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E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
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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