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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2002)
Tout education over dry housing Editor’s note: Jeffrey Adam Hotchkiss originally sent this com mentary as a letter to University • President Dave Frohnmayer. O ver the past few weeks, a lot has transpired within the realms of the University’s greek community. There have been mandates handed down (including efforts designed to prevent those mandates from going through), as well as numerous letters, editorials and articles having been written, all regarding the issue of “dry hous ing.” I thought it seemed about time you heard from someone very knowledgeable on the subject, a re spected member of the greek com munity here at the University. I have been a fraternity member here for several years, and in that time I have seen, heard and learned many things. Along the way, I have developed a good understanding of how our greek community works and what is necessary in order to run an efficient and productive greek community. Turning to dry housing is not one of those necessities. Moving past the reasons for not forcing greeks to go dry (i.e. increas es in off-campus parties and drink ing and driving), I would like to Guest Commentary Jeffrey Hotchkiss present another resolution for you to consider. I do agree on the matter that overconsumption of alcohol and underage drinking is a problem not only within the greek commu nity but also throughout the Uni versity. I have seen and dealt with far worse problems from drunken individuals who are not affiliated with Greek Life than from those who are — such as those involved in the Halloween riots — but that is another topic. By forcing fraterni ties to have dry housing, a “prob lem” is not being solved, but mere ly swept under die rug. In my opinion and experience, ed ucation is the surest way to go. In ed ucating greeks, specifically new members and freshmen, about the dangers of alcohol and how to han dle themselves if they do choose to drink, we would solve a great deal of the problems we’re facing. I have tak en several of the classes and week end seminars where alcohol was the topic of discussion, and I learned more on the subject than I ever had ever imagined possible. This school already has an excellent resource in Miki Mace, the Substance Abuse Prevention Program director. Per haps these classes ought to be mandatory for those entering the greek community, and potentially for all students entering the University. On a separate point, throughout all the words that have been ex changed on this subject, those in volved in Greek Life have come out looking flawed. I would like to point out the most recent Universi ty awards ceremony and bring at tention to, as well as congratulate, the numerous fraternity and sorori ty members who were recognized. A number of students won various awards and were inducted into sev eral academic honor societies, in cluding the Friars, Koyle Cup, Bess Templeton Cristman and Dean’s Service awards. Whether these in dividuals included alcohol in their greek and college careers has cer tainly and obviously not hindered their accomplishments. Jeffrey Adam Hotchkiss is a senior political science major and a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Letters to the editor U.S. government needs to disclose information I would first like to laud Victor Wold’s call for a revolution in pop ular thinking about the war on ter rorism (“Citizens can not give up privacy rights,” ODE, May 30). My letter is directed to a far more per nicious problem: Conservative pro-war media bias on the part of ' '! nearly levery major American news outlet. Americans who desire an honest objective analysis of their govern ment’s attitudes and activities should be on notice that they are not receiving the full story. Sen. Dick Armey was recently quoted in a respected British daily, The Guardian, as advocating the forcible complete removal of the Palestinian people from Israel. The Guardian expressed its shock that Armey’s comments went almost completely unreported in the Unit . ed States while they, of course, elicited the shock of nations around the world at a time of great v tension for the region. We may well wonder why it is that we as Americans are reviled around the world when we are not privy to information like this. Our leaders are busily pursuing poli cies that serve to destabilize the present situation in the Middle East and plant the seeds of hate in hearts of those who might not oth erwise call themselves our ene mies. If we do not wish to be held ac countable by terrorists for our gov ernment’s foreign policy, we must first be able to make ourselves aware of what is going on. I en courage Americans to be intensely critical of domestic news outlets and to seek objective information about the war on terror outside of this country. Colin Barey law student Violence is no cure for terrorism One truly has to wonder whether or not Tym Parsons’ com ments (“Ruthlessly crush terrorist states,” ODE, May 29) were meant as a dark satire of current Ameri can politics; perhaps in an attempt to epitomize the most extreme and dangerous views floating around lately in American sentiment. Though I believe this is the case, for any who might sympathize with Parsons’ uninformed words I would add that there was once a man with similar feelings and emotions — who attacked ruth lessly in the name of “security.” I am referring to the one we all love to use as a baseline for immorality, the late Adolf Hitler. Further, let us ask ourselves, “What is a terrorist?” A terrorist is you or I, when we are reared in an environment so oppressive that there seems to be no way out other than through violence. A “war on terrorism” in a literal sense (i.e. not as an empty political tactic) is akin to choosing hand grenades over food to “go to war” on hunger. “Terrorism” is as old as civil conflict — it is in a sense almost human nature. Attempting to con vince the oppressed people of the world to be passive and compla cent by shooting and bombing them unfortunately only makes the situation worse. William Moglia senior Steve Sack KRT £uf*^y.r* .* Tafot * ftdmisfry * Clairvoyants ★ Psychics * Channeling ★ Astrology ♦ Psychometry » Refc Intuitive Sat. &. Sun. June 22, 23 ArCS and Heating Fair ☆ www.intuitivereflections.com The Riverside Inn Conference Center 971 SE 6th Grants Pass, Oregon ■c? Saturday lOam to 7pm Sunday 10am to 6pm Admission $5; $8/Weekend (Children under 13 Free) For information about renting a booth or attending this event: Call Barbara Lee at 1-541-482-5471 P.O. 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