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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2002)
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 Thursday, May 2,2002 Editorial Students merit environmental praise; Quayle deserves jeers Here is the editorial board’s latest collection of cheers and jeers: Cheers to students showing real inter est in saving our environment. Students for a Clean Willamette, a group run through OS PIRG, spent their Saturday restoring the riverbank and the health of the local salmon population. It’s great to see these students taking a vested interest in our river and we will all reap the benefits of their environmentally-conscious efforts. Cheers to the ASUO Street Faire for its dedica tion to being a “zero-waste” event. Campus Recy cling increased its number of volunteers and had a monitor and volunteer at six stations spread throughout campus where trash could be recycled, composted and deposited each day. The ASUO should be commended for addressing both the is sue of a clean environment and soil depletion at the same time. Cheers to the women’s softball team for snapping their losing streak Saturday, defeating Arizona State 4-2. The win broke their 13-game losing streak in the Pacific-10 conference. All of the players on the team should be credited with the win, but Alyssa Laux’s two-run homer sealed the deal. Congratula tions, ladies; keep up the good work. Jeers to former Vice President Dan Quayle for his embarrassing mix-up of historical dates during an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hard ball.” Matthews had asked Quayle what evidence he had that proved Saddam Hussein was not con nected with al-Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. Quayle answered, “I would ask you, looking at the Israeli/Palestinian question and say this. How many Palestinians were on those airplanes on Sept. 9? None. They were from Egypt and they were from Saudi Arabia.” We suggest Quayle just stop talking if he can’t get a date as important as Sept. 11 correct. Jeers to the slow progress on our nation’s anthrax investigation. The perpetrators who scared the en tire nation six months ago by sending letters laced with anthrax still haven’t been found. To date, five people have been killed by anthrax and federal in vestigators say they have no suspects and no clues. The anthrax scare taught Americans the threat of bioterrorism is real and the Federal Bureau of Inves tigation needs to take more initiative in bringing re sponsible parties to justice. Editorial Policy This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sentto letters@dailyemerald.com. 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. Editorial Board Members Jessica Blanchard editor in chief Jeremy Lang managing editor Julie Lauderbaugh editorial editor Jacquelyn Lewis assistant editorial editor Peter Bockaday newsroom representative Jerad Nicholson community representative Steve Baggs Emerald Letters to the editor Care for campus should last all year I applaud Madonna Moss, who sug gested in her April 29 letter that the Uni versity launch an anti-litter campaign (“Keep campus ‘green’”). I work in Prince Lucien Campbell Hall, and the amount of cigarette butts and garbage litter in the courtyard of the building is astonishing. Garbage and broken glass are also strewn across the parking lot across from PLC. Why do certain people think that the outdoors is their personal garbage can? Perhaps one of the slobs who litters this beautiful campus will write a letter to the editor and explain his or her ration ale. I’d really like to know how one can be so selfish and lazy. Instead of “University Day,” one day when the University is spruced up, let us always and every day care for this precious campus. Ruthann L. Maguire program coordinator Oregon Humanities Center Public nudity is not a crime Public awareness of civil liberties has been an issue since our country was founded. If we have a liberty, we want to know about it. However, our liberty to be nude on Lane County parks, land and roads (out side of city limits) has been kept secret. People assume that it is not legal. Only those who dare to call the Lane County Parks Department and Lane County Sheriff’s Department will be informed that it is not illegal to be fully nude in those areas of Lane County. This means we can walk, hike, run, bike or sunbathe nude in those areas. It is very enjoyable and liberating — it’s free dom. With any liberty, there is responsi bility. You can’t perform sexual acts in those areas, whether you’re clothed or not. That will get you arrested. We’re al lowed to be nude, not to do sexual activi ties. Both are different matters not to be associated with one another. The matter has been debated and de termined to be legal. It is not a matter of discussion, it is a matter of our liberty. We all have a favorite freedom, and the last thing you want is uninformed peo ple questioning or scoffing at a liberty. That spoils the point of having freedom. Who wants to diminish freedom? The only replacements for liberties are penalties. Think about that. If you weren’t aware of this liberty, you are now. You won’t be surprised when you see a nude person in those ar eas. Perhaps you may be nude, too! Happy trails! John Eccleston Eugene Walk, don’t just talk, against sexual assault In response to your editorials on the Seattle Mardi Gras photograph (Point/Counterpoint, ODE, April 17), I am writing to express that students need to evolve from talking about the issues of sexual violence, and move on to participating in ending the violence, communicating to our community and our society that we will not accept this violence and that it must stop. It seems as if every week the Emerald has a headline describing yet another sur vivor of sexual violence on our campus and in our nation. In this time of severe proliferation of these headlines, we need to hold hands as a community against sexual violence and, rather than talking about the headlines and prais ing the work that is done by a small group of people, join our voices togeth er in protest. One in four UO women will have ex perienced sexual assault by graduation. This figure is unacceptable. Lets join together in support of survivors, in re claiming the right of our sisters deserve to feel free to dress, walk and talk with out being blamed or scolded. Let us join together to take back our nights, to claim our sovereignty and to tell our commu nity that we will not accept sexual vio lence. Take Back the Night, a 30-year old worldwide event for survivors, allies and communities is the place where our voices may join together loud and clear and we may march together in protest. On Thursday, May 16,1 invite you to join in the fight. Jaime Crandall sophomore SWAT Team member ASUO Women’s Center Graduation pledge shows bigotry “It's about caring. The Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Re sponsibility is ... about caring” (“Pledge shows students care,” ODE, April 16). What bigotry! How “big brother”! A pledge that is prejudicial against those who believe that we should not “care.” There is a legitimate philosophy that survival of the fittest is responsible for the evolution of man, and that “caring” would reverse that process. Whether or not one subscribes to that philosophy, their adherents may one day number enough to invoke a non caring pledge. Robert P. Kelso San Marcos, Texas
