Commentator celebrates 18th
■ I he magazine has been
known to rile people up, but
many don’t take it too seriously
By Diane Huber
Oregon Daily Emerald
Eighteen years ago, the Commen
tator put out its first magazine in an
attempt to offer students on campus
an alternative publication with a con
servative voice.
On Oct. 24,1983, the Commenta
tor’s first publisher, former Emerald
editor Dane Claussen, wrote, “Com
mentator articles will tell you what
other publications on campus are un
able to tell you because of die inexpe
rience, incompetence, or narrow
mindedness of their staffs. ’ ’
Many students and alumni agree
that the magazine has published
some entertaining articles, but they
don’t necessarily take the publica
tion seriously.
“(The Commentator staff) success
fully sells themselves as conservative
drunk guys,” said former ASUO vice
president Ben Unger.
The Commentator’s publisher, Bret
Jacobson, admits that a lot of the staff
writers enjoy drinking. But he doesn’t
believe that takes away from the mag
azine’s mission to offer in-depth in
vestigations of issues, such as cam
pus politics, ASUOandOSPIRG.
“Our relaxed atmosphere is criti
cal to our tone,” he said. “We try not
to take ourselves or those around us
too seriously.”
While the magazine’s editor, Pete
Hunt, said the magazine has served
as a “platform for dissent,” Jacobson
disagreed.
“(The Commentator) is the only
place on campus where you can show
an irreverent sense of humor through
the examination of issues,” he said.
Unger said while he was involved
in student government from 1997 to
1998, many students liked getting at
tention from the Commentator.
“It feels like you’ve made it once
you’re quoted in the Commentator,”
he said.
Current Vice President Joy Nair
said the magazine has had its funny
moments and has successfully por
trayed student views, but she added
that in the past year, the magazine
hasn’t tackled issues surrounding the
ASUO in as much depth as it should.
“When they do focus on ASUO,
they say how bad we are or why we
suck, but they never say how we’re
bad or why we suck,” she said. “I am
waiting for them to step up and con
tinue their past years of excellence. ”
The Commentator has received crit
icism in the past, such as in February
1996, when the Program Finance
Committee threatened to cut the mag
azine’s budget. Many students and fac
ulty members raised charges of sexism
and racism after the magazine printed
a list written by four students from
Cornell University in New York City.
The list was entitled “Top 75 reasons
Why Women Should Not Have Free
Speech” and satirized various groups,
including African-Americans, on its
back page.However, the PFC decided
not to cut the magazine’s funding.
Tom Mann, who started contribut
ing to the magazine in 1983 and later
became an editor from 1985-1986,
said the founders started the maga
zine because they felt other campus
media avoided talking about contro
versial issues from both sides.
“The Commentator has worked to
fill that gap,” he said. “I’m amazed the
paper has lasted as long as it has. Turns
out we had a pretty good idea after all.”
Diane Huber is a student activities editorforthe
Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached atdi
anehuber@dailyemerald.com.
Forum
continued from page 1
reer court winnings in excess of $1
billion and is working pro bono,
“will have more data than Brown
vs. the Board of Education — or any
other case involving sociology in
American history.”
The lawsuit will be filed early next
year and may exceed $1 trillion, but
Ogletree said the money is not as im
portant as “a timely and frank discus
sion of slavery issues.”
Professor Ibrahim Gassama said
he is trying to ensure that this repa
ration movement is different from
previous incarnations and agreed
the money is secondary.
“The reparation movement is first
about repair, which is a modest goal,”
Gassama said, but he cautioned,
“continuing silence and hostility
would push this outside the main
stream, and then reparations could
represent revolution. ”
Gassama criticized political colum
nist David Horowitz for his 10 points
of criticism against reparations and
advertisements against reparations in
college newspapers, while Ogletree
said the advertisements “energized
students and made them realize repa
rations are a serious issue. ”
Reparations have historical prece
dence. In the 1940s courts awarded
reparations to Japanese families in in
ternment camps during World War II,
and an international court recently
awarded reparations to Jewish fami
lies whose ancestors worked as slave
labor in Germany and Austria during
World WarE.
“What makes this unique is the
multitude of parties, both people and
institutions, involved,” Ogletree said.
“We are not just taking action against
the government, but also institutions
and individuals who directly profit
ed from slavery.”
Marty Toohey is a freelance reporter for the
Oregon Daily Emerald.
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Senate Ad Hoc Committee on
Campus Responses to Aftermath of September 1-1 Events
October 24
“September 11th and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”
Presented by Shaul Cohen (Geography) and David A. Frank (Honors College)
CAMPUS RESOURCES
• For tips on coping with catastrophic events, check
out the Counseling Center’s web site at
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~counsel/catastrophe.htm
• To report any incidents of bias, contact the
University of Oregon Bias Response Team at
http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~brt or call 346-1139
CALL FOR INFORMATION
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opinion pieces that help illuminate the issues
surrounding the events of September 11th.
Please contact the Committee at
septl 1 @darkwing.uoregon.edu if you have
any information to share.
012746
The University Senate Ad Hoc Committee serves to coordinate and facilitate informed discussion, from a
variety of perspectives, on the events of September 11th and their aftermath. The Committee does not take
positions on issues of policy, politics, or ideology. To ensure its neutrality, the Committee will provide
clear identification of the specific sponsorship of campus activities by the groups that carry them out. In
all cases, the content of remarks and materials relating to these issues are the responsibility of their
sponsors, and do not reflect an official position of the Ad Hoc Committee or the University of Oregon.
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