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
Thursday, March 14,2002
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Editorial
University's
bike fee plan
needs to bit
the dusty trail
he University is doing a great job of
JL. fees. The latest proposal comes
courtesy of the Department of Public Safe
ty and would create a nonsensical $5 bicy
cle registration for all bikes on campus.
The proposed fee contradicts every green
friendly transportation message the Uni
versity has been pushing for the past few
years and is a complete waste of the De
partment of Public Safety’s time.
The threat of constant fees, coupled with
rising tuition, makes it appear as though the
University is taking measures designed to
wring our wallets dry.
Students, faculty and staff who choose
to ride bikes to campus shouldn’t be pun
ished with fees for their environmentally
conscious decision. By raising the cost of
riding bicycles on campus, students will
be discouraged from cycling to school and
may be forced to find alternate modes of
transportation.
Patrons of the bus system, walkers and
bikers are all doing their part to help keep
traffic congestion away from the University
and pollution at bay. Using bicycles is a pol
lution-free alternative to driving and taking
the bus. Forcing students to register their bi
cycles for a fee discourages environmental
ly sound transportation.
Another pitfall of the proposed fee is that
DPS officers will have to take the time to en
force the bicycle registration fees. That regu
lation will take manpower away from other,
more important DPS duties, such as keeping
our campus safe and issuing parking tickets.
DPS will either have to hire more people to
keep tabs on bike registration scofflaws or
else force current officers to add the duties
to their already busy schedules.
If DPS so desperately needs the revenue
from the bike fees, it should take it up with
the administration and not try to push the
burden onto the backs of the already over
taxed students. Although the bicycle registra
tion fee is small in itself, combined with all of
the other proposed increases, it adds up fast.
nickel-and-diming its students
with a barrage of proposed new
Editorial Policy
This editoriai represents the opinion of the .
Emerald editorial hoard. Responses can he sent
to ietters#dailyemerald,eoro, tetters to the
editor and guest com mentaries are encouraged.
Letters are limited to 250 words and guest
commentaries to 550 words, Please include
contact information. The Emerald reserves the
right to editfor space, grammar and style. ,
Editorial Board Members
Jessica Blanchard
editor in chief
Jeremy Lang
managing editor
Julie lauderhaugh
editorial editor
Jacquelyn Lewis
assistant editorial editor
Goida Portillo
community representative
LeonTovey
newsroom representative
i
Cats need only nine lives
I’m a cat person. I don’t carry pictures
of my cats in my wallet, and they
don’t have their own rooms or any
thing. But I have been known to chase
the occasional stray kitten around the
parking lot, crooning, “Heeere kitty, kit
ty.” But, when I heard about “cc”, the cat
scientists recently cloned, I recoiled.
Sure, “cc” looks like a regular kitten,
but the possibilities emerging from pet
cloning technology creep me out in a
freaky, “Pet Cemetery” sort of way. They
also open a messy can of ethical and
moral worms.
It’s like a science fiction movie. Compa
nies with cutesy names like PerPETuate
and Genetic Savings & Clone have al
ready been processing and storing pet
DNA for years, with
hopes of cloning them
for their owners
someday. Even weird
er, according to the
U.S. News & World
Report, one out of 10
pet owners would
clone a pet and “de
signer pets could tap
into a huge market.”
Companies could use
cloning research not
only to create genetic
copies of beloved
pets, but also produce
specialty animals, like
hypoallergenic cats
and even pets that glow (a French lab has
already created a fluorescent rabbit).
The Humane Society has argued that
it’s unwise to consider cloning animals
when so many cats and dogs already
need homes. What will happen to the
millions of stray pets if we start produc
ing made-to-order animals? But those
mourning the loss of their favorite pets
probably won’t take much comfort in
that argument. A Texas man had his
white steer, Chance, cloned after it died
last year. His new steer was appropriate
ly named Second Chance.
Grief after the death of a pet is under
standable, but trying to bring that animal
back to life in the form of a clone is not.
Companies like Genetic Savings & Clone
Steve Baggs Emerald
appear suspiciously as if they’re about to
make a profit from grief, although they
claim that’s not their purpose. People
who have recently lost a pet need time to
grieve over their losses. Then, if they de
cide they want a new pet, they should
adopt one from their local animal shelter
or Humane Society.
A common reaction for parents is to re
place a child’s pet as soon as it dies so the
child never knows what happened. That
would be much easier if the pet could be
cloned. But the death of a pet teaches
children important lessons about griev
ing. Parents would be hard-pressed to
clone Grandma.
Donna Schuurman, from Portland’s
Dougy Center for Grieving Children, told
U.S. News & World Report, “One of the
dangers of cloning a pet for a child is sim
ply to say, ‘Here, let’s replace this,’ as if
you don’t grieve for the loss. How does
that translate when Dad dies?”
Still, others claim the benefits out
weigh the costs. Cloning projects could
bring back endangered species and ere
ate helpful animals like specialized
guide dogs. Most companies claim their
interests lie more in these areas, rather
than pet cloning. But we already have
expert breeders and methods for re
vamping populations of endangered
species. We don’t need to add cloning to
the mix, since it is expensive and risky
— it costs $20,000 to clone a single cow,
and cloned animals have exhibited
health problems such as a short lifes
pan, obesity and arthritis.
Most importantly, we should remember
that we are dealing with living creatures.
Cloning research is valuable but it should
be confined to creating cells and tissue
dedicated to causes such as curing dis
eases and possibly creating “spare parts,”
but never, ever to create whole beings.
Wealthy pet-owners will just have to
forgo the possibilities of resurrecting “Fi
fi” or bragging about their glow-in-the
dark poodles. The stakes are just too high.
Email assistant editorial editor Jacquelyn Lewis
at jacquelynlewis@dailyemerald.com. Her opinions
do not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald.
Letters to the editor
Old sports story is pathetic
Regarding the article on the back of the
March 6 Emerald, “Debate ensues over No.
1 Conference” — why on earth would you
print an article written before the college
basketball season? I mean seriously, this is
just pathetic.
Please start caring about what you print,
unless you really think we won’t notice.
Raman Sposato
senior
journalism
Close the campus to private autos
The University is patting itself on the back
for being “green” just because it was rated
exemplary in four out of 17 categories in a
recent study by the National Wildlife Feder
ation (“University ranks high on national
green-friendly study,” ODE, March 7). But
what really separates the green from the
non-green is where the rubber hits the road,
and we don’t see transportation listed here
as one of the categories where the University
shines. Not surprising when you look at
how many University faculty, staff and stu
dents drive to campus. From where we live,
campus is a 20-minute walk, a 10-minute
bike ride or a half-block walk to a direct bus
line, yet we see our student neighbors driv
ing to class most of the time.
Homeowners in our neighborhood are
arguing about where we should build struc
tures to redirect traffic flow instead of look
ing to the source of the problem. With in
creasing enrollment, it’s time for the
University to get serious about developing
a plan that gives people incentives to leave
their cars at home.
Close the campus to private autos. Re
structure parking fees to reward each car
free commute. Provide additional covered
bike parking and a fleet of campus bikes
and electric vehicles for getting around on
campus and running lunchtime errands.
For more transportation solutions, check
out the University of California at Davis
(www.taps.ucdavis.edu/LRP.htm). Their
much larger campus has been car-free for
more than 20 years. That’s what we call
green!
Jim and Sharon Blick
Eugene
Need-based financial aid
must have funding
Students are currently facing many prob
lems concerning higher education. Budget
cuts, declining services and increased tu
ition are some of these problems. Employ
ment is especially difficult to find as well.
These factors contribute to the difficulty of
financing a higher education.
Unmet need for students of higher edu
cation has devastating effects on Oregon
students. In response to much-demonstrat
ed financial need in Oregon, the Oregon
Opportunity Grant was created. This grant
is designed to provide financial assistance
for tuition, books and other higher educa
tion-related costs.
Currently, the grant covers a minute 11
percent of the total cost of education. Fur
thermore, it does not reach all eligible stu
dents. Nearly 10,000 eligible students are
denied funding each year. This is due to the
poor funding of this need-based program.
With the proposed budget cuts, at least
1,700 and possibly 3,000 students will lose
their grants.
Students rely on the grant to attain a
higher education. Without it, these stu
dents wity not have the financial means to
afford post-secondary education. It is im
perative that funding for programs similar
to and including the grant be prioritized.
These programs provide the skills neces
sary for people to successfully enter or re
turn to the workforce.
Mike Martell
pre-business administration