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Email: editor@dciilyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Friday, September 30,2002
— -Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Editors:
Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne
Editorial
Throw rioters
out with the
burning trash
It’s a sad statement that the University of Oregon
received a mention on the national news for cam
pus-area riots — which were about nothing.
CNN Headline News ran a segment Sunday after
noon featuring some of the University’s finest stu
dents tearing down street signs, pushing Dumpsters
into a giant fire and in general, acting criminally ir
responsible. In video obtained by the Emerald, the
police appeared to act in an exemplary fashion.
What we saw looked like a careful, responsible at
tempt to bring the crowds under control.
It’s not as if other, intelligent people haven’t
found real issues to protest. Between 150,000 and
400,000 people marched in London on Saturday to
express their opposition to war in Iraq. Thousands
of protesters spent the weekend in Washington,
D.G., demonstrating for global justice. Bicyclists in
Portland and San Francisco brought car traffic to a
near-standstill Friday while celebrating the 10th an
niversary of the monthly Critical Mass protests.
We’re not saying we agree with those protesters.
But at least they had reasons. Here in Eugene, the
best students could do was destroy public property
and physically attack police while chanting “U-S
A.” There’s the current state of youthful patriotism,
proudly on display.
Many of the individuals involved were drunk at
the time. We know alcohol is a dangerous drug, but
this incident shows how dangerous it can be. And
maybe the drunkenness, combined with newfound
freedom, led the young adults to excess.
Maybe most of those involved were spoiled as
youngsters and have never faced consequences for
their actions. Maybe they don’t yet know what it is
to be a responsible human being. Maybe their par
ents didn’t teach them.
Whatever the reason, they should know there are
consequences. Police spent thousands of dollars on
overtime and equipment costs. The city of Eugene
spent thousands cleaning up the mess. Four hun
dred people lost phone service. Yes, rioters, adults
do have to clean up the messes you make.
All of these costs are one of the reasons the Eu
gene Police Department instituted the Special Re
sponse Fee nearly two years ago. In a larger, more
tangential sense, these costs to the community and
to the state affect the ability of governments to pro
vide services — including higher education. So
when a tuition increase comes, know that rioters
are one small part of the problem.
Given the effect on the community, the public
relations disaster and the sheer indefensibility of
the rioters’ actions, the University needs to take a
stand. This same sort of event happened only four
months ago. If the University does not provide
strong consequences for students convicted of
these crimes, then it is tacitly accepting the behav
ior as a natural part of college life.
The Student Conduct Code must be amended.
Any student convicted of participation in the
weekend’s riot should be thrown out of the Uni
versity. We don’t want them here. They aren’t
representative of this student body. We deserve
national recognition for our accomplishments,
not our wrongdoing.
Editorial policy
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses can be
sent tc letters @daiiyemeraid.com. 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.
Deeper than demographics
The University is woefully
inadequate at providing an in
tellectual environment where
all sides of any issue are rep
resented equally. I have wit
nessed many debates of cur
rent events as well as course
material that are blatantly
one-sided, overly emotional
or inexcusably ethnocentric.
Last term I took an ethnic
studies
class, and
my pro
f e s s o r
took plen
ty of time
to lament
what he
saw as a
major
contradic
tion in the
image our
school Separate this
presents
to the public and the reality of
attending the University. He
went on to say that the admin
istration should put a major
focus on increasing recruit
ment and hiring of minorities
to more truly live up to the
University’s reputation as a di
verse and multicultural insti
tution.
I agree with him that the
University needs a more di
verse student and faculty body,
but this cannot be achieved
simply by reaching pre-set
1
racial and ethnic quotas.
Following the atrocity on Sept. 11, all of
my professors took at least a little time out
of their lectures to discuss the event with
students and share reactions to the mili
tary action in Afghanistan.
One of them voiced the opinion that
the bombing of Afghan towns and vil
lages where military forces were sta
tioned was appalling and was not going
to solve anything. He is a professor of re
ligion, and his philosophy was that more
killing could not bring back those who
were already dead. He thought we
should have been trying to understand
the anger and frustration that had driv
en these men to sacrifice their lives and
the lives of so many others in order to
make a statement.
He posed the following question to the
class: Was the terrorist act of Sept. 11
any different than U.N. forces killing
Afghan citizens more slowly with bombs
and bullets?
During our discussion, many of my
classmates responded no, it was not, and
Peter Utsey Emerald
that President George W. Bush was a
militant fanatic who would use any ex
cuse to go to war. The professor respond
ed to each student with a few words or
sentences before moving on.
I raised my hand and said that, yes, it
was different, because the United Na
tions only attacked military targets, nev
er civilians. The fact that civilian casu
alties were so high, I said, was at least in
part because of the intentional place
ment of military installations in highly
populated areas. As soon as I was fin
ished, the professor called on another
student, and I received more than a few
dirty looks from my classmates.
A few weeks later, a similar debate
took place in a sociology discussion sec
tion. The GTF said the United States was
even more guilty of terrorism than the
perpetrators of Sept. 11 because there
were more Afghan citizens killed than
there were casualties at the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon combined.
“Terrorism” happened to be one of
our vocabulary words, and it was de
fined as the deliberate attempt to harm
civilians. I asked him if he believed the
United Nations had intentionally killed
civilians. He said no.
Then, I replied, by your own definition,
that does not qualify as a terrorist act. To
my surprise, he refused to admit his con
tradiction, doggedly repeating himself
with no new explanation or qualification.
The University can live up to its repu
tation as a diverse, open-minded and
balanced intellectual community only
by redefining its concept of the word
“diverse.” If the University wants a po
litically correct number of this or that
phenotype to parade in front of a na
tional audience and use as leverage to
sell itself to incoming freshman, fine.
I, on the other hand, care more about in
teracting with people who think in different
ways rather than people who look a certain
way or can claim a certain heritage.
Contact the columnist at
mreillycosgrove@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
CORRECTIONS
The article “Where the money goes” (ODE, Sept. 23) should have said the total student incidental fee collected for
this school year is $8,496,967, the amount distributed by the Programs Finance Committee is $4,294,948, the
amount distributed by the EMU Board is $3,032,860 and the amount distributed by the Athletic Department
Finance Committee is $1,169,1 59.
The photograph accompanying the article “Governor race heats up” (ODE, Sept. 23) should have identified Ted
Kulongoski’s party affiliation as Democrat.
The article "Governor race heats up” should have said Richard Alevizos used to serve on two committees of the
Lane County Human Rights Commission. Although Alevizos’ Web site states he “is currently on two committees,"
Alevizos himself said his committee service was in the past.
The Emerald regrets the errors.
CLARIFICATION
The article “Governor race heats up” said that Alevizos’ platform is based on an independent candidate being
elected to replace a major-party governor. The article should have made clear that Alevizos’ platform is focused on
states’ rights issues. Alevizos said an independent candidate is needed because a major-party candidate will work
with Attorney General John Ashcroft to erode states’ rights.