is as much a lesson in pub
lic relations as a morality tale or
whodunit. No one would much
care if Condit had been yearn
ing for love between quorum *
calls — "It's very lonely being a
congressman," says a veteran
Washington correspondent,
with a smile — and befriending
interns or redheaded flight at
tendants. Indeed, it is difficult
to imagine why a six-term con
gressman would have any good
reason to harm Chandra Levy:
Even if she had threatened to go
public with their good friend
ship (she seems to have filled in
any number of acquaintances
with the details), his Golden
State constituents would proba
bly smile and shrug their shoul
ders. Condit is a muscular, self
infatuated fellow who once
posed for a calendar of Capitol
pinup boys.
Yet, from the beginning, the
congressman has issued a series
of self-serving pronouncements,
contradictory at times, certainly
cryptic and vague, now filtered
through the mouthpiece of
Abbe Lowell. His wife was first
described as something of an in
valid, back home in California,
but is now shown to be a
healthy, good-looking blonde
who was present in Washington
when Levy disappeared. The
police have complained that
their interviews with Condit
have been frustrating (although
that could be explained by the
officers' competence) and Mrs.
Condit long refused even to talk
with the cops.
In any case, no matter the
truth, Condit has done nearly all
that he could to make himself an
object of suspicion and conjec
ture. And at some cost: His self
immolation forced him to cancel
public appearances in Modesto,
his party's leadership is leaking
suggestions that he quit, and he
has hired Marina Ein, a PR con
sultant with disaster expertise.
The worst sign, however, has
come from the media. Having
carefully avoided partisan labels,
reporters now refer to Gary Con
dit as a "right-wing Democrat."
There's no avoiding the fact that
Condit is a Democrat; it's the
"right-wing" part that makes
sense of it all.
Philip Terzian is the associate editor of the
Providence Journal. Courtesy of Knight
Ridder Tribune.