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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 2002)
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 Email: editor@dailyemerald.com Online Edition: www.dailyemerald.com Friday, October 4,2002 Oregon Daily Emerald Editor in Chief: Michael J. Kleckner Managing Editor Jessica Richelderfer Editorial Editors: Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne OUS presidents ’ bid for expanded power is corrupt idea full of good suggestions Seven Oregon University System presidents are trying to play God with higher education. The presidents sent a letter to the State Board of Higher Education asking for substantially more ad ministrative power over their colleges. Who do they think they are? Power is a mighty weapon — and even with the greatest of intentions, it can work against the cause. Some of the presidents’ proposals to create more revenue and ad dress budget situations do have merit. But they are clouding those persuasions with their need for power. The Emerald editorial board reviewed the letter addressed to the Strategic Planning Committee, dated June 20, 2002, and we adamantly oppose the presidents being granted any more power. What possible good for students could come from their longing to gain full management responsibility for all legal, financial and contract issues regarding higher educationVThe OUS presidents further their stream of bad ideas by saying they should have au thority to buy, hold and sell real and personal property. What was so wrong with doing that under the oversight of the State BoardVStudents are already looking at the possibility of a 10 per cent increase in tuition in January. The presidents hope to be giv en full authority to set tuition and fees, basing them on the cur rent market status. Oregon’s market isn’t that good, anyway. Students could then be looking at more increases in the coming months. Ridiculous! And in the event the presidents do gain full autonomy, where will students go to appeal decisions they don’t like or don’t agree with? It will no longer be an option to appeal to the State Board of Higher Education if the OUS leaders are cut free. This proposal smells suspiciously like the OUS presidents are trying to become a private entity — which runs counter to the no tion of a public higher education. They should be held publicly ac countable, just like other governmental bodies. Not only do the presidents want sole power to do these things, they also wish to protect personal information about donors from the public. What are they trying to hide, anyway? What happened to the public’s right to know? We should reiterate the fact that some of their points do have merit — for example, they say they will educate all qualified resi dent undergraduates. But they cancel out that good idea by ex pressing their need to manage enrollment according to resources available to them. Again, some of the worst plans began with the best of intentions. Here’s some advice for the OUS presidents: You may want to dis cuss this with the entire university body — which would include stu dent, faculty and staff representatives. Only when you’ve heard the opinions of the entire university system will your proposal not only be good, but be a good plan for action. Editorial policy This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent to fetteri <gPdailyemeraid.com, Letters to the editor and guest Odammentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited to 2501 words and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per caler.dar mo^i„ Submission must include phone number and address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. Editorial board members Michael j. Kleckner Editor in chief Jessica Richelderfer Managing editor Student representative To be announced SalenaDetaCruz Editorial editor Fat Payne Editorial editor Airport screening: in need of revision Earlier this week, a Bulgarian national, Nikolay Volod icv Dzhonev, was arrested at an airport in Atlantic City, N.J., after security sereeners found a pair of scissors in a soap dish and two box cutters in a box of aftershave. Normal people do not, as a matter of course, hide cut ting tools in their personal hygiene products. Dzhonev was released two days later. His only apparent crime was being dumb enough to get caught taking knives onto a post Sept. 11 era airline flight. Without a doubt, the Transporta tion Security Administration will use this situation to show that the system works. They couldn’t be more wrong. Finding Dzhonev was a lucky break. All too often, airport sereeners have let real weapons or weapon-like objects through while confiscating harmless objects and humiliating innocents. It’s all part of a growing problem: Even with all the noise from the gov ernment about beefing up airline se curity, we’re not much safer now than we were before. A 9-year-old boy’s “G.I. Joe ” action figure was one of the few “people” unceremoniously disarmed by security sereeners so far. The child, Ryan Scott, of Plover, Wise., was boarding a plane in a Central Wisconsin airport in August, when his carry-on luggage was selected for a ran dom screening. Sereeners found a 4-inch, by-no-means functional replica rifle meant for (Sgt.? Lt.? Com modore?) Joe to carry while blasting random pieces off Charlie and Cobra. Airport security officials removed it as an “illegal replica”of a weapon, according to the Stevens Point Journal. Oh. Wow. You idiots found a potentially lethal hunk of rubber. I mean, somebody could have choked! Yet, around that same time, a woman was arrested in Philadelphia for carrying a real .357 handgun and 25 rounds of ammo as she entered the terminal getting off Pat Payne The return of Captain Fantastic her flight — a gun that she had when she boarded the first leg of her flight in Atlanta. To repeat, screeners did notfind the gun until she de barked from the plane. This makes me feel just warm and fuzzy all over. If they can crack down on a lil plastic M-16, certainly it’d be easier to find the real McCoy, right? An 86-year-old general and ace fighter pilot has even been the target of some of the more imbecile searches. Gen. Joeseph Foss was waiting to catch a flight to Arlington, Va., at Phoenix International Airport. He had to be searched manually, as he had a pacemaker and couldn’t gp through the metal detector. So far, so good. Then they found his Medal of Honor, a star-shaped medal that is the highest hon or a serviceman can earn. It was alleged later that the screeners were worried that the medal could be used as a throwing star. This, along with a small dummy bullet on his keychain and a small set of nail clippers, set into motion the demand that he be strip-searched three times. It is almost insulting to the intelligence to think that someone who had earned the Medal of Honor would somehow use it as a makeshift weapon — and by an 86 year-old to boot! It adds insult to injury to find that now, 10 months after the fact, the head of the TSA, James Loy, has characterized the checks as more hasslothan they’re worth. I finnly believe that the function of security screening for the airlines should be taken over by the government, and their promise to federalize screeners is a step in the right direction. However, I believe that the people who should be doing the screening should not be the usual airport screeners. Instead, hire and train police officers to handle the screening process. They have the education to make judgments with more certainty about what should and should not be confiscated and who should and shouldn’t be searched. Contact the editorial editor at patpayne@dailyemerald.com. His opinions do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. C'MOM HoRStY, friODYAPf WC Got A WAR T» F»4HT. Peter Utsey Emerald Letter to the editor Sept. 11 gratitude for county commissioner My younger brother lived in Manhattan last September and was awakened on Sept. 11 by the sound of a jet smashing into the WTG tower. Through his eyes, I saw it all. As I stood at the Federal Building in Eugene this Sept. 11, in the midst of many others witnessing for peace, my brother spoke to me of the mood now in New York City, of people still united in love, shar ing hope, recognizing the human connection we all share. Retribu tion and war is not on their minds. Many of us understand when we practice war, it is our own brothers who die. Among those who understand is our county commis sioner — Pete Sorenson. He alone among local office holders was there with us, feeling the power of truth, standing strong against the forces of fear. I love this town. And Pete Soren son is one reason why. Thanks for being here, Pete. Tim Mueller Eugene
