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Monday, November 26,2001
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Michael J. Kleckner
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh .
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Editorial
Cascades campus
could have waited
fter much debate, funding for the Oregon State
University-Cascades Campus in Bend will con
x jLtinue, with the branch campus suffering only a
$1.8 million funding reduction. The compromise,
reached Tuesday, is a decision we can only half
heartedly support.
The new proposal follows an October mandate
issued by Gov. John Kitzhaber that required all state
agencies to submit budget reduction plans in order to
cover a projected $290 million deficit in state rev
enues. Oregon University System officials have said
that because they have already spent most of their
state funds on the Cascades Campus, they are unable
to reduce funding for the project by more than $1.8
million.
There can be no doubt the Cascades Campus is a
good idea and that it will provide a valuable service
to the state and the residents of Central Oregon. Also,
the more students enrolled at OSU, including the
Bend campus, the more federal funding the school is
eligible to receive.
But even with the positive effects such a campus
would provide, the project needs to be put on hold.
There simply isn’t enough money to continue such a
major undertaking at this time. The State Board of
Education should have taken a tougher position to
withhold funding for the new campus, and produced
a budget that excluded funding for building the
branch campus until at least next year, when more
state money may be available.
In the meantime, Bend’s current OSU outreach pro
gram can satisfy the educational needs of those in
Central Oregon who wish to take classes, but who are
unable or unwilling to travel to Corvallis or Eugene to
do so.
The bottom line is that the OUS should be looking
after their bottom line. It doesn’t make good fiscal
sense to spend money on new projects, such as the
Bend campus, when we can’t even afford to maintain
the schools and programs the university system cur
rently offers.
editorial board. Responses can be sent to
letters@dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and quest
commentaries are encouraged. Letters are 8m ited 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.
Poll Results
Every week, the Emerald prints the results of our online pail and the
poll question for next week. Hie po8 can be accessed from the
main page of our Web site, www.daiiyemerald .com. We encourage
you to send us feedback about the poll questions and results.
Last week's poll question:
What is your favorite aspect ot Thanksgiving?
Results: 81 total votes
Food — 27 votes, or 33.3 percent
Football — 15 votes, or 18.5 percent
Pilgrims—15 votes, or 18.5 percent
No class—20 votes, or 24 L7 percent
Don't know—4 votes, or 4.9 percent
There's no surprise here- food always has been, and always will
be, a favorite among college students.
Tills week’s pell question:
In the spirit of the upcoming Civil War, what would be a better
mascot for Oregon State University?
The choices:
The accountants
The cow pies
The banana slugs
The jailbirds
Don't know ,
the anti-liberator
Two weeks ago the University sponsored
a woman named Annie Sprinkle’s lec
ture on campus. Sprinkle talked about
her “career” in sex, describing herself as a
“porn activist.” I should mention that I did
not attend her show, mostly because I did
n’t want to support it and also because I
wasn’t interested in seeing her “bosom bal
let.” But I have read numerous articles and
interviews in which Sprinkle has discussed
her “career” and beliefs concerning sexual
ity. Personally, I think
Sprinkle has her bra on
backwards.
It is true that we, as
humans, are innately
sexual beings. There is
no getting around that
fact or any reason to be
ashamed of it. We are
sexual creatures, but
we are also more than
that. We are more than
just the desires of our
bodies. It is our ability
to control these ap
petites that separates us
from the rest of the
Earth’s species. The way Sprinkle treats
sex, one would think people are like stray
dogs in heat and sex is nothing more than a
self-indulging, biological phenomenon.
Is the purpose of sex just to make one’s
body feel good, as Sprinkle seems to
define it? A momentary pleasure? I guess it
depends on who you ask. Biologically, it is
to reproduce the species, but many people
Debenham
Columnist
reel it is a unique experience that otters con
nection between two people, a connection that can not be
found in anything else. Sex is something that ought to be tak
en seriously. When treated with the sacredness it deserves,
sex is the physical expression of love. Unfortunately, in to
-day’s society, sex has become the classic joke. One can’t
watch a TV show without hearing some sort of sexual humor.
Are we evil and wrong to take sex so casually? I say that
people who take sex casually outside of marriage will likely
take sex casually within marriage. That is to say, they will
probably find less satisfaction in one sexual partner and will
be more likely to have an affair. Pornography can become a
serious obsession. It is an addiction. I have seen relation
ships destroyed because of pornography. Whether it is a sin
or not, it certainly does not benefit us. All it does is add to
the many gluttonous activities in which our society engages.
Too much of anything is not healthy, and that includes sexu
al indulgences.
Sprinkle says the body is beautiful, and I couldn’t agree
more. The human body is an amazing creation and should
be treated as one. But someone sticking their breasts out as
an invitation to be squeezed is perverting the simple and
natural beauty of the human form.
And let me say, pornography is no feminist movement!
The very idea is absurd! Women have been slaves to the
sexual appetites of men for centuries. Now, finally, women
are being seen as more than baby-producing sex objects.
Women are seen for their inner beauty, intelligence, wit
and creative talent. Sprinkle says women’s sexual appeal
can be empowering. But this is a limited and phony sort of
power in every sense. Basically, Sprinkle is saying a
woman can be powerful if she’s beautiful. Most men are
not going to lust and drool over an ugly woman. And who
defines this beauty? Men!
So fine, Miss Annie, go ahead and “sprinkle” your little
jokes about sexual freedom and feminism across the coun
try. I hope people will see through your talk, just like they
see though your clothes.
TaraDebenham is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald. Her views
do not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald. She can be reached
attaradebenham@dailyemerald.com.
Letters to the editor
Nation should address
aggression in children
The fact that high levels of aggres
sion in children and poor school per
formance go together is relevant to the
nationwide debate on education. Ac
cording to author Timothy A. Cavell,
“Currently, the prognosis for aggres
sive children is poor. Services provid
ed by mental health, education and ju
venile justice agencies often have little
impact on the downward trajectory of
aggressive children.”
I found that an effective interven
tion with exceptionally aggressive
ninth-graders was telling these stu
dents, still in their formative years, the
consequences of their current behav
ioral course — “a life of crime and a
life in jail.” However, I was told that
saying such things is “taboo in public
education.” By the time it is not taboo,
it’s too late.
The consequences affect suburban
ites as well as urban communities. Cur
rent policies are worse than ineffective.
The vast majority of ninth grade mathe
matics students in urban schools can
not do the simple addition and subtrac
tion they should have learned in grade
school. I observed a class taught by a
teacher held out to me as a model. I
heard him telling students he would
give them “100 percent credit” if, in
solving a simple equation, they just
showed him the steps, even if their ad
dition, subtraction, multiplication and
division were wrong. This is fraud.
I have found the main reason these
students do not know simple addition
and subtraction or the steps in solving
a simple equation is their refusal to
learn, which is part of their aggressive
behavior.
Satish Chandra
Cambridge, Mass.
Florida election was a fraud
The findings of the recently an
nounced Florida recounts take on new
meaning in light of evidence that Gov.
Jeb Bush ordered the striking of thou
sands of legitimate voters from the rolls
just months before the fateful 2000
election, in defiance of two Florida
Supreme Court injunctions against it.
In a memo issued Sept. 18, 2000,
Bush ordered counties to require
ex-felons to file for restoration of civil
rights, a direct violation of both a Flori
da statute and the Constitution's “full
faith and credit” clause, which requires
every state to accept the legal rulings of
other states. Bush was asking ex-felons
to apply for clemency to restore the vot
ing rights they already had. A docu
mented 13,141 voters were wrongfully
purged from the rolls, and an estimated
additional 50,000 to 100,000 were
struck as well.
Recount or not, given the 500-vote
margin of difference between Bush and
Gore in the official election results, the
implications of Gov. Bush's illegal or
ders are clear: The Florida election was
fraudulent, and the Bush “victory” is
highly suspect.
It is a travesty that this occurred and
an outrage that the mainstream media
has not brought these facts to light, so
the people could put pressure on Con
gress to demand a full federal investi
gation. This is the real Election 2000
story, and until the “powers-that-ought
not-be” and the illegal acts they are
willing to commit to secure and remain
in power are exposed, our country is
the poorer.
CharHeitman
Eugene