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
Wednesday, May 29,2002
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Letters to the editor
University needs to fight
racism in sports
I recently read in the online edition
of the Emerald that my beloved alma
mater was approached by the law
school’s Sports and Entertainment Law
Forum to consider refusing to schedule
games with teams using racist mascots.
Although I am not aware of any racist
mascots in the Pacific-10 — a remark
able thing, indeed — I believe this reso
lution will send a strong message. It’s the
job of educators to encourage tolerance,
to work to prevent the teaching of racism
and to open students’ minds to the pos
sibilities of living with diverse cultures.
No other ethnic group is singled out,
their heritage mocked, their facial fea
tures distorted like American Indians.
When I see the mascot for the Portland
Winter Hawks, I am physically sickened.
It isn’t just an unappealing image
painted on bleachers that bothers me.
The U.S. Department of Justice found
that American Indians suffer more vio
lence than all Americans combined
twice. More than 70 percent of crimes
against Native Americans are commit
ted by non-American Indians, com
pared to 25 percent among whites.
I can’t prove that these statistics are
because of racist mascots. But I’m dis
turbed to think that encouraging the
crowd to do a “tomahawk chop” can
somehow encourage brutality against
American Indians.
I am proud of my education. I’m
proud of the teams at the University.
The University is a great school, a well
known school. Use this visibility to
make a statement against the racism
that has plagued sports for 200 years.
Aabra Jaggard
Class of ’96
Denver, Colo.
Judaic Studies
delivers objectivity
George Beres recently criticized the
Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Ju
daic Studies for co-sponsoring a talk by
Israeli speaker David Harris, (“Middle
East discussion in need of solid Univer
sity curriculum,” ODE May 22). In fact,
the Harold Schnitzer Family Program
in Judaic Studies was not a co-sponsor
of this student-initiated event, although
we were mistakenly mentioned in
some publicity.
1 am glad to clear up this misappre
hension, and I would like to challenge
several of Beres’ other remarks, as well.
Beres suggests that Judaic studies cours
es serve only a small minority of stu
dents. This is not die case. Like any oth
er University department or program,
Judaic Studies courses, and our major
Editorial Board Members
and minor, attract students from diverse
ethnic and religious backgrounds. We
do not expect that any of our students
have prior knowledge of any aspect of
the Jewish experience. Rather the pro
gram is based on the assumption that
acquiring such information in an aca
demic context will be a positive and
powerful educational event.
I am also surprised that Beres ques
tions the credibility of Judaic Studies on
the subject of the Middle East. We re
cently offered a course, “Israelis and
Palestinians,” taught by anthropologist
Dr. Diane Baxter, that is a model of ob
jectivity in its multidisciplinary and par
ticipatory approach to this most tortured
and complex of international dilemmas.
Judith R. Baskin
professor of religious studies
director, Harold Schnitzer Family Program
in Judaic Studies
Ruthlessly crush terrorist states
Contrary to what FBI Director Robert
Mueller says, we don’t have to “live
with terrorism.”
That kind of mindset invites passive
acceptance. Unless there is a huge pub
lic outcry about Mueller’s statement,
we’ve sealed our fate and encouraged
terrorists to immolate us on an increas
ingly larger scale.
Instead we must ruthlessly crush ter
rorist states, by whatever means neces
sary. The public must demand that
President George W. Bush live up to his
stated principles post-Sept. 11. He
must move decisively against Iran, the
world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism,
stop treating the enabling Saudis with
kid gloves and allow Israel to destroy
Yasser Arafat and the PLO.
We’re fighting for our lives.
Tym Parsons
Seattle, Wash.
Incumbent politicians
should be canned
Many states now have major prob
lems with their budgets. None of the in
cumbent governors and legislators have
taken responsibility for their failure to
do their jobs. In many instances, they
have spent and wasted money with no
regard for the consequences, hi the real
world, you and I would be fired from
our job for failure to perform. The Amer
ican people can resolve this problem by
voting these politicians out of office.
Most have been in office for years and
have forgotten why they were put there.
This would send a message to each
and every politician on the local, state
and national level that they have been
elected by the people to work for the peo
ple — and that performance will be dealt
with. They are not there for a lifetime ca
reer of looking out for themselves.
Vernon Hill
Atlantic Beach, N.C.
Letters to the Editor
and Guest Commentaries
CV
I Tters
st
commentaries to 550 words. Please
:
for space, grammarand style.
Judging people by the
color
of their skin
Two weeks ago, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld the Uni
versity of Michigan law school’s policy
of considering race for admissions. In a swarm
of support statements by University of Michi
gan leaders, the court was praised for recogniz
ing the importance of diversity in a well
rounded education.
“I am pleased the court recognized that diver
sity brings educational benefits to all students
— minority and majority
alike,” said University of
Michigan interim President
B. Joseph White in one such
statement. “We must prepare
our students to learn and to
lead in the world’s most di
verse democracy.”
White and the University
of Michigan are absolutely
correct, in that diversity
does improve the quality of
education, and of life in gen
eral. It is how the word “di
versity” is defined that cre
ates the controversy.
My Webster’s dictionary
defines “diversity” as “a point or respect in
which things differ.” Of course, if I’m in a class
room and I’m a white American sitting next to a
native of Japan, then right there, according to
the definition of the word, diversity has oc
curred. If we just sit there, though, having the
color of our skin be the deciding difference,
then that is not promoting the ideals of an edu
cation enhanced by diversity.
As the definition reads, diversity is all about
differences, and it is those differences that
strengthen our knowledge. But differences
come from experiences. The guiding principle
of a diverse campus stems from having individ
uals with a wide array of experiences.
Just because a student checks a different box
Oliver
Columnist
on their application form doesn’t mean she has
experiences any more valuable then anyone
else’s. What makes a diverse education is what
students can individually contribute to the
community, not what box they check.
The University also has difficulty defining
this buzzword. The University prides itself on
having one of the greatest international student
populations in the country. This is wonderful,
and what those students bring to the University
falls right in line with the purpose of creating
diversity among the population. The problem is
that the University thinks the answer to creat
ing diversity is to increase the number of stu
dents that check any box other than “white.”
Diversity is not something that can be meas
ured through fact sheets or statistical profiles.
We assume that by clumping students of the
same race into student groups like the Black
Student Union, the Native American Student
Union and the Asian-Pacific American Student
Union, then somehow diversity occurs. If the
University were truly diverse, then these
groups wouldn’t exist. We would all be seen as
individuals with our individual merits, experi
ences and contributions.
To be honest, as a middle-class white student
who grew up on a cul-de-sac in the Midwest, I
can list just as many ways I bring diversity to a
campus on the West Coast as anyone else. It is
because of the color of my skin, though, that
people assume I’m just like everyone else.
If you want to learn something based on my
experiences, then you need to talk to me. Star
ing at my skin isn’t going to get you too far. I
know that the same is true for myself. When I
leave the University and enter the “real world,”
I can’t judge people based on the color of their
skin and expect to succeed — unless, of course,
I become an admissions officer at the Universi
ty of Michigan.
E-mail columnist Jeff. Oliver at jeffoliver@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Emerald.