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Tuesday, January 15,2002
Oregon Daily Emerald
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Editorial
ASUO has
the ‘ride’
solution
Ihe discrimination issues
JL ject Saferide for more
than a year can finally be put to
rest. The wait for a co-ed shut
tle service has been arduous,
and the new transportation
service for men and women
— called Night Ride — will
have to prove its worth after
such a long battle.
Saferide is an important serv
ice to the University and
women on campus. Time and
again, the sexual assault preven
tion service has proved its
worth. In fact, the project is so
popular, it is often difficult for
female students to get a ride.
However, many male students
have safety concerns similar to
those of women and should
have had a service available
long before a gender discrimina
tion complaint was filed against
Saferide last year.
The complaint, filed by an
anonymous University student,
claimed the University was in
direct violation of Title IX of the
Education Acts of 1972 because
Saferide prohibits men from
driving or riding in its vans. Af
ter much debate, the new coed
service, Night Ride, is slated to
be implemented as early as this
summer, according to Saferide
co-director Nikki Fancher.
The new service is a good
idea, but time will tell if
Saferide’s naysayers will utilize
Night Ride after so much dis
cussion. Male students have
complained in the past that they
pay student fees for a Saferide
service they can’t use. Will the
alternative silence the criticism?
Or has the criticism been more
about paying fees than hitching
a ride? All that will depend on
the frequency of male riders.
Students who were denied
service by Saferide in years past
can take solace in the knowledge
that their transportation alterna
tive is coming. It has been a long
time in the making, but Night
Ride should solve the gender
discrimination problems sur
rounding Saferide by creating a
separate, but equal, alternative.
that have hounded Pro
Letters to the
Editor and Guest ~
Commentaries
Policy
ThiseditOFial is tie opinion
of tie Emerald editorial hoard,
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.
Fanatical soccer parents are all right
All the hoopla surrounding the trial of
Thomas Junta, the Massachusetts truck
driver who beat to death another “hock
ey dad” at his son’s practice in the summer of
2000, has called into question the role parents
should play in children’s sports.
Some people are crying
for a screening process on
all coaches and referees
hired (Junta’s victim, who
supposedly started the
fight, was supervising the
practice); others want par
ents off the ice, field, dia
mond and court all togeth
er. As a former child
athlete, I’d like to throw in
my two cents.
I played soccer in
Lufkin, Texas, from the
time I was 3 years old
through my sophomore Columnist
year in high school. Most 3
people I saw playing soccer were of Tejano her
itage, not American. We were a dedicated
bunch, even though some years we only had
enough players for one or two teams. We’d
spend our Saturdays and Sundays packed into
Rorick
minivans like sardines, driving to any town we
could find with a team willing to play us.
When all else failed, we would challenge the
Mexicans who lived adjacent to the fields. The
rotating squad of males aged 5 to 50 would beat
us every time, but at least we were playing.
I digress. During my soccer experience, one
woman—the mother of one of my teammates
—never missed a game.
She was a tyrant, 90 pounds of Ralph Lau
ren-clad, Lexus-driving piss and vinegar. “I’m
getting the spoon” she would yell to her son
from the sidelines whenever he botched a shot,
or got the ball taken from him. She was refer
ring to a wooden cooking spoon she used for
corporal punishment. But everyone on the
team heard the threats of getting the spoon.
No one—not the ref, not the opposing team
nor their parents, not even I—was safe when
she was on the warpath, which was quite of
ten, as we were a terrible team.
She was an overbearing little woman, but at
least she was there. Game after game, weekend
after weekend, she was there for us, all of us,
especially those whose mothers couldn’t make
it because they had to work a double shift in
the emergency room and whose fathers lived
clear across the country.
“I’ve got a spoon for you, too, Aaron! Get
your butt in gear! ” became something of a
comfort to me and some of my friends in the
same situation.
So here’s to her, and to all the other parents
across America who provide us with jugs of
Gatorade, Dixie cups and orange slices at half
time, and Cokes and candy bars after the game,
win or lose. Without you, as mentally unstable as
you were, there would be no children’s sports.
I’m not excusing the brutish behavior dis
played by Junta. No child’s game, let alone
practice, is worth descending to physical vio
lence —especially in front of a group of kids.
But sports, at heart, are war play. It is only nat
ural that an organized display of aggression to
ward a group of people wearing different uni
forms should arouse those more primal
instincts in the people watching.
Besides, obsessive parent coaches have
made the likes of Tiger Woods and Venus and
Serena Williams into multi-millionaires. The
athletes may be scarred for life and forever so
cially stunted, but at least they will be able to
afford their medication. Looking forward to a
life in journalism, that’s more than I can say.
Email Aaron Rorickataaronrorick@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald.
Letters to the editor
Bramwell lacking logic
I was disappointed after read
ing Richard Bramwell’s letter to
the editor (“Same God, different
logic,” ODE, 1/9). It should have
been titled “Richard Bramwell’s
faulty logic.” His first error is to
equate religious devoutness with
a rejection of reason. It should go
without saying that some of the
greatest minds of all time were ex
tremely devout men and women
of faith. Many of the pioneers of
science were devout — and were
motivated to study nature by a
deep-seated belief that this world
is filled with both meaning and
order by a higher power. Sure,
some religious people reject logic,
but I’ve met atheists who have
seemed to reject logic, too.
Secondly, Bramwell’s letter
makes it sound as if the rejection
of religion is a giant step in elimi
nating violence, but this is hardly
the case. Look at Cambodia under
Pol Pot, China under Mao Tse
Tung, or the USSR under Vladimir
Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and it is
obvious that those leaders who
have ignored or rejected religion
can do as much or more damage
than religious folk.
Third, Bramwell asserts that
Christians, Jews and Muslims all
worship the same god. As a Chris
tian, I worship the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, not Allah. And
I’m fairly sure my Muslim friends
have never worshipped the Holy
Trinity. Important differences
exist between Christianity and
Islam, and if Bramwell feels that
either faith should be condemned
for their “contradictions,” he
should do his homework.
Brian Stubbs
graduate student
physics
Advocating for more parties
The current ASUO executives
are being fiscally irresponsible
and prejudiced by hiring a
“Greek Advocate.” This paid po
sition will only serve students
who pay to be in the exclusive
greek system.
The position will serve only to
pad a fraternity or sorority mem
ber’s resume. It is a travesty.
When I spoke to Joy Nair about
this, she said the position was
created because there was a
greater need for sorority girls’
safety. What about other
women’s safety? The ASUO has
a “Safety Advocate,” so why is
there a need for a paid Greek
Advocate? If being a sorority girl
is so “unsafe,” wouldn't it make
sense to not be in a sorority?
Isn’t Greek Life one giant Greek
Advocate located next door to
the ASUO? What more could
they possibly need?
People choose to be in the
greek system; they are not a pro
tected class, nor should they ever
be treated as such. Do they need
advocating for more parties?
There is no need for this useless
position. Where is the marching
band advocate? Did the march
ing band not donate enough to
the Brooklyn and Nair campaign
or not hang enough banners?
While the current executives
complained about energy fees,
they have created a paid posi
tion that will cost the students
even more. They are causing dis
trust in their ability to make
fiscally responsible and rational
decisions with student money.
Even worse, they are supporting
an exclusive membership whose
roots lie in discrimination and
prejudice and are paying for it
with student money.
Autumn DePoe
Eugene