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Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
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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