Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 2001)
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union RO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com Online Edition: www.dailyemerald.com Monday, October 15 2001 Editor in Chief: Jessica Blanchard Managing Editor: Michael J. Kleckner Editorial Editor: Julie Lauderbaugh Assistant Editorial Editor: Jacquelyn Lewis Editorial Audit was a good move Congratulations are in order to Athletic Director Bill Moos and the University Athletic Depart ment for undergoing an audit at time when department spending has come under scrutiny. In light of the recent financial investi gation into charges that coach Rick Gamez misappropriated $5,748.64 from the women’s softball team travel funds, the decision to ask the Oregon Universi ty System to audit the entire department makes the trustworthiness of Moos’ em ployees questionable. Moos told the Emerald he is not confident that all fraudulent abuses of athletic travel funds have been detect ed. If the Athletic Department head is forced to request an audit from an out side source because he cannot trust his own staff, how can students or ath letes trust these people to manage money? Obviously, Moos is practicing good public relations by being honest about his department’s potential shortcom ings. In the midst of a phenomenal foot ball season, any other college might be wont to hide discrepancies in their ath letic travel budgets. But as the Universi ty moves into the top tier of athletic suc cess, we must be careful not to embarrass ourselves when all eyes are on the Ducks. In college athletics, there has always been “wiggle room” for coaches to fudge their accounting records. But just because the opportunity is there doesn’t mean that coaches should abuse their authority. A new system of checks and balances may need to be incorporated into the department’s current system, depending on the re sults of the OUS audit. For the University’s sake, we hope that the audit does not find any more discrepancies within Moos’ depart ment. After all, in the wake of the em barrassment from misappropriated do nations found in academic departments during the state’s summer audit, the integrity of the University as a whole is on the line. EDITORIAL POLICY These editorials represent the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to letters@dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words and guest commentaries to 550 words. Please include contact information. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Jessica Blanchard editor-in-chief MichaelJ. Kleckner managing editor Gabe Shaughnessy community representative Julie Lauderbaugh editorial page edifor Jacquelyn Lewis assistant editorial editor Grant Leffler community representative Tom Patterson newsroom representative There’s no hope with dope Reality is harsh and of ten cold. We examine its rough texture a lit tle closer in college, peering into the empty hall ways. And sometimes it’s ar duous and pulls at your mind with tiny claws. You begin to understand how a fish feels out of water, with its head chopped off. Vulnerable and entrapped, the psyche is call ing from within, saying, “Let me escape.” But how can we? How can we escape? Is there really a forget about life’s end less prob lems? Some people may tell you that they’ve found the way. Debenham Columnist They have found what finally makes them feel good. Unfortunately, what many turn to is drugs, and if you’re in Eugene, it’s probably marijuana. I’m sure you’ve smelled sweet “Mary Jane” or seen “Lucy in the Sky with Di amonds” at some point in time, and if not, it’s likely that you will. Some day in the future someone may invite you to in hale that famous green weed. They’ll say something like, “Hey, it’s only a plant man. You know, Indians smoked this stuff in peace circles. Just relax.” Yes, I’ve heard every thing in the book, from the idea of becoming more spiritu al to the enhancement of the senses. And admittedly, it does sound appealing. It’s quite a temptation — fi Peter Utsey Emerald nally you can block out every thing that is crowding your mind and be, in Pink Floyd’s words, “Comfortably Numb.” But if the experience turns out to be good, then you’ll probably want to feel that way again, and then what is to prevent you from doing it again? And if you’re always high, where are you really? Who are you? When there’s so little you can control in life, at least you can usually control your self. Nobody wants to be told what to do, but when you’re on drugs, the drugs are telling your brain what to do or what not to do. The drugs are telling you how you feel, mak ing you laugh, making you see things. It’s not yourself. It’s not real. If it was real, you wouldn’t need a substance to get the feelings again. My personal experience with people who use marijua na heavily has been this: They seem to have little motivation or desire to do much of any thing. The drug is everything. As a result, their education be gins to suffer, and they’re usu ally out of shape. It also gives people the “munchies,” which I’ve been told makes you usu ally crave unhealthy or greasy food. So, it’s quite likely you’ll gain weight. Also, I’ve heard the drug hinders short term memory and makes coordina tion difficult, increasing car accidents. The National Insti tute on Drug Abuse says, “Someone who smokes five joints per week may be taking in as many cancer-causing chemicals as someone who smokes a full pack of cigarettes every day.” With the recent terrorist at tacks on our country, this should be a time of support and patriot ism. Marijuana and drug traffick ing are tied to organizations such as the Taliban, so drug-users are indirectly supporting these or ganizations. Besides all this — as if it weren’t enough — we’re poor college students, and drugs are expensive! Instead of spend ing 50 bucks to get high and just sit around and stare at things, go to a concert or on a road trip. Try something new. There’s so much more to expe rience in the world that doesn’t involve the risks you will en counter when you take marijua na or any other kind of drug. Per sonally, I’ve got better things to do than “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Tara Debenham is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald. Her opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald. She can be reached at taradebenham@dailyemerald.com. 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 anniversary is the University celebrating this year? Results: 136 total votes 10—5.2 percent, or 7 votes 125 — 79.4 percent, or 108 votes 150—11.8 percent, or 16 votes . 200—0.7 percent, or 1 vote Don't know—3.0 percent, or 4 votes Wow, 135 votes (and most of them correct) on our easiest question so far. Those signs all over campus must be sinking into students’ subconscious. This week’s poll question: What would you add totheASUO Street Fair? The choices: Minstrels, mimes and jugglers Meals under $5 Beer garden Karaoke Evil clowns on stilts Toby’s Tofu Palace Don’t know Weigh in on the full page ad debate From the editors Some readers may note the full page advertisement in today’s Emerald regarding the U.S. military response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The ad sparked controversy when it recently appeared in other college campus newspapers across the nation. As with other potentially offensive ads that are submitted for publication in the Emerald, there was concern over whether it would needlessly offend a significant portion of our readers. Before making the decision about whether a potentially offensive ad will run in the paper, our advertising director will often gather input from staff members in the news, production and advertising departments. The general consensus about today’s ad was that the opinions expressed in it deal with a political issue that is being discussed and debated around the country in the wake of the attacks, and that it should not be necessary on a college campus to censor political speech from our readers. We invite the campus community to debate the issues raised by the ad’s content. Readers can write letters to the editor or guest columns that meet our standard guidelines, and either drop them off in our office in Suite 300 of the EMU or e-mail them to letters@dailyemerald.com. We will attempt to run all opinion pieces we receive regarding this issue.
