Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
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PO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Michael J.Kleckner
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Tuesday, November 13,2001
Editorial
ASUO Executive
should be both
seen and heard
What ever happened to Nilda Brooklyn
and Joy Nair? The ASUO president
and vice-president have all but disap
peared from view as the term has progressed,
and one of their campaign promises seems to
have vanished almost as quickly.
In the spring, the pair promised to engage ap
athetic students in ASUO activities in an at
tempt to call attention to the good deeds of stu
dent government. This public relations
campaign is nearly nonexistent, with the only
visible promotions done in preschool sidewalk
chalk on walkways.
Not only are students literally walking all
over ASUO’s sidewalk ad campaign for their
Friday night movies, but in a rainy state like
Oregon, it’s simply impractical to promote stu
dent government with colorful chalk. The mes
sages just wash away, along with any practical
hopes of getting students involved in ASUO ac
tivities.
The latest ASUO election has not been ad
vertised very successfully, either. Small fliers
encouraging students to vote are at best inef
fective and at worst a gross waste of paper. Al
though former ASUO President Jay Breslow
didn’t have the best public relations tactics,
either, at least he had a monster-sized ballot
box outside of the office to let students know
it was time to vote. Our current executives
should take a cue from Breslow and find a
gimmick to get voters interested. Perhaps of
fering students a coupon for a free pastry at
Greatful Bread when they voted would in
crease turnout. It would certainly be a sweet
use of incidental fees.
The women seem to never be available and
often decline comment to reporters. By running
a somewhat inhospitable office and not stating
their side of stories, the executives can be cast
in a negative light in the minds of students.
Now that former ASUO controller Justin Sib
ley is planning to file a wrongful termination
grievance against the executives, the time has
come to answer charges. If they don’t act quick
ly, the pair may be falling into a dangerous trap
of negative publicity that could be difficult to
recover from.
Brooklyn and Nair are having a hard time get
ting people interested in ASUO because most
people don’t know who they are. By hiding in
their office, they are separating themselves
from average students and creating a huge rift
between the ivory tower of ASUO and reality.
Please include contact information, The Emerald
reserves the right to edit for space,
grander and style.
Editorial Board Members
editonn chief
MichaelJ. Kleckner
managing editor
community
representative
editorial editor
Jacquelyn Lewis
assistant editorial editor
Grant Leffler
community
representative
Thomas Patterson
newsroom representative
Quizzical Fame
A
It seems like it gets harder and harder
to get out of bed each morning. The
temperature is dropping and project
due dates are looming, governmsent is
expanding and job markets are shrink
ing. Sometimes I feel wound so tight the
muscles in my jaw start to ache from
gritting and grinding my teeth. There is
one thing, though, that still brings a
smile to my face: the
shortcomings of
others. The follow
ing little treat greet
ed me the other
morning on CNN:
“A young woman
slapped Prince
Charles in the face
with a flower on
Thursday in Latvia
while he was tour
ing the Baltic na
tions to commemo
rate Britain’s
Columnist recognition of their
- independence from
Moscow a decade ago. The gesture was
meant to protest Britain’s role in the
U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan.”
I would like to point out all the ways
this gesture is stupid and wrong, but first
here’s a little assorted knowledge on
Latvia (I sure as hell didn’t know any
thing about it): The Republic of Latvia is
located in Northeastern Europe on the
Baltic coast, on a historic trade route be
tween Western Europe and Russia. Its
climate is moderate and rainy. Forests
cover more than 44 percent of the nation,
and it has—get this—the largest otter
population in Europe. There’s a claim to
fame. The official language is Latvian, a
non-Slavic, non-Germanic tongue simi
lar only to Lithuanian. Latvia is a demo
cratic parliamentary republic, popula
tion 2,3 75,000, more than half of them
indigenous Latvians of the Lutheran per
suasion. The capital, Riga, where the
flower-slapping took place, was founded
way back inl201andishometoa
third of the populace.
I can only assume that the
woman, because she opposes V"'"*
British involvement in \
Afghanistan, was trying to ad- \
vocate peace in the re- ^ \
gion. So, to show her love
of peace, she decided to hit
the future King of Eng
land. And she did it while ^ j
Chuck stopped to talk to a /
group of children, no less.
What kind of message is
this sending them? “Hey
kids, what do we do to
visiting dignitaries? At- lw|W
tack them with vegeta- ^
With small acts of Ado- Mjjil
lence!”
She used a flower, too! Was
the irony supposed to appeal to
Charles’ superior British wit?
What, couldn’t she find a dove
to hurl at him? What’ll she do
for an encore, carve a peace
sign into Tony Blair’s fore
head? That would probably
be more effective, seeing as
tion! And how do we
show our love of peace?
now rrince Unaries has exactly zero say
in British foreign policy.
As the woman was being led away by
two armed police (I don’t know if she
will be charged with anything), she was
quoted as calling Britain “the enemy of
the world. ” What world? The Third
World? Sure Britain used to own half of
it, but that was years ago. I thought the
only people with a grudge against the
British these days are the Irish. If any
body’s the enemy of the world now, it’s
Americans. The British are just riding
our coattails. Give credit where credit is
due, lady.
Furthermore, this protester refused to
give her name or age. So she’s proud
enough of her beliefs to walk up to the
Steve Baggs Emerald
Prince, on camera, and swat him across his
ugly mug, but she’s too modest to attach
her name to the act? Is she trying to avoid
the publicity? It seems to me that publicity
was her motivation because I don’t see
what else she hoped to accomplish.
The woman was carted off, and
Charles, bewildered, continued down
the street mingling with bystanders. The
bombing in Afghanistan continues, with
British and Latvian support, and another
idiot gets her 15 minutes. I, for one, sud
denly feel better about myself.
Aaron Rorick is a columnist for the Oregon Daily
Emerald. His views do not necessarily reflect
those of the Emerald. He can be reached at
aaronrorick@dailyemerald.com.
Letters to the editor
‘Eye for an eye’
blinds our society
It is sickening to hear a fellow Univer
sity student state, “Civilians must die if
our enemies are forced to surrender and
American lives are to be saved” (“We
must annihilate states that breed terror
ists,” ODE, 11/1). Although I’ve heard
sick ideas concerning the terrorist at
tacks lately, this is one of the worst.
Where do Americans get the idea re
venge comes before intellectual think
ing, that “an eye for an eye” is sound
philosophy? Do Americans honestly be
lieve mourners of the dead want pay
back for what’s happened to loved ones?
Wouldn’t they prefer a nonviolent ap
proach, so no more people would have
to suffer?
Killing more innocent people in oth
er countries won’t protect innocent
American lives. It puts us in greater dan
ger. Victims of American attacks will re
act by seeking payback, as our president
and most Americans have. Besides, at
tacking civilians in another country is
terrorism on our nation’s part and
shouldn’t be justified as something bet
ter.
The Bible teaches us to love our ene
mies. Loving our enemies will make this
world better. “For if you (only) love
those who love you, what recompense
will you have? Do not the tax collectors
do the same? And if you greet your
brothers only, what is unusual about
that?” (Matthew 5:46-47).
To encourage peace, we must love
those who love us already, but also those
who hate us. Only by doing this, people
change. The world becomes more peace
ful, as opposed to a constant state of war.
Pat Mackey
freshman
Japanese, music
No more shady deals
It is clear to me that University stu
dents need to claim the political pow
er at their fingertips. Ignorance will
cause your rights to be gradually
stripped away. If Linda Dievendorf is
being terminated against the will of
students, that must not stand. This is
your campus.
Right now I am putting together a
town hall meeting to address pressing
energy issues. If students took the time
to attend, they just might find I have
orchestrated a venue where they could
have their unfair energy tax repealed.
I’ve had enough of shady deals
around here, and I’ve compiled the in
formation to stop it. In politics, money
helps, but facts are what ultimately
move mountains. No more of the 112
homes owned by the University on
Moss, Villard and Columbia will be de
stroyed, moved or sold for $1 each. The
10 homes that have been empty for years
are going to be cared for by the historic
preservation students who attempted to
study them one year ago. Classic low
rent bungalows are worth the effort.
Also, Sprint, sorry about your cell
tower at 1404 Villard. I told you last
summer that site wasn’t going to
work out.
Zachary Vishanoff
Eugene
Front page photo a bad decision
Poor choice!
’ On the same front page as an article
covering the perceived slander of a reli
gion (Wicca) by a TV station, the Emer
ald published a photo profaning what is
sacred to another religious group (“She’s
a ‘Virgin Virgin,”’ ODE, 11/2). Is there
anything more sacred to the world’s
more than one billion Christians than Je
sus Christ and his mother? You chose to
publish a photo that should disappoint
and disgust every Christian. I was cer
tainly offended.
What was the purpose of this dis
play? To show people having fun going
to a movie? Is this an example of the
current philosophy of America: noth
ing is sacred, anything for a laugh? I’m
all for free speech and for the press’s
freedom to publish whatever it choos
es. I am not saying that the Emerald
didn’t have the right to publish this
photo. I am saying that it showed poor
judgment and a lack of consideration,
or purposefully chose to be offensive to
many readers.
Steve Posegate
doctoral student
music education