Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
PO. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Fridayjanuary 11, 2002
Yesteryear's Editorial
ASUO Salary
Reductions
Recommended
lthough they function more or
less as a separate corporation,
JL jL the Associated Students of the
University are in reality a ramification
of Oregon’s educational system, and
their employees should be subject to a
sliding-scale salary reduction identical
to that recently imposed upon faculty
members by the state board of higher
education.
No time should be wasted by the fi
nance committee and executive coun
cil in passing an order to this effect.
The latter group recently restricted the
Emerald, baseball and track in order to
reduce expenses, so it should welcome
with open arms an additional opportu
University
of Oregon
nity to trim the
budget.
Because Chan
125th
cellor [W.J.] Kerrw
and his col
ANNIVERSARY leagues on the
ate reductions should not be imposed
upon the graduate managers and oth
ers hired by the associated students. If
the executive council reacts favorably
to the Emerald’s suggestion, the editor
of the paper and several other execu
tives of the publication will suffer re
ductions along with the rest. However,
that matters not, and at least those con
nected with the editorial side of the
Emerald are glad to take the initiative
in recommending such a move.
These are troublesome times. A peri
od of economic transition and adjust
ment has engulfed civilization and no
group can afford to demand higher pro
portionate salaries than its contempo
raries. Many learned men, scholars
who occupied long years and spent
thousands of dollars preparing them
selves for careers in education, have re
ceived drastic salary cuts this year. It is
no more than fair that the employees of
the ASUO should sustain reductions
parallel to those suffered by these indi
viduals.
We now await action by the execu
tive council in this matter. It should
not await action by the executive coun
cil in this matter. It should not be long
in forthcoming. The state board of
higher education minced no words in
reducing the pay of its workers.
Originally
published on
January 11, 1933
faculty are to
sustain wage
cuts, we see no
valid reason
why proportion
Editor’s note: This editorial was taken from the
Jan. 11,1933 edition of the Oregon Daily Emerald to
commemorate the University’s 125th anniversary.
Letters to the Editor and
Guest Commentaries Policy
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.
Students: Let’s prove we can do ‘if
Winter term has to be the most diffi
cult term to go through. It’s cold
outside, you won’t see the sun for
10 weeks, and everyone adds a little more
sarcasm and anger to their attitudes. So what
does the entire University decide to do to
compensate for the cold weather and miser
able attitudes? They use more energy and
drive our consumption levels over the top.
Many ask why this is necessary. Why do we
use more than we need?
In actuality, everyone knows that we have
a lot more fun “Doing It In the Dark. ” There
are many reasons to do “it” — meaning ener
gy conservation — in the dark. The ASUO
asks that you consider these three reasons
before you do “it”:
• What could you do with the $80 energy
fee charged over the year? You could buy a
book for class, a plane ticket for spring break,
or even drinks for a date. There are endless
possibilities. By turning ofPa few lights and
turning down the temperature a couple de
grees, each student could easily save $80 off
Guest Commentary
Joy
Nair
their tuition. Sounds too easy? Well, it is.
Turn things off when you aren’t using them,
and tell your friends, too. We could all have
a little more in our pockets.
• The administration charged us this
“shady” energy fee because they thought
students couldn’t conserve enough energy
to combat increasing energy costs. Now it is
time for students to come together and let
them know that we are more than disposable
income. If they had included us in this
process when they first found out about this
three years ago, we wouldn’t have been un
fairly taxed and facing such a problem.
• And lastly, we need to conserve energy
because, well, it’s the right thing to do. In a
time when our population is growing in ex
ponential numbers, and our heating and
electricity resources are becoming scarce by
the minute, it is important for us to do our
part in the global community. We need to
protect what we have and share what is
available, instead of depleting our resources
and killing the planet.
The ASUO is running a huge campaign
this year to get the student body to conserve
energy, called “Doing It In the Dark.” Our
goal is to lower energy consumption by 5
percent compared to last year. We hope that
you do your part in the conservation efforts.
Whether you want to save some money,
show up the administration, or do it because
it’s best for us and the environment, let’s
band together to conserve the scarce re
sources we do have in this community. Turn
off things you aren’t using, put on a sweater
instead of turning up the heat, and beat
those winter term blues by doing “it” in the
dark. If you want to do more for the
conservation campaign, stop by the ASUO
office in the EMU.
Joy Nair is the ASUO vice president.
Emerald needs to see harsh reality of tribunals
In the Dec. 3 editorial, the Emerald edito
rial board laments President Bush's posi
tion “that military tribunals can be used
instead of full-fledged public trials” (“Spe
cial tribunals, evidence must be made pub
lic,” ODE, 12/03). They argue, “We have the
right to know who these suspects are, what
charges are being brought against them and
further details of their individual cases. ”
More correctly, we “usually” have this
right. It's often challenged by circumstance.
This is always the basic formula for consti
tutional arguments: Do we limit freedom in
case X or let ourselves be totally unhin
dered? Take, for example, our right to free
expression. I can't stand up in the middle of
a class and start talking about my childhood,
can I? If I do, I'll be physically removed by
police. Society decides this type of restric
tion is okay in this case. Should I be allowed
to carry on, Emerald editorial board? Or
should my right to free expression be taken
away in this instance?
The case for secret tribunals is that the
survival of the state that brought us all these
constitutional rights depends on it. Let the
press into the picture when it comes to those
like the Taliban, and you’ll be assured the
Guest Commentary
Mark
Grant
terrorists will learn many things, like how
our intelligence operates in trying to stop
them, what we know, and so on. With that
information, they’ll become harder to find
and defend against. The likelihood that
thousands of people will die in more terror
ist incidents will rise.
The Emerald editorial board knows this.
Yet they decide not to make any mention of
this side of the discussion. They seem to
want to speak only in platitudes, content to
turn away from the glare of certain harsh re
alities. Is that journalism?
To insist that the press should be allowed
to be front and center in “all” criminal cases
is an argument based on childish delusion,
one probably fueled by tenured professors at
the department of journalism, as well as all
those big-bucks, mainstream press icons
whose job is to make sure the public is enter
tained more than truly informed.
Whether the Emerald realizes it yet, or is
even prepared to admit to this, the press's
only real interest is in trying to provide copy
people will “consume,” so they can sell ads
and make money. Too often, this attitude
takes priority over their so-called interest in
journalistic fairness. It seems likely that cer
tain ambitious journalists would be more
than happy to divulge a national secret or
two if it looked like it might lead to career
advancement.
We all want as much freedom of the press
as possible. To that end, society is willing to
put up with a lot from the press, as we are in
many areas of life where our freedoms are at
stake. But there are times when the potential
for journalistic abuse has to be accounted
for, in order to ensure that certain rare indi
viduals and their associates are restricted as
much as possible.
President Bush is right. Secret tribunals
are a necessary evil begotten by evil persons
like Osama bin Laden and his fellow mur
derers. If you're not willing to face that reali
ty, you should move out of the world of jour
nalism and off to Fantasy Island.
Mark Grant is a 1985 graduate of the University of Oregon.
He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Letterto the editor
File for financial aid
in January
New Year's Day marked the kick
off of financial aid season. About
30,000 students will graduate from
Oregon high schools in 2002. This
is the time of year when families be
gin asking themselves how they can
afford to pay college costs.
The financial aid process can
seem very confusing, but there is a
simple message for students and
families seeking financial aid for
next year: File your Free Applica
tion for Federal Student Aid in Jan
uary. Then complete your Oregon
Student Assistance Commission
scholarship application before
March 1.
The FAFSA determines eligibili
ty for scholarships, loans, grants
and work-study programs. Filing
the FAFSA form in January is the
most important action you can take.
The FAFSA is available in hard
copy form and online. If you do a
good job on the form, the rest of the
financial aid process sort of takes
care of itself.
If you’re looking for even more
money for college, the OS AC schol
arship application offers $8.5 mil
lion in privately funded scholar
ships based on all kinds of
qualifications. More than 3,000 Ore
gon students received scholarships
through the program this year. The
application is available in hardcopy
form and online, and must be post
marked by March 1.
Check with your high school
counselor, local college or universi
ty financial aid office or log on to
the OSAC Web site at
www.osac.state.or.us for more in
formation. And if you know a fami
ly facing college cost “sticker
shock,” pass this information along
to them.
Gene J. Evans
Public Information Director
Oregon Student
Assistance Commission