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E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
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Friday, February 15,2002
Oregon Daily Emerald
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Yesteryear’s Editorial
UFW lettuce
not available
University
of Oregon
125th
ANNIVERSARY
Originally
published on
Feb. 15,1974
For several years now, this campus has been be
sieged with demands that non-union lettuce or
teamster lettuce be banished from dormitory
dining halls and the EMU. Protesters say the Univer
sity should purchase only union lettuce — the
kind that is picked by the United Farm Workers
in California.
This past week has again witnessed a concentrated
effort to eliminate what protesters say is “scab” let
tuce from campus. Letters to the Emerald, petitions
and leaflets are the essence of the current protests,
but the final decision, as always, rests with the Uni
versity students.
- President Robert Clark has said
in the past that “individuals
should have a freedom of choice
within the University.” He says
he fears “political” involvement
by the University.
The position advanced by Erb
Memorial Union officials is sim
ply this: They will order lettuce
based on what students buy or
consume. These officials work on the supply and de
mand theory.
Protesters have complained that union lettuce has
been unavailable in the dorms and the EMU. Evi
dently, little union lettuce has been trucked to Ore
gon in the last few months, and some that arrived has
been of bad quality. According to the University, the
choice will continue whenever adequate supplies of
union lettuce are
made available.
It must be remembered that there are two unions
involved, the United Farmworkers and the Teamsters
Union. Both hold contracts with the growers in Cali
fornia, but at the moment the Teamsters are in the
best position and hold the largest number of con
tracts. Sometime this spring, however, political and
union action in California may tip the balance back to
the UFW.
Because of the Teamster influence and interest,
and because all lettuce from California is trucked to
Oregon Teamsters, it is obvious that UFW lettuce is a
low priority item for hauling. What with the gas
shortage and frequent truck strikes, the absence of
UFW lettuce is quite understandable.
Ultimately, whether UFW or Teamster lettuce is
brought and consumed in the dorms and the EMU
will be decided by the students themselves. The Uni
versity is committed to making a choice available
and basing orders for lettuce on the amounts previ
ously consumed. Petitions by Protesters demanding
UFW lettuce can help, but the real test will be: Are
students eating UFW lettuce? And right now, the
University can’t even purchase the lettuce with the
black eagle on the crate.
This editorial was taken from the Feb. 15,1974 issue
of the Oregon Daily Emerald.
r;
University should build up academics
As most everyone on campus
knows, the Oregon football
team finished the season
ranked second in the nation and win
ners of the Pacific-10 Conference title.
Less well known is how the Universi
ty of Oregon ranks in terms of educa
tion; the University does not appear
near the top of many United States
college and university rankings. The
disparity between these rankings is
not a coincidence, but reflects the lev
el of commitment the University gives
to these two programs.
It is well established that gridiron
success did not happen.overnight, but
is the result of millions of dollars of
investment in facilities and dedica
tion to fielding the best team possible.
I am certainly not one to question this
investment and dedication (New
Year’s Day found me in a Tempe,
Ariz., end zone cheering on my
beloved Ducks), but I do believe that it
is time the University made the same
commitment to academics that it has
made to athletics.
One of the ways the University can
show its dedication to academics is by
making an investment in academic in
frastructure similar to the one made
for athletics. On a college campus,
Guest Commentary
David
Cecil
those who do the work of educating
students, faculty and graduate stu
dents make up the academic infra
structure. Just as the University had to
spend money build a quality football
team, it must spend money to build a
quality academic program.
The Emerald reported in an Oct. 5
story that tenure-track instructors at
the University earn 85.7 percent of
what their colleagues at comparator
schools earn. The University has
made a paper commitment to raising
faculty salaries, but so far little has
been done to honor this agreement.
The situation has gotten bad enough
that University has had to resort to
trumpeting the fact that faculty
salaries have not fallen farther be
hind their comparators in the last
few years.
As worrisome as faculty salaries
are, the situation for Graduate Teach
ing Fellows is much worse. Compar
ing GTF salaries at the University to
salaries at the same comparator uni
versities, Oregon’s GTFs ranked sixth
out of eight. The University of North
Dakota Study on Graduate Assistant
Stipends on graduate employee
salaries at 41 universities nationwide
revealed that Oregon’s GTFs take
home only 66 percent as much as their
colleagues. The University’s own 1999
Process for Change Report concluded
that an “increase of total (GTF) pack
age by an average of 33 percent would
make us competitive but not fat.”
With GTF salaries, the University
does not have the luxury of arguing
that at least we’re not falling further
behind — we are. The North Dakota
study reveled that salaries for graduate
employees increased by an average of
14.12 percent over the last four years,
but Oregon’s salaries hav*e increased
only 3.2.percent.
Salaries for instructors at the Univer
sity of Oregon consistently rank to
ward the bottom of the Pac-10 and in
the middle nationally — just as our
football team used to. The University
built and bought its way out of this sit
uation athletically; it can and should
do the same academically.
David Cecil is a graduate teaching fellow
in the history department.
Letters to the editor
Pilliod and Buzbee
are strongest candidates
Rachel Pilliod and Ben Buzbee are
the best candidates for ASUO Execu
tive. The pair heads into the election
bolstered by a strong and, most impor
tantly, relevant background that in
cludes involvement on Constitution
Court and Student Senate, as well as a
recent appointment as ASUO Health
and Wellness Coordinator.
During the recent presidential de
bate, Rachel and Ben exuded the pro
fessionalism necessary to hold Execu
tive office. Together, in answering the
questions posed, they exhibited a true
mastery of issues most salient in the
lives of Oregon students.
Pilliod, specifically, makes it clear
she is more than capable of champi
oning student rights as well as issues
pertaining to health care. Additional
ly, I feel comfortable saying that her
amazing personality ranks her as one
of the most impressive people I have
met on this campus. I strongly rec
ommend that students visit Duck
Web to cast their votes for Rachel
and Ben during February.
Adam Petkun
freshman
political science
A penis is not
guilt by association
Let me start by commending Frye on
her ability to identify a problem and
having the courage to stand up and do
something about it (“Are students safe
from a ‘Rape Culture’?” ODE, 02/12).
Cheers to you, Lezlie!
Though I agree that rape is horrible
and should be stopped, the “Rape Cul
ture” article had some comments that
left a bad taste in my mouth. What is
“Rape Culture?” Is it a culture that al
lows, even condones the rape of anoth
er human being? If it is, do we actually
live in one and I’m just not aware of it?
Peter Utsey Emerald
'////////.
/ - / / / / /
THe WAK AF&HAAHSTAA* .
\t>v c>r%eT?ve a pat <*>ai Th«- pa^k
Secondly, who do we educate on the
issue of rape? The population that does
not approve, consent or participate in
the act of rape? What good does that do?
And what do we educate “them” on?
I think the most disturbing comment
in the article was Ravits’s comment, “ ...
management of men’s behavior.” All
men’s behavior? My problem is this:
Lumping the males who do not rape
with the ones who do is guilt by having
a penis. I am not a rapist, and I do not
behave in any manner that condones
the rape of another person!
Matt Nye
senior
. . chemistry