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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 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 Monday, October 14,2002 -Oregon Daily Emerald Commentary Editor in Chief: Michael J. Kleckner Managing Editor. Jessica Richelderfer Editorial Editors: Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne Editorial Otherschools should adopt GPA standard For business majors, making the grade now has new meaning, as the business school set new guidelines for grade point averages in ma jor, minor and pre-business classes. We commend the school for taking the University’s first step in letting students know that a minimum level of work will not result in a B+ or an A-. Average work deserves a G, and curves exist for a reason. In an average class, average students do about average quality work. Students are being given ad vance notice that if they want a higher grade, they will have to earn it. An argument certainly can be made that curves such as the ones adopted by the business school don’t hold up in each and every class. Sometimes a class is filled with overachievers, and a GPA cap has the po tential to hurt some of those students. But if the University community uses that argu ment to rationalize having no set standards, then everyone’s effort is devalued. A grade ought to mean that a certain level of work was accomplished. It’s also worthy to note that the curve es tablished by the business school is somewhat liberal. For major core business classes, grades must fall between a high G+ and a high B. We don’t know how the school chose this range — perhaps it reflects the mean grades for business majors — but the average grade is now set at above average. A stronger reason to argue against the busi ness school’s move is that other departments don’t have the same standards. People out side the University don’t know which depart ments have standards and which don’t, so students in other majors are getting better grades for less work. In response to that argument, we have a challenge for the other departments on cam pus: Get on the grading-standard bandwag on. If a University education means that stu dents are “citizen scholars,” as the administration has claimed, the coursework and grading policies should reflect it. We challenge you, as instructors, to chal lenge us. How can students want to achieve greatness when you expect nothing more of them than the bare minimum? Give Univer sity students something to be proud of — a grade they actually deserve. Online Poll Each Monday, the Emerald publishes the previous week’s poll results and the coming week’s poll question. Visit dailyemerald.com to vote. Last week: Do you support Bush’s proposal to invade Iraq without U.N. approval? Results: 108 total votes Yes — 24.8 percent, or 27 votes No — 67.6 percent, or 73 votes Don’t know — 5.7 percent, or 6 votes Don’t care — 1 percent, or 1 vote Leave me alone! — 1 percent, or 1 vote This week: What’s your favorite Oregon ski area? Choices: Hoodoo, Mt. Bachelor, Mt. Ashland, Willamette Pass, Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood SkiBowl, Mt. Hood Meadows, Other, Don’t know, Leave me alone! Do homework before going to war The nations that currently com prise the Middle East were formed as a direct result of Western inter vention following World War I. In many cases, these arbitrary na tional boundaries do not coincide with the ethnic, religious and polit ical identities of the people who live in them. This, combined with the fact that the concept of a nation-state was only introduced — forcibly — aDout »u years ago, is some what to blame for the contin ual unrest in many of these young coun tries. We can no longer afford to con sider the region in terms of sepa rate nation states. This is not Europe, where people have developed national identities over centuries of com mon experience. If we’re headed tor war, we need to study the peo ples who live in the area. Take Lebanon, for example. The Ma ronites, a Christian people with some ties to Catholicism, originally accounted for rough ly half of the population; Muslims comprised the other half. The government was arranged accordingly, with political power divided in two. In more recent times, Mus lims became much more populous than the Maronites, and their attempt to gain more political control resulted in war. Add to the mix another religious community, the Mowahhidoon, or Druse, who are neither Muslim nor Christian — the exact beliefs of the Druse are kept secret — and you can see that political stability would be difficult. But wait! We’re not done! There are two main groups of Muslims: The Shiite and the Sunni. The Sunni are more wealthy, more educated and dominate positions of power and prestige. This inequality is also a source of conflict. These domestic conflicts are of ten much more of a threat to the livelihood of the average resident of the Middle East, and as a result often take precedence over issues of national relevance. In the war between Iran and Iraq during the mid-’80s, the Reagan administration switched sides repeatedly and saw fit to sell arms to both countries. Both blamed the un satisfactory conclusion on the United States and claimed they would have won if Ameri ca had not intervened. And let’s not forget the continued support the United States provides Israel. In a recent comprehensive poll, published by the Wash ington Post, Arabs in general listed the rights of Palestinians as the third most important political concern in their lives. Rest assured that all Arabs opposed to the Zionist move ment have no illusions as to where Israel gets its state-of-the-art planes, tanks and missiles. In the same poll, Arabs were found to “have a strongly negative overall view of the United States based largely on American policy toward the region.” According to the Associated Press, there are around 8,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and this continued occupation is creating un rest. This fact, combined with the United States, Japan and Saudi Arabia failing to de liver a promised #180 million in aid could make an opposition movement in Afghanistan a real and dangerous threat. Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden before him, both make exceptional poster children for military action in the Middle East. • • ' - • . I . : .. ;,V: ' One man is accredited with assassinat ing his own relatives, gassing his own citi zens and repeatedly attacking his neigh bors. The other is charged with several acts of terrorism against America, the lat est of which resulted in nearly 3,000 civil ian casualties. But for lasting peace to be possible in this region, Western powers must come to better understand the people who live in it. I don’t want to pick up an M-16 and go charging across the sand dunes until I know exactly what it is I am charging into. If drafted, I would go to war with Iraq, or al-Qaeda , or whomever, but I don’t want to die because Bush was too busy babbling about “evil” to do his homework. Contact the columnist at michaelcosgrove@dailyemerald.com. His views do not necessarily represent those of the Emerald. M.Reilly Cosgrove Separate this Peter Utsey Emerald Students have political influence with votes Guest commentary This November, you have an opportunity to shape the political future not only of our own state, but also of the entire nation. With the Senate so closely divided, the contest be tween Gordon Smith and myself is one of a handful that can determine which party con trols that chamber’s gavel. It is up to Oregoni ans — and especially young people — to help decide what course of action our nation should pursue. The stakes are unmistakably high: Envi ronmental policy, funding for higher educa tion, and preserving a woman’s right to make her own reproductive decisions all hang in the balance. The good news is this: In Oregon, stu dents matter. I think I see a few people smirking at the back of your classroom. They’re skeptical of my last claim. As Oregon’s secretary of state, I’ve visited more than 100 schools and can understand your frustration. You feel that politicians aren’t paying attention to your priorities. You know that the federal government doesn’t spend enough on grants for college tuition (which have been in steady decline for two decades) because you’ve signed for the loans. You know that, nationwide, 18-34 year-olds often cast one out of every 10 bal lots counted — even though you make up nearly one-third of the voting-age population. Does it have to be this way? Are you doomed to a vicious cycle of underparticipat ing and being underserved in return? Of course not. You need only look at the last presidential election in order to discover your influence. In 2000, A1 Gore carried Oregon by a mere 6,767 votes. That year, the Oregon Youth Vote coalition single-handedly registered 27,000 young Oregonians to vote — approxi mately four times the number of votes that decided the outcome. Now, take those 27,000 votes out of the picture. Might the outcome have been different? Let’s be clear: Oregon students deserve a senator who will be accountable to them. I support increasing Pell Grants by $1,000 over the next three years, so that more col lege students have the opportunity to com plete their degrees and develop the skills to improve their marketability in this tough economy. I also support increasing the num ber of Pell Grants available, so that more low income students have the opportunity to pur sue a degree. The bottom line is that we all benefit when we make quality college education affordable and accessible to students. Society shares the economic benefit of a highly educated work force, enjoys the innovations made possible by new scientific research, and celebrates the cultural advances of artists and scholars. Par ticipating in elections is your best opportuni ty to remind your elders of these truths. So, if you’re not registered to vote, get reg istered!! It’s easy — you can find a form on line at www.oregonvotes.org. When your bal lot arrives in the mail this October, mark it and mail it in. With your vote, you’ll be standing up to counter the opinion that young people don’t care about politics — or, even worse, that you haven’t the means or opportunity to make a difference. Here’s to proving them wrong. Bill Bradbury is the Democrats' nominee for U.S. Senate.
