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E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
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Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Thursday, January 31,2002
Editorial
Bush's speech
lacks specifics,
comes up short
Tuesday night, as President Bush de
livered his State of the Union ad
dress, the nation listened with more
interest and attention than ever be
fore. Although Bush showed that he has be
come an eloquent speaker and has matured
as a leader in the months following the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks, the content of his speech
was disappointing.
On the surface, the speech was powerful.
Bush used strong words, playing on the
emotions of a country still coping with un
paralleled grief. But if one reads between the
lines, the speech was reminiscent of Ronald
Reagan-era rhetoric, charged with buzz
words cleverly strung together without any
real substance.
Bush’s speech was overly concerned with
foreign affairs rather than important domes
tic issues. His references to “terrorist coun
tries,” such as Iraq and North Korea, were
abstract. The president’s condemnation of
entire nations he believes are linked to ter
rorism blurred the line between the defini
tion of war on terrorism and war between
the United States and a specific country.
The broad focus of the speech was on find
ing terrorists and bringing them to justice.
While this topic is certainly important, the
terrorist threat is no longer as immediate as
it was a few months or even weeks ago.
Bush overlooked many issues currently
plaguing our nation, such as the current re
cession and rising unemployment.
When the president did mention domestic
affairs, the details of his plans were vague.
He briefly mentioned education, welfare and
the environment, citing a need for improve
ment, and stressed the need for a homeland
security bill, but he offered no concrete plan
of action for any of these topics. Even when
discussing the recession, the president sim
ply said, “My economic security plan can be
summed up in one word: Jobs.” What presi
dent’s economic stimulus package isn’t go
ing to focus on jobs?
Bush’s speech was built on promises and
political rhetoric, which is usually expected
from a State of the Union address. However,
Bush should have concentrated less on the
elusive “evils” of terrorism and more on solu
tions for economic problems at home. Ameri
cans were looking for reassurance from our
nation’s leader that we will emerge from the
current economic recession, but Bush simply
offered more questions than answers.
commentaries to 550 words. Please include
contact information. The Emerald reserves the
nghl to edit for space, g rammar and style.
Jeremy tang
LeonTovey
newsroom representative
Steve Baggs Emerald
Fake plants reek!
he next time you find yourself in
the Student Recreation Center, do
me a favor. Take a look around the
—L_ facility, then close your eyes and
take a deep breath. Do you smell that? It’s
the sweet plastic smell of fake plants per
meating the otherwise fetid air.
According to Dennis Munroe, director of
physical activity and recreational services,
the fake plants were purchased with a
$11,275 one-time transfer of student inci
dental fees from the overrealized fund. The
recreation center bought about 25 plants
with the student fees and has them strategi
cally dispersed throughout the center.
Did I mention they ’re fake?
I can’t begin to comprehend the folly
in featuring fake plants in a gym, of all
places. Ironically, the rec center is where
people go to gain the ability to breathe
oxygen more easily. Fake plants only
cheapen the atmosphere.
Munroe said the plants were implement
ed in an attempt to beautify the otherwise
drab rec center walls. They were also meant
to encourage students to not only work out
at the gym, but to “hang out” there, too.
Let’s be honest. The rec center will nev
er become a college hot spot like Rennie’s
Landing or Taylor’s Bar and Grill because
people don’t go to the gym to socialize —
they go to get a workout.
With nearly 25 fake plants, the recre
ation center has enough tackiness to com
pete with a Springfield stereotype. The rec
center recently commissioned an artist to
paint colorful murals
of physical activity to
fill the hallways lead
ing to the locker
rooms. What’s next,
pink flamingos and
garden gnomes?
The fake plants
wouldn’t be so annoy
ing if students had any
say in the purchase. It
would have been wis
er for the rec center to
Lauderbaugh consult with students
Editorial editor "S°dZ
into useless objects.
There are a bevy of projects I can see just
by walking around the building that
would have been better suited for $11,000
in surplus funds.
Why not help with the installation of
bathrooms in the covered tennis center
that was built in part to attract high-profile
college tennis tournaments? The Universi
ty certainly shouldn’t embarrass itself by
inviting Pacific-10 Conference schools to a
tennis tourney and then expect the atten
dees to wait in line outside of a Honey
Bucket during match breaks.
Munroe said the rec center needed to in
vest in changing the current washers and
dryers because the machines were inca
pable of handling the high volume of dirty
towels. They also need custodial machin
ery and new software to swipe student
identification cards.
The Programs Finance Committee ap
proved a rec center budget Jan. 26, allocat
ing $537,428 for the SRC in 2002-03. The
increase in funding was partly to allow the
gym to hire someone to do preventative
maintenance, i.e. repairing exercise equip
ment. With all of these expenses, fake
plants shouldn’t be a priority.
Attempting to beautify the campus is
practical only when students will appreci
ate it. The plants do not add anything to the
ambiance of the gym; they are merely a re
minder of money badly spent. So the next
time you find yourself huffing and puffing
on a broken tread mill at the gym, remem
ber you’re inhaling the finest oxygen
$11,275 worth of fake plants can generate.
E-mail editorial editor Julie Lauderbaugh
at julielauderbaugh@dailyemerald.com. Her opinions
do not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald.
Letters to the editor
Cutting grants
will hurt Oregonians
In the near future, our Legislature will be
making a grave decision that will signifi
cantly affect the access of higher education
to students in Oregon. Our budget deficit
falls at $720 million, and the ominous
changes that are to come due to this short
fall should be disturbing to all students.
Among the programs that could be cut
during our Legislature’s special session
are the Student Childcare Block Grant
and the Oregon Opportunity Grant. Bud
get cuts to the OOG alone will mean
1,500 to 3,000 students will be without
essential grant funding they require to
continue their higher education. The pro
posed $2 million cut to the SCBG will
mean 433 student families will lose cov
erage in April, and the funding for this
program will not return until 2003.
Imagine sitting in a psychology class
with 200 students and one or two Univer
sity students/who benefited from the
SCBG are in your class. In order to gain
the education they need to support their
families, they now have no other choice
but to bring their children to classes with
them. How well could you concentrate?
How are these parents supposed to con
tinue their education without the SCBG
program that helped keep them here?
As extreme as this seems, my point is
that it is very important we all promote
retraining Oregonians, especially student
parents, and support further education in
Oregon’s higher education system for
both the benefit of our community’s fu
ture and our own futures.
Carmen Stuewe
senior
international studies
Don’t crush Moss Street
neighborhood
Mike Eyster and the University Housing
Department finally admit that they intend
to remove the 10 blocks of historic neigh
borhood at Moss, Columbia and Villard
Streets. The Register-Guard and the Emer
ald* are* covering a story the housing de
partment dreads having to talk about.
By admitting that they consider the
112 homes as “temporary” and that they
are busy evicting low-income graduate
teaching fellows’ families, they run the
risk of the rest of this town writing itself
into their decision. The Moss Street
neighborhood exists, now as a safe, low
income nodal neighborhood due for its
100-year historic review.
Just across Moss Street, there are vast,
empty lots they could build on. Sure,
build a new day care center, but don’t
crush families and a great neighborhood
in the process.
Zachary Vishanoff
Eugene
OORRE0TION
The story UO graduates earn Fulbrigbt"
(ODEJ/28) should have credited Tom Mills
as saying less than 30 universities in the
country have as many Fulbright scholars
selected in any given year as does the
University. The Emerald regrets the error.