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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 2002)
Newsroom: (541) 326-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 Email: editor@dailyemerald.com Online Edition: www.dailyemerald.com Monday, September 23,2002 Oregon Daily Emerald Commentary Editor in Chief: Michael J. Kleckner Managing Editor Jessica Richelderfer Editorial Editors: Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne From the editor Even if you ’re wrong, we want to hear from you Welcome (or welcome back) to college life. I’m ap pearing in this space today to tell you a little bit of what we have planned. Ordinarily, this strip will be filled with an editorial, written by a member of the Emerald’s editorial board af ter a discussion of whatever issue is at hand. There are certainly plenty of topics to write about as we head into fall 2002: • The Bush administration is arguing desperately with the rest of the world about going to war with Iraq. • The state of Oregon can’t afford the schools and state services Oregonians say they want. • Pepsi has cornered the Univer sity soda market. • A group called the National Student-Athletes' Rights Move ment is pushing the NCAA for a “Bill of Rights” for student athletes. • Nevada is on the verge of seri ously legalizing (and selling, and taxing) marijuana. • An election for governor and senator (as well as many interest ing and important ballot measures) is nearly upon us. • Fans are still waiting for the new Harry Potter book. • College students are deeper in debt to credit card companies than ever before. • Oregon university presidents are asking the State Board of Higher Education for nearly au tonomous powers. • The city of Eugene is considering a living wage for city employees and contractors. • There are fewer mainstream gay characters on net work television this year than in recent years. • Public interest advocacy group OSPIRG turns 30 years old in October. My role in presenting these issues to you will be somewhat reduced than in years past, when I was a columnist and editorial editor. My voice will be one of five on the editorial board, and, with rare exceptions, I won’t be writing a regular, opinionated column about the many things that bum my britches. I will be writing a semi-regular new feature for the editorial page. What I have in mind is sort of an “om budsman” type of column, where I will take reader concerns, complaints, compliments, commendations, comments and criticism, and respond to them with a sense of what the Emerald was trying to do, where it went wrong (or right), and what we might do better or different in the future. So feel free to send me feed back; I don’t have to use your name in order to rep resent your comments in the column. The paper has other new things planned, as well: an advice columnist, a new Pulse section on Tues days, national and international news, extended on line coverage with e-mail updates about breaking news, and in response to public demand, the weath er will return to the front page — packaged with teasers about upcoming stories. So enjoy the paper, and tell us what you think. We may argue with you (especially if you’re wrong), but we’ll always listen. Contact the editor in chief at editor@dailyemerald.com. Michael J. Kleckner Editor in chief Correction The Law School Special enrollment article (“Fewer women, more minorities enter law school," ODE, Aug. 21) incorrectly identified the demographic breakdown of the new law school class. It should have said that of those who matriculated, 36 percent were women, 64 percent were men and 54 percent were nonresidents. The Emerald regrets theerror. GOOdbyC groupthink, h GllO heated debate It’s time again to open books and minds into a new year at the Univer sity and the Ore gon Daily Emer ald. With that, I would also like to introduce myself as co-editorial edi tor for 2002-03 school year. I transferred from Clackamas community uouege in ure gon City and will be com pleting my bachelor’s degree in journalism here at the University. While at Clacka mas, I held a number of po sitions on its paper, The Clackamas Print, including sports co-editor, opinion edi tor and design editor. I hope to impart some of my knowledge and experi ence to help, along with my co-editorial editor Pat Payne, in making the Com mentary section of the pa per a standing force with a positive voice for the entire campus. My vision for the Commentary section is to be the voice of the stu dents, faculty and the cam pus. I want to sound off about things of importance to our readers. I will be saying it loud and Salena De La Cruz Editorial editor proud and making my statements heard throughout this school year. I’m very opinionat ed and hope you will come to read my columns and even look forward to them. I don’t expect to always say what you want to hear, but I do hope if you have thoughts or questions about my columns or any thing in the Commentary sec tion, you let myself or Pat Payne know and we can ad dress them. I trust you will disagree with me sometimes — and am optimistic in that respect — because some of the most honest writing and debate come from divergences. As al ways, we will feature the edi torial board’s editorials, as well as guest columns and let ters to the editor (see below for guidelines on submitting your own thoughts). I look forward to a great year of opinions, heated de bate and yes, even some fun while we’re at it. Welcome to a new year at the University. Contact the editorial editor at salenadelacruz@dailyemerald.com. It’s Pat Payne again, this time writing as the other half of the duo serv ing as co-editorial editors for this year. I’d like to share with you my vision of the opinion page for this year. Civil debate was once an exchange of ideas that often illuminated issues and may have once in a while - horror of horrors! - changed someone’s mind. Now, it’s all too often an ideological spit ting match. The spread of “groupthink” in politics has started to make political ac tors and activists see them selves as heroes, fighting for the truth, the way, and the light, while all others’ beliefs are not merely wrong, but must be extinguished. Under the pretense of reli gious fervor, or a misplaced sense of political correctness, both sides have tried to sup press debate that runs count er to their beliefs. The burning of “Harry Potter” books in the New Mexico desert by a Fun damentalist preacher earlier this year, and the thefts of newspapers on college cam puses when articles do not hew closely to political ortho Pat Payne Editorial editor doxy show that the misguided “culture war” rages on. Any one who even ap pears to be on the opposite side is la beled a “racist,” a “Satanist,” a “sex ist” or worse. That sort of ide ological warfare gets us nowhere. It does not further the search for solu tions. Rather, it just furthers the polarization and en trenchment of the public, making common ground that much rarer. We’re not going to be playing that game. Our opinion page is a forum for rational discussion and dis sent, but not for puerile name calling. In short, it is not yet another battlefield in the “culture war.” Rest assured, however, that if there’s someone out there in public life wlfo truly deserves any of those labels so casually tossed about, we’ll make no bones about calling them that in as many words. But, as always, you, the readers, are encouraged to give us your point of view. Contact the editorial editor at patpayne@dailyemerald.corr>. Letters to the editor and guest commentaries policy Letters to the editor and guest commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month. Submission must include phone number and address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. Editorial hoard members Rtehekferfer Editorial editor Managing editor Student representative To be announced Editorial editor Salena Oe La Cruz Jessica Pat Payne
