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Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, November 12,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Editors:
Salena De La Cruz, Pat Payne
Editorial
Ducks should
find their voice,
demand end to
KUGN contract
KUGN-AM promotes itself as “the voice of the
Ducks.” Cumulus Broadcasting paid the University
#1,000,000 for the right to use that name and broad
cast Duck games, and the University should now find a
new voice — one that lives up to our standards.
The University’s Affirmation of Community Stan
dards Policy says it promotes “a culture of respect
throughout the University community.” But the ongo
ing, hate-filled diatribes of national radio personalities
such as Michael Savage and Michael Medved promote
no respect. And they don’t promote a culture that “re
jects bigotry, discrimination, violence or intimidation
of any kind.”
Is the cash-and-benefits package really worth the as
sociation with hate that the station’s talk-radio hosts
are buying from the University? These personalities are
broadcast on some 1,200 stations nationwide, which is
fine — they are entitled to their opinions, and they
have the right to express them.
However, by being “the voice of the Ducks,” KUGN’s
association appears to represent every Duck — includ
ing women and minorities.
And Hispanic students should take affront to being
compared with rabbits and their breeding habits. Female
faculty should take offense to being called “too emotion
al” to have the right to vote. Staff of Jewish faith should
be outraged that Savage played tapes of Adolph Hitler’s
speeches over German military music the day after Yom
Kippur. Gay community members should be offended by
the notion that homosexuality was called a “grand plan
... to cut down on the white race.”
These are not sentiments that the University should
support or promote — or so it declares in its policies.
But by taking money from KUGN, the University is giv
ing tacit approval, or at least it’s keeping quiet for the
sake of money.
Either case contradicts the University’s mission,
which proudly declares its “dedication to ... freedom
from unfair discrimination for all members of the Uni
versity community and an acceptance of true diversity
as an affirmation of individual identity within a wel
coming community.” We couldn’t agree more; diversi
ty is what makes this country great. But many demo
graphic groups on campus could hardly feel welcome in
the kind of environment KUGN provides.
All students, groups and departments on campus
should demand that the University break its contract
with Cumulus Broadcasting. Students — and student
leaders — need to make it clear that we believed what
the University told us: Diversity is welcomed in our
community, and freedom of expression does not mean
freedom to hate in our name.
Editorial policy
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent
to letters <a>dailyemeraid.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.
Editorial board members
Michael j. Kleckner
Editor in chief
Salena De la Cruz
Editorial editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Managing editor
Pat Payne
Editorial editor
Jenna Cunningham
Student representative
Inorganic legislation
Ever heard of bovine growth hormone
(bgh)? How about Agent Orange, poly
chlorinated biphenyl (PCB), dioxins, sac
charin, or aspartame? These are just a
few of the products lovingly brought to
you by your neighborhood biotech com
pany, Monsanto. This is the same compa
ny that Oregonians allowed to pump
more than $5 million into “No on 27”
ads, which made knowing the origins of
our food sound like an infringement on
their rights to poison us. The “No on 27”
campaign has become the largest public
relations effort on a state ballot initiative
in Oregon’s history, and most of the mon
ey came from out-of-state and even out
of-country sources.
The “No on 27”
campaign, largely
funded by Monsan
to, quoted the
price a family
would pay for the
labeling of geneti
cally engineered
foods to $550 an
nually; in fact, an
independent study
at Oregon State
University estimat
ed the costs at only
$4 to $10 per person (or $16 to $40 for
a four person family) annually.
While it has been argued that Measure
27 was badly written, I cannot suspend
reality for even a moment to believe that
72 percent of voters actually read the
measure and came to this conclusion on
their own. They were fooled by special
interest money that has a large stake in
maintaining genetically engineered
foods’ invisibility.
Furthermore, isn’t it ironic that more
than half of the U.S. soybean crop was ge
netically engineered to survive heavy
doses of spraying of Monsanto’s best-sell
ing herbicide, Roundup? According to
Pesticide Action Network North Ameri
can (PANNA), a corporate watchdog
group, the amount of Roundup sold each
year has increased by 20 percent over
the past five years.
At the same time, an analysis of 8,200
university research trials revealed that
farmers who are planting Roundup
Ready soybeans (made by Monsanto) are
using two to five times as much herbicide
as those using the conventional varieties.
Meghann
Farnsworth
Just think about it
*"*M
Steve Baggs Emerald
Pat McCormick, a public relations ex
ecutive who ran the “No on 27” ad cam
paign, was quoted in the Oregonian as
saying that “Oregonians have emphati
cally rejected the effort to raise people’s
fear about the foods they eat.” Mc
Cormick, who I am sure can buy high
quality foods, neglects the fact that it is
the underprivileged who are forced to
buy lower-end products.
Organic foods have found a firm con
sumer base in middle-class Americans
who can afford the more expensive prices
in exchange for knowing how their foods
were produced. It is the genetically modi
fied and pesticide-laden foods that are able
to hide their presence in foods that lower
income families are forced to buy.
Finally, it seems ironic that groups
calling themselves Oregon Family Farm
Association and Oregon Farm Bureau
Federation should align themselves with
groups like Monsanto. Monsanto’s geneti
cally engineered seeds will drastically
hurt the small farmer, not help him.
While traditionally farmers have been
able to save seeds to be reused the next
year, Monsanto’s genetically engineered
seeds produce only infertile seeds at the
end of the farming cycle.
Thus, farmers would be forced to buy
seeds year after year from Monsanto,
costing them more money. Simply be
cause the November elections have
passed does not mean this issue is dead;
stay alert, and in all seriousness, watch
what you eat.
Contact the columnist
atmeghannfarnsworth@dailyemerald.com.
Her views do not necessarily represent those
of the Emerald.
Prevent theft by protecting belongings
Guest commentary
I am a Eugene Police Detective who is
assigned to the Property Grimes Unit. I
am assigned the SW quadrant of the city;
which includes the University.
A significant portion of my time is
spent studying crime reports. Property
crimes include all types of theft, burgla
ry and mischief. Of these categories,
theft is by far the most significant crime
around campus. Bike theft is a reoccur
ring theme, as well as thefts of property
from cars and of course the theft of back
packs from the Knight Library.
Whenever questions come up about
bike thefts, we stress the importance of
writing down the serial number and reg
istering the bike with the Department of
Public Safety. It may not be common
knowledge, but many stolen bikes are re
covered, but they are sold at auction be
cause the owner cannot be identified.
I recently made some friends who
were glad they registered their bike.
When it comes to thefts from vehicles,
most report they had locked the doors, ,
• • ' I ! ! * f t > » t ; f * ♦ t t ? 1 M t ! ! M » «
* s * t.t.l.l i 1 : M I tit ! i It i l ; O li it
so that is not enough to deter a thief in it
self. The best way is simply not to leave
anything of value in your car.
Some of us are reluctant to give a dol
lar to a hungry, homeless panhandler, but
we routinely donate thousands of dollars
to methamphetamine addicts. Besides
the CDs, we donate wallets, purses, cam
eras, musical equipment and athletic
gear. These items should not be left on
display in your car where a thin piece of
glass is the only security you have. These
things I’ve mentioned are the usual and
most typical types of thefts.
Something you may not think about
that is a huge problem is the theft of text
books. Books are expensive, but if you take
care of your books, you can sometimes sell
them back and get a fair amount. Unfortu
nately, the crooks know this also. Books
actually hold a higher resale value than
most other types of property.
Many of you know that as soon as your
books are stolen, you go to the University
Bookstore or to Smith’s to report the
books were stolen. Sometimes you even
report them to the police or DPS — but
sometimes you don’t. If the book is sold
* * { *
i * i i
by the thief, that constitutes a new of
fense and is automatically a felony crime.
The area bookstores are very good
about documenting the seller and are
required to obtain identification. All
that’s left is linking a stolen book to the
person it was stolen from. To this end, I
want to remind you of some ways to
help us do that. Many people can iden
tify their books by markings they put in
the book. I suggest using your driver’s
license number somewhere within the
book. Any police officer can run a dri
ver’s license number and get a name
and address immediately. If you choose
to go with the driver’s license number,
it is important to identify it as such. Use
the following format, OR 123456 DL ...
I suggest the number be written on a se
cret page number near the binder.
These thefts occur daily, and in an
area as small as the University, there is a
good chance that it will eventually hap
pen to you. Keep that in mind and do
what you can to safeguard your property.
Detective Greg Calef
Eugene Police Department